Has anyone actually detected on National Forest land?

Bajanick

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I know State parks and National parks are off limits, but I found out that metal detecting in national forests is completely legal as long as its not on Historic, Prehistoric or Archeological landmarks or sites.

Has anyone actually detected on national forest land?
 
That is a very interesting site, I have not been able to find anything definitive out there.
I have heard you can detect the campgrounds and specified day use areas but you can not dig, disturb ground, rocks, plants, moss, or basically anything.
 
Now that is ture, but you have to know that you can not dig, you can metal detect at those places but again you can't dig. You can pick up surface signals, but other than that, that's it. I was unloading when a gentelman told me this, I almost got a ticket from him, but he let me know the rules first. Then he told me that if he ever caught me digging on the land again that I would have a very large fine, along with my detectors going home with him. Sucks I know, but what's the point to MD on the land without being able to dig. No sense in it what so ever.
 
I've done plenty of detecting and digging on national forest land while gold prospecting.

That said, designated wilderness areas and national parks are definitely off limits.
 
I tend to stay away from controlled areas... unless my research leads me in that direction. If that were the case, I would seek some specific permission from the cognizant authority. They are usually quite polite and informative. When attending the Civilian Police Academy this past summer, I had the opportunity to talk to two DOE personnel. Their advice was to ask, and said that in most cases, in forested areas, THEY would be inclined to give permission (for specific areas) but cautioned to leave the area as found (no open holes etc) and please remove trash. I took that as indication that most/many, if approached first, would be lenient. This is in my area.. other areas are likely to differ. RickO
 
same experience here although I never paid any attention to who controlled San Gabriel Mountains, since I was a boy gold hunters have been dredging, dry hopping and metal detecting the land up there.
I suppose it wont be long till they tell all those gold hunter to go home,sit down and shut up.
See ..The powers that be here like to manage and regulate and hire more state workers to deal with more regulations,laws and whatever else grows government.
Excuse the rant..I grew up here and remember what it was like in times past.
 
same experience here although I never paid any attention to who controlled San Gabriel Mountains, since I was a boy gold hunters have been dredging, dry hopping and metal detecting the land up there.
I suppose it wont be long till they tell all those gold hunter to go home,sit down and shut up.
See ..The powers that be here like to manage and regulate and hire more state workers to deal with more regulations,laws and whatever else grows government.
Excuse the rant..I grew up here and remember what it was like in times past.

LOL, I know what you mean. I am surprised that the prospectors are still there. I was up the san gabriel canyon a while ago and was told by a ranger that they (the prospectors) are constrained to that area of the east fork.
There are a whole bunch of great places to detect in the National forests around here but I dont like taking such a risk.
 
I have - One time I saw 3 forest service workers in a burger joint so I asked them outright about what I wanted to do. They said ok, just dont enter any old cabins, etc and dont leave holes. steve in so az
 
I dont know about your state, but ive gotten a permit every year to hunt in our state parks. Ive also hunted the hoosier national forest... yes i checked. Its about like hunting corps locations... any previous disturbed land and beaches. The forest ranger even gave me a brochure when he told me i could. Now the national parks are very very strick.... you cant even have them in the car in some.

Dew
 
They are actually decent about things around here. Stopped in the local office last summer they pretty much said as long as you dont make a big mess or use heavy equipment and stay off of others mining claims feel free to detect away.
 
Thanks for posting that hunter66, I am going to print that out, lamintate it and keep it in my detecting bag in case I do work up the nerve to detect on NF land.

Finding good places to detect in So. Cal. is very difficult.
 
I'd never seen that letter. Thanks. Looking at this from the coinshooting point of view, I think we have to look at interpretation. The gray area of interpretation is where the risk and the opportunity reside.

"Coins are exempt if not found in archaeological context."

I think what this is meant to provide is a way to find MODERN coins, lost change and such. I call it the "tot-lot provision." So if you were to pull a seated coin from an old swimming hole you're in the gray area.

I found this PDF deck interesting
http://www.mdhtalk.org/articles/certification-program/MD-102.pdf
 
Yea, thats the way I see it as well but it depends on who asks and if they know what the archaological context is.

If your detecting and just happen to find one of these questionable coins while hunting for gold nuggets or modern coins i guess you just have to leave it in the ground.
 
Thanks for posting that hunter66, I am going to print that out, lamintate it and keep it in my detecting bag in case I do work up the nerve to detect on NF land.

Finding good places to detect in So. Cal. is very difficult.

If you go to the specific national forest web page you want to hunt in you can print out those exact rules with the name of the forest in the web pages header.

That's what I did with my local national forest. Looks more official if it's in their own writing.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/hmnf/recreation/rocks-minerals

I get smiles and waves from the forestry folks and once an officer came out of nowhere and asked if I was really picking up bottle caps from the beach.

He had been watching before he approached me, officers do that.

Told me thank you and good luck!
 
Interesting information. I was all excited to read through this thread only to find out my State doesn't have any National Forest....
 
If you go to the specific national forest web page you want to hunt in you can print out those exact rules with the name of the forest in the web pages header.

That's what I did with my local national forest. Looks more official if it's in their own writing.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/hmnf/recreation/rocks-minerals

I get smiles and waves from the forestry folks and once an officer came out of nowhere and asked if I was really picking up bottle caps from the beach.

He had been watching before he approached me, officers do that.

Told me thank you and good luck!

So, after reading the link, if you find a coin from 1950, your screwed? Do these acts also cover private property? What if you find a miniball dating from the civil war? That most certainly is over 100 years old, is historical, and could be called an archaeological site. Right?
 
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