Metal Detecting in town parks?

Not a recomendation, but here is what I do: I search for ordinances or regulations prohibiting it. If I can't find any, then I do my thing. Especially in my town, where my tax dollars are maintaing the parks.

On private property, ALWAYS get permission first! On public property, activities are either prohibited by statute, or they are ok.

Good luck and happy hunting.
 

JT2,

I believe it depends on your local or state laws.

I'm new to this hobby, too. I did research and found it is a class 1 misdemeanor to detect and/or dig on "public property" in the state of Virginia without a special permit. The permits are only issued to professional historians and archaeologist or amateurs who are "recognized experts". In otherwords, NOT ME!

Do some research for your area.

DCMatt
 

It really depends what state you are in. Usually, if the parks are maintained with tax dollars, you're free to have at it, just don't leave a mess or they can hit you with vandalism(not to mention giving MDing a bad name, that might get you hit with God-knows-what, most of these psychos carry shovels!!!!). I have heard of states like virginia, and I personally believe that's TOTAL crap. I honestly feel bad for people that MD in states like that. In general, I agree with davisdog, if they don't say no, then the answer is yes.
 

I live in Charlottesville Va. and I hunt the local park every day during my lunch hour. Usually see at least one policman each day doing a drive through. They have never said anything to me and I'm right there out in the open. Most of the time we aknowledge each other with a wave. I'm going to have to recheck the statutes.
 

I've never had a problem, just fill in your hole good and collect up the trash. Shouldn't have any problems.​


Also, I wouldn't carry a 16" bowie knife or entrenching tool to dig with!​
 

A quick piece of advise. If your city or town has no ordinance against detecting and you're allowed to detect parks and other city property, go to the county assessors office and get a list of city owned property. They may print it out for free or a small fee. This will also contain residential lots where the city either acquired them for back taxes from nuisance abatement or someone donated them to the city (either in a will or as a tax write off). Those should also be fair game.
 

DCMATT
Where did you find that law at. I haven't heard anyone talk about it and people are hunting parks and schools alot. I too would like to know more about that law.
Thanks
Mike
 

Each town,city,county,and districts have different laws about MD.Go to your local court house,county seat,check with the commissioner of revenue.He can tell you,or tell you who will know.Finding a place to MD in Virginia is hard to do. I do know that any state owned land,most National Forest,or any government land is off limits to MD. (bunch of BS)
Always check first !! The "Man" says, Ignorance of the law is no excuse,sign here.
 

Before I metal detect in any parks, I contact the local authorities. Some state parks in California allow it, some don't...guess it depends on who I talk to when I contact the authorities, so I always get their name and/or badge number so I have somebody to reference if any other park employee questions me. In city parks I call the local police department and ask them. Again, I get their name and/or badge number for reference. My method is a quick, easy, and painless way to learn about each park.
 

TreasureTales said:
Before I metal detect in any parks, I contact the local authorities. Some state parks in California allow it, some don't...guess it depends on who I talk to when I contact the authorities, so I always get their name and/or badge number so I have somebody to reference if any other park employee questions me. In city parks I call the local police department and ask them. Again, I get their name and/or badge number for reference. My method is a quick, easy, and painless way to learn about each park.
Click to expand...
Treasure Tales is right. Have a name,phone number,something you can fall back on.Something in writing is even better,if you can get it.
 

look up the park department on the internet and contact them by email. I have done this in Houston and got a quick reply from head of permits for the park department which said I did not need any permit and just to keep clear of underground utilities. He also directed me to the webpage which lists all city parks and date they became parks. Seemed like a nice guy. Now I have written authorization (printed email) with only about 5 minutes worth of work
 

I went out to a small local park here in North Las Vegas today; detecting with my DFX for the very first time. I had been taking pains to leave the grass better than I found it, to clean up any and all trash that I found, and to generally be a respectable citizen. After about an hour, I see a police car drive ACROSS THE GRASS IN THE PARK straight towards me.

