Darrell, I think what Herbajones and goes4ever are trying to point out, is that, in your statement are some false (or shall we say "not
necessarily true") premises.
For example, you say: "....
there is almost always a law against destroying public property. ". Well yes, perhaps there is. But if you are "destroying property", then I suggest you repeat "target recovery 101 class". Later, in your position statement, you state that you don't leave a trace of your presence. Good.
Then what's the problem? If you're not "destroying property", then what does that ...... as a reason for not hunting parking strips, have to do with anything?
And if your point was that
OTHERS may destroy property (ie.: leave holes un-filled, or make them so sloppy and shallow that they don't take root again, don't stomp them back in place, don't use catch mats, etc....), then my advice for that is that
those type persons are to be corrected, NOT that you/we/I should
not detect a certain place.
For example: the same statement could be made about ANYWHERE, could it not? ie.: rules against "destruction", and "someone might leave a mess", etc.... Well then, to go through with the logic, because
someone else may be sloppy, we should not detect anywhere? Because I gaurantee you: if you go into ANY city hall, ANYWHERE, even for places where the park is open game, and no one's ever cared less before, and ask the desk clerk: "
Hi, can I please destruct and vandalize the park please?". What do you think they're going to say? Of course they'll say "no"
So your mistake is in that you make a necessary equivalent between "destruct" and "metal detect". It needn't be the case. And if you think it IS the case (or think it's the case merely because someone else makes that knee-jerk assumption when they see you), then I suggest you've chosen the wrong hobby. Because there is no way you will ever solve all the busy-bodies who *might* think that. To me, that would be like saying "gee, I should never drive, because someone might flip me off in traffic, and because ..... afterall ... other people are bad drivers, and someone might think I'm one of those bad drivers".
I'm not saying that you/we will never get someone taking issue with us. Of course someone *might* level any accusation they want. I'm just saying that if this is what you're afraid of, then you might as well stick to sandboxes, because no matter where you/we go in this world, unless you only intend to pick up coins off
top the ground only, the possibility exists that someone will gripe. To totally avoid any such confrontation, would be to simply give up the hobby, and stay in your living room (lest someone get mad, oh no!).
And when you think about it: clauses with words such as "destruction" and "vandalism" all imply the
END result of an activity. Thus, if you left no trace, then by definition, you haven't "vandalized" anything, now have you? Of course, this isn't to say that someone might not accuse you of this (because they make the knee-jerk assumption d/t they saw you in the middle of recovery). But technically, if you left no trace, then you weren't in violation, and broke no law.
Now of course, I would never push this, and insist on waltzing down the street hunting parking strips, if all sorts of people were having a block party that day, on the block I chose. I mean, c'mon, we can use a little common sense here. But to say it should or never can be done, is also in error.
