Places to MD in Maryland?

OBN

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Dec 30, 2008
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Maryland is Tuff, I would suggest coming to the MARS Metal Detecting Club for some tips on where and how to be legal. Some place require a permit and many your just not allow.. One reason I hunt the water only in Maryland. One place I hunted years ago was the little park right off route 1 in Laurel right next to the river, That is one of the few I know you can hunt near you. Montgomery County allows no detecting.. Baltimore County you need a permit but some fairly good hunting. Good Luck, And Be Safe
 

Loco-Digger

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Jun 16, 2014
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In my area you can hunt all public properties, schools, parks etc. You need written permission from the Park mgr from each of the state parks. The county parks require a permit and they are not easily obtained. For the parks under the umbrella of the Cleveland parks also require a permit which is a mere formality and easily obtained. I used to mainly hunt public properties since they did not require permission, but now I look for permissions. Most towns and cities have a homepage and you can read the ordinances or search them to see if detecting is banned. To find owners of properties, most counties have an auditor site that uses a map like google earth so you can see where the tax bill is sent when looking for permissions on vacant homes and lots. It's hard for me to fathom that someone would invest in a detector and have to ask this question.
 

Tom_in_CA

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macleod-digger, keep in mind, that for a place to be legal to metal detect in, doesn't mean there has to be an express specific allowance. Eg.: a sign saying "metal detecting allowed here", or whatever. Therefore the LACK of a prohibition, means it's therefore not dis-allowed. To determine if there's a rule or law (if you're skittish), you can do as loco-digger says, and look up the rules for yourself.

Naturally a busy-body could try to say you're running afoul of "disturb" and "alter" type verbage (because maybe they think you're about to leave a hole). The best tactic for this type thing, is to avoid those type individuals, and pick low traffic times. You're simply never going to get "red carpets rolled out for you" by every last gardener or nosy-parker. So since we're in a hobby with some connotations, just use a little discretion (even in the absence of a specific 'no detecting') rule, so as not to ruffle feathers. Ie.: don't do highly manicured lawns when the lawn-mower guy is right there. Avoid *obvious* historic sensitive monuments (when an archie is standing right there), etc....
 

Lexicon Devil

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Oct 7, 2014
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I just moved away from Bethesda a few months ago. I hit my neighbors' houses, public land was always alright too. But the parks? No. Try hitting the schools on the weekends as well.
 

WhiteTornado

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Jun 18, 2013
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Maryland is Tuff, I would suggest coming to the MARS Metal Detecting Club for some tips on where and how to be legal. Some place require a permit and many your just not allow.. One reason I hunt the water only in Maryland. One place I hunted years ago was the little park right off route 1 in Laurel right next to the river, That is one of the few I know you can hunt near you. Montgomery County allows no detecting.. Baltimore County you need a permit but some fairly good hunting. Good Luck, And Be Safe

There is also the Maryland Free State Treasure Club (MFSTC). Baltimore County's permit is free and now you can renew it through email, which is convenient. I think to get a new permit, you might still have to go in person to one of the specified park's offices. Baltimore City has permits, cost is $25/year.

PM me for more details if you'd like. Happy Hunting. :treasurechest:
 

lawsonland

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Oct 1, 2007
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I'm going down to Aberdeen Maryland for the CTX bootcamp, can you hunt there or I saw a spot in Havre De Grace.

Do you need permits for these areas?

Thanks
 

WhiteTornado

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Jun 18, 2013
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Baltimore/DC area
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I'm going down to Aberdeen Maryland for the CTX bootcamp, can you hunt there or I saw a spot in Havre De Grace.

Do you need permits for these areas?

Thanks

From what I've heard from my local detecting club, metal detecting is banned in Harford County parks. Can't say I have researched it myself, but our club officers keep up on these issues and have tried (in vain) to get Harford County Parks & Rec to allow it. I've also heard from club members who chanced it anyway and got booted from the park. Don't know about schools or other public, non-park areas in Harford. Might be okay in those instances.
 

JonesBoys

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Oct 27, 2015
3
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Maryland
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Tracker IV
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Metal Detecting
In case any of you are interested, here is a list of Baltimore county Dept. Of Parks and Rec. properties where you need a permit... As well as a print out of the Baltimore County Metal Detecting Permit:http://www.marsdetecting.org/PDF/BaltimoreCountyPermit.pdf

Any other properties owned or managed by the Baltimore County Dept. of Parks and Rec. do not have specific metal detector laws in place, and therefore you may detect in those areas as long as you follow the posted rules and regulations (ie no trespassing after sunset or before sunrise, no alcohol, etc.)
 

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