Heading to Hampton Beach NH

[RelicPrime113]

Heading up to Hampton Beach New Hampshire sometime next week and I want to bring my metal detector along. I don't know if they allow them or not. Does anybody here know if they do? I know I can't use it at Cape Cod which is a shame.

 

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[sgtpepper]

You'r G O O D to go , there are so many of us at times up there. Best bet get there EARLY. Good Luck

 

[RelicPrime113]

Thanks, looking forward to see what I can find there.

 

[RelicPrime113]

How about Hampton state beach?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

How about Hampton state beach?

It might be "one of those things" where if you ask long enough and hard enough, you might find some desk-bound person to answer "no". Such is the case for State of CA beaches, for instance. You can hunt them till you're blue in the face, and no one ever cares. Yet .... if you asked enough questions, of enough of the right people, I have no doubt you might find someone to say that ancillary verbage applies to mean "no".

Yet, as I say, you can hunt them to your hearts content, and no one bats an eye at you. Moral of the story ?

 

[cudamark]

Better he asks here than at the bureaucrats desk.

 

[AC1955]

Hampton Beach is actually "Hampton State Beach Reservation". They are one and the same.

Metal detecting IS ALLOWED and many of us go there all the time to detect and have no problems at all.

Parking is $2/hour in the state run lots (right along the beach) and is in effect from 8am-midnight/7 days per week. They WILL ticket you if you do not pay for parking or your time limit has expired (you can keep adding time). There are also many pay lots ranging in price from $10-$30 per day. On street parking is available but very hard to find especially on weekend days. If you have handicapped plates/placard you can park for free in any legally marked parking spot.

There are 3 bathrooms along the beach, opening I believe around 8am and the main one closes around midnight (others close around 10:00). Also outdoor showers to rinse off your scoop and machine.

Check out the Hampton Beach WebCam to see the crowds on the beach. Hampton Beach, New Hampshire - The Premier Vacation Spot on the NH Seacoast and a Whole Lot More!

Just a note: September 6, 7 & 8, 2013 is the annual Seafood Festival at the beach. Parking is an absolute B***H during this event = (non-existent. Most people park at remote areas and take a shuttle bus to the beach). Wall to wall people on Ocean Avenue (no parking allowed in the state run beach lots) and no vehicular traffic allowed. (Ocean Ave is closed off to traffic). Don't know how busy the beach is during this festival as we tend to avoid Hampton during it. Fireworks are scheduled for September 1 (9:30pm) and September 7 (8:15pm). I believe there is a fee to get into the festival and you pay for the seafood.

Lots of restaurants (can be pricey) and shops along the main drag. Motels and hotels along the beach can be very expensive, too. If you stay away from the beach, rates drop. There is also a state run campground (wide open RV spots with no shade at all) right on the beach.

PM me if I can be of further help. Hampton is well hunted by many of us. My husband and I started off the season very strongly (3 gold rings) there, but the beach is now very sanded in (both dry sand and in the water) and aside from daily change drops, very quiet (at least to my husband and I). You will also find lots of pull tabs and bottle caps on this beach, but it is a nice beach to hunt. It is over a mile long and very well maintained

Hope you enjoy your vacation! Remember, too, there is no sales tax in NH. (There is a meal tax and hotel tax, though.)

Anita

 

[AC1955]

Relic: Where in Massachusetts are you? Just curious.

Anita

 

[cudamark]

Very good info Anita. It would be nice to have a summary of all parks and beaches like this. Maybe we can get a section started here on Tnet that could do that. It would save a lot of people from making the mistake of going to a bureaucrat to ask permission. Getting it from those who hunt it would be most helpful.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Very good info Anita. It would be nice to have a summary of all parks and beaches like this. Maybe we can get a section started here on Tnet that could do that. It would save a lot of people from making the mistake of going to a bureaucrat to ask permission. Getting it from those who hunt it would be most helpful.

Well, while anita might have something for a certain location that has specific verbage saying it is "allowed", just be aware, that a place not need to have such verbage, in the first place. An activity need-not-be specifically "allowed". It only needs to have no "dis-allowances" (no prohibitions on the activity). Ie.: silent on the issue is good enough. Just like you would expect to find nothing that "allows" you to fly frisbees. You assume you CAN fly frisbees, unless you see a rule that prohibits it. Same rationale for md'ing.

