I THINK I JUST WASTED MY MONEY...

[diggindowndeep]

Hello- I just spent a $1,000 on a Safari package and I am now beginning to regret every penny of it. My huge disappointment all started setting in after learning that where I live metal detecting is totally off-limits almost everywhere, with exception of private property. Talk about being limited. I should have put an equal amount of research into the Federal, State(DNR), Local Laws & Ordinances as I did the detector that I just bought and that's my big OOOPS! I didn't realize that this hobby had such a huge "STIGMA" attached to it. I live in Northern Wisconsin, right next to the U.P. Michigan border. In Wisconsin 99% of all navigable water/shorelines are now off-limits and it's all DNR controlled.

It was very hard to explain this "after the fact" information to my wife, especially with our current financial climate. If I knew all of this beforehand, I would have invested much less energy & money into this hobby. From the looks of things I will be mainly detecting with the Safari in my own yard, which IMO is totall overkill. I think things are probably different if you live in another state or on one of the coast's. Please do enjoy your privilege, because that's a liberty we simply don't have here. I would have taken a $200 hit/loss on this unit just to return it new and in the box, but I sent in the warranty card so even that option was eliminated. My kid's came up to me this morning and asked after the snow melts can we go detecting? Man am I frigging bummed...This sure went from a feeling of being very excited to really bummed in a hurry. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, didn't and lesson learned! Sorry so winded, I just needed to vent. Do your homework before you buy!

Best Regards,
John

 

[Elton]

Where there is a will, there is a way !!

 

[diggindowndeep]

n/t

 

[Mark ( ohio )]

playgrounds, grade schools sporting soccer fields etc....... There has to be a place thats open to the public for detecting use... When ya find one ( and you will ) don't mess it up by leaving the ground looking like crap.. Cut a perfect plug, and get all the dirt back in the hole so no one can pitch a bi**h....

Good Luck.. Mark ( ohio )

 

[diggindowndeep]

Mark(from Ohio) that's exactly why I wrote this. Those were the first places I had checked into with my thorough searching. I live in a very rural area that is surrounded by State and National Forest Lands. Maybe there's a park out there some where that I'll be able to detect on, but it doesn't look very promising to say the least. The closest big town to me stated this in their Ordinance List and smaller towns nearby have similar verbiage attached to their Parks & Recreation areas and I live way out in the sticks.

Prohibited/Do Not: (7) Disturb, molest, deface, remove or destroy any trees, shrubs, plants, or other natural growth; carve or paint on any rocks, signs, walls or structures; drive nails in trees, or injure or deface in any manner any park building, signs, fences, tables, or other City property.
( Dig or break up the ground surface anywhere in any public park grounds.

Also, where I vacation in the summer on Lake Superior all of the beaches/surrounding areas are off-limits, the same goes for my hometown of Milwaukee and the surrounding communities where I visit. The WI DNR controls Lake Michigan shorelines as well. It just seems that overall, I am a penny short and a day late with this frowned upon hobby. Because the damage has already been done. It's too late to return the Safari now and I won't take that big of a hit having never used the darn thing. As EL said above, I'll just have to get creative and try to utilize the private land with permission of course. It still chaps me that I missed this important bit of info and I just wish that I would have only spent $250 tops on this stuff. It is what it is... I just wanted to make sure that someone else didn't make the same mistake that I just did, because it was a very costly one.

-John

 

[Mark ( ohio )]

play areas ... jungle gyms.. practice fields for sports...Whats the chances there?? Start talkin to guys who you work with... Theres always someone who knows somebody that has a old farm house where you could walk around a few hrs to try your luck...

Hope it works out for you.

MArk ( ohio )

 

[edjcox]

No metal detecting clubs in your state at all?

Most of us ask property owners permission to hunt and get it 90% of the time.

You sure that ordinance is for metal detectors? Have you actually asked a park officer? You might find they would allow you to hunt and recover if you treat the dig right.



A simple search on the internet revealed

METAL DETECTING CLUBS TOM'S TREASURESMetal Detecting Clubs Directory If you want to add a club to the listing notify me and I ... MIDSTATE METAL DETECTING CLUB N3091 CTY RD B HANCOCK, WI 54943 ...
www.tomstreasures.com/club.html - Cached - Similar
Gold Prospecting, Treasure Hunting, Mining, Relic Hunting, and ...Wisconsin Metal Detecting Clubs - On Lost Treasure Online

 

[mpostma]

You can always sneak over the border into Michigan! The UP has lots and lots of very cool ghost towns etc.
Hermansville for one has a great deal of very good history, and much of it is detectable. It's just a bit too far to go for me.

Ask permission on private land. It isn't too hard to get permission on some great sites, and I think they pay off much better than your average park or public site!

Good Luck,
Mark

 

[ronaldj2]

I'm sorry to hear that DNR won't let you detect in your area, it is DCR here in Massachusetts. I can't believe they won't even let you detect a beach, everybody digs a hole on the beach in one form or another. I will certainly count my blessings here in Ma. as there are still many areas left to detect, but a lot of them are being lost also. DCR stands for Dept. of Conservation and Recreation and metal detecting is a form of recreation (to me anyways). I would certainly take some of the advice offered by other fellow detectorists. I am sure with more research and more word of mouth you will find some areas for you and the kids to detect. It wouldn't hurt to see if anybody has lost anything that they would like you to find for them. I have bartered with home owners in the past giving people a helping hand in exchange for permission to detect on their property. If the right word goes in the right ear. Well anyhow goodluck in your search for spots.

