Marylands detecting laws questions

[fishguy]

I can't seem to find any listing of the rules for detecting in maryland so wanted to ask the local detectorists down there whats what. My wife and I are doing our vacation threw Maryland this year driving basicaly from Hagerstown to Deep Ceek on to baltimore then Ocean City and I would like to detect as much as I can. Maybe even find a dropped civil war bullet or something would be nice Also hows the weather there in late June?

 

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[RoyW]

If it's private property, you need permission. Metal detecting is prohibited in state parks, except in designated swimming beach areas. Although between memorial day and labor day when you will be here, you can only detect on state park beaches from opening time until 9:00am or after dusk until close. This would include the state park at Deep Creek Lake and Sandy Point near Annapolis.

There is absolutely no detecting on federal property, so be very careful if you are hunting for civil war relics that you are not on federal property. That could easily result in jail and loss of all of your equipment. Any chance for civil war battle relics would be in the western part of your trip but just make sure you know who owns the property you are hunting on and have their permission to hunt.

In Baltimore City you will need a permit to hunt in city parks. On county property like schools and parks, it varies from county to county. Baltimore County requires a permit, though in my experience no one checks for it. That doesn't meant that will be your experience though.

Neither the city or county permit is difficult to get, although the Baltimore County permit requires that you give all of your finds to the County. Yeah, sure. The City permit is worth getting if you have time to stop by one of the approved local clubs and get someone to sign off for you that you know how to responsibly dig. That is the major requirement for the permit.

The Ocean City beach is open for detecting 24/7, 365. And it's a good place to find some gold. You also have quick access to the Delaware beaches like Bethany and Rehoboth if you'd like a more laid back experience. Fewer depositors but less competition.

The weather at Deep Creek Lake in late June should be about perfect. Once you head east past Frederick in late June expect the three H's. Hazy, hot and humid. It will still be a bit early for the daily afternoon thunderstorm though.

 

[gleaner1]

There are no laws.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

If it's private property, you need permission. Metal detecting is prohibited in state parks, except in designated swimming beach areas. Although between memorial day and labor day when you will be here, you can only detect on state park beaches from opening time until 9:00am or after dusk until close. This would include the state park at Deep Creek Lake and Sandy Point near Annapolis.

There is absolutely no detecting on federal property, so be very careful if you are hunting for civil war relics that you are not on federal property. That could easily result in jail and loss of all of your equipment. Any chance for civil war battle relics would be in the western part of your trip but just make sure you know who owns the property you are hunting on and have their permission to hunt.

In Baltimore City you will need a permit to hunt in city parks. On county property like schools and parks, it varies from county to county. Baltimore County requires a permit, though in my experience no one checks for it. That doesn't meant that will be your experience though.

Neither the city or county permit is difficult to get, although the Baltimore County permit requires that you give all of your finds to the County. Yeah, sure. The City permit is worth getting if you have time to stop by one of the approved local clubs and get someone to sign off for you that you know how to responsibly dig. That is the major requirement for the permit.

The Ocean City beach is open for detecting 24/7, 365. And it's a good place to find some gold. You also have quick access to the Delaware beaches like Bethany and Rehoboth if you'd like a more laid back experience. Fewer depositors but less competition.

The weather at Deep Creek Lake in late June should be about perfect. Once you head east past Frederick in late June expect the three H's. Hazy, hot and humid. It will still be a bit early for the daily afternoon thunderstorm though.

fishguy, to start with, to say "maryland" is much to broad. Because within any given state, there's myriads of sub-levels: Ie.: federal, state, county, city, and private. And even with each of those is various sub-levels. For example, not all state land is state PARK land. And so forth.

But RoyW, your assertion that all federal land is "off-limits" is a common mis-conception. Maybe certain types of federal land (protected historic sensitive monument stuff, etc..). But no, not "all federal land". BLM is, for example, a form of federal land with an express ALLOWANCE (better than simple silence on the subject, eh? haha).

 

[RoyW]

fishguy, to start with, to say "maryland" is much to broad. Because within any given state, there's myriads of sub-levels: Ie.: federal, state, county, city, and private. And even with each of those is various sub-levels. For example, not all state land is state PARK land. And so forth.

But RoyW, your assertion that all federal land is "off-limits" is a common mis-conception. Maybe certain types of federal land (protected historic sensitive monument stuff, etc..). But no, not "all federal land". BLM is, for example, a form of federal land with an express ALLOWANCE (better than simple silence on the subject, eh? haha).

You are absolutely correct, Tom. My comment concerned the federal land in western Maryland where civil war relics would be likely found. All of the federal land in those areas are either battlefield or other parks and metal detecting is strictly prohibited. Arrests on those properties for violating those restrictions are not uncommon. Unlike the western states, there is very little in the way of blm public lands here.

