Lake Thunderbird... OH MY!

[lokkenpa]

This morning after hitting one of the close by beaches and coming up empty handed, I decided to head to Lake Thunderbird...

I did the good deed and stopped at the park office to spend my $5 to get a metal detecting use permit for the State Park. Now this is where it gets aggravating...

I was given a map of the park that had all the permitted area's to metal detect highlighted along with a copy of my permit. I noted on the map that there was a beach area in a "permitted" section of the park and commented that would be an ideal place to go. The park manager overheard and informed me that even though the beach was in a permitted area, ALL of the beaches were off limits for metal detecting. Water detecting was off limits inside the buoyed off area's.

One of the ladies that worked in the office proceeded to tell me that people swam almost anywhere around the lake and that I still had plenty of water to hunt in. After driving around and looking for some of these area's, I found signs posted in them that said "DAY USE PROHIBITED". So that tells me that I can't park there and use that section for a day trip. That I needed to get a camp site in order to use it.

So it looks like there are limited, good, places to water hunt at this park.

Anyone else come to this conclusion or had a similar experience with this park lately

Phil

[sharpshooter]

Phil,

I've water hunted Thunderbird Lake several times over the past 4 or 5 years; and already twice this summer. I've never ran into the problems you encountered today. I always hunt the same swimming area; inside the buoy line; and almost always in the water. I think the only time I ever actually hunted the beach area was a few years ago, in winter, when the lake level was very low, and I had the whole place to myself.

I reread my USE PERMIT after seeing your post and there is nothing anywhere on it saying MDing the swimming area's (in or out of the water) is not permitted. I think that should be stated in BOLD CAPITOL LETTERS on the use permit; it only makes sense that we plan on hunting the swimming areas. Anyway, I wouldn't let the day use signs deter you; you paid your fee and have your permit. As long as you're in an approved MDing area, what can they say.

I park in the parking lot near the boat ramp and walk over to the swimming area. I always make sure to save all my trash targets so I can show the Ranger if necessary. Part of the agreement is to remove all trash that we dig.

Curious.....what Park Office did you go to get your permit?

[lokkenpa]

I went to the park office down by the lake on the north side. I thought that it was kind of strange that the use permit did not mention anything that the park manager told me... But she was adamant about that fact...

Which boat ramp do you park by? There are a couple there...

Thanks!

Phil

[RGINN]

I didn't know that Oklahoma State Parks charged a $5 fee for metal detecting. I'll go pull the regs up as they might have changed. I suspect this is somethin the park is doing on their own. If so, get it stopped. Oklahoma state parks were established not to generate revenue, but to provide a place that all Oklahomans could recreate, camp, swim, and generally enjoy the outdoors, by paying a reasonable maintenance fee established by the legislature. I worked for the Tourism and Recreation dept. for 7 years as a park ranger. The park manager may grant permission to metal detect in certain areas. There was never a 'fee'. Also, the Chief Ranger of the state parks system, Larry Habbeger, is based in Thunderbird. I guess he's still in charge, anyway. You can talk to him, but he probably has no clue as to what folks actually want to do in state parks. I saw him about twice in 7 years. Also, lots of archeaological sites in the Thunderbird area.

[tjcnok]

There are a lot of things about Oklahoma Gooberment that are beyond common sence. What earthly differance would it make whether you are swimming or camping or metal detecting as long as you are not bothering other patrons of the State's Parks?