OK there IS at least *one* organized MD club here. The New Mexico Treasure Hunters Association. They appear to have membership statewide. What they do is to go out as a group to prospect old homesteads, ghost towns, et cetera. Start there. They do have a site with forum and so on, on the Internets.
Once I get my detector, I will VERY likey join them. Hope to see you!
I live in Santa Fe, but am legally blind so I do not drive.
Yes, the NM laws on MDing and THing are VERY... VERY... strict! With good reason. Our history goes back thousands of years. You've heard of the Clovis Points, as some of the very OLDEST stone arrow points ever discoverd? Clovis NM. From paleolithic times to the present, New Mexico has been inhabited continuously and thus has a RICH history of fossils, artifacts, relics aned more. But we MUST protect them so that future researchers have something to dig!
Not only that, but there is a great store of cultural history which must be respected. Many pueblos take a VERY dim view of people out thre digging up their lands.
Fortunately... and sadly... the laws are VERY clear. On federal land or state lands, national forests and so on, NO artifact can be removed. PERIOD. You are not permitted to gather pottery from the surface and you are definitely forbidden to dig for it. This goes for tuff as recent as Victorian mining equipment and such.
The GOOD news is that this club evidently knows where they may legally hunt and goes to such places. Also, I *think* that private lands are NOT covered by the laws. There are a LOT of ranches, farms, old homes, and homesteads in addition to ghost towns on private property which are evidently hunted by the club.
I do not have a detector YET (sold my Tesoro 10 years ago for food and am having to save a LONG time, perhaps a year or more to get a new one) but once I do have one, I intend to hunt my own back yard. I live in a house that began life over 100 years ago as an old adobe. I can't IMAGINE what my yard contains! YOW!! Talk about having a hard time waiting!
So yes, NM is a hard place to hunt in, but it is also a very VERY rewarding place if you follow the laws and go with a group that has already navigated the tough legal areas and knows what is permitted and what is not.
What do *I* want to find in NM? Seriously... an old rosary! Parts or fragments of old rosaries. I make them for a living and sell them, so tourists may definitely purchase "local made" rosaries instead of China junk... and I would LOVE to find old Spanish religious stuff. Even if I couldn't keep it, I'd photograph and then donate to museum. Then I would hand make a copy to sell as a tribute to the ancient Spanish colonialists.
SageGrouse