[meteorite-list] How about a thread to discuss hunting ethics - west

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 16:07:30 -0700
Message-ID: <93aaac890904021607i639362b7i8c5ea800973c43b9_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hola Adam, All,
But that was the problem with West.
The atmosphere was positively toxic when we went because farmers and
landowners who had been paid $1/g for their stones saw them going on
ebay a few days later for $100/g. There was a great deal of land that
hadn't been searched and hadn't been ploughed. And, thanks to the
antics of whoever decided to tell them that $1/g was fair for their
meteorites, that land will likely never be hunted, the meteorites lost
for good.
We spoke to several landowners, and always got the same response -
well, words ranged from "No thanks," to "Hell no," to "Not
interested," but the net result was the same. We needed only to
mention the fact that we were looking for meteorites (and many of them
guessed it before we even stated our business), and it was an
immediate cold shoulder. We offered more, we tried to convince them -
they probably wouldn't have taken $1000/g for anything we found, not
that we offered as much. They simply weren't interested in hearing
us out.
Which makes me wonder about the morality of dealers who would
criticize one of their own for offering $10 or $20/g for a large stone
from such a fall. When their profit margin is extremely high (after
calculating the cost of our trip, we paid $12/g for the West stones
that we found on public land - compare to the clinically insane
selling prices of $50-100/g), do they really have a right to question
what someone's offer of $10 or $20,000 for 1kg will do to the chance
of more being found?
Maybe if they themselves were willing to pay a reasonable price for
them....but they really can't blame someone willing to offer a
meteorite's worth. If they were willing to pay it, it wouldn't
be/have been an issue.
Jason

On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 12:00 PM, Mike Miller <meteoritefinder at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello everyone I am not going to get involved in a long discussion
> here, I just want to state for the record what happened to me. I was
> charged with walking down an UN posted dirt road. I was charged with 2
> counts as I parked my rental vehicle in plain sight on a highway and
> did walk down this UN posted dirt road on 2 different days. ?In
> Georgia they call it Criminal Trespass and it covers a very wide range
> of offenses. I was not hunting meteorites on the property I was simply
> trying to reach the area I thought might contain meteorites. I did not
> know the road was private and there were no signs that stated it was
> private. I was informed that in Georgia it is not necessary to post a
> road as private. I also realize that if I were raised in Georgia I
> would have likely known the road was private, but since I spend most
> of my time in the wide open west. I felt I was safe to walk down this
> dirt road and try to get to the area I was hoping had meteorite in it,
> that was still miles past the area of this dirt road.
> ?I was asked by the Judge of Burke county to inform every meteorite
> hunter that you are not welcome in Burke county and I can personally
> guarantee you that they are not kidding. Do not go to Burke county and
> knock on doors as you will be very sorry you came.
>
> On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 10:01 AM, Michael Murray <mmurray at montrose.net> wrote:
>> In a constructive thread, I'd like to hear more about how the hunters out
>> there discuss hunting private property with landowners, how they determine
>> who owns the property, do you pay a fee normally, do you do a formal written
>> agreement on split of find. ?Could be that if some of the more seasoned List
>> participants/hunters visit this topic in a somewhat detailed manner that
>> other hunters might better arm themselves with the knowledge it takes to do
>> it right.
>>
>> Mike in CO
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Mike Miller 230 Greenway Dr. Kingman Az 86401
> www.meteoritefinder.com
> ? ? 928-753-6825
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Received on Thu 02 Apr 2009 07:07:30 PM PDT