Is it illegal to metal detect in state parks?

[999digger]

This is what I heard and I am wondering if it is true.
Thank you

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[ivan salis]

look up your local state park rules in some states it is - in others its not.

from what I have seen -- to detect on DNR owned lands in wisconson (state parks) you need to obtain a permit* form the park manager and turn in all finds to them -- so basically put profiet wize its useless.

using your detector to find a seam for gold panning might be differant , I'm not sure.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Agreed.

It depends on the state park. You need to check the specific state park you are interested in.

Beth

 

[treasurehound]

Yes check your state laws first. I know here in Tennessee it is illegal to hunt the state and national parks.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Treasurehunter is almost correct (about Tennessee state parks).

http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/FAQs.shtml#metal

Wisconsin doesn't seem to be so nice (again in state parks)

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/other/metaldetect.html

Here in South Dakota, you can metal detect in a lot of them - sometimes they want you to only do it during a certain time of the year (after tourist seasons) and stuff like that.

Hope you are closer to another state than Wisconsin, with more favorable laws.

Beth

 

[999digger]

Thanks for all the advice. I go to Iowa a lot to see my brother. There is a caves state park and I wasn't sure if I could detect there. I told my brother that I can't.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Here's a little info on Iowa.

http://www.metal-detecting-ghost-towns-of-the-east.com/metal-detecting-in-Iowa.html


Good luck!


Beth

 

[treasurehound]

Treasurehunter is almost correct (about Tennessee state parks).

http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/FAQs.shtml#metal

Wisconsin doesn't seem to be so nice (again in state parks)

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/other/metaldetect.html

Here in South Dakota, you can metal detect in a lot of them - sometimes they want you to only do it during a certain time of the year (after tourist seasons) and stuff like that.

Hope you are closer to another state than Wisconsin, with more favorable laws.

Beth

Beth you are correct as far as Tennessee. It is ok to hunt in the state parks to look for a lost object. But I have been told by several people that if anything else is found it must be turned in to the ranger's office. Not worth my time. I don't even think about hunting in the state parks. Too many other places to go. They are pretty strict over here in the parks. One guy was caught in the National Park and it wasn't pretty. He was arrested, fined $10,000 and lost his machine and vehicle. And the publicity in the papers does not help our hobby. So please know your laws before hunting in those parks you are unfamiliar with.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Treasurehound,

You have my full agreement.

Beth

 

[Lowbatts]

Hard to detect on any public land in Wis. anymore.

If you're frequently close enough to Iowa then I'm guessing you may be in Dodge County or nearby in SW Wis. If you come over to the Il side you can go to some state parks, but you have to get a permit at the ranger's office for the specific state park you are going to, where allowed. Some are off limits but will issue permits to MD on nearby Il DNR hunting grounds that are not part of the state parks but administered by them as well.

County parks vary as to whether or not md'ing is an issue. Check in on the Il forum if you want specific Il county info.

 

[Sandman]

It depends on the state and what laws they impose. http://www.fmdac.org/parks/parks.htm Here in Michigan there are certain parks that are open to detection and others that are closed. Even the ones that are open you need to check the DNR's website as you can only legally detect in certain areas. For example some of the state parks you can only detect in the parking lots. HOWEVER THESE ARE MOSTLY PAVED. Whats up with that?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Those that say "it depends on which state" are correct. It varies from state to state. As for the link Sandman gives, I believe that at the top of that page, there is some sort of disclaimer about how "actual field conditions vary" blah blah blah. This introduction is probably born out of the fact that there are many "dire sounding" states, where, .... truth be told ...... it just goes on anyhow, and no one's ever cared (barring your being a nuisance and snooping around obvious historic monuments, etc...).

The reason for the wide degree of "actual reality" is that a list like the link sandman gives, is born/assembled in the following way: someone .......... oh-so-many-years-ago, simply sends out a letter to all 50 states (especially if written rules they could sleuth out were "iffy" or "unclear" on the matter) asking "Is metal detecting allowed?". Often times some desk-bound legal bureaucrat, who fields such a question, would send back the answer "no", for example. But oddly, in some of those "no" states (on that list), detecting had never been a problem in those state's parks. Doh! So you can see it was a clear case of "no one cares, till you ask" type thing Perhaps whomever fielded the question morphed something else to apply to the "pressing question" like cultural heritage verbage, etc... (when in fact, perhaps the question never crossed anyones mind before, or rank-&-file out in the actual parks, never cared before).

Here in CA, for instance, there are some where you won't be bothered. However, I don't doubt that if I asked enough kiosk clerks, or wrote enough letters to Sacramento, that I might indeed find myself a "no". Just go look for that boyscout ring your dad lost when he was a kid. And avoid obvious historic monuments, crowds, lookie-lou busy-bodies, etc.....

 

[Lowbatts]

Thanks for the link Sandman!
Might be a grammatical error or I'm just wound too tight but the Illinois link states:

A. Not all sites allow metal detecting to protect significant cultural or natural resources. Those that do, require permits that can be obtained at the park office. If there is a specific park that you want to metal detect at, please call the site first.

Seems like poetic injustice, as many historic sites, including a few in Illinois, were discovered by metal detectorists.

