Florida is essentially eliminating Treasure Hunting July 1, 2012

[G.I.B.]

Yes, you can detect the beaches and surf. Do not go into the dunes.

You can't hunt the archeological areas, or in the water where treasure lease's are. Lease areas are generally small and along the east coast. You can find the locations in the Shipwreck forum.

ALL the beach sand is yours, and 99% of the water.

Good luck on the hunts.

 

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[ron lord]

OMG July 1,2012 has come and gone and I am still huntting in Fla. State Parks and other Places and no one has try to stop me from MD'ing in FLA.

 

[cajunmiss]

Ok guys, I haven't detected in a VERY long time, I have two trips planned in the Destin/Fort Walton area....totally planned to FINALLY bring my MD. This makes me nervous, I surely do not want to be fined on my 1st attempt! AGGHHHH any suggestions?

 

[FloridaDigger]

Ok guys, I haven't detected in a VERY long time, I have two trips planned in the Destin/Fort Walton area....totally planned to FINALLY bring my MD. This makes me nervous, I surely do not want to be fined on my 1st attempt! AGGHHHH any suggestions?

The operative word is get permission. It's legal to detect in State Park beaches from the dunes to the water line. Detecting is prohibited in National Parks.

Check with the city and county parks for detecting laws, and of course get permission on private land.

 

[cajunmiss]

THANKS so much!!! So excited!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

cajunmiss, as you can see from all the pages, the whole point of the flap was it DIDN'T go through. So on the contrary (despite the scary sounding title), you wouldn't treat this any different than any other state. I mean, sure .... stay off federal and historic monument type stuff. And if there's anything specific someone's said about any specific beach or spot, sure.

But when it comes to the run of the mill rest of the stuff (other beaches, city and county parks, etc...), it's not so much to "get permission" (as it seems Florida digger is saying), but moreso to satisfy yourself that there's no restrictions. In other words, if there's nothing specifically prohibiting an activity (flying frisbees, for instance), then no, you don't "need permission". So if you want to check the city our county website where you're going, do a keyword search on their ordinances and laws, and if you see nothing there saying anything about metal detecting, well presto, it's not prohibited. This is much different than "asking permission". The latter risks you could get a "no", when no real rule saying such a thing exists. Ie.: simply because they think you'll hurt the sand-crabs ...... or whatever.

THANKS so much!!! So excited!

 

[maipenrai]

Tom has brought up several times, the point about "not asking permission", but finding out for yourself, about the restrictions. Probably about the best advice given here. Its all to easy for someone at a park or county official to just say "no", especially if they dont know what you plan on digging. It might be the end of their job, if they gave you permission, and you brought in a back hoe to dig. Not always easy to find the restrictions at every place you want to hunt, especially if just driving by a nice place, but often we are just too lazy to find out for ourselves, me included.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I have to be honest, that folks posting their high-dollar finds every day can only blame themselves. Doing so has attracted thousands (if not more) to the hobby that are often seen on a beach with 100 swimmers and 15 detectors. It's gotten crazy.

I agree with this part. Its gotten crazy.

People are being arrested that post illegal fish or game on facebook. It may soon be the same here at TN.

You can keep clad cents or your lost watch or keys but you will still not be allowed to keep any artifacts 50 years or older found on state land..

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Well with a full moon and low tides today, Im thinking of going to the beach. Is it still legal?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Well with a full moon and low tides today, Im thinking of going to the beach. Is it still legal?

If you were to read through all the thread (which is quite volumous by now, as you can see), you would see that the all came to naught. Nothing was passed to make any changes or further restrictions.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

If you were to read through all the thread (which is quite volumous by now, as you can see), you would see that the all came to naught. Nothing was passed to make any changes or further restrictions.

Thanks I didnt read it all.

So if nothing has changed, that means that its still illegal to dig any 50 year old man made item in Florida state waters. Now I would assume state waters referrs to the beach as well as rivers.

"The State of Florida had at one time, a program called the Isolated Finds program, this program required amateur archeologists, treasure hunters and metal detectorist to report any finds to the DHR for cataloging in its data base, and in turn would assign ownership rights to the finder unless the find was culturally significant.
The DHR did away with this program back in 2005, sighting that the DHR could not afford to continue the program. At the same time they passed a law making it illegal to recover any manmade object 50 years old or older from Florida waterways. The DHR claimed that they were concerned that arrow head collectors were recovering Indian artifacts from Florida Rivers and water ways."

http://treasureworks.com/news/39-wreckdivers-blog/723-floridas-war-on-treasure-hunters

Its good to know that pop tops are still legal in Florida as they are not quite 50 years old yet.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

So if nothing has changed, that means that its still illegal to dig any 50 year old man made item in Florida state waters.

Well I suppose if you kept asking high enough, up through a chain of bureaucracy, you can always find someone to tell you "no" to just about any speck of public land, depending on who you ask, and how you phrase it, and how high up the bureacracy you go.

But let me put it to you this way, if you've already researched out this supposed current status (the "50 yr. old thing"), on whatever beach it is you had in mind, then ... gee, you're NOT going to find any coins over 50 yrs. old .... are you? I mean, ... seriously .... does anyone really stand over you as you detect, with a calculator, doing the math on the dates of coins we find?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Well I suppose if you kept asking high enough, up through a chain of bureaucracy, you can always find someone to tell you "no" to just about any speck of public land, depending on who you ask, and how you phrase it, and how high up the bureacracy you go.

