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Metal Detecting in MA State Parks-rules

You either have to call them, or go to the park office. There doesn't appear to be email addresses you can contact the specific park offices.

I got a permit to hunt Damon Pond/Willard Brook. It was pretty easy. I ran into the supervisor by chance while I was scoping the area out. He went back to the office, printed me out a permit, and that was that.

Hi, I live in Pepperell, next town over from Townsend, I know where their main park office is, I would love to try out the beach and campsites there, was there a fee for the permit? Is it for a set length of time? or each day? Hope you don't mind the questions. Thanks, Artie
 
Metal Detectors a specifically banned from all parts of the Quabbin Watershed area - ie, no hunting the lost towns of Dana, etc.

Maybe they were worried youd puncture the park like an above ground pool and flood it.

I think the best thing is always in person, saying that i have gotten two of the three permissions over the phone, but then its down to the job you do when you get there, you hack at everything and your going to lose that permission very very quickly
 
OK so after some investigation , In MA it is legal to MD in and on Conservation lands (check anyways) Public parks and 99.9% of state parks.... However once you start ripping things up your gonna ruin it for the rest so please take care and be professional about it. Stay off the main trail areas and try to hit the out of the way spots.... Some will have old foundations just dont make a mess. Thanks guys....
 
OK so after some investigation , In MA it is legal to MD in and on Conservation lands (check anyways) Public parks and 99.9% of state parks.... However once you start ripping things up your gonna ruin it for the rest so please take care and be professional about it. Stay off the main trail areas and try to hit the out of the way spots.... Some will have old foundations just dont make a mess. Thanks guys....

Yeah it's a mixed bag I think. You can probably detect with permission from the Park Ranger, but I've heard they say surface stuff only, no digging. It all depends where you go.
I hit one state park that had nobody on duty. Had one lady come up to me asking if I found anything, then she told me of some guy who was in charge of this museum on site. He didn't think it should be allowed there. It was actually Dighton Rock state park. Well he had thought the rock had something to do with the Portuguese so always wondered if there was any Portuguese coins around.
But no issues really. I was considerate on my digging. No luck though. It really is best to stay in areas that are not well traveled if you do have any doubts. Worst case is you say you didn't know.
 
While doing a little research on this years hunting found this thread. Last fall I was in woods hunting and was pretty deep in when my buddy and I heard someone coming towards us we were wearing orange because it was some sort of hunting season but not deer season yet. It was a DCR employee and he was upset that we were MDing. He was insisting that we had be told in the past not come here but after a brief talk we advised him we never spoke to anyone ever.
So he said we needed leave and we did. I did a little search and found the CMR law http://www.mass.gov/dcr/legal/downloads/3041200.pdf sect 12-11, we are now trying to find public areas and some private places to md.
 
I’m wondering if anyone has UPDATED information on metal detecting state parks in Massachusetts? I tried email the park I wanted to detect, but got no reply. I even offered to turn over all finds for they can display for the public.
 
I’m wondering if anyone has UPDATED information on metal detecting state parks in Massachusetts? I tried email the park I wanted to detect, but got no reply. I even offered to turn over all finds for they can display for the public.


Digger-Kevin: Curious why you (or anyone ) needs to email or call parks for their rules regarding md'ing ? I mean, ..... isn't the rules-of-use for ANY park .... available for public viewing ? Eg.: No fireworks, dogs on leash, etc... ? If so, then what's to stop someone like yourself from simply looking up the rules ? If there's nothing there that says "no md'ing", then presto: Not disallowed. Right ?

Why does their need to be an express allowance to do something ? I mean, is there any express allowance to skip stones on the pond or fly frisbees ? (It might poke someone's eye out).

As for the original post (of which the original posters here are LONG gone), I would also say: Shame on them. As for the "obligatory" answer that the O.P. got back years ago, well .... gee.....

This was the common answer , to this "pressing question" that got passed back down to persons who attempted to make a state-by-state listing back in the 1980s. Many states sent back a letter stating things like "ask as each kiosk" or "with permission" blah blah. Yet when you looked at the individual minutia, that type wording was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. And you had old-timers scratching their heads (who had never been bothered) saying "since when?".

Me thinks that md'rs can be their own worst enemies. Stop swatting hornets nests. Lest it merely become a self-fulfilling vicious circle .
 
Tom, we have to agree with you.

The kiosks never say anything about digging.

The "no digging" is burried deep in the DCR bylaws.

I talked to MA DCR officer recently. He didn't agree with that digging law, but he had to enforce it.
He told me that violators often will be just asked to leave.

DCR land is posted everywhere.
Towns gave away all kinds of acreage to the state.

It's often easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
 
....

The "no digging" is burried deep in the DCR bylaws.

I talked to MA DCR officer recently. He didn't agree with that digging law, but he had to enforce it.
....

Digger-D : A "no digging" law/rule is "Buried deeply" in EVERY SINGLE Park (school , beach, forest, desert, etc...) across the USA. It's not just in DCR bylaws. It's every speck of public land. AKA: "Alter", "deface", "dig", "destroy", etc....

And can verbiage like that be construed to apply to our activity ? SURE ! (we "dig" after all). All you need to do, is ask enough bored pencil pushers with FAQ's, and ... yes .......... sure enough: Some of them will envision geeks with shovels, and give you the "safe answer" to your "pressing question", that it falls-afoul of that language.

But seriously : If you cover your hole, and leave no trace, did anyone really care ? OF COURSE NOT ! (assuming you weren't snooping/tromping on obvious historic sensitive monuments).
 
But the key distinction is: If you leave no trace of your having-been-there (cover , stomp, and fluff your spots), then logically: You have not alterED, defacED, or destroyED anything. Right ? :roll: If you can accept this logic, then It's a matter of present vs past tense, in English vocabulary. Right ?

In other words: Such language IMPLICITLY applies to the end result. Not the interim evil . And I would apply the same semantic's logic to dig vs dug. The only difference is: We don't say "diggED" That's simply a spelling exercise. The point still remains: present vs past tense.

Will every single park ranger/archie agree with those semantics ? OF COURSE NOT ! So go at lower traffic times and avoid such lookie-lou busy-bodies.

The only reason that any of those "single park ranger/archie" types might even be "shoo-ing" people away, to begin with, is the FAQ's they perpetually receive, which perpetually "puts us on the radar". AAaarrgghhh.
 
Jim in Boston here.

Our club, MTHA, holds its annual open hunt at Houghton's Pond, in the Blue Hills of Milton, just south of Boston. This is a DCR-managed park. DCR(Department of Conservation and Recreation). We obtain a Special Use Permit each year and this allows us access to the beach area only for our seeded hunt.
Because this is a thread about Massachusetts parks, I see a lot of usernames here that I had not previously added to my 'contacts'. In a couple months, I will be announcing our 2019 Open Hunt in the CLUBS, HUNTS & EVENTS sub-forum and PM'ing everyone in my contacts list with the link to the announcement.
To see last year's hunt announcement and a few photos from the hunt, see the thread titled "Oct 6, 2018 ~ MTHA Open Hunt (Massachusetts)" under CLUBS, HUNTS & EVENTS. Hope to see a few more of you there this year.

Jim (grew up in Dartmouth, on the Southcoast)
 
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