Isnt ALL land privately owned?

[Rock22]

Isn't ALL land privately owned?

I am new to this hobby but I only hunt my property so far. If I wander off into the woods am I not on someone's property? If so I am a bit nervous about digging on it and finding stuff. There is no way that everyone goes looking for the landowner and gets permission so what do you guys do when you get the itch to just wander around a woods? I am ready to venture out but need some pointers.

Thanks, Bill

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

I am new to this hobby but I only hunt my property so far. If I wander off into the woods am I not on someone's property? If so I am a bit nervous about digging on it and finding stuff. There is no way that everyone goes looking for the landowner and gets permission so what do you guys do when you get the itch to just wander around a woods? I am ready to venture out but need some pointers.

Thanks, Bill

Bill, when you say: " .... if I wander into the woods ...." is that to assume that you've already, in the past (or presently) have "walked in the woods" ? If so, and if it was (as you fear) "private property", then ..... you have already been there, it would seem. The mere "walking" there, is already, if you want to get technical, on someone's property.

If you're that worried that md'ing (as opposed to merely walking) in the woods is somehow in an evil different category, you are welcome to track down owners, and ask their permission. You can go to the assessor's office in your county, and all such land-ownership maps and records are public info. Sometimes though, it only has a p.o. box of an owner, not phone #'s or personal names (eg.: you might end up with a company name, or conservatorship, or LLC, or something wierd). And if you start sending cold-call letters to such an address, you can bet how far that will go.

There's also the possibility that these woods you walk in are not private. They may be some variation of public land or right-of-way. If so, then the assessor's office would show that too. And if so, help yourself.

Are you encountering fences or signs or something? Or is this type area/forests where anyone can just waltz out and go for a hike, not encountering signs or fences or reason to suspect they can't be there ?

 

[cactusrat]

All land is owned. All land has a set of laws on who can be there and what they can do.

It is up to the individual to find out what the law is on a specific piece of land.

Not knowing the law is no excuse to break the law and could cost you in time and money.

 

[AQUA]

BEWARE....

NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE LEVEL HEADED OR NICE.

Theres a property close by that we always over the years went across to go hunting and hunted on.

He was a nice old fella that owned it and he allowed MDers on it also.

Well the old fella passed away and it came up for sale at which point a guy from across the other side of the country bought it.

Soooooooo.... I decided to go back to that area MDing and took for granted that we were always allowed there and the new guy prolly wouldn,t care either.

BOY WAS I MISTAKEN !!!!!

Up across the field he comes in his truck going like hell....I was like...oh ****..ughhhhhhhhhhh.

Sure enough he is all but frothing at the mouth.......WHAT THE F*** DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING DIGGING UP MY LAND.

I said.. I,m just out looking around..sorry.

There was obviously no reasoning with him or even talking to him...he got no shirt on or any socks or shoes ....lol.....so I just turned and started walking away.

He says...GET OFF MY LAND BEFORE I WRAP THAT THING AROUND YOUR BLOODY NECK.

I just kept on walking. He was literally busting a vein...wow.......like calm the hell down.

I,m not bad person at all and well respected in the community. Most people in the area would never say anything other than ..whatcha finding ?

Just remember there are people that freak out about someone being on their property.

It was obviously my mistake and although he over reacted hugely.... I cannot say anything as I was in the wrong..no question about it.

I have thought about stopping in to see him to apologize...but at the same time I,m really mad that he reacted the way he did.

So I,m on the fence about what I should do.

Was a good lesson learned....I will never go on private property without asking again.!!

 

[ivan salis]

in a case like that being your in the wrong all you can do is say "I'm sorry" and leave just because the prior owner was cool with you being there --you can not "assume" the new guy is.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If you knew there was a new owner should have asked permission first telling him previous owner allowed it.



