Metal Detecting in san diego

[08curranc]

hi i am wondering if anyone knows of any good spots in san diego where it is legal to metal detect. im new to this and want to know if i can metal detect on the beaches or any parks. are there laws regarding this? please let me know. I don't want to break any laws or get fined. Thanks

 

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[Mackaydon]

O8C:
Welcome to Treasure Net !!
I can't think of a beach in the San Diego area where, if tresspassing is allowed, MD is not.
Also, if you still have Qs regarding the Franklin Mint medal you found PM me with your Qs; I may be able to help.
Don.........

 

[08curranc]

So should I not buy a metal detector since I can't use it anywhere?!

 

[Mackaydon]

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, IMO you can MD on any beach where, otherwise, trespassing is allowed.

 

[08curranc]

sorry wasn't reading that right sorry and thanks!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

08curranc, most of the beaches along the san diego shoreline, are state-owned beaches, right? (as opposed to city, county, or federal). State beaches are under the jurisdiction of the state parks dept. And *technically* there is "cultural heritage" verbage in the state park's dept. rules. However, it has ....... in practice ...... never been applied to beaches. Some state land parks have applied it to say "no detecting" (while at others, no one seems to care). Technically, there's no reason why such verbage wouldn't apply to state beaches, in the same way as to land parks. But ..... that's just the way it's evolved, and we all "leave good enough alone"

As far as the parks there, I hear of people detecting the parks and not having any problems, so long as you're not "sticking out", leaving marks, etc... As in ANY city anywhere, if you're going to work schools, parks, etc... a little "discretion" is in order. Ie.: go at low traffic times, go after maintenance crews cut out for the day, etc.... I have heard of some guys who got booted from Balboa park, but .. perhaps they were just there "begging for attention" or had someone make assumptions about them. Others have seemed to have no problem. But as I say, the less neon orange you wear, and the more "off times" you go, then I guess there'll be no one around to gripe, eh?

 

[SanDiegoMetalDetetors]

There are lots of places to metal detect in San Diego. There are a couple state beaches like Torrey Pines (found a gold ring there) and Carlsbad in the northern part but there are mostly city beaches. Lots of detectionist out in the summer time, on any given day in Coronado you'll see 7 to 8 people going at it. After big holidays you'll find 2 to 5 people out at low tide at 5 am before the sun comes up in Pacific beach! There is no problem detecting on any beach in San Diego as far as we are aware. There are lots of parks too and we've not known of anyone that has been asked to leave. Each park is managed by the local office it resides in. For example Kate Sessions park is managed by the Pacific Beach recreation center office. Lots of the park regulations are enforced and can be waived by these individual offices. The few places you CAN NOT metal detect are the State Preserve parks like Anza Borrego State park in the local desert and Cyuamaca State Park in the mountains. The rangers are very diligent about making you aware that although you can metal detect, you cannot remove anything from the park (not a stick, a rock or anything) rock hounds beware! Other parts of our local mountains are under U.S. Forest Service and like the city parks each area's rules are enforced or waived by the local office. We also have BLM desert land that you can detect on. I have to say that you can clearly see the difference between the Anza preserve and the unprotected BLM land. As the Anza is pretty and the BLM has bullet shells, trash and evidence of people everywhere. You can pull land parcel maps from the BLM office website that shows the patchwork of private, state and federal land in the eastern San Diego county area. As for the famous gold areas like Julian and Banner area, it's all private land.

Steve Rowin

 

[coinshooter]

Hi Steve,
Torrey Pines is a state park. The rangers are tolerant of beach hunting, but they could technically tell you to leave. Hunting in the top part of this park (the non-beach part) is definetely off limits. Also on the off limits list is Presidio Park (the birthplace of San Diego, old town is below this and is also off limits), the park in Hillcrest with a cemetary in the back of it (personally was kicked out of here by a male ranger who was trying to show a lady ranger "how it should be done") , The far south end of Coronado Beach where it turns into military (I have been personally shoo'ed off of this end by the MP's), the same on the North end, but this end is fenced and can be detected on by military personnel, but not by civilians. Not sure on the Cuyamaca Park being off limits. I don't think this is true as I have hunted in these mountains for many years with no trouble. I even had a ranger tell a friend they could detect around the old gold mine that is an attraction of the park. Borrego, yes, I have heard this is off limits. Balboa Park, be prepared to be kicked out or hassled. Best to detect only the canyons here as the rangers don't like TH'ers too much.
San Diego sucks for detecting these days. Since the booze ban, nobody loses anything anymore.
I went out tonight to Torrey Pines. Found a total of two quarters, a dime, two pennies, and two fishing weights. 0.62 cents in 1.5 hours of detecting both the dry and the wet at low tide.
Anywhere open (as in open lots or open land) is usually posted "No Trespassing". It's tough to find
places in and around San Diego that are open land for detecting. Usually you will get run off by someone.

