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.
Unless it's a felony crime, I don't worry about stuff, anything less my attorney can usually get "dismissed".
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