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[AQUA]

YUP--CORRRECT GUYS

I am not making excuses --just warning what can happen...it could have turned very ugly..very fast.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I am new to this hobby but I only hunt my property so far. If I wander off into the woods am I not on someone's property? If so I am a bit nervous about digging on it and finding stuff. There is no way that everyone goes looking for the landowner and gets permission so what do you guys do when you get the itch to just wander around a woods? I am ready to venture out but need some pointers.

Thanks, Bill

Stay off private property without permission! You are liable to find a PO-ed landowner with a rifle.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Stay off private property without permission! You are liable to find a PO-ed landowner with a rifle.

Hey Jason, this obvious advice of yours is so un-assailable. Given the facts (the story being read in slow-motion-replay), such advice is easy to give. Easy for any of us to tell someone "See you numb-nuts, you should have known better!" . And why is it so easy to give someone that brilliant insight? Because we're looking at it in slow motion replay.

for example: if you've ever watched NFL slow motion replay, you'll notice that whenever there's an interception or sack on a key-play: all the sportscasters will immediately go to the slow motion replay to see where things in the play-went-wrong. You know, like if the quarterback through to the right, and it got intercepted, well then the sportscaster might show someone on the LEFT side of the field, that was WIDE OPEN with no defenders. The obvious connotation is: the st*pid quarter back should have thrown left, not right. And you can't argue with it, since it's right there in slow motion replay to see. See? you and I should have been NFL quarterbacks, because to us, it's so obvious. And if anyone doubts my brilliance, all I have to do it show it to them on slow-motion replay again.

So too is it subconsciously with this type of story: Had the OP .... instead of this .... posted a story to the effect of how he'd met a new landowner one day, while out for a stroll with his detector. And the landowner turned the md'r on to some juicy tip to an old picnic site, and then OP went there and found 5 gold coins. What would we all be doing? We'd all be congradulating him on his brilliance of meeting people that can give great tips on good md'ing sites. No one would ever had thought 2x about "should he have been there".

So you see, all too often we are quick to say "you should have known better" , simply because we are watching it in slow-motion replay.

 

[Jason in Enid]

So you see, all too often we are quick to say "you should have known better" , simply because we are watching it in slow-motion replay.

Nope, if the OP had told a story of a great find prefaced by trespassing, there would still be those of us condemning the illegal act even though it ended well. Of course, then it would turn into a huge fight against the others who are constantly looking for excuses to trespass. It would eventually end with the thread being locked and deleted and several people in time out.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Probably the OP (in the case of 5 gold coins ), would never have been using the buzzword "trespass". As he would simply have been doing what he's done for umpteen years: metal detect and meet people without issue .

In other words, the only reason we're even seeing this story through the prism of "trespassing" is d/t the genius and psychological trick of slow motion replay.

 

[BC1969]

be thankful that we can still detect on our own land, sure it may be private, you own it...or do you ??...wait untill the smart far-reaching archaeologist pops up one day and puts two and two together, and finds a way to kill the hobby of metal detecting once and for all, be it in a park, a beach or even your own backyard, once somebody figures out how to lump it in with mineral rights, then the sh!t will hit the fan, and it could happen, I own land, with a cottage ON it, well a crew came thru once looking for oil, found out my land has alot of oil under it, but as it turns out, in that area owners have ZERO mineral rights, and as it was explained after I threatened to sue, was told matter of factly, that sure I own the land, whats ON it to be specific, but not whats underground, so I could see that happening one day, sure you own the surface, but if there is a coin or a cache under the surface, it belongs to the goverment.
as far as my.... err their oil goes on my land, thats when I went and got myself 500 no tresspassing signs and posted every other tree all the way around, if I cant have any right to say even a measly 1% of it, then they aint getting it either.