 

[coinshooter]

I had two friends that I was detecting with in Escondido. We were looking for lots and my friend went up to a home and asked the renter if we could detect it. He said sure and so we headed over to the property. A neighbor was watching across the sreet and immediately started yelling at us that he had called 911 and that the old lady who owned the property did not want us there.
What an a*ho*e this guy was. He kept yelling at the top of his lungs until we left. Nice.
Some people are just wrapped to tight.
Sorry to approach this negatively, but there ARE areas where it is off limits to hunt
Also any indian land (which there are many reservations around) is also off limits.
As for places to hunt, most beaches, (except for the Coronado north and south limits) are no problem. You should not be hassled on any of these (although I did have a ranger at Torrey Pines remind me that if I found anything past $100 in value I needed to turn it in, I said "Of course I will!", yah right.) But even Torrey is fine. I forgot, La Jolla shores, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club are total jerks when it comes to hunting in front of their stretch of beach. As long as you draw a line from the end of the piling at the boat dock to the Marine room and stay in front of this you will be fine, but the minute you cross into their "territory" you will be asked to leave by the cabana boys or the on site security spokesholes.
Thats the total run up on San Diego detecting.
Good luck!

 

[SanDiegoMetalDetetors]

Cuyamaca Park is a state park and all the rules apply. As for La Jolla shores, public beach and the Tennis club has no authority to ask you to leave, that cemetery at the park in Hillcrest is not in the back, the whole park is a cemetery, they just moved the headstones! So any hits you were getting could have been on a casket! (Creepy seeing people have picnics in that park!)

 

[SanDiegoMetalDetetors]

Here's the info on the cemetery park in Mission Hills San Diego.

Looks like there's 1500 people buried under that grass. Lots of jewelry to detect boys...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~clement/Calvary/home.htm

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey guys, the issue of state of CA owned beaches (which are the majority of our coastline) is tricky. Let me put it this way: They've been detected since the advent of metal detectors (as long as anyone can remember) and it's not been a problem. You can go till you're "blue in the face", and never be bothered. However, once in a blue moon, you'll hear of someone getting grief. For example:

One time, a friend of mine was at Seacliff State beach (south of Santa Cruz). It was just a fluke occurance, that a state archaeologist just HAPPENED to be there at that beach, that day, because he was about to give a lecture at the little beach-side museum they have there. He just HAPPENED to look down on the beach, and saw my friend. He marched down there and read him the riot act. The friend promptly got on-line, and told some other CA hunters, on our local CA forum, what had happened. Well you can guess that this got us "up in arms" that we should "form a solidarity" and "put this mistaken bureaucrat back in his place", right? Afterall, it had just been assumed that state of CA beaches are just fair game ..... right? But the more we looked into the minutia of the matter, the more we realized that we better leave "good enough alone" and just treat this as an isolated incident. Odds are, the archie went back to Sacramento, and will probably never be at the beach again. Because you see, the state parks system does indeed have some cultural heritage verbage, that could .... if you asked enough questions ... be applied to md'ing. Afterall, they are generally accepted to apply to the state's land parks, right? And afterall, the state beaches are merely an extension of the state park's system, right? So *technically* the same rules should apply to state beaches too, right?

Let this be a lesson to ALL of us, in ALL states, of the old psychology of: "Sometimes no one cares ...... UNTIL you ask". This is why I cringe when I see the admonition given often-time on forums, when the subject of legalities comes up, that ..... if in doubt... go ask a desk-bound bureaucrat.

And coin-shooter, you say:

"Not sure on the Cuyamaca Park being off limits. I don't think this is true as I have hunted in these mountains for many years with no trouble"

You are right: there are lots of state of CA land parks where you can hunt (or at least used to) .... and not be bothered. Either the rangers on duty just don't care, or are not appraised. But you wanna know the quickest way to put an end to that? Start asking lots of questions, to make yourself a big target, to people who would otherwise perhaps never have cared.

 

[SanDiegoMetalDetetors]

Good advice Tom. Just to be clear since we are discussing San Diego for others who may visit, most of our beaches are NOT state beaches they are City beaches.