And if a section of Tnet were started for such a rules summary as you suggest, I fear that some people would use this to go to the following mistake: They would gleefully post the rules for their locale (in case other interested folks in their area wonders), and guess how they'd arrive at the rules for their area? They'd ask. Thus running into the "no-one-cared till you asked" psychology. Doh! So the section on Tnet would have to be specific in instruction that the intent and method of page is for already-existing links. And also that the posted rule should be specific to metal detecting. Ie.: rules about "altering" "defacing" "collecting" "harvesting", "artifacts" etc.... are not "rules about metal detecting" (at least not specifically anyhow).

 

[cudamark]

I agree, don't ask, instead look it up yourself. On the other hand, there is no use ALL of us having to look it up. If a local has already done that and can post the results here, why not? Some of us travel and would like to try other spots but don't have the time to research every single ordinance that pertains to each area of interest. A local who knows what the law is already and also knows what you can ACTUALLY do without a problem is valuable to us all. Naturally, we have to take the catch-all phrases with a grain of salt but first hand accounts of problems or lack thereof is something I would welcome and something I would be willing to share myself if someone wanted to visit here.

 

[AC1955]

For those of you who question...the State of NH ALLOWS metal detecting on all state beaches per State Division of Parks & Recreation. This has been confirmed by other people besides me. I am not making any "rules" up. These are called "administrative rules" by the State. If you want, I can post the name and phone number of the person in the State House to speak with.

I do, however, deal with "bureaucrats" when I am going to hunt a new area. I always check with the police department of the jurisdiction. I ask them this question just this way: "Are there any specific laws pertaining to metal detecting on town/city/county property?" This is a yes or no question. I never say anything about digging. In all of the calls I've made to the police in multiple states, I have only had 1 town say "no detecting" and that was because they had a law against digging of any kind on town land. Sorry, but I do not subscribe to the "don't ask" rule. Many times it is difficult to find individual town laws even on the internet. I never call city hall/town hall, because 9 times out of 10, you'll get a clerk who just makes up the "no detecting" rule. The police have to enforce the laws, therefore they know what is allowed and what isn't.

Hope this helps to clarify things a bit.

Anita

 

[Red James Cash]

One bad bit of news is the sand is raked every night,less junk but also less goodies.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

For those of you who question...the State of NH ALLOWS metal detecting on all state beaches per State Division of Parks & Recreation. This has been confirmed by other people besides me. I am not making any "rules" up. These are called "administrative rules" by the State. If you want, I can post the name and phone number of the person in the State House to speak with.

I do, however, deal with "bureaucrats" when I am going to hunt a new area. I always check with the police department of the jurisdiction. I ask them this question just this way: "Are there any specific laws pertaining to metal detecting on town/city/county property?" This is a yes or no question. I never say anything about digging. In all of the calls I've made to the police in multiple states, I have only had 1 town say "no detecting" and that was because they had a law against digging of any kind on town land. Sorry, but I do not subscribe to the "don't ask" rule. Many times it is difficult to find individual town laws even on the internet. I never call city hall/town hall, because 9 times out of 10, you'll get a clerk who just makes up the "no detecting" rule. The police have to enforce the laws, therefore they know what is allowed and what isn't.

Hope this helps to clarify things a bit.

Anita

Anita, you admit:

"I never call city hall/town hall, because 9 times out of 10, you'll get a clerk who just makes up the "no detecting" rule."

Right. I agree.

But on the other hand you say you go to the police instead to ask, because: "The police have to enforce the laws, therefore they know what is allowed and what isn't."


Ok, sure, so perhaps that's an improvement of "who you ask". But what do you do if the police themselves say "no because of no-digging" (you say that happened to you 1x already). Yet I bet you would admit that .... perhaps even that, JUST LIKE THE CLERK example, could have been some cop just saying that, for the "safe answer" (when in fact, perhaps the thought might never have crossed his/her mind).

Or what do you say if the cops say "go ask at city hall"?

And why do you fail to mention "digging" when you ask the cops? Don't you want to be "totally forthcoming", lest they "not understand the full implications of your question" ?

Anyhow, all this just risks a "no", to your "pressing question", when in fact, you could/might have just gone, and no one would have cared less. So .... sure, it's true not every city is on-line. But I bet that you'd be hard-pressed to even find a "no-detecting" rule in podunk little towns like that anyhow. And if they're so h*ll-bent on having such a rule, they're welcome to make a sign if they want.

 

[cudamark]

This is why I think having the rules of a particular site posted here. The ACTUAL law, and also commonly known exceptions. They can be posted by those who have hunted that site and debated until there is a feel for what the truth really is. Regardless of which government employee you ask, they ALL have their own agenda and whims that will spill over into their actions so it's still best to research the rules yourself and then make the decision to hunt or not based on what you find to be true.