Oklahoma Metal Detecting Laws

[OKCHunter]

I'm new to metal detecting and have been trying to determine what is allowed by law in OK. Can someone provide a brief primer or link to information. After reviewing some of the historical maps, I could see where relic hunting might be fun - ghost towns, civil war sites, troop and Indian trails, etc.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

If it's private property, talk to the owner.
If it's city or county property, research the local laws online for wording that bans metal detecting
If it's state park owned, you have to talk to the local ranger office. Some allow, some don't.

DO NOT go groveling into city offices asking if you may pretty-please have permission to detect on public spaces (when there are no rules banning it). Chances are the person you talk to has zero authority to approve or deny permission, and likely they will give you a "no" just because it's the safe and easy answer that won't come back to get them in trouble.

 

[OKCHunter]

If it's private property, talk to the owner.
If it's city or county property, research the local laws online for wording that bans metal detecting
If it's state park owned, you have to talk to the local ranger office. Some allow, some don't.

DO NOT go groveling into city offices asking if you may pretty-please have permission to detect on public spaces (when there are no rules banning it). Chances are the person you talk to has zero authority to approve or deny permission, and likely they will give you a "no" just because it's the safe and easy answer that won't come back to get them in trouble.

Thank you. You are confirming what I was thinking / finding regarding private and state property.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.....If it's state park owned, you have to talk to the local ranger office. Some allow, some don't.....

To expand on Jason's answer: Even state park rules can be found by looking up for oneself. (IMHO). If you waltz into various park kiosk's ranger offices, you could find a barney-fife who think it violates the "disturb" or "alter" clauses. Or "Harvest" or "remove" type clauses.

In any layer of govt. land (parks, forests, school, beaches, etc...) of city, county, state, or fed, if you don't see in their printed rules anything specifically saying "no md'ing", then presto, it's not prohibited

HOWEVER: Be aware that this doesn't mean that someone might not still gripe. Especially in manicured turfed lawns. Where, let's be honest: Md'ing has connotations. And there's other ancillary verbiage someone could say applies. So you need to learn a little discretion in timing and image, so as not to "swat hornet's nests".

And to make things simple: Assume that obvious historic sensitive monument (of any entity) is a no-no. (Or ... at least .... not when busy-bodies are there at high noon )

 

[Jason in Enid]

Tom, the LAW is clearly spelled out here. Metal detecting used to be defacto banned across all OK state park properties but that has been relaxed in recent years, to allow detecting in non-sensitive areas but you are still required (let me emphasize that, REQUIRED!!) to find out the specific YEAs and NAYs for each park by talking to the local ranger.

Please do not encourage people to just "go for it" on these lands. WE are making progress here and don't want it screwed up.

 

[OKCHunter]

Thanks for the comments. They are providing me with good guidance. Jason - I've seen several historic monuments like civil war sites and one near Arcadia that is marked as Washington Irvings campsite. These areas I have seen look to be on private land. Can we md in those areas with landowner permission? I hope I'm not opening a can of worms with these questions. I'm just asking out of plain ignorance and don't want to break any laws.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Thanks for the comments. They are providing me with good guidance. Jason - I've seen several historic monuments like civil war sites and one near Arcadia that is marked as Washington Irvings campsite. These areas I have seen look to be on private land. Can we md in those areas with landowner permission? I hope I'm not opening a can of worms with these questions. I'm just asking out of plain ignorance and don't want to break any laws.

No problem, these are great questions! Better to get educated first, and if you don't ask us, we can't help.

Anyway, as to the markers.... You have to pay attention to what TYPE of marker they are. This state is filled with "historical markers" and yes the vast majority of them are on private land. If they are on federal or state lands, they are protected sites and no detecting is allowed. If they are on private lands, they are fair game as long as you have permission from the land owner.

Another point to go along with this. I'm sure you've seen buildings and locations with a "national historic register" placard; the same rule applies! If it's private property it's fair game! The National Historic Register is basically a meaningless thing that is just saying that property is old enough to be considered "historic" and that it's listed on a register. NHR properties are rebuilt, remodeled, and even torn down and bull-dozed every day.

 

[OKCHunter]

No problem, these are great questions! Better to get educated first, and if you don't ask us, we can't help.

Anyway, as to the markers.... You have to pay attention to what TYPE of marker they are. This state is filled with "historical markers" and yes the vast majority of them are on private land. If they are on federal or state lands, they are protected sites and no detecting is allowed. If they are on private lands, they are fair game as long as you have permission from the land owner.

Another point to go along with this. I'm sure you've seen buildings and locations with a "national historic register" placard; the same rule applies! If it's private property it's fair game! The National Historic Register is basically a meaningless thing that is just saying that property is old enough to be considered "historic" and that it's listed on a register. NHR properties are rebuilt, remodeled, and even torn down and bull-dozed every day.

Thank you. That explanation clears up several points of confusion for me.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Tom, the LAW is clearly spelled out here. Metal detecting used to be defacto banned across all OK state park properties but that has been relaxed in recent years, to allow detecting in non-sensitive areas but you are still required (let me emphasize that, REQUIRED!!) to find out the specific YEAs and NAYs for each park by talking to the local ranger.

Please do not encourage people to just "go for it" on these lands. WE are making progress here and don't want it screwed up.

