MDing in Maryland

[tao9087]

Hello fellow detectors. I'm new to hobby and I agree that it's ridiculous that we need permission/permit to metal detect. I was able to obtain a permit for Baltimore County, at least it was free. I was basically told that I must stay away from historical sites, nature centers and athletic fields. I guess everywhere else is fair game. I reside in Harford County, but did not have similar luck. I'll probably stick to shallow streams and creeks. There's quite a few spots near me. I'll post any findings. Happy hunting everyone!

 

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[HunterMF]

I've been digging a bit also and it is ridiculous that we need to jump through all these hoops just to keep hearing "no". I just began and all these e-mails are leading to dead ends. I might have to go with a couple of people to certain places so I get a better idea what to look for.

 

[vferrari]

Your best bet is to start cultivating some private landowner contacts. Start a conversation with some friends at work or socially and see if they know anyone who has some large property or farmland. Join an MD club. You'd be surprised what you turn up and with landowners permission, no need to keep looking over your shoulder to see if a park ranger is going to come up and ask you a bunch of awkward questions. It is indeed a shame that we are living in such an over-regulated time, but thanks to big Gov + terrorists and nut cases encouraging the "if you see something call the authorities" culture, it isn't going away anytime soon.

 

[tao9087]

It's comical that parks allow hunting but I can't wave my detector from side to side lol

 

[mxh5891]

I live in Hoco and have been hunting a few parks for a few years with no problems what so ever. I haven't found anything good besides clad. Only time I ever saw any law enforcement was a few on horseback walking a trail and they just stopped to ask if I found anything good. At the time I had like 36 cents in clad so I told them that and they just said good luck and kept moving.

Funny story, the only time I had the cops called on me was when I hunted my community tot lot. A cop walked up and he said hi, then i heard him so, "oh your just metal detecting". He said a neighbor called and said they saw somebody digging in the tot lot and they thought a person was setting up bombs. Lol he checked my ID and saw I lived right down the street. I asked him if I was doing something wrong, and he said no I was fine and to have a good day. Sometimes the only thing you have to worry about is a nosey neighbor or somebody who is paranoid and has to much time on their hands.

 

[OBN]

I live in Hoco and have been hunting a few parks for a few years with no problems what so ever. I haven't found anything good besides clad. Only time I ever saw any law enforcement was a few on horseback walking a trail and they just stopped to ask if I found anything good. At the time I had like 36 cents in clad so I told them that and they just said good luck and kept moving.

Funny story, the only time I had the cops called on me was when I hunted my community tot lot. A cop walked up and he said hi, then i heard him so, "oh your just metal detecting". He said a neighbor called and said they saw somebody digging in the tot lot and they thought a person was setting up bombs. Lol he checked my ID and saw I lived right down the street. I asked him if I was doing something wrong, and he said no I was fine and to have a good day. Sometimes the only thing you have to worry about is a nosey neighbor or somebody who is paranoid and has to much time on their hands.

Great story! Here is one, My buddy and I were out detecting deep in the water this winter. Small ice floating around. All of the sudden Mike yells at me and said wonder if they are here for us. I look in land from the water, about 60 yards out,... and see fire trucks, rescue squad, and people lining up. So we did the walk in to see what was up. Someone had called and said there were two dogs out in the middle of the Bay stuck on small iceberg's. I guess at a distance we did look similar...After a quick friendly chat we got back out to continue the hunt.

 

[littlehugger]

I was at a school in Baltimore, searching the tot lot, (summertime) when a woman claiming to be the principal started shrieking at me. She
claimed it was illegal, (its not) and I stayed awhile, while she followed me.
I eventually left.
The govt is getting too intrusive and dictatorial. The rules are fairly reasonable, but are based on resentment and jealousy. Even though I was legal, That woman could probably have gotten me in trouble if a cop had been called. Its easier for the cop to bully you than chance that evil woman reporting him with a complaint.
I find that the main annoyance is curious kids, Especially long ago, when my first detector was the GarrettGrand Master Hunter CX III-the talking detector. Kids were fascinated. It taught me to use headphones.

 

[n3tuf]

Betterton Beach?

I know there are lot of ares that are off limits around here. Myself I'm in AA county and I'm not having much luch either but, I've got some ideas about private land and I'm going to keep trying. We have to keep it up.

