Paul,

You need a permit to hunt STATE parks and beaches (don't go trotting down to Hamlin without one, they'll ask you to put it away). I was told that the permit allows detecting only between labor day and memorial day, in other words the off season. However, I'm not sure it that applies everywhere or just at Hamlin where I asked. I've never bothered detecting the parks, outside of enough to get told to stop before I knew. There's just so many good places to detect in the Rochester area that the hassle of getting a park permit didn't seem worth it. So I don't know whats involved in getting the permit. I suggest if you want to get one, you just call the state parks department.

As for local parks, I've never had a problem in any of them. No one ever asked me to stop. I think as long as everyone continues to be neat about it, local ordinances won't be a problem.

By the way, in the 10 minutes I spent detecting a Hamlin before the lifegaurd told me to quit, I did find a small 14k gold pendant. So, maybe there is lots of stuff in there until the day after labor day. Good luck, have fun, HH and GH.