Look up metal detecting clubs in that area. Check Facebook. They can fill you in on where to go and regulations. If you can’t find anything then go to local parks. Make sure you dig a good plug. It’s the poor digging habits that get detectorists kicked out of public property.
Hey there Chris. 1) Sure. "Local clubs" is a start. But ... humorously .... I can tell you of "local clubs" that are simply clueless . Example: A club, in CA, that if you were to walk into one of their monthly meetings, and ask any of the rank-&-file if a certain park in their city was ok to hunt, they would tell you : Absolutely not. And proceed to paint a dire picture, blah blah.
Yet you can hunt that park ad nauseam w/o incident. As long as you're not sticking out like a sore-thumb, and waltzing over people's beach blankets, ..... you can go broad daylight.
Now I suppose if you tried to tell any of the "rank and file" of the "club" that info, .... then guess what they'd do ? They'd merely go to some city or county offices, knock on enough doors, talk to enough archies, find the "pressing answer" and dispel the notion. Right ?
Point is: Sometimes local folk are simply parroting some older held-notions. That came about decades earlier, because someone fetched a "no" or "scram". So it merely goes into the "rumor mill", and gets bandied about for decades following. Meanwhile, others who 'simply don't know any better' go hunting, and never have an issue.
So while "asking locals" is certainly a start, ... you sometimes have to "read between the lines" in discerning the answer. Ie.: technical vs reality.
2) As for "poor digging habits" being the reason for md'rs getting "kicked out" of certain parks : Don't be so quick to think that. I realize that's the "go-to" reason, that the person who "scrams" you will often cite. But more often than not: Holes are NOT the reason for such scrams or no's. It's merely the knee-jerk reaction that a passerby, or desk-bound bureaucrat (whom someone before you approached for "permission") has. When tasked with thinking of a man with a detector. EVEN when no holes were ever seen. It's simply the image that md'ing evokes.
So they will often say "no" or "scram" because of "holes". To which the md'r mutters under his breath:
" Durned those md'rs who left holes." Right ? But in reality, it's likely there was NEVER ANY HOLES (or scars or whatever). Instead, it's simply the image conveyed, whether or not any holes were ever actually left.
And there's NO AMOUNT of disputing this , that will ever solve this. Ie.: to debate that you'll leave no trace, you'll cover your holes, or you'll "pop" not "dig", blah blah. Instead, I hate to say it but: Sometimes it's better to just remain un-seen