Does anyone know if Betterton Beach is off limits to detecting?

 

[OBN]

Does anyone know if Betterton Beach is off limits to detecting?

Betterton is fine, along with a few others up that way. Maybe up that way by the weekend, have few others I want to check on...

 

[Rookster]

I believe I'd have to move.

 

[OBN]

I believe I'd have to move.

Must be 80 old beach's here in the Chesapeake Bay, only problem is getting to most of them. Many have been sold to business, private communities, parks, etc.

Not being able to crossing over these areas has just about killed hunting here in the bay. Then if you can come in by water seems the land owners want to know what your doing and why. I hunt about 2 to 3 days a week, once a week I have a confrontation seems. Some good.., some bad..

 

[Dual Hunter]

Maryland has to be in the top 3 worst states for metal detecting in the US , so many cool places to find just about everything a metal detectorist could want to find is in this state, so many places i have know that were overgrown fields ,woods, shore-front gets grabbed up by the Feds and their parks or the state and their parks..... old Bayshore beach, pleasure island, etc,etc ..... some a$$hole determines hey this place has some historical backround ...lets make it part of gunpowder State park or hell there was a small Revolutionary war or Civil War camp or skirmish ......lets make it a Federal Park..... so we can capitalize on it like Gettysburg....make millions in revenue and grants..... all is left is Private Land.....thats another issue ......people are downright horrible when you ask permission to detect some old woods or field they own , they look at you like your nuts ,i mainly detect Civil war so i'm out in Fredrick county areas and I've got some permissions but for every 1 permission I've been told sternly NO 10 times over....I'm a very conscientious person for a land owner , i offer them part of my finds ,offer them donuts, to help out with work some are very nice others act like your asking them for their first born. i've even had one farmer tell me the only way i could detect his farm is if i gave him 100% of my finds.....i basically and politely declined his offer . so usually forgo the permission in a lot of wooded areas and use the { if theres no sign saying No Trespassing} or blue paint on trees its fair game

 

[Tommybuckets]

Wow, you guys have over thunk it lol. ! I just look at the sign and if there's no line on it about "no metal detecting" I am in there. The deeper in the woods off the beaten trail the better for me to feel relaxed. If I am where other park goers can see me its because I am headed in or out. I may be visible just at dusk on the edge of a field or tot lot like a majestic mini sasquatch.
I have had mostly nice experiences with the rangers and other park goers. If I think they are going to give me a hard time I tell them I am looking for a set of keys. Aren't we all all the time anyway? They ask what i find, I show some trash and say I am cleaning up n hoping for something great. I'll be out there after work again today. There are a lot of us out here. I see fresh plugs cut here and there in the busier areas. You can tell when that old foundation has been flogged to death and will hardly cough up another square nail. If its public and I am a tax paying member of the public they're going to have to come find me and tell me to stop. I'll leave quick, I won't argue but I am not going to beg and grovel for permission. I save that for the private permissions where you actually find some stuff lol. I like detecting and think of myself as an ambassador for the hobby but the part that appeals to me is the the fact that we are free to go where we want in relative secrecy and privacy. I don't like getting shot at so I don't go during hunting season and I don't trespass but other than that its on.

 

[Megalodon]

Must be 80 old beach's here in the Chesapeake Bay, only problem is getting to most of them. Many have been sold to business, private communities, parks, etc.

Not being able to crossing over these areas has just about killed hunting here in the bay. Then if you can come in by water seems the land owners want to know what your doing and why. I hunt about 2 to 3 days a week, once a week I have a confrontation seems. Some good.., some bad..

Legally in MD, the beach between Mean Low Water (MLW) and MHW belongs to the people of the state, not to the property owner above MHW. Many property owners are conveniently unaware of this. When I worked as a biologist in tidal waters, we sampled this area with 300' long, 1/4" mesh seines, feeding the seine off the boat bow in an arc, while one or two would hold one end on shore. Our presence was hard to miss either visually or by ear, since we would occasionally sing sea shanties, or in my case, the Spongebob Squarepants theme song. Occasionally, a property owner, especially a new one, would come running down to the beach to see what we were doing on their "private property". In our crew of 4 biologists, one of my roles was to inform the person about what we were doing and that we had a legal right to be there. We never sought permission, because those property owners had no authority to either grant or refuse permission.

