Working on getting permission to metaldetect on all state land

Well today i asked what their age definition to become an artifact is.

I take it noone wants to reply that has gone through this before? I do really need to get permission seeing how some people see the need to try and catch anyone... like this story i recently read http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/04/21756802-theft-of-power-lands-electric-car-driver-in-jail?lite

Good luck! I hope you get it! Here in FL a artifact is 50 years! LAME! I'll definitely be impressed if you can! HH!

Yes... they think that an item is considered an arctifact if it was dropped yesterday although there is no more modern laws that say anything under 100 years is illegal to take.

I simply stated that by law anything under 100 years is not an arctifact illegal to take, and shown them a pamplet that had the general blm laws (although for nevada they are the same for my state, or should be)

I think i won... its been 2 weeks and no replys.

permission

Recently went to the city offices in a nearby town to ask a few questions. I asked if their were any city ordinances concerning metal detecting? Lady did't think so--- she then got on the phone and talked to someone in a back office and then told me there weren't any.. Then i said-- so it would be okay to metal detect in the city parks and on city property?-basically asking the same question again---She says she's seen people in the parks and around town before -and says there's no rules against it...GOOD NEWS RIGHT??----Then a lady comes out of one of the back offices and says to me----You just cant go out and start digging holes all over the place ---because it's city property--and i'm pretty sure that anything that you find will belong to the city any way--i'll call today and check with our lawyer!!!!!Shut down!!!!! And there is no rules against it!!! It just depends who you talk to and who's in a bad mood that day!!! I have been detecting in this town for 3 yrs and have had very few problems. when i first started mding i called the city and asked the same question and was told it was ok-i was only getting an update today--I've read many a post concerning asking questions about metal detecting and many don't ask --just be neat and tidy where your at and be nice and apologize and leave--this has worked for me--I do ask for permission lots of times--but even with permission there are problems--like the wife says ok and when the man gets home he says leave!! Or someone says-- sure go ahead and then the owner of the property shows up and says there just renters--time to leave!! ete. etc. Many variables--as for the answer to your question your looking for---it would probably be easier to get an answer to the question: Did the chicken or the egg come first?? Good luck with your quest---Tony AZ

Yeah, i will probably print off the law and have it with me... and i will save my emails.


In your situation though for city parks detecting might be allowed but no ground disturbance is allowed... its like that all over the us unless they say no detecting.

Well i have volunteered to help some excavation native sites and metaldetecting areas that would otherwise be illegal to do by myself. I probably wont get to keep anything metaldetecting but its good practice and a chance to try the old sites.

They say i am welcome to join them and they have found metal-detectors to be useful in the past.

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glennz, I'll take a stab at your post: If I understand you correctly, you are trying to determine the term "artifact", as in ... # of years old for definitions, and so forth. Because you seem to have read somewhere, that upon becoming an "artifact", that you can't take it from state land, or whatever. Right?

And you even have a link to some guy caught stealing .05c worth of electricity, so this gives you reason to think that in the same fashion, so-too are there archies and state people spying on us, ready to pounce, with calculators-in-hand to do the math on the age of coins you might find. Right?

Well let me save you some time: If this sort of thing worries you, then why stop there? Heck, FORGET age criterias and definitions of "artifact". Because truth be told, that in every one of those state parks you have in mind (whatever state you're in), there's no doubt also verbage that dis-allows "harvesting" or "collecting", and "taking" and so forth. Those pre-date metal detectors, and were enacted so that no numbskull thinks he can back his truck up to the beach, and start taking all the sand for commercial use. Or to stop someone from going to the park, and taking all the tan-bark out of the wood-chip playground, for use in his own garden back home. Or so that no one thinks they can go cut trees down for firewood. Blah blah blah blah. Ok, that's all fine and dandy, and no one can argue with those type rules, that keep people from taking home park benches, and so forth. Right?

But I guarantee you, that SO TOO can those rules be made to apply to singular coins or rings you might find on the beach. Afterall, they are a park feature, that "belongs to the public", NO MATTER IF 100 YRS. OLD OR NOT.

So really then, age has nothing to do with it. You can keep digging deep enough, and long enough, through a myriad of rules, and find 10 more reasons to also stay at home. Eg. lost & found laws. Tax/income reporting laws, defacement and alteration clauses (heaven forbid that you might disturb the soil when you dig). Etc....

So at a certain point glennz, you have to ask yourself: If that 100 yr. supposed rule/definition bothers you, or the other things I just listed ....... then ...... why the heck did you get into metal detecting, to begin with?

If you ask long enough and hard enough, I bet you can find an archie or city or state person who tries to tell you that you can't even metal detect a modern sandbox (and perhaps even has scary links or laws to back up such an assertion). But as you can see from a cursory look at any md'ing forum: md'ing is going on everywhere, and (gasp) people are finding 100+ yr. old things, rings, etc... Yes, even (gasp) digging them up, and taking them home.

Thus I think you are worrying to much. And the more you go around seeking clarifications and permission, you're only going to get more of the " no one cared till you asked" psychology in return. If the 100 yr. thing really bothers you that much, then either a) put any coin over 99 yrs. old back in the ground, or b) put them in your "other" pocket, so those navy seal commando archies that are hiding behind every rock don't see them.

I have seen a good handful of people getting arrested or all items taken that were metaldetecting locally... its not that it happens every day but in a small community if people know you metaldetect word gets around.

In other states i would have no problem.

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Glenn, if you have ANY examples of someone "getting arrested" for metal detecting, then by all means, please post them.

I have a suspicion that any example you can give, will no doubt be for someone doing somethings like this: Night-sneaking obvious historic monuments, or someone who can't take a warning, or some other such agregious behavior like that.

If you have any examples of someone getting arrested for finding a 101 yr. old coin, then I would love to hear it. And to the extent you can maybe find some isolated extreme example of someone getting roughed up to this degree, then so too can I probably find an example of a motorist roughed up and arrested by an over-zealous cop, for nothing but a tail-light out.

I think you are worrying too much, and that at some point, you might as well not detect. Don't stop at the "100 yr. rule" afterall. So too has someone probably been arrested for jay-walking, and another for disturbing the grass, and another for "stealing" 5c worth of electricity (as in your link), and so forth. MD'ing (or probably any activity you can think of, even frisbee flying which might poke someone's eye out), can all be found to be afoul of some law, somewhere, somehow, depending on how many people you ask.

don't get me wrong. I'm not saying to throw caution to the wind and go dig holes on Shiloh or ghettysburg. I'm just saying I think you're worrying too much.

there are some places i would like to detect that are not historical parks... One of them would be the ordinal Matanuska colony site..

As for the people arrested there was a guy and his wife who i have personally met detecting the outskirsts of a historical park that has a 100+ acre area... they were on a modern parking lot filled with sand/ gravel by the road.

They were about 15 miles away and over 1000 ft elevation drop from the actual historical part.


There are no other areas over 80 or so years old within a 20 mile radius that i know of.

As for places in the woods i go without question.. and i am talking the site itself to be over 100 years old not the object...