Roadblocks?

[Dick Stout]

Curious if any of you are hampered by restrictions, bans, ordinances, etc..... Does your town permit or prohibit your pastime?

[Dimeman]

All our county owned parks (Harris County) have prohibited metal detecting. Any city owned parks, are ok to detect in.

About 7 years ago the Houston area club, had full permission from county park officials, to use a county park for group hunts. They had done so for at least 10 or 12 years before that with no problems. A THC employee who happened to see them in the park, didn't like the fact that they were digging (which in fact were seeded coins for a group hunt)...it was said they were digging up trinkets.

The THC employee got with the county park officials,who then got with their lawyers, and a law banning detectors was made. The main reason was,they said that the Indians had used the area way back when, and the THC didn't want metal detector users digging up what they called trinkets.


The stone arrow points and pottery shards that are common in our area are non metallic and couldn't be detected by a metal detector. No metal items have been dug by the archaeologists, in these areas where Indians are have known to have been. And they have done numerous digs.

[OxShoeDrew]

Nobody in my town has given it any thought. When asked to hunt some historic town owned property I got no response.

[bob_e99]

Massachusetts doesn't allow it in any of its state parks (although I'm not sure how they enforce that) especially in historic areas which I can understand. New Hampshire has recognized metal detecting and has passed laws specifically allowing it in certain areas but again not on historic sites. That's not to say that a caretaker won't tell you to stop detecting if he doesn't want you there. I carry a copy of the NH law with me but would use it judiciously because I don't really want to get in an arguement with some of these people. The little time I have been detecting it seems to me that the number of places that prevent it seems to be increasing. I'm not sure I understand about leaving history in the ground when a lot of it will eventually disintegrate to be lost forever.

[russellt]

no problems here in georgia except on state property--parks.

[firstring]

I checked ordinances at one town I was going to. There were no ordinances prohibiting metal detecting in the local parks. There was no prohibition shown on the posted sign at the park. I was asked to leave by the park superintedent because there was an ordinance against against destroying public property. I volunteered to helped clean up a local park where metal decting is prohibited. I got in a conversation with the park supervisor about surface trash can be removed, but what lies just under can also be dangerous to yougsters. I told him as a metal detctorist, I encounter much trash and dispose of it. Things like hypodermic needles, pocket knives and even a swithch blade knife. I told him how we recover targets and fill holes. He gave me his business card, with a note on the back, permission to metal detect in the parks. Go figure. One person sees the value while the other does not.