new to the hobby and Virginia.

[brianc878]

Hi everyone, I'm new to VA and live outside of Richmond to the west near Powhatan. Just curious about the laws in VA, and where I can and cannot hunt. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

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[caselhall]

Heres the laws in Va, invent stealth clothing or cloaking technology or else your screwed!

 

[DocBeav]

There are a few threads here discussing this....here are is one link and another to another website:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/virginia/65185-virginia-metal-detecting-laws.html

Metal Detecting In Virginia? Know The Law!

I live in Va Beach and was curious too and started looking and asking. One of my neighbors is a Va Beach Police Captain and his take on local parks (which we hunted one today and I got my 2nd gold ring!) and public places (beaches, parks, ball fields ect...) is that you are good to go as long as you follow any posted rules (either in the area or look online) and it isn't a bad idea to call that location or check with the local police and just ask them.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The 2nd link that Doc-beav has, is strictly about state-owned lands. So it would have no bearing on county, city, or private lands. And if you're wondering therefore about city and county where you're at (whether there's any rules), look them up yourself. Certainly the muni-codes are listed for public viewing SOMEWHERE (like the city website, etc...). If there's nothing there that says "no metal detecting", then presto, it must not be prohibited. There's your answer.

And as for the first link, that's a thread with multiple people chiming in, with multiple diff. links and observations. Just watch close for the same thing: That some stuff there may only be state lands, and not city and county. And as for things forbidding alterations, defacement, vandalism, etc..., no, I do not consider those to forbid metal detecting (even though it was the "pressing issue answer" given to some people who might have taken it upon themselves to go find a bored desk-bound bureaucrat to tell them "no"). Because when you think of it, technically, all such verbage applies to the END result. So if you leave the area exactly as you found it (no trace of your holes, pack them, stomp them, ruffle them up, etc...), then technically, you have not alterED, defacED, or vandalizED anything, now have you?

Just avoid busy-body lookie-lous & stay away from obvious sacred historic monuments, etc....

 

[scvbasteve]