Connecticut detecting laws!?

[DanTheNewbie]

So I've been detecting state forests and parks for a few months , unknowingly been breaking the law, I just read I am allowed to detect but I can't dig, how many people here actually follow this rule? Because I have no private property to detect I need to go to state lands..., I've just never heard of anyone getti g in trouble for metal detecting in ct
Has anyone ever heard of this in CT?

 

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[deepskyal]

Don't think I'd be posting my illegal activities on a public forum, let alone anyone on here condoning your activities. Just gives us a black eye and makes us look like criminals.

Al

 

[l.cutler]

You need to go to state land? Can't you ask permission to hunt private property, or hunt legal public land owned by towns or municipalities like everyone else? It is bad enough to unknowingly break the law, but to do it intentionally?

 

[ticm]

So I've been detecting state forests and parks for a few months , unknowingly been breaking the law, I just read I am allowed to detect but I can't dig, how many people here actually follow this rule? Because I have no private property to detect I need to go to state lands...I'm going today too haha, I've just never heard of anyone getti g in trouble for metal detecting in ct
Has anyone ever heard of this in CT?

Your on your way to having a criminal record if you don't already have one.

 

[QuarterMaster]

I know I for one wouldn't risk being arrested, having my MD confiscated not to mention they can take your car as well...

 

[DanTheNewbie]

Your on your way to having a criminal record if you don't already have one.

Really?? Lol tons of people hunt the state forest around here, law states I can detect but not dig, I detect rock walls no digging required, you guys are crazy! Haha

 

[DanTheNewbie]

I posted before about going to new gate state forest and wanting to detect the rock walls, I have in the past brought a shovel an such but now I know not too, I'm just trying to say that it's a craZy law.. So how are people allowed to hunt baseball fields and parks I see it all over this forum and no one calls anyone out? Lol

 

[ticm]

Really?? Lol tons of people hunt the state forest around here, law states I can detect but not dig, I detect rock walls no digging required, you guys are crazy! Haha

Crazy, maybe. Will I get arrested doing something illegal using a detector no. Tons of people rob banks. So go for it.

 

[ticm]

I posted before about going to new gate state forest and wanting to detect the rock walls, I have in the past brought a shovel an such but now I know not too, I'm just trying to say that it's a craZy law.. So how are people allowed to hunt baseball fields and parks I see it all over this forum and no one calls anyone out? Lol

Are they public land. If so most places allow it.

 

[DanTheNewbie]

You need to go to state land? Can't you ask permission to hunt private property, or hunt legal public land owned by towns or municipalities like everyone else? It is bad enough to unknowingly break the law, but to do it intentionally?

So town parks are usually ok? Unless that town has a metal detecting ban? I know a few are off limits

 

[lookindown]

Do some reserarch on where you can and cant hunt...dont call and ask because you will get a no...if it doesnt say detecting is iligal then hunt it...in the case of no digging in state parks, dont dig. Pretty simple. People are coming down hard on you because you said youve been breaking the law and were going back to do it again today. Most people that break a law dont brag about it.

 

[QuarterMaster]

Thats why you research. If md'ing and digging aren't specifically addressed then go to it. How do you retrieve items you find in the walls??

 

[QuarterMaster]

So town parks are usually ok? Unless that town has a metal detecting ban? I know a few are off limits

Yes unless local laws say otherwise or a sign is posted

 

[DanTheNewbie]

Thats why you research. If md'ing and digging aren't specifically addressed then go to it. How do you retrieve items you find in the walls??

I carefully remove stones and put them back, I think I'm done doing it , all I ever find are beer cans haha

 

[Tom_in_CA]

All you guys who tell poor Dan to try city and county level public land (verses state-owned land) simply because the "state land doesn't allow digging", are forgetting something very important:

SO TOO DOES CITY AND COUNTY land forbid you from "digging in the parks" too.

If you doubt me, read into the minutia of any city and county parks rules, wherever you come to. Certainly there will be *something* there about either "digging" or "altering" or "defacement" or "removing" or some such verbage. So you see then, the reason why you *think* it's ok at city and county park where none of us have ever been bothered before, is you simply have not asked enough questions, of enough bureaucrats, with the right combination of buzzwords! And even if you got someone to say "sure, go ahead, as long as you fill your holes", simply means you have found someone to bend the rules for you. Because I gaurantee you, the rules are there for ANY public level land.