Insofar as park land vs other state property in Maryland, the law does not make a distinction when it comes to metal detecting. The law refers to any property controlled by the department of natural resources, and excludes only designated swimming beaches during certain hours. It so happens that the swimming beaches the law refers to are in state parks. The stated purpose of the law is archeological preservation. You would be hard pressed to find state property that for purposes of archeological preservation is not controlled by the DNR.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... Insofar as park land vs other state property in Maryland, the law does not make a distinction when it comes to metal detecting. The law refers to any property controlled by the department of natural resources, and excludes only designated swimming beaches during certain hours. It so happens that the swimming beaches the law refers to are in state parks. The stated purpose of the law is archeological preservation.....

Ok, so let me see if I understand you correctly: You're saying it's "all state land" (regardless of "type" of state land) that prohibits detecting there. With the exception, as you say, of certain designated swimming areas.

Well then how about this scenario: How about state road right-of-way ? And state road (highways for example) has a lot of right-of-way that extends further out than the actual edge of the road itself. You know, sometimes by an acre or so on each side of the road. For things like vegetation and trees, pull-outs, etc.. Or just simply ... to put space between roads and any adjacent homes, buildings, etc.... That right-of-way is often very expansive. Especially like in the desert southwest, where it can humorously extend WAY out into the desert, and large areas surrounding off-ramps, etc..

So I believe that dire things that md'r might read about state parks (or federal, etc...) in their state, apply to JUST THAT: state parks. I'm not so sure it, of necessity, applies to other forms of state or federal land. Because, for example, laws and rules change from location to location ALL THE TIME. One park closes at sunset. Another one allows over-night camping. One allows dogs off leash, while the next has no such verbage either way (so since it's silent on the subject, people let their dogs off-leash, etc...)

 

[RoyW]

Ok, so let me see if I understand you correctly: You're saying it's "all state land" (regardless of "type" of state land) that prohibits detecting there.

No that isn't what I said. Quotation marks are used to indicate a direct quote. In this case no such phrase was used. Just something to be aware of in your writing. If you are paraphrasing then you probably shouldn't use quotes.

What I said was that the regulation covers all areas under control of the Maryland Department of Resources (DNR) and my suggestion is that covers the vast majority of state property, though I did not say all. For instance, whether the regulation has effect on state highway right of ways as in your example, depends upon the right of way. A little background. I'm a retired LEO that got paid by this lovely state to enforce it's laws for many years. While I can promise you that I never had the opportunity or desire to enforce the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR), I do know how they are interpreted by those who do enforce them. In this state we have statutes, which are created by the legislature and are contained in the Annotated code of Maryland. Those are the laws I was charged with enforcing.

But agencies can be given authority by the legislature to create their own regulations which are also enforceable laws, though typically only enforced by the creating agency. These regulations are contained in the COMAR. The particular regulation we are discussing is contained in Title 8 of the COMAR which are those regulations adopted and enforced by the DNR. Maryland Parks are a sub-agency of the DNR, but the DNR covers a lot more territory than parks.

The specific regulation that does the prohibiting states:

"Without a permit from the Office of Archeology, Maryland Historical Trust, Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department, an individual may not dig in search of buried relics or treasures, remove prehistoric or historic artifacts, or use metal detectors, except as provided in §D of this regulation, within the boundaries of lands, beaches, or under waters controlled by the Service." §D describes the aforementioned exception for swimming beaches.

So the question you seem to want to discuss is what property is under control of the DNR, since the law clearly states that MD'ing is prohibited in areas that the DNR controls. The last modification to the law that I'm aware of came in 1995 as a result of the activity of some clever underwater metal detectorists. The area they were hunting was in the South River near its mouth at the Chesapeake Bay, directly in front of a county owned museum on a county owned historic colonial site, but was not part of that site, being in the river. It also was not a park, state or otherwise. They managed to collect a large trove of colonial era artifacts, apparently to the great annoyance of those archeological folks who were responsible for the historic site. As a result the wording "or under waters" was added to the description of the territory covered by the regulation. Apparently the original writers had failed to account for scuba diving archeologists. Though in that case prosecution was still enabled through The Maryland Submerged Archaeological Historical Property Act, passed in 1988, which makes it illegal to dig historic objects from beneath state waters except under certain narrowly prescribed conditions. But since the violation occurred in the water, the County Police who had been called to the scene and were anxious to pass it off, called the DNR Police whose regulation at the time did not seem specific enough, forcing the County Police to actually have to do something. So the wording was added to broaden the scope of the regulation to include "under waters controlled by the service" which I assure you covers every square inch of water in the state, so that henceforth in such cases the DNR Police could enforce the law without jurisdictional confusion.

