How much research do you all do?

Every year we meet with state and federal lands to discuss things, you would be shocked at how much video surveillance is going on. They know how many hogs are on their property and where they are at all times and trap them accordingly. Don't go digging there!!!
 
Last edited:
Every year we meet with state and federal lands to discuss things, you would be shocked at how much video surveillance is going on. They know how many hogs are on their property and where they are at all times and trap them accordingly. Don't go digging there!!!

My understanding is that it is generally legal and perfectly fine to detect on BLM/National Forest lands as long as it's not considered historic, and you are not looking for anything that is over 50 years old as they are legally considered to be historical artifacts.

Casual gold detecting is also fine in unclaimed areas as prospecting is covered under Federal mining Law of 1872. However a 'Plan of Operations' is required with substantial digging or moving of rocks.

If you come across archaeological remains, you are required to immediately stop and promptly notify the local Forest Service office.

Also, you are not allowed to cut any trees or dig around roots and obviously all holes must be filled.

You are not permitted to search for 'treasure troves' aka caches without a 'special use' permit (which will not be issued in any historical areas). That particular law (Act of June 4, 1897 16 U.S.C. 551) is used primarily to check whether anyone else has rights to that cache.

USDA Forest Service Manual Direction (draft): "Metal Detector Use. Metal detectors may be used on public lands in areas that do not contain or would not reasonably be expected to contain archaeological or historical resources. They must be used, however, for lawful purposes. Any act with a metal detector that violates the proscriptions of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) or any other law is prosecutable. Normally, developed campgrounds, swimming beaches, and other developed recreation sites are open to metal detecting unless there are heritage resources present. In such cases, Forest Supervisors are authorized to close these sites by posting notices in such sites."

This covers BLM/National Forest land only. The general gist I get from things is that they don't care if you are in parking lots, camp grounds, and such looking for clad. But if you want to go poking around the woods or on old trails they'll want to know what you're up to. Though I have a feeling the local office would be pretty amused if you called them every time you found a 1969 penny or such.
 
Last edited:
My understanding is that it is generally legal and perfectly fine to detect on BLM/National Forest lands as long as it's not considered historic, and you are not looking for anything that is over 50 years old as they are legally considered to be historical artifacts.......

You are correct. Thus yes, you are looking for modern coins, or nuggets, or meteorites, or the ring your wife lost last week there.

As for the 50 yr. thing, how good is your math ? My math is horrible. But I suppose if someone's math is good, and they're worried silly, the solution is simple : If you find a 1969 penny or dime, simply re-insert that/those coins back in to the ground. Problem solved.

... Though I have a feeling the local office would be pretty amused if you called them every time you found a 1969 penny or such.

Yup. And people turning in pennies/dimes would be the FASTEST way to get a bunch of people (who probably don't care, nor would ever have cared), to all of the sudden "care". And then I bet that new rules and laws would go into effect ASAP.

And then we would all sit around and lament the new rules and lack of freedoms. So the solution is simple : You do not go in parading those 1969 pennies. If the reality is that : They don't care, fine then : I don't care either. Problem solved. :roll:
 
I love looking at old maps, aerial photos, and Lidar ect, but I have had too many good finds on random permissions so I always keep an open mind...

I suppose part of it will be governed in what you are interested in...I would think for Americans interested in say Revolutionary or Civil war artifacts, careful research would be a must, but for people who are after clad it's not so important...
 
Yeah, there's no substitute for in-the-field observation. Here in my area there wasn't much around but orange groves and farm fields until the 70-80s.

Yep, I used to live in Central Florida for 30 yrs. but never detected then. I went back 5 or 6 yrs. ago to visit family and went straight to a small-town park with the 705. Was in Enterprise near Sanford and Deltona. I pull the detector out and here comes the white pickup truck and a guy tells me "Unfortunately there is No detecting allowed in Volusia Co parks". And that was it. Killed my plans as I was going to hit a couple places that are along the Saint John's River. 19th Century ferry boats used to carry dozens of people and shooting Gators from the railing of the ferry boats was a common sight in the areas I know. Were old landings in the areas with lots of human activity along the river. OOUCH! it hurt but I bowed my head and put the machine back into the car. And I can hunt the blankety blank out of the beaches and find a few cents only. I've never found a thing on beaches. I guess I'm just too late for the party. Ha ha. not bitter bout that I've never planned a good beach hunt. Just gone anytime of the day and that probably not a good Idea. HH
 
Where would a feller start looking for old aerial photos for his area?

I've been amazed what Google search will do. Type in your county name and historic aerials and see what happens. I found great aerials in my area from 1953, 1966, and 1972, along with what Google Earth timeline shows. Also check out your property appraisers office and county GIS.
 
Yes, I have Caltopo on my phone and on my laptop. My elder daughter put me on to Caltopo and Backcountry navigator, although she is using Caltopo more and more doing the same thing. She orienteers in Yellowstone National Park backcountry and geocaches. She is also trying to pick up some GIS skills.
Caltopo shaded relief (lidar) is the really useful feature. Remote areas have lower resolution, More culturally active areas have higher resolution(basically the same situation as Google Earth imagery). Some of the folks in New England have been using lidar to good effect on colonial era basement holes for old homesteads, old walls and old roads. I use it for those things as well but not in New England so it can get into spotty coverage quickly.
I use Google Earth Pro, but haven't found any lidar on it. Perhaps you have found some? I confess that I haven't gone looking for it very much.

I was referring to the 'Pro' subscription for Caltopo. It's half the price of the full subscription but doesn't include the desktop application and a few other features. I have come across commercial lidar data for Google Earth, but they're for prospecting club claims.
 
Interesting, I've not considered Lidar to be a technology I would access to for this type of thing. I might have to look into it. I live in northern NH where there's PLENTY of old cellar holes in the middle of the woods.

I live near a Dam that when built in the 50's flooded an area previously occupied by 2 small towns that were relocated. But the land purchased extended beyond the water basin so there are a handful of old buildings that were leveled but otherwise untouched and should be accessible.

I research more than I detect tbh because I hyper fixate and go down internet rabbit holes. HAHA - right now I mostly use Topoview, google earth, and historic aerials. It can be a tad spotty and sometimes grainy images but it's better than nothing.
 
I research more than I detect tbh because I hyper fixate and go down internet rabbit holes. HAHA - right now I mostly use Topoview, google earth, and historic aerials. It can be a tad spotty and sometimes grainy images but it's better than nothing.

I know how those rabbit holes go. I ended up reading about everything I could find about the Calusa Indians and their interactions with the Spaniards and early colonists. Not very cordial to say the least.
 
Back
Top Bottom