Getting Set...

[Cougar729]

I've had a metal detector for over a year, its pretty basic Bounty Hunter Tracker IV I believe. I've been to a few local parks and playgrounds, found a couple of coins, lots of trash, and had a pretty good time with it. I'm wanting to get more serious, so i'm looking into buying a pinpointer. There have been so many times where my bounty hunter just beeps and then once I dig a plug I loose the signal and can't find what it hit on. So i'm thinking a pin pointer will help. Also I'm in Missouri and saw where I can get a permit for certain state parks. I got approved yesterday and can go during the daytime up until Memorial day, but limited to 7-9am until Labor day, and only on beaches. So thats somewhat disappointing. I don't think I'll risk detecting outside of those hours in parks. I would like to find some areas to dig though that doesn't involve a city park or playground. But everything seems to be privately owened. I'm really in need of a way or place to research what is public and can be detected.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

.... I'm really in need of a way or place to research what is public and can be detected.

I'm sure it's not that hard to deduce what is "public" land vs "private land" ? If you see a vacant lot or something, you can always go to the assessor's office, and they'll be able to tell you who owns the land. And as for parks, schools, road right-of-ways, etc... they're usually public (although I suppose a park or school could be "private", but that's not difficult to find out). Once you've found out what land is public, and what particular entity (city, county, state, etc...) owns it, then it's just a matter of knowing the laws/rules that govern that entity's land. And to do that, you merely look it up for yourself (as opposed to asking someone "can I do such & such?"). To "look it up for yourself", is to find the city (or county's) rules, laws, codes, charter, etc... All such muni information has to be SOMEWHERE for public viewing. Eg.: on their website, or at city hall's front desk in binder form, or at the local library, etc.... If you still can't find it, you can ask at city hall: "where can I find a list of all the municipal codes and laws?", and they would direct you to wherever that exists, point you to the right room, etc...

And if it's something like state or federal, just be aware that the commonly circulated list of state PARK'S rules, are for the ...... doh ... state PARK'S. Not all state land is state PARK land. There's other types of state land. And multiple types of federal land. Same for cities, for that matter. Like you may find that your city's "park's close at sunset". However, the sidewalks and streets (which are also city owned), OBVIOUSLY do not "close at sunset"

If you see nothing there that says "no metal detecting", then presto, it's not prohibited.

This does not mean you can go nilly willy waltzing over people's beach-blankets at an archie convention though. I mean, a little discretion and common sense is still in order. There's always the connotations that a man with a detector has, so ... of course avoid lookie-lous, go at low traffic times, etc...