Now as to your highway right of way example. If the right of way is a roadside rest area, then yes the regulation applies as such areas are specifically named as areas under the control of the service. Also the regulation would apply for the same reason if the right of way was "an area of special or unique State historic interest or scenic interest" or a "Natural Environment Area", or "an area where multiple-use management practices are employed for the maximum use of the natural resources of the area" or "as an area of land or water which has retained its wilderness character, although not necessarily completely natural and undisturbed, or has rare or vanishing species of plant or animal life or similar features of interest worthy of preservation for use of present and future residents of the State." The list goes on, is quite exhaustive and certainly does include your favorite, " Multi-use State Parks."

Notwithstanding the over broad nature of the letter of the law, the question that really matters is where would this regulation be enforced? And this is where I can provide some insight. This regulation was enacted to placate the state archeologist and was fully intended to be used wherever historic artifacts could be found on public property so that those artifacts could be protected by archeologists. As asinine as that may be, I will tell you without hesitation that the regulation would be enforced on any state property where a historic artifact was found by the person detecting. Without question. But of course, that's only if someone notices. In the South River example above, the mistake made by the hunters was they were doing their thing in plain site of the employees of the county museum and refused to stop when asked to by those employees and even after the police arrived claiming that they knew their rights. They said later that they were under the assumption that by being below the mean low water mark they were outside of any regulation as nobody owns that property. Well, that didn't work out as they had hoped.

The OP asked a simple question regarding his trip to an unfamiliar state. While you were critical of his question, it seemed reasonable to me. He gave fairly specific information as to where he would be during his visit and mentioned the desire for a civil war relic and inquired of Maryland specific laws regarding the hobby. Given that information, I tried to answer his question as I do have some familiarity with some of the unique features of our laws as they pertain to metal detecting. Looking back at my original post, I still can't see anywhere that I led him astray. I never claimed to agree with or abide by all of these laws, nor did I suggest that everyone does or should. I wasn't asked about my opinions. And I did try to give at least a little thought to the types of places such a tourist might end up detecting in my answer. One of our state highway right of ways did not occur to me as being a likely candidate, in any event. My point is that I think a reasonable question was asked and answered and really didn't require much in the way of supervision.

 

[Keppy]

Like gleaner says there is no laws.. if they are they are the same every were …. I never worry about metal detecting laws if there is such a thing … i just go hunt … every one just worries to much and makes a big thing out of nothing...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

.... Notwithstanding the over broad nature of the letter of the law, the question that really matters is where would this regulation be enforced? And this is where I can provide some insight. This regulation was enacted to placate the state archeologist and was fully intended to be used wherever historic artifacts could be found on public property so that those artifacts could be protected by archeologists. As asinine as that may be, I will tell you without hesitation that the regulation would be enforced on any state property where a historic artifact was found by the person detecting. Without question. But of course, that's only if someone notices. In the South River example above, the mistake made by the hunters was they were doing their thing in plain site of the employees of the county museum and refused to stop when asked to by those employees and even after the police arrived claiming that they knew their rights.....

RoyW, thanx for taking the time to type that out. Thanx for 'splaining all that. And thanks for your time/work as an LEO. A pressure cooker job that not many could do.

As for the discrepancies of nuances of various levels of state, vs dnr, vs fed, and all their various sub-levels within each entity, you do a good job at summing them up. As it regards to your area (we don't have "dnr" here). And I especially like how you cut to the chase at the end of your post: That despite all technical things that *could* apply, the issue boils back to what they were meant to protect. And to have them actually be applied, you might have to be a real nuisance eyesore, like in the case you describe. Like sure: if any of us waltzes over enough beach blankets at an archie convention, then what did they expect?

 

[scoremaster]

roy I took the same question all the way to Annapolis and to make it to the point short and sweet you are correct there is to be no detecting on any state lands other than beach areas but they are with guidelines .
and I asked why what I was told is if I were allowed to hunt the state grounds and would happen to find something that might interest me then the state would probably be interested also and being that the owner of the land your detecting has the right to rummage through your finds and keep what they want ( if they want ) the state said that they would most likely be interested also and keep the find so in best interst of the state if you don't find it you will not feel obligated to hand it over or try to hide it . so with using all those big words .............

short simple no hunting on state owned property lol.

thanks and sorry ,
Scott

 

[smokeythecat]

There is a ton of private property Civil War troops crossed to get to the Federally controller battlefields. Do some research and knock on some doors.