Jason, I saw in your answer (and other inputs on various threads) that you are not a proponent of grovelling. So I hope I didn't ruffle your feathers here!

I realize that the laws of each state's parks are "clearly spelled out". And the admonition that a person refer to THAT , would, I suppose, lead them to whatever it is that you're referring to there. I mean: If the spelled out law says that an md'r is ".... required to ask at each kiosk", then sure: That would be there, in writing, as a mandate. Right ?

So in which case I was NOT "encouraging people to just go for it". My advice of looking it up for oneself, would, in this case, have led them to the specifics which you are referring to. Right ? So if it said, as you say, that md'rs need to ask each local ranger, then they would find that notation, and .... so be it !

So with that cleared up, can you link this law/rule ? The reason I am curious, is there got similar "ask at each kiosk" verbiage entered into the FMDAC's state by state listing. Seems similar to what you're saying . Yet when you click on it, to delve further, you discover that this "ask each ranger" notation is simply commentary to the actual law. So when you click to read the ACTUAL rules for said-state-park, it no where says "ask at each kiosk" (or "with permission", etc...). Instead this is sometimes just the statements on the cover letter of whomever is answering the question. And when you look at what they're referring you to, it doesn't necessarily say that, per se.

This may not be the case for OK (perhaps it's actually there). But can you reference whatever you're pulling that from, so we can see whether that's actual mandate, versus someone just answering a "can we metal detect" inquiry letter decades ago.

Thanx !

 

[Tom_in_CA]

As an example of this phenomenon, consider CA . As you can see on this list, we too have a "with permission" (inferring ask at each kiosk, eh ?) answer in the CA column.

Federation of Metal Detector & Archaeological Clubs Inc.

Next you click on the CA state name, to get the expanded version. Notice closely the introductory commentary (answering the inquiry letter they received, from whomever is compiling the FMDAC's list). And sure enough, it indicates as follows:

".... we have delegated the authority to regulate activity related to metal detectors to our District Superintendents. Therefore, you will need to contact personnel in the park in which you wish to perform metal detecting and follow their instructions as to where and how you may metal detect...."

Hard to argue with that ! But wait ! Read further to what the reference thereafter (the actual chapter and verse laws/rules), and you see that's not actually written in the law. You begin to see it's just commentary by whomever's answering the letter/inquiry. And by the way, you can hunt state of CA beaches here till you're blue in the face (administered by the same state park's dept. that administers their in-land parks), and ... no .... no one "contacts them upon arrival". Yet a technical reading of the FMDAC's expanded list there, might lead you to believe you have to, or that it's law, or whatever.

Again, not saying that OK is the same way. Perhaps it's in actual law (and not just commentary) that this is the case. If so, do you have a link ? When I click on the state of OK on the FMDAC's list, I see a "with permit" answer. And when clicking for the expanded version, I merely see the same thing. Not sure if that's commentary, versus actual law. When you go to click on the link that's on that expanded window, it only leads you to the home page of the OK state parks. Aaarrgghhh. Ok, I'll bite: Has anyone surfed actual OK state park's laws, to see if this is anywhere actually there ?

 

[Jason in Enid]

The FMDAC list is a joke, based on a book published over decade ago, if not at least 20 years. The book was published based on letters written to state depts and the answers received. I know what OK rules are becaus eI have lived here my entire life and detected here for 34 years. The rules can be found online because I have found them from State parks and Corps of Engineer websites.

Yes, I'm sure the local rangers know where detecting is allowed and probably don't bother people hunting in those spots. I don't think this is a "must report in" scenario, just a "talk to us first to know where (if) if you can search" thing.

Where is the link to these rules? I didn't save them when I found them, but I know they are there.

 

[Grumpie]

I look at it this way.... Unless there has been some type of outlandish rumors going around of crazy laws being enforced I detect wherever. And this forum is a good place start to looking for such things.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I look at it this way.... Unless there has been some type of outlandish rumors going around of crazy laws being enforced I detect wherever. .....

Grumpie, as an example of what you are saying: There is a large city here in CA, that invented a "permit" for md'ing their city parks. Someone dreamed it up 30 or 40+ yrs. ago, and delegated the issuing of those permits to the club. For something silly like $15 p/yr. And at the end of the year, the club sends a lump sum check to the city.

Yet , no one in that city or club, in that entire time, has ever been "carded". And someone once went to the city to get the "permit" he'd heard about (because he wasn't a club member), and .... despite stops at a dozen different desks, being shunted around in the bureaucracy, he couldn't find anyone to even know what he was talking about ! Another guy I know in that city TRIED HARD to get "carded": He saw a few park workers fixing some sprinkler stuff, and purposefully made circles all around them for 30 minutes. They never paid him a moment's mind.

So ... at a certain point you almost have to ask yourself "why bother?"

Hence so too, when we see some "ask each ranger kiosk" wording, (which no doubt came via "pressing questions" decades ago), I sometimes wonder if you would find anyone in the field to care less ?

Also ask yourself: What standard of measure is the ranger you are asking, using to give the "yes" or the "no" ? Is he basing it on some actual standard ? Ie.: "yes here, but no not there" that he has for reference ? If so, then why can't the md'r avail himself of that written source ? Or is the "yes or no" totally arbitrary and whimsical on the ranger's part ? So if he's having a bad hair day it's "no". If he's in a good mood it's "yes" ?