Legality of Hunting Around Lake Michigan?

[Pepperlizard]

I'm curious to know if it is legal to MD around the beaches of Lake Michigan. Can anyone give me some insight on this?

 

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[Gimmie The Loot]

I only know chicago beaches are ok. just be carefull. homeless dude and gangbangers out there. Go early. beach tractor machine gets most of the goods but might find stuff a little deeper.

 

[Lowbatts]

People do hunt beaches all around Lake Michigan. Minelab recently held a major event at the Indiana Dunes State Park. "Treasure hunting" on wrecks in the Great Lakes is prohibited.

Get there at first light, you will see plenty of others md'ing the beaches in the early hours on some days. The biggest takers of loot and lost items are as Jason mentioned, the beach pickers. Those park district cleaning machines scoop large volumes of stuff up from the sand and it disappears forever with the guys driving them. I really doubt they have a lost and found bin at their dump site.

Then again I really doubt there would be much in the lost and found bin if they did have one...

At least us MD'ers have returned many items we have recovered from those beaches. Everything from jewelry to cell phones, wallets and purses. But I do tend to keep all the pocket change I find so I can get some snacks while there, and pay for parking when necessary.

 

[Pepperlizard]

How likely is it to find something of interest given that the beach pickers pick up most of what is there?

 

[Lowbatts]

There are a couple different variants of the beach cleaing machines. One has a belted track that lifts stuff and conveys it to a screend bin. The belt does not run very smoothly and it will tend to drop things off it's edges when it makes turns. For instance I once followed it's tracks and found large quantities of coinage at the points where it makes sharp turns, along with a nine-diamond ring laying on the surface in it's tracks. On another occasion I found an unopen bag of Doritos in it's wake. I found all that to be something of interest.

The opened food containers on the beach gather the humidity of the nearby water rapidly and spoil the contents beneath my usual palate's level of comfort. Whereas out this way, away from the immediate effect of the lake, you can find pizza, ribs, chicken wings at park sites and a lot of them seem just as interesting as mulberries, raspberries and wild strawberries to me!

Basically, if you're interested in MD'ing, it's not about the find until after you've made it. It's about being different in the rapidly shrinking tolerances of our ordered society. Get out there with the rest of the Winston Smith's while there's still a small herd of us.

Hey, found one of these today! Not as clean as this one but mighty interesting to me!

 

[outlaw007]

machines don'i get it all. today in the dry sand i found a 14 k ring with 7 diamonds, a silver ring and alot of change!

 

[jeepjoe79]

Chicago beaches are always ok to go to, but west beach at indiana dunes is off limits and the indiana dunes state park is off limits till labor day

 

[Pepperlizard]

Any part of the lake best (as in what can be found but even more important what is safer?). Also, any parking tips? And when is it best to show up?

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

go early in the morning. Not sure which beaches are best as I don't usually go to them but I imagine they are all going to busy Thursday with temps hitting 100!!!

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

You are doing pretty good Pepper with a 1 to 1 ratio of junk to coins!

 

[electriceye]

I hope to be out there with a rig this August for a few days, I'm sure it will still be hot!