Always get permission...

[blackbird939]

I have been doing a huge glut of research, contacting people. I am one of the deluge of newbies who are so late to the game, finding a penny from 1981 is victory.
I am into this hobby for CW stuff. I don't need to find $900 buttons and rare plates and buckles. I just want to find a trace of the war. Reach down and touch history. I'd be fine with digging something up and then putting it back: catch & release. I don't need presentation cases full of 3 ringed bullets and minnies, etc.

Anyways, I have been driving hundreds of miles. I spent the whole weeked casing battlefield sites in Spotsylvania. I did not go door to door like some have suggested. I prefer to write a heartfelt letter to break the ice. I will bring my 9 year-old along for door-to-doors. I feel like he might melt some icy hearts who might otherwise send me packing or release the hounds on me. At night I read the Official Records, pore over published civil war maps, study city streets from google earth where things definitely happened. I have spent 2 months doing serious research. One thing I'd like to share is the ugly negativity that I have found.

http://home.nps.gov/frsp/parknews/relic.htm
http://oha.alexandriava.gov/archaeology/ar-preservation-mdc.html
VA state parks said this:

Virginia State Parks are covered by the Virginia Antiquities Act. As such, the use of metal detectors is prohibited with the exception of designated swimming beaches.


Thanks for writing.

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recretion.
203 Governor St.
Richmond, VA 23219

www.dcr.virginia.gov

I am not giving up... But beware. Digging a buckle could cost you $200K and 2 years in jail, not to mention a felony conviction to follow you around.
I am still putting feelers out for people to want to let me tag along with them on a CW hunt or just coin shooting in VA. In Alexandria, you can't dig in your own front yard. So I have to drive out to the country.

 

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[Bridge End Farm]

wish I had some property that had CW relics on it. I'd let you hunt just from your ethics I know you would take care of the property.

 

[VaJim]

If you can,t dig in your own front yard seems to me you really don,t own it.Which in reality you don,t,anywhere you dig your digging on govt. property.As far as parks go,that is our own fault,i mean we pay these people LARGE sums of HARD EARNED money so they can tell us what we can and cannot do,go figure.Rember reading about the REV. WAR? TAXES"that was a big waste of life and lead" if those people were to be reincarnated and see a W-2 form from today you wouldn't have to shoot them they would drop dead

 

[stanjam]

It really isn't "our" fault. Metal detection guidelines generally do not fall anywhere on the radar when it comes to election time. When is the last time you saw a representative answer detecting questions while they are campaign stumping? There simply isn't that much public interest. So no matter who we elect, chances are they will be grabbed by the arch lobby, as MD's do not have any real form of lobbyists that I know of.

It would be nice if the manufacturers and some hobby orgs could get some effective lobbying together, but I seriously doubt that is going to happen.

The will of the people, even if a majority supported our cause, wouldn't matter. The archs spend a lot of time and money arguing, and have very little opposition. All they need to do is throw out some terms like "grave robbers," and we lose.

 

[Tin Nugget]

