Mike Moutray - St.Louis MO
Member
The other day I was out at my favorite local park - Forest Park here in St. Louis - I had just dug an Indian Cent and stood up to find a young lady in overalls standing behind me...why do they have to "sneak up" from behind??? She looks at me, looks at my detector, looks at me and puts her hands on her hips and huffs out " You are killing the grass with that thing and I'm going to ask you to leave and not come back". 
I was taken back, of course... I said "First of all, I'm not killing any grass (I'm hunting in a mudhole in a heavily used picnic area) and secondly I have a right to be here and enjoy my PERFECTLY LEGAL hobby".
She says "Every time you dig in the ground, the grass dies". I explained that I've been doing this hobby longer than she's been alive and I know how to retrieve objects without harming the "grass". She said she didn't care and that I was full of $hit and started ranting on about some BS when I interrupted her and asked
"On who's authority are you telling me to leave?" She didn't reply. I further stated "You dont make the rules out here, you dont enforce the rules out here, I pay taxes on this park and I'm damn well going to enjoy my PERFECTLY LEGAL hobby out here free of harrassment from you or anyone else."
She says, "So you are not going to leave?" I replied " Why should I? Who are you to tell me to leave?" She didn't reply, and turned around and left in a huff with her arms waving in the air... I called after her" I dont mean to be an a$$ about this, but your attitude leaves me no choice!" She mumbled something as she was walking away that I didn't hear.
I shook my head and resumed detecting. 10 minutes later the real fun begins.... I look up and there are Park Ranger cars everywhere and rangers walking toward me from different directions.... 
"Well this can't be good" I'm thinking. I was expecting her to call the police on me and had remained hunting in the same spot so that they would easily find me. I was looking forward to talking with them and straightening out this misunderstanding between the lady and me - a situation that I've been in many times in the past - each time ending with all parties satisfied that I'm doing no harm.
This time was different. First thing I notice is that every one has their hand on their guns and the lead fellow is screaming at the top of his lungs at me. I took off my headphones and asked "Can I help you officer?" His reply was a string of r-rated words and threats against me as he advanced right up to my face. Boy was he hopping mad!!! I have been confronted by law enforcement in this situation many more times than I care to relate but this individual, by far, had the worst, most threatening attitude towards me that I have ever seen. "I'm going to jail" was all I could think of at the moment.
I found out very quickly that the lady was a park employee, even though she never identified herself as such and had no uniform or identification on her. And that I was "Compelled to follow her directive to cease my destruction of private property and leave" I explained that I wasn't doing anything destructive or illegal and that she never told me who she was or why she was harrassing me... This brought about a great amount of agitation from all the rangers... they started to unholster their guns, and one reached out and plucked my digger out of my hand - THINGS ARE GETTING INTERESTING!!!
The head ranger started to rant at me and threats of arrest and citations came out and.... At this point I was totally stunned by what was happening. I mean, seriously - what the he!! was wrong with these people???? I stopped saying anything except "yes sir" and "no sir" and after a few minutes the fellow calmed down and the other trigger happy rangers eased their hand off their weapons.
I explained who I was, what my hobby is, how long I've been doing it FREE OF HARRASSMENT AND WITH THE FULL KNOWLEDGE AND BLESSING OF THE PARK ADMINISTRATION AND THE MANY LAW ENFORCEMENT INDIVIDUALS WHO SEE ME OUT HERE - SOME OF WHOM I KNOW ON A FIRST NAME BASIS. He started in with the "destruction of city property" crap and how I commit it every time I put my digger in the ground. I wasn't going to argue such a subjective, inane point with him like that... I did get him calmed down and after a 30 minute discussion of my legitimate hobby and convincing him that I'm not a threat to his city property, and that I actually contribute to the property and it's upkeep with my tax dollars, my private donations to the park improvement fund, and my physical labor in removing trash and repairing divots in the ground left by animals, children or thoughtless detectorists.
I made it clear that many hobbyists enjoyed their right to hunt out there, and that I've held organized hunts out there with full knowledge of the park administration when they issue me permits to do so. I explained everything as best as I could... he basically told me that city police don't have any say out here - in the city park - and that the park rangers were the "authority" He said that the park rangers have been running other detectorists out in the past... (I never heard of such a thing - park rangers have seen me hunt out there countless times without any problem) I ran into a wall with him and we agreed that I needed to talk with the head park ranger about the situation.
So know I'm left wondering if I've seen my last day of hunting in Forest Park which has been my favorite haunt and much of my life the past 20+ years.
I will contact the head ranger and try to get this mess straightened out, if that doesn't work I'll go to the parks administrator... something I've had to do in the past. All this time everyone involved in the park system has been very kind and accepting of metal detectorists... I just hope their attitude or interpretation of a mis-applied ordinance doesn't change to intolerance. If they try to keep detectorists out of Forest Park, they will have a battle on their hands... from me especially.
Unfortunately the lady who approached me in the first place chose to confront me with her concern - something that she is not paid to do or authorized to do, much less try to enforce her interpretaion of a city ordinance. That is what the park rangers are for. Had she called them directly, without confronting me first, there would have been no conflict, and I would have been able to continue hunting. She must have embellished the threat I posed.... I am a big scary looking dude with a large knife in my hand.... she should feel lucky that I was a "good guy" and not a psychopath would have stabbed her to death right there on top of her beloved grass - Lord knows there are people like that running loose out there.
Hopefully sane minds will prevail and this "misunderstanding" will blow over.... but I got to wonder if I have to be paranoid of who's around me everytime I go out detecting or when I'm digging in the ground. I can't stand it when ignorant, prejudiced people jump to conclusions about me or my hobby and condemn me without even asking my name or what I'm doing.
