I've hunted Irvine Regional park before. Years ago. On the invitation of buddies of mine who pulled lots of good old silver out there, in the years prior. By the time I got to their "honey-pot" zones (where they'd done the most good), it was just nothing but sickly left-overs
But I did get a key date merc. dime as I recall. Floated that puppy on Ebay , and got something like $300 for it.
And no, there was/is no laws or rules forbidding it/us. At least not so-far as we/me know/knew. I'm sure that if we'd asked enough people
"Hi, can I dig in the turf and take things ?", that we'd have been granted a princely
"no". Hence, shame on us for not swatting enough hornet's nests , eh ?
Anyhow, this place is no secret. And yes, it was a giant draw for yesteryear picnickers, and thus a giant draw for today's md'rs.