Virginia is a tough state to relic hunt and a shame because there were more battles in Va than all other states combined, that's right ALL other states combined. I grew up in Va and lived there until moving to Texas almost 5 years ago. In and around northern Va you can find civil war stuff in almost every nook and cranny of undeveloped spots. Before I moved it had become almost impossible to get permission from land owners but every once in awhile you come across one that allows you to detect. Just have to keep trying. I won't be to specific here but there was a small battle, not a battle really but Union troops were marching down a small sunken road around the Shenandoah Valley. There was a stone wall running through the field along side the road. Still partly there. The road had a bank on each side and the union troops were in formation, close together. Behind the stone wall were Confederate troops. Once the full party of Union troops were visible the Confederate troops opened fire. The union troops had no cover because there were way to many to hide behind the bank at the side of the road. Kind of like the shooting fish in a barrel saying. There is a marker at the site. The landowner will not let a soul on it because he says he has caught several people there at night sneaking on to it with detectors, and finding a mess in the morning. Anyway, there was and may still be an elderly lady that lived alone and near the site that we asked permission to detect her property and she said yes. She was about 80 then and this was ten years ago so it's possible but not likely she is still there. I won't give the description of her property but she had about 25 acres. On our third visit, ours meaning me and one other person, we started finding Union buttons and all sorts of things. Found a broken knife (big) or at least I thought it was a knife/saw looking thing. Turned out to be surgical, used for amputating. We had stumbled upon the field hospital site created after the fight in the area that I described above. When we showed her what we had found she invited us in and said take a look at this stuff I found while out walking. She had a box with some very nice relics she had found just walking in the woods etc. So with all that being said, you just have to be persistant. If you get a no, just move on. Remember, many of these people have either been asked before or had someone sneak onto their property. There was only one other person that gave us the go ahead on that whole mountain and it was a retired Colonel that still did some work at the Pentagon and stayed in DC most of the time. We only had one shot at his place and were told to stay away from the house. When we got there we found dozens of holes. He said he had never allowed anyone on his property before us and we were full of thank you's. So, we had to fill all those holes and try to make it as presentable as possible. We did find some three ringers, two ringers and musket balls along with a few other goodies. Anyway, point is, if he had gotten there first and seen those holes, he would never have let us detect. I realize it is getting tougher and tougher in Va but KEEP ASKING and good luck to you!

 

[Bridge End Farm]

Virginia is a tough state to relic hunt and a shame because there were more battles in Va than all other states combined, that's right ALL other states combined. I grew up in Va and lived there until moving to Texas almost 5 years ago. In and around northern Va you can find civil war stuff in almost every nook and cranny of undeveloped spots. Before I moved it had become almost impossible to get permission from land owners but every once in awhile you come across one that allows you to detect. Just have to keep trying. I won't be to specific here but there was a small battle, not a battle really but Union troops were marching down a small sunken road around the Shenandoah Valley. There was a stone wall running through the field along side the road. Still partly there. The road had a bank on each side and the union troops were in formation, close together. Behind the stone wall were Confederate troops. Once the full party of Union troops were visible the Confederate troops opened fire. The union troops had no cover because there were way to many to hide behind the bank at the side of the road. Kind of like the shooting fish in a barrel saying. There is a marker at the site. The landowner will not let a soul on it because he says he has caught several people there at night sneaking on to it with detectors, and finding a mess in the morning. Anyway, there was and may still be an elderly lady that lived alone and near the site that we asked permission to detect her property and she said yes. She was about 80 then and this was ten years ago so it's possible but not likely she is still there. I won't give the description of her property but she had about 25 acres. On our third visit, ours meaning me and one other person, we started finding Union buttons and all sorts of things. Found a broken knife (big) or at least I thought it was a knife/saw looking thing. Turned out to be surgical, used for amputating. We had stumbled upon the field hospital site created after the fight in the area that I described above. When we showed her what we had found she invited us in and said take a look at this stuff I found while out walking. She had a box with some very nice relics she had found just walking in the woods etc. So with all that being said, you just have to be persistant. If you get a no, just move on. Remember, many of these people have either been asked before or had someone sneak onto their property. There was only one other person that gave us the go ahead on that whole mountain and it was a retired Colonel that still did some work at the Pentagon and stayed in DC most of the time. We only had one shot at his place and were told to stay away from the house. When we got there we found dozens of holes. He said he had never allowed anyone on his property before us and we were full of thank you's. So, we had to fill all those holes and try to make it as presentable as possible. We did find some three ringers, two ringers and musket balls along with a few other goodies. Anyway, point is, if he had gotten there first and seen those holes, he would never have let us detect. I realize it is getting tougher and tougher in Va but KEEP ASKING and good luck to you!

good word !

 

[(())RandY(())]

Almost seem like they would rather leave the relics in the ground and rot!

 

[Gribnitz]

How can you not dig in your own yard ?? Thats absurd. You can't plant a tree, or bury drain tile or put in a driveway ? How in the hell can a city get away with restrictions like that ?