But let me put it to you this way, if you've already researched out this supposed current status (the "50 yr. old thing"), on whatever beach it is you had in mind, then ... gee, you're NOT going to find any coins over 50 yrs. old .... are you? I mean, ... seriously .... does anyone really stand over you as you detect, with a calculator, doing the math on the dates of coins we find?

No but if you post a picture, you are in effect confessing to a crime.

For the record, Since 2005 I rebury any 50 year old finds found in or near state waters..

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I guess Im just ranting.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

No but if you post a picture, you are in effect confessing to a crime.

I highly doubt that anyone trolls md'ing "finds" forums, reading people's bragging rights, to look for these types of things. Most times folks don't say exactly where they found stuff anyway, but even when they do (ie.: "found on a beach near Monterey, CA" or "found on a FL beach" etc...), I highly doubt anyone trolls looking to make a fuss. I mean, that would be like spitting on New York sidewalk type things, or tearing the tag off your mattress, etc... Sure, if someone were that zealous, they could troll forums looking for such things. But in-lieu of the fact that old finds get posted all the time, and this never happens, I'd say no one cares.

An exception might be if someone boasted something like: "found when I was night-sneaking around Shiloh national monument!" And I bet that EVEN THEN, it would not be an archie or ranger "trolling md'ing forum", but rather, would be a forumite who went and forwarded the info. to someone else.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I highly doubt that anyone trolls md'ing "finds" forums, reading people's bragging rights, to look for these types of things. Most times folks don't say exactly where they found stuff anyway, but even when they do (ie.: "found on a beach near Monterey, CA" or "found on a FL beach" etc...), I highly doubt anyone trolls looking to make a fuss. I mean, that would be like spitting on New York sidewalk type things, or tearing the tag off your mattress, etc... Sure, if someone were that zealous, they could troll forums looking for such things. But in-lieu of the fact that old finds get posted all the time, and this never happens, I'd say no one cares.

An exception might be if someone boasted something like: "found when I was night-sneaking around Shiloh national monument!" And I bet that EVEN THEN, it would not be an archie or ranger "trolling md'ing forum", but rather, would be a forumite who went and forwarded the info. to someone else.

I just found out that the state law applies to navigable waterways and most beaches are legal or its not enforced.

As far as ranger patrolling this forum you are probably right but, I work for FWC and I know for a fact they patrol Facebook and are able to make busts. Im sure you could verify this easily because it was in the newspaper as well.

Yes the officers patrol Facebook on a regular basis looking for pictures of illegal activities. 2 examples that come to mind was a guy that posted a picture of a deer he killed. He was arrested and a kid that bragged about a fish he caught. It was also illegal size. The hunter was a felon.

If they regularily patrol Facebook looking for pictures of illegal game violators, I see no reason why it cant happen here as well. I feel the same way who cares? but it surprises me who reads this stuff. TN comes up on any google search.

 

[kuger]

I just found out that the state law applies to navigable waterways and most beaches are legal or its not enforced.

As far as ranger patrolling this forum you are probably right but, I work for FWC and I know for a fact they patrol Facebook and are able to make busts. Im sure you could verify this easily because it was in the newspaper as well.

Yes the officers patrol Facebook on a regular basis looking for pictures of illegal activities. 2 examples that come to mind was a guy that posted a picture of a deer he killed. He was arrested and a kid that bragged about a fish he caught. It was also illegal size. The hunter was a felon.

If they regularily patrol Facebook looking for pictures of illegal game violators, I see no reason why it cant happen here as well. I feel the same way who cares? but it surprises me who reads this stuff. TN comes up on any google search.

JFI,yes these boards are monitored....I can tell you of at least three forumites that have found out...the hard way

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

JFI,yes these boards are monitored....I can tell you of at least three forumites that have found out...the hard way

Thanks kuger. I vaguely remember several incidents but I couldnt remember the specifics.

This is the new world. Get used to it.
Posting a crime on the internet with pictures is like a confession.

I just got an expensive ticket in the mail for running a red light on video cam. I just watched the video evidence and Im going to fight it because I turned right on red. But it can be hard to fight a picture.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Interesting Kuger. But another explanation I have heard rendered in these situations, is that the info was forwarded to authorities (of whatever entity it was affected), by md'rs on forums who .... I guess ....... had the attitude "well he shouldn't be there, so I'm going to report him". You know, like the super-hardcore "you gotta ask everywhere" type md'rs. So that too is a way that these things get on the radar of some authority, rather than thinking they "troll" forums.

And as you know, an authority like the police, or park rangers, or whatever, are more likely to pursue something if they get a call (because then they are duty-bound to respond). But lo & behold, if someone calls in and says "they shouldn't be doing that", then the SAME ranger or cop (who perhaps would never have given the matter a moment's notice or thought) is duty-bound to look into it, do something, etc.... Since afterall, .... someone is griping.

 

[greg755]

After 40 years of detecting I came up with 3 simple rules.
#1 keep my mouth shut.
#2 dont show off anything to strangers or my spouse.
#3 If rules number one or two are broken then I swear I found it in my yard - its not my fault you never found a cannon in your back yard.