Was Planning on Stepping Up and then Learned Something

[SpaceCoastTreasureHunter]

Hey everyone, I've never really posted to metal detecting forums but I guess I'm just turned off and frustrated at this point. I've had a Bounty hunter tracker IV for a while. I live a 3 minute walk from the beach in Florida and have been casually detecting for a while now. I decided recently it was time to move up. I planned on searching in the wet sand and in the water up to about knee or thigh deep. I live near really popular beaches and some hotels. I did a ton of research, narrowed it down to a price range and decided on a Garret Sea Hunter MK-II because it was in my price range and seemed like a solid starter for a water detector. I was looking up accessories, getting all excited.

I stumbled upon a page, read some laws. Well, apparently it's illegal for me to do what I planned on doing. I'm not going to be near state parks, or and national seashores, or even any leased sites. I'm going to be metal detecting public beaches. But, now that I read that it's illegal I'm about to just give up. Apparently the silver roosevelt dime I found recently.. was illegal for me to keep even though I found it on shore. This crap makes me sick. I'm in my mid 20s, I've been living here my whole life, grew up digging holes on the beach, screwing around, you know, being free. My father had been metal detecting since the 70's and introduced me to it when I was young and I recently picked it back up.

What the heck is this abomination of a law, I'm not going into the lagoon and disturbing grassbeds, I'm not harrassing turtles.
I'm a simple man, I just want to find some shineys, pick up trash, fill my holes... leave the beach cleaner than how it was when I arrived and find some treasures. This overreaching government crap pisses me off.

I am just pretty shocked that I can't keep a silver dime or be knee deep in the ocean searching. Dropping ~$800 on the detector and accessories seems less exciting now.

New account so I'm not going to probe people for what they do because that's super suspect. Just venting because I've been daydreaming the past 3 days and put a lot of research in.

 

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[vpnavy]

1st - I noticed this was your very first post SpaceCoastTreasureHunter - so, Welcome Aboard!

2nd - Since you are talking about Florida Beaches - I moved your thread from from General Discussion over to Select Your Area > Florida for more exposure.

3rd - I searched

and found that certain Florida towns (not the government) limit beach MD'ng - I searched and found a number of hits talking about this issue.

 

[sprailroad]

I feel it SpaceCoast, Some of these "laws" and restrictions by Fed. State and local jurisdiction's can be, well, simply put, "Stupid". As VP Navy pointed out, not ALL places in Florida, and everywhere else I suppose, have these insane restrictions. Hang in there my friend, you will find the right place, and have a great day detecting. You know, we often hear that it is to preserve these things for "Future" generations, which generation are we talking about? I was a future generation in my Grandfathers time.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

space-coast, I'm not sure exactly which beach you are hunting, and exactly where on the beach you say is "illegal". Eg.: County beach ? state beach ? federal beach ? city beach ? military zone beach ? In the dunes ? on the inter-tidal ? etc..

So without wading into any of THAT distinctions discussion, I notice that ... you give as the example the silver roosevelt dime. That *technically* you are not allowed to keep (because it's over 50 yrs old, I suppose, right ?). Hence perhaps the location you were hunting was ok to swing, but ... it's merely a matter of the TYPE of objects you find, eh ? If so, I think you are *way* over-thinking things. If it's merely a matter of the date on a coin (clad vs old), then ..... seriously now .... do you really think that anyone is going along, armed with a pocket-calculator, doing the math on the ages of each coin you find ? I assure you: FL hunters are routinely finding coins that are (gasp) older than 50 yrs. old.

Example: Here in CA, the vast majority of our shoreline is beaches administered by the state. Eg.: the parking lots, bathrooms, picnic tables, etc..... And on all these state beaches, you can hunt till you're blue in the face, and have no problems. HOWEVER: Technically, since they are administered by the state parks dept (the same dept. that administers the inland parks), then there's no reason why any rules pertaining to their inland parks, wouldn't also apply to their beaches. And if you sleuth deeply enough into codes, you will indeed find cultural heritage verbiage. Ie.: so no numbskulls think they can go raiding historic sensitive monument, for example.

