Curb Strips - what’s the process?

They are owned by the city not the home owner, even though they are supposed to take care of them, weeding, cut grass etc. Most home owners do not bother with it. You can hunt them w/o permissions although some forum members will probably disagree & tell you different. In my town I have hunted them w/o any hassle. You can check with your city but you probably won't get a straight answer, good luck.

I believe some are owned by the home owner? Check it out with your city.

kingman mikey said:

.... You can check with your city but you probably won't get a straight answer, ....

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metaladdict said:

.... Check it out with your city.

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You will become the latest victim of : "No one cared UNTIL you asked"

KM, in your town, is it a big area, like suburbs, or more rural? Just wondering what kind of reaction there might be to doing this in my area? I could check with the town - they had no issue with me hunting in the town parks, however, two of the adjacent towns to my own have strict policies about metal detecting and doing anything that disturbs the soil or plants in the parks...i've never seen anyone detecting a curb in my area...

tom is right in stating this about curb strips. just hunt them, and don't worry about
anything else.if someone gives ya grief, then walk down the street, and begin again!
don't go to city hall, and ask about them, because generally no one really knows, and will just say no to your request!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

thanks for the insight. I live in NY, and it's a state notorious for high taxes, corrupt politicians, and most restrictions you can think of, and many that you can't, which are generally characterized as ways to make your life better...maybe it's a good idea not to ask...

duplicate post

Older areas of town with older homes Prior to 1940's neighborhood with nice curb strips. Not the real upscale old homes. Those people are real Karens. Better to hunt the neighborhoods that have seen better times. Less interference from Karens.

Or put on a bright yellow safety vests and if asked tell them you are marking the locations of old buried water and gas meters since they are running new Google fiber optic cables in front of their house. This will get them all happy at the prospect of getting off their slow and crappy cable provider.

PS Tom is correct. I ask the City manager for permission to hunt some civil war land the city just bought for a park. He informed me that they had "One" authorized detectorists to now hunt the land where many detectorists used to hunt. I bet it was his brother-in-law. I will never ask anyone in government again for permission. if it is city, county or state property and not posted I will just hunt it. Period end of story.

90 percent of my hunting is on grass/dirt strips. I usually go early in the morning on the weekends. I try to hunt strips that are obscured by trees, bushes, gates or walls to be as inconspicuous as possible but at the same time I wear a bright yellow construction vest. If your really determined to hunt a strip that may contain some good finds knock on the door and simply ask the owner/tenant if they wouldnt mind.

Most all cities own the property from the sidewalk outward, if you are really curious call the city and ask but dont go into why. Dont ask anyone at any city department if you can hunt them.
If any home owners ask me to stop and leave I do, wich has only happend once in decades of hunting.

Another thing I do is I drive around on the weekends and look for vacant houses or houses being remodeled or torn down and hunt the strips there, with the yellow vest on I blend right in.

Good luck.

FLOOD said:

.... two of the adjacent towns to my own have strict policies about metal detecting and doing anything that disturbs the soil or plants in the parks......

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Huh ? No, it's not just "two towns" that have such policies. It's EVERY TOWN . Across the entire USA. They all have verbiage such as that. Eg.: Language that forbids "Alter", "deface", "molest", "harm", "destroy", etc...

But since when does that apply to us ? If you cover/stomp/fluff (leave no trace of your presence), THEN PRESTO : You have not alerED or defacED anything ? NOW HAVE YOU ? Me thinks you were simply a victim of : "No one cared UNTIL you asked" routine.

FLOOD said:

.... they had no issue with me hunting in the town parks,......

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If they had no issue, then you didn't phrase the question correctly. You were "Mincing words" and being "less than forthcoming". You don't ask "Can I metal detect ?" Instead you ask : "Can I do things that disturb soil and plants ?" And THEN they will have told you "no".

Don't you see how arbitrary, whimsical, and capricious this is ? Do not subject yourself to Russian Roulette . If there's nothing there that says "No md'ing", THEN PRESTO : Not prohibited.

Tom_in_CA said:

Huh ?

Don't you see how arbitrary, whimsical, and capricious this is ? Do not subject yourself to Russian Roulette . If there's nothing there that says "No md'ing", THEN PRESTO : Not prohibited.

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This is what happens when you don't ask for permission......

diggin4clad said:

This is what happens when you don't ask for permission......

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Haha, ok , sure : Then You have an example/links for us, of persons who went to jail , for "not asking permission" to hunt on public curb strips. Eh ?

Bajanick said:

90 percent of my hunting is on grass/dirt strips. I usually go early in the morning on the weekends. I try to hunt strips that are obscured by trees, bushes, gates or walls to be as inconspicuous as possible but at the same time I wear a bright yellow construction vest. If your really determined to hunt a strip that may contain some good finds knock on the door and simply ask the owner/tenant if they wouldnt mind.

Most all cities own the property from the sidewalk outward, if you are really curious call the city and ask but dont go into why. Dont ask anyone at any city department if you can hunt them.
If any home owners ask me to stop and leave I do, wich has only happend once in decades of hunting.

Another thing I do is I drive around on the weekends and look for vacant houses or houses being remodeled or torn down and hunt the strips there, with the yellow vest on I blend right in.

Good luck.