Enough of my rant now.....will keep you informed.
I was taken back, of course... I said "First of all, I'm not killing any grass (I'm hunting in a mudhole in a heavily used picnic area) and secondly I have a right to be here and enjoy my PERFECTLY LEGAL hobby".
She says "Every time you dig in the ground, the grass dies". I explained that I've been doing this hobby longer than she's been alive and I know how to retrieve objects without harming the "grass". She said she didn't care and that I was full of $hit and started ranting on about some BS when I interrupted her and asked
"On who's authority are you telling me to leave?" She didn't reply. I further stated "You dont make the rules out here, you dont enforce the rules out here, I pay taxes on this park and I'm damn well going to enjoy my PERFECTLY LEGAL hobby out here free of harrassment from you or anyone else."
She says, "So you are not going to leave?" I replied " Why should I? Who are you to tell me to leave?" She didn't reply, and turned around and left in a huff with her arms waving in the air... I called after her" I dont mean to be an a$$ about this, but your attitude leaves me no choice!" She mumbled something as she was walking away that I didn't hear.
I shook my head and resumed detecting. 10 minutes later the real fun begins.... I look up and there are Park Ranger cars everywhere and rangers walking toward me from different directions.... "Well this can't be good" I'm thinking. I was expecting her to call the police on me and had remained hunting in the same spot so that they would easily find me. I was looking forward to talking with them and straightening out this misunderstanding between the lady and me - a situation that I've been in many times in the past - each time ending with all parties satisfied that I'm doing no harm.This time was different. First thing I notice is that every one has their hand on their guns and the lead fellow is screaming at the top of his lungs at me. I took off my headphones and asked "Can I help you officer?" His reply was a string of r-rated words and threats against me as he advanced right up to my face. Boy was he hopping mad!!! I have been confronted by law enforcement in this situation many more times than I care to relate but this individual, by far, had the worst, most threatening attitude towards me that I have ever seen. "I'm going to jail" was all I could think of at the moment.
I found out very quickly that the lady was a park employee, even though she never identified herself as such and had no uniform or identification on her. And that I was "Compelled to follow her directive to cease my destruction of private property and leave"
I explained that I wasn't doing anything destructive or illegal and that she never told me who she was or why she was harrassing me... This brought about a great amount of agitation from all the rangers... they started to unholster their guns, and one reached out and plucked my digger out of my hand - THINGS ARE GETTING INTERESTING!!!The head ranger started to rant at me and threats of arrest and citations came out and.... At this point I was totally stunned by what was happening. I mean, seriously - what the he!! was wrong with these people???? I stopped saying anything except "yes sir" and "no sir" and after a few minutes the fellow calmed down and the other trigger happy rangers eased their hand off their weapons.
I explained who I was, what my hobby is, how long I've been doing it FREE OF HARRASSMENT AND WITH THE FULL KNOWLEDGE AND BLESSING OF THE PARK ADMINISTRATION AND THE MANY LAW ENFORCEMENT INDIVIDUALS WHO SEE ME OUT HERE - SOME OF WHOM I KNOW ON A FIRST NAME BASIS. He started in with the "destruction of city property" crap and how I commit it every time I put my digger in the ground. I wasn't going to argue such a subjective, inane point with him like that... I did get him calmed down and after a 30 minute discussion of my legitimate hobby and convincing him that I'm not a threat to his city property, and that I actually contribute to the property and it's upkeep with my tax dollars, my private donations to the park improvement fund, and my physical labor in removing trash and repairing divots in the ground left by animals, children or thoughtless detectorists.
I made it clear that many hobbyists enjoyed their right to hunt out there, and that I've held organized hunts out there with full knowledge of the park administration when they issue me permits to do so. I explained everything as best as I could... he basically told me that city police don't have any say out here - in the city park - and that the park rangers were the "authority"
He said that the park rangers have been running other detectorists out in the past... (I never heard of such a thing - park rangers have seen me hunt out there countless times without any problem) I ran into a wall with him and we agreed that I needed to talk with the head park ranger about the situation.So know I'm left wondering if I've seen my last day of hunting in Forest Park which has been my favorite haunt and much of my life the past 20+ years.
I will contact the head ranger and try to get this mess straightened out, if that doesn't work I'll go to the parks administrator... something I've had to do in the past. All this time everyone involved in the park system has been very kind and accepting of metal detectorists... I just hope their attitude or interpretation of a mis-applied ordinance doesn't change to intolerance. If they try to keep detectorists out of Forest Park, they will have a battle on their hands... from me especially.
Unfortunately the lady who approached me in the first place chose to confront me with her concern - something that she is not paid to do or authorized to do, much less try to enforce her interpretaion of a city ordinance. That is what the park rangers are for. Had she called them directly, without confronting me first, there would have been no conflict, and I would have been able to continue hunting. She must have embellished the threat I posed.... I am a big scary looking dude with a large knife in my hand.... she should feel lucky that I was a "good guy" and not a psychopath would have stabbed her to death right there on top of her beloved grass - Lord knows there are people like that running loose out there.
Hopefully sane minds will prevail and this "misunderstanding" will blow over.... but I got to wonder if I have to be paranoid of who's around me everytime I go out detecting or when I'm digging in the ground. I can't stand it when ignorant, prejudiced people jump to conclusions about me or my hobby and condemn me without even asking my name or what I'm doing.
Enough of my rant now.....will keep you informed.
I found out later she works for Forest Park Forever... she was very opinionated - some might have called her a neo-nazi treehugger... but not me 
We'll see what happens. Take care, MM.
Rock ON!