But seriously now: Was it ever meant to be applied to casual fumble fingers coins we find on the beach ? Of course not. *COULD it be* ? Well .... sure. If I went waving around enough old coins, in front of enough purist archies in Sacramento, I'm sure I could find one that says this violates ARPA or some such nonsense. But as you can see, reality is far different.

So in the same way: I'm sure that if you hop on to the internet, and search FL laws and rules, you will no doubt find "dire" sounding things. Heck, why stop there ? Look up FL lost & found laws, and I'll bet you'd see that you can't keep any ring that exceeds $100 value. Yet look around and see that there is no shortage of md'rs in FL having no problems on the beaches. And I'll bet they find rings, old coins, etc..... So you might have stumbled on to some silly "don't spit on sidewalks" type rules, and are over-thinking things.

I'm only saying all this because of your reference to the silver roosie. So I was assuming you're act of swinging where you were wasn't an issue (ie.: you weren't on one of the very few excepted zones there that *might* have an actual enforced rule).

 

[SpaceCoastTreasureHunter]

Hi Tom, thanks for the reply. No I'm talking just normal public beach. Not state park, not national seashore.

I'm just ultra confused now.

Honestly I'm so confused and burnt out trying to read all this documentation I'm finding all over the internet I don't even know if you can metal detect on the beach (not in the water) anywhere near leased sites.


edit:


I found a post by Treasure_Hunter in another thread on here that cleared it up for me a bit. I think I'm gonna just use it as a rule of thumb.

No federal lands, ask permission in state parks and only search between toe of dune and mean low tide line... near the wrecks the same rules apply.

Public beaches like where I live in Indialantic seem fair game.

It has been posted on here many times, if you do a search you will find previous threads. It is simple from about on the East coast is the Treasure Coast where a spanish treasure fleet sank in 1715, from approx 3 miles north of Sebastian Inlet to Vero Beach stay out of the water, hunt between mean low tide and toe of the dunes.

All Federal land and National sea shores are off limits period. All state parks are off limits to detecting except those on the coasts. Many state parks on the coast allow detecting on the beaches and in the water only. If there isn't a sign telling yo the policy when when you enter ask the ranger. It is up to each park manager if they will allow you to detect. Ignore anyone who tries to tell you that you don't need to ask if it isn't posted just hunt, they don't live in Fl. do not know our laws and don't have a clue.

The rest of Florida's beaches are pretty much open to detecting with a couple small beach exceptions and they have signs telling you no detecting. All major beaches are open for detecting.. If your hunting a public beach that is not signed no detecting then keep what you find..Cover your holes, remove all trash you find..

Here is a link to the Teasure Coast beaches.. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/399418-1715-treasure-fleet-gps-cordinates.html

Maybe I'll start my local hunting experience afterall

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Well, it can't be as bad as you fear. Since FL is FILLED with md'rs plying the beaches. Hence I think you were over-thinking it.

....No federal lands, ....

That is not an "absolute". There are forms of federal land that are not off-limits. In fact, that have an express allowance (versus just silent on the subject). The only thing that would kick in on various forms of public land (BLM, NFS, etc...) is Arpa. Ok, fine, don't find coins older than 50 yrs.

....ask permission in state parks....

TH'r and I have gone round and round about this: Whereas it's not forbidden on state park beaches in FL, there are some people who feel that it's only when you've asked. I have always wondered about that. If that wasn't just someone's commentary decades ago (when answering a "pressing question inquiry"). Because so-too does CA (if the FMDAC list is to be taken literally) have something similar . Ie.: Inquire at each kiosk, or at discretion of park manager, or whatever . Yet I can assure you that you can hunt state beaches here , and no ... you don't need to "ask".