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Although I’ve kinda leaned the other way in the past to some extent, this post here is a very good description of how to do it. Any doubts, just ask the person at the house if they mind….otherwise, it’s beginning to seem like a pretty good alternative to hunting blank places. I think I might just take this advice with me tomorrow and check some potential strips!

Here's my "rule of thumb:"

If the curb strip is in front of someone's home, you ask the homeowner to hunt it, even though it might be public land.

If the curb strip is in front of public land, then hunt away and don't ask anyone for permission b/c you can assume it's public land.

Tom_in_CA said:

Haha, ok , sure : Then You have an example/links for us, of persons who went to jail , for "not asking permission" to hunt on public curb strips. Eh ?

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Lighten up Tom.......I'm on your side. My post was intended as humor !!!!

FLOOD said:

I’ve seen several posts about hunting success with curb strips and they seem to be a great place to hunt due to all of the pedestrian traffic and bikes and cars along the way. I looked around briefly and saw other posts about curb strips but not a main thread on them. I’d like to try hunting some but have questions about access, etc. can someone weigh in on how you go about getting access and such depending on if you are looking in a village, town or city? Interested to know more about this. Thanks

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Said it before, and will say it again....asking permission on the internet from people with no skin in the game (not local to you and familiar with YOUR specific laws/codes, not the ones facing the results of telling you "sure it's fine" when it's not), check for yourself.

Regardless, something which would benefit those who do, is to be sure you're accurate at pinpointing as well as target recovery. I generally watch MDing (actually detecting, not the lab coat drivel) over morning coffee, and am consistently amazed at how poorly some of those on YT are at both.

I understand "it's just dirt and grass", but leaving a mess just gives the haters something to complain about. I'd have to imaging some of the permissions I'd watched (again YT videos) would have a hard time granting permissions to another MD'er after seeing the mess their yards were left in.

Practice pinpointing in your own yard before ever going out onto private or public property. Use a drop cloth to catch all thee lose dirt until you can dig a proper plug. I've watched some fling dirt across the yard when their digger popped out, and seen it spread into av2sq ft area that looks like a grenade went off. They have to leave dead spots everywhere they'd dug.

Just as an example, watched this this AM, and reason for posting is he was hunting curb strips. This looks like a prime example of how detecting gets banned in areas. This looked to be in a fairly affluent area (nice homes), and let a dozen of them (taxpayers) get together and complain to the City, and guess what happens.

Nearly a foot long "trench"



Not even close



Do as you like, just don't complain when it's banned in your area, or you keep getting turned-down when asking for permissions to private land. Leaving an undetectable recovery spot is one of the best ways to show someone you're not a slob who has no respect for the property of others.

ETA: Something else I'd noticed was many times they'd flop a messy pile out on the ground, only to check with their pinpointer and find the target was just under the surface after digging a 6" deep hole. Check 1st (if you can't determine with your detector it's deeper) before digging.

I have hunted lots of curb strips on our older neighborhoods. As has been mentioned, in most municipalities the curb strip or "boulevard" , as they are known in my town, is part of the public right of way, however the adjacent homeowners are supposed to maintain them. Because of that expectation, I usually always try to let the homeowner know what I am doing. The key here is confidence in your approach. You know the strip is common area, they know it is common area. Knock on the door and if they answer, apologize for interrupting their day and begin your conversation by assuring them you are not politicking, evangelizing, or selling anything. Then politely tell them you are going to be metal detecting the strips in the neighborhood and let them know you will be respectful of the turf and wont leave any trace of your activities. Ask about sprinkler head locations, etc. I don't know about New York, but in the friendlier parts of the world, the vast majority of the homeowners are ambivalent and more often than not, they will ask about what you find and and engage you in a short conversation about the hobby. This is when I casually mention that I find some good stuff in curb strips, but my best luck has been experienced when I have been permitted to hunt private yards. More often than not, this leads to a yard permission. This approach works and if the homeowner is a jerk, you will know right away and you can move on.

I always take my girlfriend and she's in a bikini, no one ever notices me.

MTtrashdigger said:

I have hunted lots of curb strips on our older neighborhoods. As has been mentioned, in most municipalities the curb strip or "boulevard" , as they are known in my town, is part of the public right of way, however the adjacent homeowners are supposed to maintain them. Because of that expectation, I usually always try to let the homeowner know what I am doing. The key here is confidence in your approach. You know the strip is common area, they know it is common area. Knock on the door and if they answer, apologize for interrupting their day and begin your conversation by assuring them you are not politicking, evangelizing, or selling anything. Then politely tell them you are going to be metal detecting the strips in the neighborhood and let them know you will be respectful of the turf and wont leave any trace of your activities. Ask about sprinkler head locations, etc. I don't know about New York, but in the friendlier parts of the world, the vast majority of the homeowners are ambivalent and more often than not, they will ask about what you find and and engage you in a short conversation about the hobby. This is when I casually mention that I find some good stuff in curb strips, but my best luck has been experienced when I have been permitted to hunt private yards. More often than not, this leads to a yard permission. This approach works and if the homeowner is a jerk, you will know right away and you can move on.

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I would be more upset that you bothered me. People are relaxing at home, they don't want bothered. People are scared of answering the door nowadays. I don't want the Jehovah Witnesses knocking at my door, and I don't want some guy with a strange thing knocking at my door.

I say.. you won't have people complaining, until you start asking for permission, then you got their attention, and they are more likely to complain about it to city hall, etc.