 

[drewan29]

This sucks!!! I am very sorry to hear this I grew up in Superior and was planning on visiting my family and do some detecting in lake superior that's out the window now I think I will stick around Michigan here The DNR states: they recognize metal detecting as a recreational sport and that any area that is open to the public is open to metal detecting.

 

[diggindowndeep]

Hello again-

After following some of the very good advice from our fellow detectorists. I finally got off of my pitty pot and became proactive this A.M. by making a bunch of phone calls before work and then talking to a few co-workers. Although I was told "NO" by numerous public officials for one reason or another, overall I feel my inquiries were very successful. To start off with I now have permission to hunt 7 parks in neighboring towns and an old 1800's Swedish farm/land in the U.P. of Michigan. I must admit that I was guilty of only focusing on what wasn't there and not looking at what was there. After researching all of the detecting restrictions that I am faced with in my local area, state & vacation spots, I took on a defeatist attitude. With a little effort it's true, when one door is closed, many more are open...

After going through all of this, I am happy with the choice that I made with buying the Safari and getting into this hobby. I'm still frustrated with all of the restrictions that were attached to this hobby/recreation by the ARKIES & BIG BROTHER on what are supposed to be public lands and waterways in one of the highest taxed states in the U.S. The only thing that was wasted by me so far was the time & energy spent on the negatives. I promised everyone that gave me permission today that I would treat this privilege with the utmost respect. I will also make sure that I've honed my detecting & digging skills on my own land before venturing out to these other sites, it's the least that I could do in return. I consider this to be a closed topic, as I am now moving forward with what I do have. Thanks again for time and input and Happy Hunting!

With Regards & Respect,
John

 

[jspoon]

I would think that if you did not know the local laws being a detectorist most people would not have a clue what your up to and what is legal or not. As long as your not on national park land I would think most schools and parks and of course out in the woods youd be ok? Then again who knows, I live in CO. Good luck with the new machine now go find that nice ring for the wife!
HH John

 

[jenkiel]

Hello DDD. In, Sweden, MD is prohibited.Poor Sweeds.
As others here say,go ask farmers if you can search on theyr property. Worst thing that could happen is a no.

Good luck. Jens.

 

[walker184777]

HI I live in WI also and know that the DNR has more power than HITLER had. Also did you know that just 1 man was responsible for this. He works for the DNR and just got a bug up his a%% about metal detecting and ended it all with out anyone knowing until it was to late. God i just get so pissed at the DNR when they do such stupid stuff.

 

[ronaldj2]

Thats probably the guy who does all the detecting

 

[wis. digger]

I too live in the peoples republic of wisconsin but in spite of that, have found that I can detect city parks, county parks and of course private lands. I elect to go to the older parks and have made some very good finds, including seated, standing and two cent coins along with indian heads, mercs, and barbers plus tokens and a civil war dog tag. So there are places to go with out the nasty DNR following you about. Suggest you contact your state representatives and complain, I have. Enough pressure and a new gov. may prove helpful to us.

 

[LilloEsquilo]

I also live in the people's republic and I detect in this state all the time. I live in south central, and the city parks in my city only require a permit, though the last couple of years I haven't bothered getting one and no one bothered me. They CAN'T take away private property (though I'm sure the fascists would LOVE to...) so you can detect on that with permission and they will just have to go home and kick the dog in a rage over that - they can't do anything about it. And to be totally honest, private property has WAY more stuff in it than parks and schools do, because many such places have never been searched. All you have to do is get permission. Hit up all the people you know, who may know people, offer to find lost rings on those billboards in your supermarket, place an ad in the classifieds offering the same and looking for yards to search emphasizing you won't damage the lawn. I've done that and gotten permission to search that way. Or be REALLY brave and just stop and ask....this is the hardest thing to do for some.

I don't think you wasted your money unless ALL you wanted to search are the waterways. If that's the case, sell the thing and move on. Otherwise, you'll find with a little creativity that all sorts of treasures will be unlocked for you. Also if you are close enough to MN they may have more friendly laws there too.

 

[TURNMASTER]

National Forests should be A-OK. Just be aware that some National Forest land is owned by the DNR. I would be suprised to learn that any state could stop you from hunting them. There are some restrictions on the Nat. forests though. Look into it. It may be worth the time, for example old mining camps, logging camps, homesteads and the likes.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting
Jeff

 

[Marty224]

DON'T LET THE B******DS GRIND YOU DOWN !!! In some cases the authorities seem to be tougher on detectorists than they do on vandalism, theft, drunken disorder etc., We have a lot to put up with at times, that's besides those in the archaeo fraternity that keep digging at us, so there are not, or never have been, and NEVER will be any dishonest archaes? don't get me started, that's another subject for another day maybe, forget that for now.............

 

[montanagold]

If you live in a small town chances are you know everyone in it, like my town of only about 3K people. Most of my best finds were in peoples yard from work and so on. So start asking around. If you dig a good clean hole and leave no trace you were ever there they will probably let you come back. I visit private homes 4 or 5 times before I reduce my frequency.