 

[coinshooter]

Yah, Tom. I've never beenone to ask a ranger anything.
My thought in that manner is just avoid going there, or "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission".
WHile everyoe makes personal choices and mine should not reflect on anyone else's here, I don't do well with local authority when it comes to these places. Mission Hills park is an example. It's ok to play soccer on dead people, but it's not ok to detect? BS! At best, a detector is only going to go 1 foot down. I don't know of anyone (except possibly Dan) who can even find something that deep. Most targets are going to be 7 inches or less. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A CASKET THAT IS BURIED AT 7 INCHES?
These guys (and gals) think they are "upholding the law" by hassling tax paying citizens that pay THEIR salaries. Not one thing was posted at the Mission Hills park. When I brought up to the rangers that I can see on the sign that I can't have a dog there unless it is on a leash and I should not litter, but I don't see any signs that say I can't detect, he tried to save face in front of his trianee lady ranger by telling me it did not need to be posted and that their were cultural antiquities here. When Ipointed out to her I was just searching the edges, he started in on me Then (to his credit), he says to me,"Look, I'm trying to save you from getting a ticket!". A real A.......hole. I had to leave at this point, but the real fact is, it is NOT illegal to hunt in any unposted park, it is just illegal to dig. I have yet to test that theory.

 

[coinshooter]

Oh BTW SanDiegoMetalDetector, have you ever tried hunting inside the imaginary line I described at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club beach?
I tried to use your argument. I even told them that the beach is not owned and to please show me a map. They have one that they gave me!
This issue has been going back and forth with the coastal commision and these guys for years.
They WILL strongarm you if you try and detect inside thisline.
We had an old club member who tested this theory and ended up in court after being beaten up by LJBTC security years ago. They settled out of court for an undisclosed amount and he signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding the whole incident.

I suggest you educate yourself about this place as these guys are serious. Here's some of the legalities:

http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2008/4/Th20a-4-2008.pdf

 

[thadious]

Since when has balboa park been off limits. I have hunted hear many times even talked to rangers and park maintenance who said it was ok to dig there. I have always taken care to dig my hole's in a way that left little or no evidence anyone had dug there. I also carry a plastic bag which I use to pick up trash I dig and or find in my path as I detect. I have detected near the zoo and the ball park area. The only place I know of at balboa where you can't hunt is the frisbee golf coarse and the regular golf coarse. The last time I was there was in September when I ranger kept me from being bitten by a rattle snake as I was walking near him on my way to hunt the old boy scout camp across from the navy hospital.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Ted, wow this is an old post.

Looking back through it, to see what you are talking about, I see no one here said Balboa park was "off-limits". Look closely, and you'll see that coinshooter only said to be prepared to be "kicked out or hassled" there. That is not the same as being "off-limits".

When you say the term "off-limits", that would seem to imply an actual written rule "no metal detectors", or something. But there are LOTS of parks across the USA where no such specific wording exists. Yet this will not stop some busy body or lookie-lou gardener or barney fife cop from thinking you might harm the earthworms, or leave a mess, or whatever. Thus I think this is what coin-shooter was saying, was that ..... such occurances had happened there. But notice as your own experience shows, that it's all a matter of who you run into, and how you conduct yourself. And as you can see, the WORST thing to do, in the case of isolated incidents like this, is to go seek "clarification", lest you merely get a rule written (or clarified or whatever), to "address your pressing issue" Because yes, you're right, others have detected there un-bothered, or even with the blessings of passing cops and rangers.

 

[thadious]

Your right Tom I read it the wrong way.

 

[Mark S.]

I spent some time in SD in the late 70's (active Navy). Hunted alot in Balboa park. As well as all the beaches. Coronado was the best for me. Alot fewer hunters then. Maybe every couple times out would we see someone else. Was in the Coinshooters club and we pretty much hunted all over the area. Never had a problem any where that I recall. Only place off limits back then was Old Town.

Best spot I searched was Bayview Navy housing. They were rehabbing the place one area at a time. We (Howard , Kevin and I) dug a lot of silver, clad, jewelry and trinkets from there. I looked at a google satellite map and the street tours of the spot now and found that it was completely leveled and modern homes put up in place of all the buildings that were rehabbed back in the 70's. Don't know when it was done but it would have been good hunting when they did it. Brings back alot of memories. Both my hunting buddies have passed. Howard Childress in the early 90's. He was older and suffered a stroke. The other was Kevin Reilly of Reilly's Treasured Gold in Florida. He died from cancer a few years back. Did not know it until after the fact. Happened fast.

 

[LizLizz]

I was wondering too. My boyfriend bought me my first Metal Detector it is the bounty hunter gold digger. I went to Coronado beach this morning it was so much fun I found lots of nails and metal scraps... even and old bent up fork. I had a blast. But where else can I go what is a good spot to go? and actually find jewelry etc. I know others on this site have experience and can maybe help with tips... what cool items have some of you found?