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Question: Detecting In The Neighborhood And Sharing Valuables


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So..... I was detecting this old abandoned home site..... Didn't ask permission for 2 reasons one it was way out of town middle of no where and 2 the lot was locked in a trust with no information I knew how to find to ask. Being in Arizona with open land everywhere and no "no trespassing" signs I figured I was good. About an hour after I got there a guy rolls up in a 4x4 truck and asks me who I was and what was I doing there.... Stupid me got defensive told the guy I'm detecting and who are you to care....  Turns out he was the owner.... I figured I was in for it now. I apologised and told him I would leave. He then proceeded to tell me to keep detecting and come back anytime, keep anything you find, and to send him pictures of anything interesting that comes up...... So for that site has given a few good buttons and some wheat pennies. 

I don't sell anything I find gold nuggets, coins, rings they are all saved. And although I don't sell stuff, if a property owner would want any percentage of my finds I wouldn't detect that area. My bad attitude if about to come out..... Finders keepers lol. Two exception would be if someone asked me to look for something, or if there is a first and last name on it I would Google the name and make an effort to contact. 

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2 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

  Is that an actual law/rule on the books (that truly says "no md'ing" ?).

Yes it is and if I have time to go to a couple of towns I will get you a copy of it.

They are out of my way, but will be happy to do so, just in case that some of our people happen upon those towns.

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3 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

Guess what happens when enough  md'rs "get their panties in a wad"....

You mean like when someone mildly disagrees with something they've posted on this site?

Unfortuntaely I have this weakness -- I'm sometimes wrong and when that happens I have both the wisdom the guts to apologize.

Apparently I was wrong about the Tennessee statewide ban.  I don't recall anyone speaking up contradicting that when it did come up previously, but I might have missed that part of the thread.  It did (and still does) seem like one of those "something sounds fishy; better do some fact checking here".  Sorry to all for propogating a false statement.

Pretty sure the rest of what I said is true.  If not, I don't have a problem with someone pointing out my errors in a civil manner.  In fact I prefer it, but with that qualification of civility.

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Aren't a lot of areas down south banned from digging due to their Civil War significance?

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21 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

D-Dancer, Re.: your link and post :  There is a lot of info. to un-pack and clarify.   For starters, me thinks you're confusing county  level info, to mean "all land within a county".  Or state info to mean "all land within the state", etc.....   But it doesn't work like that.   Instead, an answer coming from the county would only apply to county land (like county parks).  And have nothing to do with state, fed, or city lands.   And same for something that the state says.   That would only apply to state parks, and not other governmental entity forms of land.

Also, those nifty  compendium sites, like in your link, have a BIG "devil in the details".  Any time anyone has ever tried to make a one-stop-shopping compendium  like that, they are always fraught with "gotchas".   In a few cases, sure, they might point you to a specific rule.  Ok.  But if you read closely, a lot of the supposed "no's" you read, are merely someone's having asked "can I ?" in the past.  They get told  "no", and then it makes its way onto these nifty lists.   Yet is no where codified as such.

This psychology/phenomenon was made very clear when an author "R.W. Doc Grim" wrote a book in the mid 1980s (before the internet) called "Treasure Laws of the United States".  He attempted to make a compendium book, where all the states would be listed in alphabetic order, where users could simply turn to any given state, and see what the laws were for their state parks (hence it didn't deal with county or city level  parks).   And guess how the author went about getting his info to put in his book ?  SIMPLE:  He xeroxed off 50 copies of a letter , sent it to  each state capital heads of parks dept, asking : "What are the rules regarding the use of metal detectors in your state parks ?".  And  letting them know he was writing a book.   Then  he merely sat back and waited for 50 replies to fill his mail box.

Genius  idea, right ?  I mean, who better to ask, than the top-dog of each state park's parks after all, eh ?   And when  he got all his reply letters back, he printed them in his book, with their actual letterhead shown, etc....  So that if you were ever accosted by a busy-body, you could just show them right out of the book that it's ok , blah blah .  And conversely, if the answer was "no", then  you'd save yourself embarrassment, right ?   Genius  idea, right ?  

But a strange thing happened :  A lot of the states sent back confusing  replies.  Eg.: "No because of cultural heritage issues" (even though nothing specifically said 'no md'ing' ).  Or No because  of alter and deface verbiage.   Or no because of disturbing the wild-life.  Or no because  of rules that forbid harvest and collect.  Blah blah.  And oddly,  a lot of these answers were coming from states that, quite frankly,  had never been an issue before.  So you had old-timers sitting around scratching their heads saying "since when ?"

See how that works ?  It's the old "No one cared till you asked" routine.   And trust me:  The same phenomenon can be the originating kernals of info found on those nifty  links,  like the one you give.   So sometimes you need to take them with a grain of salt, or read between the lines.

 

Tom, I'm unsure how to properly use the Quote function so I'll just try to address a few items out of the overall Quote.

