Are rest areas ok to detect?

[critter0527]

I did a quick search of the forums here and found some finds from a rest area. Are they ok to detect? Are they worth the time?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

& I don't see why I would go plane out of my way to ask 50 people if I can detect .........

You're right. I too don't understand why people keep asking. So that one of them eventually finds someone to tell them "no". Hence somehow thus making it a "rule" that they post on the forums. Thus others go "seeking clarification" to resolve it. Thus leading to "more desks to ask at", etc... So you're right. I too don't understand.

Just saying that a single "yes" or a geographic "we've just always hunted there no problems", doesn't seem to satisfy the "is it legal" question in some people's mind's eyes. As if they expect a red carpet rolled out for them, or as if they simply can't do so, unless there were a specific allowance or permit. Why people think that way, I too have never understood.

 

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[christo000]

Exactly

 

[Tom_in_CA]

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I know that in NYC you cant detect areas that are 25 feet of a roadway....

You wanna bet on the reason such an NYC rule came into being? Probably because various well-intentioned md'rs went in to parks and city people over the years asking ("making sure") if it's ok to metal detect. Thus lo & behold, one day, someone figures they better "address this pressing issue". So some people sit down to decide on the rules and boundries for such a thing. Thus no, probably not a "communistic" thing. It could happen (and does) in any locale. All you gotta do is make yourself a big red "x" in need of someone's princely sanction.

 

[Old Dude]

This is all I could find for rules at reststops

 

[WVPapaw]

Get one of those cheap reflective yellow vests and you will look like a highway dept.worker. No one will disturb you because you will look like a Government employee who is actually doing something!

I think I will mount my metal detector box and coil on a weed eater and just pretend I am a worker when I am really looking for targets on state park land. LOL !!!

 

[Lady Pirate]

Some rest areas have "Lot Lizards" doing their thing and they haul their "buyers" to trails behind the restrooms. Hunt there and you will be surprised at the variety of stuff might find. I am cringing at the thought.....but coins wallets, and anything else falls out of loose clothing.

 

[Old Dude]

Some rest areas have "Lot Lizards" doing their thing and they haul their "buyers" to trails behind the restrooms. Hunt there and you will be surprised at the variety of stuff might find. I am cringing at the thought.....but coins wallets, and anything else falls out of loose clothing.

NOW you tell me! I just stopped at a few in a couple states this past week, lol. I could have been looking for lizard droppings!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Some rest areas have "Lot Lizards" doing their thing and they haul their "buyers" to trails behind the restrooms. Hunt there and you will be surprised at the variety of stuff might find. I am cringing at the thought.....but coins wallets, and anything else falls out of loose clothing.

Reminds me of an old-town demolition tearout I was working in the early 1990s. The building being torn out dated to the late 1920s, yet had been on the site of 1880s parts of our town. For some reason, amongst the old coins we were finding, we noticed that there was an odd amount of military buttons. The buttons were not necessarilly old or valuable (only 1910s to 20s junk), but it just struck us as odd. Later on, an very elderly man (in his 80s perhaps) we noticed was watching us. Eventually, we got to talking to the man, and found out that he had grown up right in this area, and been there his whole life. He even remembered, as a young boy, when the late 1920s building had been built. So I asked him "what was here prior to the 1920s structure?". He thought for a minute, and replied that it had been some cat-houses (prostitution dens) in old board & batton bars/saloons type things.

All of the sudden it occurred to us, why we had been finding an odd amount of military buttons ! The boys from the army base in the next city over, had been making weekend treks to my city's red-light district. Doh!

 

[Sandman]

Why do people always assume they have to have permission to detect somewhere that isn't private property?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Why do people always assume they have to have permission to detect somewhere that isn't private property?

As someone who started in the 1970s, before there was internet, before there was FMDAC: The only communication with the outside world anyone had (outside of their own city's know-how) was the magazines, at best. So having come from "those days", I'll take a crack at your question:

Back in the early days, you're right: this type question of "can I detect a park?" or "can I detect such & such beach?" etc... would never have crossed anyone's mind. I mean, if someone had posed such a question, we'd have probably have wondered "why not?". In other words, the we'd have never have suspected YOU COULDN'T , and wouldn't understand why anyone would wonder. Sure: we had the presence-of-mind not to go waltzing over beach-blankets, or go during school hours, or be in the middle-of-deep retrievals when busy-bodies are watching. And I recall that we also had the presence of mind to avoid obvious historic sensitive monuments. But beyond that, we never fretted about run-of-the-mill parks, beaches and schools.

So when did this fear start, where people run into city halls all over, and/or post questions wondering "if they can" ?

The first I saw of this mind-set, was in the early days of the FMDAC in the mid 1980s. For the very first time, stories began to circulate about "bootings" and "laws" and other such legal things. Each edition of the FMDAC periodical would always contain several such stories, to understandably garner solidarity amongst the clubs. About the same time, stories in the magazines also chronicled various legal things. "Codes of ethics" began to appear in the magazines, and with each detector purchase. One point of which always says something to the effect of: "I will know and obey all laws". At first glance, this is all a noble thing to do, to "spread the word" and "gain solidarity", and "obey laws" right? But I noticed an odd side-effect began to happen:

As people read of such far-away places where a rule was invented, or a person was in hot-water, then they might begin to ask themselves: "Gee, I wonder if there's laws where I'm at, or where I'm about to travel to?" So what's the knee-jerk reaction of such people reading the scary stories? TO GO ASK! (sounds reasonable enough, afterall, you "can't be too safe"). But then the snow-ball starts: a lot of these people going and asking, might get "no's", in places that, quite frankly, never had a problem before. Some desk-bound bureaucrat would morph something else to apply (disturbance clauses, or cultural heritage, etc...). So what does that md'r do? Spreads the info to others. Sounds reasonable enough right? Afterall, you wouldn't want your friends to get in trouble right? Even an entire book was made on this principle: "Treasure laws of the United States", detailing a state-by-state state parks rules. How did the author get his info? HE ASKED. Yup, sent out 50 xeroxed letters to each of the 50 states, and simply put the answers in this book in alphabetic order. Sounds logical enough. This just leads to more asking, as you can imagine, or seeking clarifications, thus now more "pressing questions" on bureauucrat's desks, thus more "no's", thus leading to more asking... See the vicious circle?

That's my theory anyhow. People will often answer the question you pose by saying "holes" or because of archies, etc... But if you trace it back further than that (how did "holes" come on someone's radar, or how did md'ing get on archie's radars?) you arrive back at the phenomenom I speak of: md'rs going and making themselves a bid red "x" in need of attention and someone else's princely say-so.

 

[RobRieman]

If its not private property I use the "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission rule". So far it's worked at every site I have been to for the last 35 years. Just go early, go late, and go when there are no busy bodies around.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

..... Just go early, go late, and go when there are no busy bodies around.

Right. Kind of like nose-picking: Not necessarilly "illegal", but .... uh .... we all sort of use a little discretion on our timing, don't we ?

 

[a4wdguy]

In West Virginia, while rest stops are State property, they are not State Parks, nor are they administered by the Parks department. They are administered by the Department of Highways, though the attendants are not DOH employees (they are subcontracted). The property is public and the only rules that apply are those that govern all metal detecting; fill your holes, and be aware of your surroundings.
Having said that, I have hunted many rest stops around the state, and never found anything other than clad. Many of the stops have been completely updated with new facilities with an awful lot of dirt being moved around, so there's no telling what they may have stirred up before putting down sod.