The problem is access to that intertidal area. I just sold my own boat because we moved away from an easy place to back it into my barn. But I'm looking for a smaller boat that I might be able to back into the new place and gain access to the intertidal area for both fossil hunting and metal detecting.

I used to hunt a local public beach since the mid 1980's. But then the county bought the beach and turned at least half of it into a waterfront trailer park, primarily for out of state residents who spend the warm months in MD and winter in FL. County staff also posted it "campers only beyond this point". Since that point effectively removed all of the best detecting area, i ignored the signs. A couple of weeks ago, I got run out of there by a county park employee. It really frosts me on so many levels that a beach where I used to hunt was purchased using my tax dollars and it excludes me with some of the massive maintenance staff that my property tax and income tax dollars also pay for. In the off-season, the beach is fenced off with security that might be the envy of the most secure prison - so locals can't walk the beach for any reason. When I get a smaller boat, I'll arrive by boat in the off-season, and if confronted, challenge them to call the police.

 

[OBN]

Legally in MD, the beach between Mean Low Water (MLW) and MHW belongs to the people of the state, not to the property owner above MHW. Many property owners are conveniently unaware of this. When I worked as a biologist in tidal waters, we sampled this area with 300' long, 1/4" mesh seines, feeding the seine off the boat bow in an arc, while one or two would hold one end on shore. Our presence was hard to miss either visually or by ear, since we would occasionally sing sea shanties, or in my case, the Spongebob Squarepants theme song. Occasionally, a property owner, especially a new one, would come running down to the beach to see what we were doing on their "private property". In our crew of 4 biologists, one of my roles was to inform the person about what we were doing and that we had a legal right to be there. We never sought permission, because those property owners had no authority to either grant or refuse permission.

The problem is access to that intertidal area. I just sold my own boat because we moved away from an easy place to back it into my barn. But I'm looking for a smaller boat that I might be able to back into the new place and gain access to the intertidal area for both fossil hunting and metal detecting.

I used to hunt a local public beach since the mid 1980's. But then the county bought the beach and turned at least half of it into a waterfront trailer park, primarily for out of state residents who spend the warm months in MD and winter in FL. County staff also posted it "campers only beyond this point". Since that point effectively removed all of the best detecting area, i ignored the signs. A couple of weeks ago, I got run out of there by a county park employee. It really frosts me on so many levels that a beach where I used to hunt was purchased using my tax dollars and it excludes me with some of the massive maintenance staff that my property tax and income tax dollars also pay for. In the off-season, the beach is fenced off with security that might be the envy of the most secure prison - so locals can't walk the beach for any reason. When I get a smaller boat, I'll arrive by boat in the off-season, and if confronted, challenge them to call the police.

My last encounter was up North, lady came out and asked what I was doing. Lifted the coil out of the water. And she said I was trespassing. She said she owned out to the end of their pier. I said no you own right to those rocks on shore. I ended up telling her to call the police which she did. Police never said a word to me, she just disappeared and this was Hartford county. I try and give the land owner the chance to come to there senses but most never do..and all are women. The men seem to be more knowledgeable and willing to reason. I now carry the Maryland DNR's telephone number on my jetski so I can relay that to the person in dispute or the officers that show up. Cold weather is here now so that seems to keep most land owners away. And I only hunt in the water here in the Chesapeake Bay.

 

[Megalodon]

The waters of the state belong to the people of the state. In some states this is not the case. In VA, there are places where floating in a canoe can be considered trespassing - but not MD. There are a few areas where somebody in some agency has declared a specific historical spot to be off-limits - such as the water off Londontown. I like tidal waters and as long as we stay below the mean high water (except for places like Londontown), we are legal. I worked at DNR for over 30 years and the same laws applied to us.

 

[Megalodon]

I actually enjoyed having the property owners come out to see what we were doing. As soon as they learned it was a state biological survey, they were all fine with it. If the beach was near a historic home or old river landing, I would inquire about metal detecting. I almost always got permission to detect the beach areas, and in some cases, the lawns of homes from the 1700's. My crew always joked about how the women liked hearing all the latin species names of the fish in the net and my anecdotes about those species.