 

[blackbird939]

How can you not dig in your own yard ?? Thats absurd. You can't plant a tree, or bury drain tile or put in a driveway ? How in the hell can a city get away with restrictions like that ?

You can dig all you like. If you are caught with a metal detecting device, and caught removing historic relics, that's something else. Someone here made a good point. It's not that you can't do something. If you DO it, however, and are caught, the law is on the books for legal action against you. Here in Alexandria, there are eyes everywhere. I coulf imagine that if I walked out to my small front yard and started passing a search coil over the ground, several people would see it and at least one would consider reporting it to the authorities. That's all. I'm sure one could argue that you were searching for a lost class ring etc.

 

[mlhudson]

THESE ARE THE VERY LAWS WE NEED TO CHANGE, MORE SHOULD VOICE THERE
OPINION ON THE TOPIC, THERE MUST ALEAST 100,000'S OF PEOPLE THAT
METAL DETECT ( BE IT COINS, RELICS,PULLTAPS ,WHAT EVER) WE COULD GO TO TOWN HALL MEETINGS, PETITION LOCAL GOVERMENT TO ALLOW SUCH
RIGHTS UPHELD, EVEN STATE GOVERMENT. SHOULD WE STAY QUITE ? NO
BE LOUD, BE PROUD OF WHAT WE DO FOR HISTORY ,WE SAVE THE STUFF THEY
NORMALLY CATALOG AND PUT AWAY SAID ITEM FOR EVER.... NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO LET THIS KEEP HAPPENING, SOON ENOUGH WE WILL HAVE NO PLACE TO DETECT.

 

[katzgalore]

A word to the wise: if you get caught you may pay a fine or merely have your detector confiscated, or both.
Katz

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Katz, do tell: do you know of any situations where a guy was md'ing a non-posted, non-historic monument park, and "faced fines" or "had detector confiscated", etc....? I see that supposed threat posted now and then, but .... aside from a few fluke abusive ultimately-thrown-out examples, fail to see that come about. I mean, I hunt all the time at any park in any city I go to, and .... on rare occasions hear a "scram", but never have had all the stuff you alude to. When I press people for examples, no one seems to have many. Yes, a few are forthcoming. If we choose to base our fears on those exceptions, is the day we ALL might as well hide in our closets I mean, yeah, now and then a driver gets roughed up and thrown in jail for a simple tail-light infraction. Does that mean we all shouldn't drive?

 

[Nuttdriver]

Why don't the companies like White's, Tesoro, Minelab and Garrett help us fight this and we keep buying new detectors.
It would make sense for them. $$$$

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Nuttdriver: the industry has given a lot to lobby-ing efforts. They have....... in the past and I guess present..... thrown their support behind the FMDAC, which was formed in the 1980s for this express purpose. But the reality is, there is not enough support. Unlike the NRA or other lobbying groups, with lots of $$ and hobbyists, detecting is a small niche. In any given town of 100k people, you might have 10 so really serious hunters (not counting arm-chair sand-box "now and then" hobbyists). So it just isn't a large enough populace to ever voice our voice, unfortunately.

 

[Tin Nugget]

How can you not dig in your own yard ?? Thats absurd. You can't plant a tree, or bury drain tile or put in a driveway ? How in the hell can a city get away with restrictions like that ?

You can dig all you like. If you are caught with a metal detecting device, and caught removing historic relics, that's something else. Someone here made a good point. It's not that you can't do something. If you DO it, however, and are caught, the law is on the books for legal action against you. Here in Alexandria, there are eyes everywhere. I coulf imagine that if I walked out to my small front yard and started passing a search coil over the ground, several people would see it and at least one would consider reporting it to the authorities. That's all. I'm sure one could argue that you were searching for a lost class ring etc.

Shows how things have changed. I grew up in Alexandria. I bought my first metal detector from Sears at Landmark shopping center on Duke St. That was 1978 and you could detect just about anywhere you wanted. Old town Alexandria was a dump from the town hall to the river and nobody cared at all. Now the area has been redone and untouchable. You can find some spots with promise but you have to head out to Loudoun County and get some permission. I will PM you one blackbird that I never made it to.