Universal Metal Detecting Commandments...Editable

It has been so long since I have been on. Been working my butt off...lots of nursing hours available to me.

Been browsing a lot of forums and came across a post regarding the possible need of a set of MD'ing commandments/CoE's.

Here is a list I have started...consider it a work in progress...if you see anything you would like to edit in a positive way, please do so...if you feel something is missing, please add it...perhaps it will grow into a nice CoE that we all can agree upon in some fashion...

William


Universal Commandments of Metal Detecting
1. We shall not trespass upon lands we do not have permission to hunt.
2. We shall obey all rules and regulations set forth by our local, county, state, and federal government.
3. We shall report any and all possible criminal activity to the proper authorities.
4. We shall report and/or turn in any and all recovered items that may be of archeological or historical value.
5. We shall not harm any natural or man-made object, be it public or privately owned.
6. We shall leave prospected ground in the same or better shape after digging.
7. We shall remove all artifacts from our sites, to include all trash items.
8. We shall leave no holes unplugged.
9. We shall not ignore the meaningful events in our lives, such as friends, families, and careers in pursuit of our hobby.
10. We shall assist, to the best of our ability, others who have need in finding lost items of personal or intrinsic value.
11. We shall assist, to the best of our ability, newcomers to the hobby by explaining our digging code of ethics.
12. We shall lead by example, our ethics, whether or not we are sight of others.
13. We shall not covet any fellow hobbyist’s finds, equipment, or locales for digging.
14. We shall be considerate of other when prospecting on public and/or private lands, such as parks, beaches, or any other place people may congregate.