In the first paragraph.

The link I provided is simply a tool and yes there is a lot of info to un-pack there however I simply leave that up to the user.  Personally I looked over the info for my given area thru the link I provided, accessed the parks and city websites for current detecting rules and regs, and made up my mind as to what I can and cant get away with.  As such the site is a composition of information, not the rule, but a good resource that allows me to refine my search's.  So No I'm not really confused at all about the boundary's you pointed out. 

Now as to my  comment on county's Yes there are county's, cities and what not here and there that prohibit detecting pretty much everywhere.  One example is Forsythe County around Winston Salem.  I've been shoo'd out of several public and city area's there by grounds keepers and one police officer so I read up on that county's rules it pretty much only on private property that one can detect.  But I still find area's there to have a swing. 🙂

In your second paragraph.

Unfortunately I have to disagree.  Many of the rules, thru research and due diligence, are codified on websites for public lands one wants to detect.  For area's with no such codes then its a matter of non-sequitur and I simply dont poke the hornets nest and ask around for the answer NO.  No need to give someone the bright idea to make a new code.  Yes the devils in the details but a lawful person will look for such so as not to be in the wrong.  There's no Gotcha's if you know what your about and as I said the link is just a resource.

As to the rest of what you have to say its a nice essay and points out the need of not poking the hornets nest.  But again its up to the individual to be aware of rules and regs simply because ignorance of the law is no excuse to an official.  If its codified then there is no "between the lines" or grains of salt if you get caught and someone wants to put a boot to you.

Personally I've only been asked to move on.  In one case the grounds keeper pointed out a very nice school ground just up the road 🙂  I don't argue and l move on.  Plenty of places to swing even if I take a chance with the law from time to time.

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Public schools....be discrete.

Public parks....check the signage...be discrete.

Public athletic fields...check the signage....be discrete.

Yards.....ask permission.

Churches....ask permission.

For the places that require permission....I wouldn't offer anything unless they tell you something specific that they would like you to watch out for, like a wife's or daughter's lost ring or something.   

Here in New Mexico the state parks are off limits,   However,  the Corp of Engineer maintained parks and lakes are not off limits but you have to check in at the local office and find out what sections are open and what sections are not.   Wilderness area's areas are typically open but Federal Forrest Lands are not without expressed written permission.     

My take,,,,research the rules on line, and like Tom states, it it isn't strictly prohibited, then detect with discretion. 

HH
Mike

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18 hours ago, 2Valen said:

Yes it is and if I have time to go to a couple of towns I will get you a copy of it.

 

And I have a sneaking suspicion of how those came-to-be .   Care to take a guess ?  And no, it wasn't "because someone must've left holes".

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18 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

.....  I don't recall anyone speaking up contradicting that when it did come up previously, but I might have missed that part of the thread. ....

And this is the inherent ingredient that always occurs in these type news items :  If ever a supposed law, or something negative legally about us is tossed out there for consumption, then it's just human nature to fear it.   And human nature to "pass it on".   And human nature to believe it ("lest you get arrested" blah blah)

Here's an example of the psychology at work:  Consider shark attacks.  Very very rare.   Perhaps only a single person got chomped in all of the USA in a given year.   Yet thousands of people swim daily.  Ok, you tell me:  If 1000 people swam in a day, and none got chomped, then there'd be no headline.   But if a SINGLE person got chomped on a SINGLE day of a year, then it makes the front page news.  And then guess what you'll fear and warn others about, the next time you go to the beach ?   And you'll subconsciously disregard the  million to one odds that you're totally safe to swim.

Actually, that's probably not even a good illustration.  Since in the case of the TN archie, he wasn't even correct in the first place (ie.: there was no shark attack to fit this analogy ).   But I'm just trying to point out how people subconsciously latch on to bad news, and remember only that.  And do nothing to see if it's true, lest they be "throwing caution to the wind" and "better safe than sorry", blah blah.  So we tend to never question this stuff.  

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9 hours ago, kac said:

Aren't a lot of areas down south banned from digging due to their Civil War significance?

I have a feeling that there's not a single city in the entire USA, that if you were to walk into city hall and say :  "Hello, can I take historically significant items from the park please ?" that you'd get a "Sure, go ahead" answer.

So while I agree that there's certain cities and certain parts of the USA that are , yes, more historically significant, yet :   There's not a single city anywhere that would answer "yes" to  the above question.   It would fall under prohibitions of "harvest and collect and remove" wording.   Or cultural heritage wording.   So  to whatever extent what you are saying could be true for certain cities of higher-historic-significance, yet I'll bet that the only reason it ever came on the radar of pencil-pushing lawmakers, is we md'rs, of the past, who went in swatting hornet's nests.  Or were doing something stupid like showing up at high traffic times during archie conventions, and waltzing over beach blankets with their detectors. 

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