Because, think about it: What if someone said "yes". Ok, do you ask them the next day too ? And the next ? etc... What if your buddy is 30 minutes behind you intending to meet you. Ok, you got a "yes" (and he knows that via cell-call). Ok, does he have to ask too ? I mean ........ this sounds ridiculous, which makes me think that someone's commentary decades ago. Which perhaps only meant that (like anywhere on any speck of public land) that duly-appointed over-seers do indeed have latitude to decide something isn't appropriate. Like your music is too loud, or whatever. But did that ever mean you had to PRE-EMPT this ? Or did it simply mean they have latitude to decide ? For example, while it's true someone could say "your music is too loud. Turn it down" (lest you were afoul of "annoyances" provisions). Ok, sure. But did that mean you needed to ask them first "hi, can I have my boom box volume at level 7 please?". No. Of course not.

 

[trdking]

Ignorance is bliss. Quit reading and start swinging

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Spacecoast, I'm a longtime hunter in Florida and a florida native, Go Detecting, no one is going to say a word to you about hunting public beaches. From a mile North of Sebastian inlet to Ft Pierce just stay out of the water, it is part of the 1715 leases, Florida has over 600 miles of public beaches open for detecting.

 

[SpaceCoastTreasureHunter]

Ignorance is bliss. Quit reading and start swinging

True true, I just get semi-obsessive whenever I start digging into information or looking up stuff related to a hobby

Spacecoast, I'm a longtime hunter in Florida and a florida native, Go Detecting, no one is going to say a word to you about hunting public beaches. From a mile North of Sebastian inlet to Ft Pierce just stay out of the water, it is part of the 1715 leases, Florida has over 600 miles of public beaches open for detecting.

Sounds like a plan! I'll be posting back on here in the next few weeks about my setup. Gotta put a little more research in. Thank you

 

[Tom_in_CA]

True true, I just get semi-obsessive whenever I start digging into information or looking up stuff related to a hobby ....

This is not un-common, to read/see on discussion forums. Totally understandable. Someone hops on a forum hoping to read/learn all they can. And they happen-chance to come on to some odd story of "someone who got hassled", or "a law that exists at such & such places", etc.... And sure enough, they worry "gee, I wonder if it's allowed where I intend to go ?". And then it just spirals down hill from there.

Think of it like shark-attack stories you might read about: EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE EXTREMELY RARE, yet anyone who's just read a story of a shark attack, guess what they're going to fear next time they go for a swim at the beach ? Even though, truth-be-told, tens of thousands swim each day w/o incident.

So too is it for md'ing. In fact, it sort of becomes a self-fulfilling vicious loop : Whenever someone gets skittish after reading something, they merely post a sad sorry lament of how they are forbidden from all places (until someone else comes along and tells them to the contrary). But in the meantime, 20 more skittish newbies have clicked on that post. So guess what they go and do ? They too start asking bored desk-bound archie pencil pushers "can I?", only to find it starts to become a self-fulfilling vicious loop of "safe answers". Doh!

 

[smokeythecat]

Zillions of people detect Florida beaches. Now we all know Cape Canaveral is off limits as it's federal land, however, that leaves most of the rest of the beaches ok. Where the Spanish shipwreck are, you can detect but just not in the water on some specific places due to admiralty laws. But LOTS of people detect. Check prior threads and youtube videos ahead of time and go for it. I'm in Maryland and the public beaches are ok.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

There are over 600 miles of Florida beaches and 95% are open for detecting.

 

[Bodhi69]

Not to confuse the situation for Spacecoast but I am curious if I am interpreting the law correctly regarding metal detecting the Treasure Coast beaches. As I read it the law states that you are allowed to detect from the base of the dunes to the MEAN LOW TIDE LINE (The average low tide line over a 19 year period) So technically if you are metal detecting at High or Mid tide simply having wet feet isn't breaking the law. Now I understand that going into the water (past the mean low tide line) is against the law and I agree that those that have leases and claims should be protected however the common understanding of Not being in the water doesn't mean that if you are detecting the coastline and your feet are getting splashed by water that you are breaking that law. I bring this up more to ask, IS THIS CORRECT or am I misinterpreting?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If your in the water detecting your breaking the law. It will also be the law your trying to split hairs with. You can hunt to the water line, it doesn't mean at high tide you can hunt in the water.

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