This Connecticut thing may about "no digging", may be a bit like spitting on sidewalk rules, or don't remove mattress tags kind of thing. I mean, C'MON, if you're out in the middle of nowhere, does anyone really give a durn or care or see? Sure, don't snoop around obvious historic monuments, or be in the middle of craters on manicured ballfields when gardeners are there for the day, sheesk. (which stands to reason even at city or county level parks, I mean, let's be realistic).

Here's a similar thread, as it concerns state of CA beaches (but the point *could* be similar to this Conn. land post):

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/g...why-not-ask-innocuous-public-places-long.html

 

[Tom_in_CA]

post-script: Then you will have the admonitions about "arrests","confiscations", "tickets", "fines", "Jail", and so forth, whenever this comes up (as can be seen here in ticm and quartermaster's responses). Here's what you do: ask them to give any examples, that they may have, of someone having arrests and confiscations and criminal records, d/t metal detecting in a non-posted, innocous place (ie.: not a sensitive obvious monument). You will find the room to grow strangely silent! If any examples of "arrests" or whatever can be found, they will inevitably be for someone who was night-sneaking around obvious sensitive sites, or someone who couldn't take a warning, etc..... Not for hunting run-of-mill beaches, parks or campgrounds, out in the forest boondocks, etc....

So go ahead, ask them for examples, and you'll see what I mean.

 

[DanTheNewbie]

post-script: Then you will have the admonitions about "arrests","confiscations", "tickets", "fines", "Jail", and so forth, whenever this comes up (as can be seen here in ticm and quartermaster's responses). Here's what you do: ask them to give any examples, that they may have, of someone having arrests and confiscations and criminal records, d/t metal detecting in a non-posted, innocous place (ie.: not a sensitive obvious monument). You will find the room to grow strangely silent! If any examples of "arrests" or whatever can be found, they will inevitably be for someone who was night-sneaking around obvious sensitive sites, or someone who couldn't take a warning, etc..... Not for hunting run-of-mill beaches, parks or campgrounds, out in the forest boondocks, etc....

So go ahead, ask them for examples, and you'll see what I mean.

Thank you! That's why I laughed I think it's a blue law like you said, spitting on the sidewalk. I hear people talking about confiscations and getting arrested for detecting but it's always "this guy I know, his brothers best friends uncle was detecting and his friend got busted"

Yeah I'm detecting in the middle of the woods where no one can see me on state property I'm not defacing anything and there are no monuments or anything like that.

 

[ticm]

There are dirtbags that will shed bad light on our hobby. People such as any one who thinks they are above the law because they got away with hunting where they do not have permission or because other people are doing it.

 

[ticm]

post-script: Then you will have the admonitions about "arrests","confiscations", "tickets", "fines", "Jail", and so forth, whenever this comes up (as can be seen here in ticm and quartermaster's responses). Here's what you do: ask them to give any examples, that they may have, of someone having arrests and confiscations and criminal records, d/t metal detecting in a non-posted, innocous place (ie.: not a sensitive obvious monument). You will find the room to grow strangely silent! If any examples of "arrests" or whatever can be found, they will inevitably be for someone who was night-sneaking around obvious sensitive sites, or someone who couldn't take a warning, etc..... Not for hunting run-of-mill beaches, parks or campgrounds, out in the forest boondocks, etc....

So go ahead, ask them for examples, and you'll see what I mean.

I went to your profile and looked at your post history. It seems this is a touchy subject for you. Do tell.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Ok then ticm, then how do you answer this scenario:

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/g...why-not-ask-innocuous-public-places-long.html

If you lived here, do you stay at home, and really believe that all the other md'rs are somehow "giving the hobby a black-eye"? Or do you just go, because you see the beaches here are just routinely detected.

Or for that matter, I can't understand WHERE you (ticm) detect, at all. Unless you stick to private property that is. Because if you can give me ANY public land where you hunt, I bet I can find some law you are breaking, on some level, somewhere, somehow. All I have to do is ask the right number of bureaucrats, with the right combination of buzzwords, and can find you a "no" at any place you are currently hunting. You may answer: "But I go all the time, and no one cares, even in broad daylight in front of the mayor!! " YES!! that's exactly the point ticm! Get it?

I went to your profile and looked at your post history. It seems this is a touchy subject for you. Do tell.