Prior to what happened here in Illinois a ew years ago, I would detect at many State Parks. We had a casual informality about it. Then some local FMDAC people told me I couldn't hunt at State Parks, they never did. I told them I had done so for years, with the knowledge and even assistance of park personnel in some cases.

So they went off on their crusade talking to the state people in Springfield to get EXACT clarification of what at that time was already posted at the entrance to every state park. Before you knew it, SLAM goes the door.

I quit that club and look forward to the day when informed people take appropriate measures on the national, state and local level to honestly and morally define MD'ing laws.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Lowbatts, you say:

"I quit that club and look forward to the day when informed people take appropriate measures on the national, state and local level to honestly and morally define MD'ing laws."

But don't you get it?? That's EXACTLY what they were trying to do! Get clarifications and definitions! And they got it. Don't ya love it? You gotta be grateful for folks who go seek those clarifications, and then end up getting a self-fulfilling prophecy, eh? (ie.: some deskbound bureaucrat to bestow on you their princely "no", because they must address your "pressing issue")

I can give you oodles of examples just like yours, of the same pyschology happening.

And CA state parks, according to that website, has similar wording to Ill. Ie.: inquire at each kiosk, or "only with permission" or something to that effect. So what ends up happening, is people read that admonition, and do just that. They waltz up to bored kiosk clerks, or write letters to Sacramento "just to be sure", and some confused kiosk clerk (who perhaps never gave the matter thought before) looks long and hard through his books, determines that you might harm the earthworms, and tells you "no". Agggghhhhhh. It's as if we can be our own worst enemies, eh?

 

[mlayers]

I alway stop in the park office and ask if it is ok and here in Ohio I have always been told yes you can......Matt

 

[Lowbatts]

Right on Tom!

Of course what I'm going for is an honest moral argument from someone telling me what is wrong with me freeing those mem cents from Mother Earth's grip.

I've run into the County guy who had a hard-line about me taking, "The People's Property" while md'ing at one FP site. (leaving it there benefits the people in what way?)

Run into the nature nuts who thought me to be "despoiling nature for sheer profit" all the while ignoring the fact that I removed volumnous amounts of foriegn material from a site. (trash, which apparently was something they could not do)

And it seems these are the primary themes behind laws against md'ing. Unless there is actually a morbid fear on the part of gubbermint that I may actually get rich (w/o their approval) doing this.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

lowbatts,

Boy - did you hit the nail on the sore spot!!!!

We, too, have run into that - the "peoples property" - since when did my lost dime belong to the people anyway? We get that from anti-mining/prospecting folks, too.

Those folks should look into history - they would find out that a large percentage of our US mining ventures (big ones) came from some small miner who was just prospecting along, and would never be able to get financing for a big venture - and many, many important archeological discoveries were NOT discovered by archeologists - but by folks like us.

They fail to realize that folks like us tend to love history and origins of things - and it is not usually us who is walking off with the countries treasures - its the folks that come in after a discovery has been made.

And, of course, the other side of the same hurtful coin, is that - if an archeological item is 2 feet in the ground, how does anyone know it is even there? (hmmm, sounds like that old joke, if a tree falls in the forest, and there is nobody around, does it still make a sound).

All the ridiculous government regulations do is make me what to cover it back up and shut up. Heck, I know someone in Arizona who found an old homestead and a grave on his private property, and the state tried to "confiscate" it. He agreed to let them re-interr the body, but that is NOT what they wanted to do - they wanted to leave it there, and make that whole area (almost 20 acres) not just "off limits" to anyone, but to have archeologists have unrestrained access to the land.

Note here - the state lost the court battle, and the grave was left, and the person who owned the property put a fence around the gravesite.

But, what nerve - they wouldn't have known a thing about it if the guy hadn't wanted to do the right thing.

Beth

 

[prospectordamon]

every state is different as stated above.... but I do know in Alabama (due to civil war stuff) they will throw you UNDER the jail and THROW AWAY the key! not literally, but they dont mess around with it here! Goodluck on your research.

 

[tomjiggy]

Kinda reminds me of Mel Fisher, the guy who salvaged the wreck off the coast of Florida. He spends a great deal of HIS time AND money to recover a ship that sank OFF the coast of Florida. Florida, in turn, takes him to court trying to get FULL possession of the treasure that Mr. Fisher found and recovered in the first place. I'm not saying that my ideals concerning this are right, but if I found something like that I probably would NOT tell anyone, specially the government. Finding that in international waters, he shouldn't have had to share it with anyone, including Florida or the Spanish (who plundered the Incan's and a lot more).
But, you need to do what's right according to the state you are in(I would hate to hear about someone investing all the time and money, finding something of value, only to have it taken from you and you being put in jail to boot). I feel sorry for those who have suffered from greedy lawmakers who want nothing more than to make a buck off their fellow man who's just trying to find some pleasure in a hobby such as MD'ing.
And I hope someone gets in office who likes to MD, and passes some cool laws that protect us from the rest of them. Good luck, I hope you find a really cool cache, but I personally would hesitate to post everything you find(you never know who's watching). Even on here. There are some really cool and super smart people here on TNet, but Uncle Sam's agents are everywhere.....

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

In Massachusetts, it is illegal unless you have written permission from the DCR director for your park or region. This permission is not easy to get, but it is worth a try. Do not get caught detecting without permission or you will likely lose your detector and could face other penalties.