Would like to know if any one has any info on the reasonable use of detector's in wis water's ?and if any law's have passed on this.
I believe Wisconsin banned water and river hunting about a year ago. the second link is a little less confusing.
Metal Detecting In Wisconsin? Know The Law!
Wisconsin Metal Detection Laws | eHow.com
I think that stinks since there's so much tubing that goes on there. I'm sure there's a TON of things to be found in places such as the Apple River.
The State has sovereignty over cities and counties ......
Bum luck, I've heard this line of reasoning before, that the state law applies, even down to city and county level. But if that's necessarily always the case, then why do we see, in many posts on the subject, where persons here freely detect city parks, county park, private parks, etc... and "avoid state parks" in their state, because they feel that the state level parks are off-limits. Because if what you're saying is true (that state law filters down to city level), then by logical deduction, all those persons are wrong to be hunting city parks, in their states.
If you looked through the FMDAC list of their state-by-state listing, you would see many states with outright "no's" or .... at least .... dire sounding wording. Yet hunting in city, county, and private locations goes on all the time, with no problem.
So I take exception to your premise that state level laws, for state level parks (or water, in the case of this particular post) "automatically" subrogates down to the city and county parks or waters. For example: state parks may disallow dogs off leash, yet a city park may have no such restriction. Rules differ, from park to park, ALL THE TIME. Closing times, allow or disallow alcahol, over-night camping vs no over-night camping, etc...
What your saying may be true for civil law, like for example, a city can not "allow" murder, since of course, the higher authority (the state and fed) disallow murder. So state and fed. law would "trump" the city law, on something like that. Granted. But for something like md'ing, if what you're saying is true, then you've got oodles of people breaking the law in many states, by hunting their city, their private, and their county parks.
On the contrary: that state by state listing has ALWAYS been interpretted to mean state level, not city or county. But the legal angle your taking, interprets that it means EVERYTHING in the state, right?
WISCONSIN WATERS ARE 100% OFF LIMIT!
That's that. No loopholes, No exceptions.
This was clarified by a metal detecting club in Wisconsin just today. You will receive a ticket and you will be fined if caught breaking the law.
I think I found a loop hole. It is illegal to metal detect Wisconsin waters yes this is true. But it is legal to recreationally pan gold in Wisconsin waters with the aid of a metal detector. So get a gold pan, and your panning for gold and not metal detecting. Here's the link I found from the WI DNR on panning gold.
http://wausauprospectors.com/images/Recreational Gold Panning In Wisconsin.pdf
check this out and now tell me what you think.