Mike

 

[AQUA]

be thankful that we can still detect on our own land, sure it may be private, you own it...or do you ??...wait untill the smart far-reaching archaeologist pops up one day and puts two and two together, and finds a way to kill the hobby of metal detecting once and for all, be it in a park, a beach or even your own backyard, once somebody figures out how to lump it in with mineral rights, then the sh!t will hit the fan, and it could happen, I own land, with a cottage ON it, well a crew came thru once looking for oil, found out my land has alot of oil under it, but as it turns out, in that area owners have ZERO mineral rights, and as it was explained after I threatened to sue, was told matter of factly, that sure I own the land, whats ON it to be specific, but not whats underground, so I could see that happening one day, sure you own the surface, but if there is a coin or a cache under the surface, it belongs to the goverment.
as far as my.... err their oil goes on my land, thats when I went and got myself 500 no tresspassing signs and posted every other tree all the way around, if I cant have any right to say even a measly 1% of it, then they aint getting it either.

Mike

YA

you are correct !!!!!!!

If for example... I wanted to get back at the landowner and really piss him off.. I could simply go and put a mineral rights claim on his land.

I could not go and dig it up or anything but neither could he...all I would have to do is keep renewing the claim.

This must be a infuriating scenario for a landowner. I feel for you for sure...awful situation...just seems so wrong.

 

[Jason in Enid]

YA

you are correct !!!!!!!

If for example... I wanted to get back at the landowner and really piss him off.. I could simply go and put a mineral rights claim on his land.

I could not go and dig it up or anything but neither could he...all I would have to do is keep renewing the claim.

This must be a infuriating scenario for a landowner. I feel for you for sure...awful situation...just seems so wrong.

No, you can't do that. When you buy land, either you also buy the mineral rights or they are retained by the previous owner, but that is spelled out in the deed. You can not just file a mineral claim on private property.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Here's an interesting legal twist on the matter:

Riders sue man over horse trail - MontereyHerald.com :

Apparently there is legal precedent, that if a trail (for example) of public access usage, is just historically been used all along , that it becomes historical public easement.

What the above link doesn't go into detail about, is the back-ground of that lawsuit: A fellow had just bought a bunch of acres of land in the country, next to a creek in a valley. One day, his dog starts barking at an equestrian riding along a trail at the valley bottom. The man went to investigate this far reaches of his new land, and found that a well-worn trail followed the creek bottom. And that horse-riders from some nearby stables were using it. Since he didn't like his dog potentially barking at horses, he put up a sign: "no trespassing" in the middle of the trail. To no avail. Long time horse riders just went right past it. There was no where else for them to go, to rejoin the trail on county land just a few dozen yards up further. On the other side of the creek, was a public county land, but ... the way the cliffs and foilage was, the trail took a couple of dozen yard jaunt on this guy's side of the creek. So the horse-riders had no other way than to stay on the trail, in order to re-join the trail as it proceeded on the county land side, further up the way.

The new property owner was not to be outdone. Since the sign wasn't working, he erected a fence. This exploded into a bruhaha, because people from the stables had been using the trail (as the article says) since at least the 1930s. So the lawyer for the equestrians made this case, that after a certain amount of time, it simply becomes public right-of-way. The previous owner had never fenced it, never cared, and it was a non-issue.

Not sure what the legal terminology of all these precedents are. But I humorously recall that when it went to court, the lawyers sparred over the word "trespass". The new owner would assert that they were "trespassing", while the equestrian's lawyer would use these legal historical access points, to insist that they were not trespassing.

Not saying this is a good legal angle to try, when detecting un-posted un-fenced that anyone and everyone hikes through with no problem, forever and a day, but ....... just sayin' ......

 

[AQUA]

No, you can't do that. When you buy land, either you also buy the mineral rights or they are retained by the previous owner, but that is spelled out in the deed. You can not just file a mineral claim on private property.

here in CANADA you can

 

[Rock22]

No fences or anything just lots of woods that attaches to my land.

 

[spaceman]

Wandering onto private land without an obvious property line is excusable. But posted and fenced land is another thing.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Wandering onto private land without an obvious property line is excusable.... .

Oh me oh my, what is this world coming to !

 

[surf]