It bears repeating: Across the soccer fieldy/frisbee/picnic grass field, straight towards me.

I figured I was in for a ticket. He pulls up about two feet to my right, and looks at me.

"Hiya officer!"
"How's it going?" he says - without any sort of emotion what so ever. Could have been bad or good at this point.
"Oh, just fine, I guess."
"Find anything neat?"
"No sir. Thirty three cents and a few pieces of soda can."
"Oh well. It's a nice day. Keep at it, good luck, and be careful."

And then he rolls up his window and drives back across the field and off into the distance.

Moral of the story: In North Las Vegas, the police have a helluva lot of worse things to worry about than somebody monkeying up their park's lawns.
 

I live in the county, so I called the county courthouse and asked for the Parks Dept. then asked if there were any regulations against md'ing county parks....a very sweet lady told me there were no restrictions and happy hunting...just don't leave a mess, she says. I promised that we MD'ers always clean our mess and I assured her that she would not even know I had been there. Got her name for back-up...just in case. So far, so good, been hunting our parks off and on for about 12 years now. Good luck to all that do not have it as easy as I do....Rita
 

In my area there are signs posted at the parks NO METAL DETECTORS PERMITTED IN THE PARK. I've heard from a friend of the former parks and recreation director that a THer, if I could call them that, left some pretty big holes in one of the parks a few years back. As far as residential properties acquired by the city or state. I e-mailed the local city manager about a house and adjoining property the city just bought and was going to level. I was denied access due to liability, I offered to sign a waiver of liability, but was told that no waiver would protect the city. Liability is the only reason I'm given when denied on private property as well. Hopefully it's better in your area.
 

That is a load of crap. I know they all say it, but a liability waiver, even one scrawled yourself on notebook paper is legally binding. It has nothing to do with them being worried about you, they found one excuse to put the nix on it and they'll do anything to prove they're right. These people that insist that you can't MD their property make no sense to me, they are NEVER going to look for anything, so neither is anyone else, it's like they get possessive over stuff they'll never have, I can't STAND the "MINE" syndrome. I don't get it, those coins sure do A LOT of good in the GROUND !!!!!!! Sorry, this is just one of the largest peeves I have encountered in my life !!
 

gold fish said:
That is a load of crap. I know they all say it, but a liability waiver, even one scrawled yourself on notebook paper is legally binding. It has nothing to do with them being worried about you, they found one excuse to put the nix on it and they'll do anything to prove they're right. These people that insist that you can't MD their property make no sense to me, they are NEVER going to look for anything, so neither is anyone else, it's like they get possessive over stuff they'll never have, I can't STAND the "MINE" syndrome. I don't get it, those coins sure do A LOT of good in the GROUND !!!!!!! Sorry, this is just one of the largest peeves I have encountered in my life !!
Click to expand...
You're preaching to the choir, gold fish
 

I live in Cali and we don’t have many laws when it comes to metal detecting and we have lots of public land.

In the public areas you mentioned, if it's not posted and not obviously an historical site, I hunt it. I hunt in the off hours, early mornings, nights and Sunday when people tend to not be there. You know, “out of sight, out of mind”.

HH
 

I have been detecting here in Indiana for 35 years and never asked permission to detect a city park. Usually, and I only came across one, will post no detecting if thats the case. I suppose its best to check if you feel unsure. Private property is just that private. You will need to ask permission. Schools have never been a problem but when I did ask permission I was just told to stay out of the football field and the diamond of the baseball field.
 

It is always best to get permission. Try the Mayor or their assistant. If they don,t deal with this they can tell you who to see. Some towns don't have any law about detecting, Some don, t care, some have laws on destruction of public property ( this is the one they get you with). This usually means no digging and you can only recover recent losses. At a minimum I would contact a police officer, If he does not mind you won,t get into much trouble. In parks with rules if you don,t see detecting banned and no digging ban I might try my luck there.

Ed D.
 

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