Places to MD In Jacksonville FL

[john 1]

Hi all, I am new to this site and to Jacksonville FL, I have had a whites DFX 300 for about 2 years now, haven't really had much time to hunt,moved from MS gulf coast to Jacksonville FL because of job. I am looking for legal places to hunt any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
John

 

[john 1]

Hey, Im not looking for your hot spots, just would like to know where is legal to hunt, beaches, parks,
Thanks
John 1

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Most all beaches and parks are open game. Unless, of course, you see some posted rule to the contrary, that says "no metal detecting". If you want to play safe, you can stay away from federal run parks and beaches. And or anything that is blatantly an obvious sacred historic monument type spot, or active wreck-salvor spot, etc..... I mean, that goes without saying But for normal city and county parks, regular old beaches, then ........ unless you see something that says otherwise, then ... go for it. If you are still skittish, and want to investigate further, then you can look up the entities website, for wherever it is you intend to go. Like if you're talking a city or county park, the perhaps they have a website. And somewhere within that, should be their rules, laws, codes, charter, etc....... You know, like park rules ("no dogs allowed" "park closes at sunset" and so forth). If you see nothing there saying "no metal detecting", well then, there's your answer, it must not be prohibited.

This is not to say that you can just tromp nilly willy over beach blankets, or that you'll never have some busy-body gripe. Because, let's face it: this is an odd hobby, that draws the stares of curious onlookers. And has connotations (that you might leave a mess, etc...). So a little discretion is in order here: Most park hunters go at low traffic times: early AM's, after 5pm, etc.... Same for school yards: obviously when school is not in session, and so forth.

 

[john 1]

Thanks Tom, I have been researching the Jacksonville area and found out the same. my wife and i went out to Jacksonville beach last weekend found about .75 cents and alot of bottle tops. I do have another question don't know if I'm even on the right site to post it ,but i have 2 whites DFX 300 and have noticed that if i put my 950 coil on the other detector and vice verse the depth is wrong. if you can buy different coils for the DFX do they need to be calibrated to that detector, if so how do you do that.
Thanks
John 1

 

[Tom_in_CA]

John, it is my understanding that when you switch coil sizes on any detector, the depth bar readings become skewed. Because that depth is calibrated for the stock coil size. Not sure if some detectors have some in-built sensor, to account for this, when switching coil sizes or not. But to my knowledge, this will be true of all detectors. The way you figure it out, is to simply account for this, when you've swapped for a diff. size coil. So for example, you make mental note that if it says "4 inches", that it's actually going to be more like 3, and so forth.

 

[john 1]

Thanks Tom, I came to that conclusion as well, Ive been in Jacksonville for about 2 1/2 months now and still haven't found any parks or other places that allow MD other than the beach, I thought FL would have plenty places to hunt, I know in Mississippi there are tuns of places es,I have been to several parks and asked permission and have been turned down what a bummer,the beach hunts are nice but really don't give up much or haven't for me other than bags of trash, again thanks for the info.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

John, I don't understand. What do you mean parks that "allow" you to hunt? Isn't it the other way around? What I mean is, if there's no rule saying YOU CAN'T hunt, then .. by logical definition, it's not DIS-allowed. I mean, isn't that a little like asking if tossing frisbees is "allowed"? Seems to me, that if there is no rule saying you can't, then one assumes that he can.

So, just curious, when they said "no", did they cite any specific rule that said such a thing? And when I say "specific", I mean, specifically saying the words "metal detectors". NOT something silly like alteration and vandalism clauses, etc.... (unless you intend to leave messes, which, of course, you aren't going to). You are probably now the victim of the psychology of : "no one cared, TILL you asked" routine. Next time, look it up for yourself. City rules (muni codes, ordinances, park rules, etc...) are usually on the city's website. Or down at city hall on the front desk, along with the city charter, etc..... Once you find the other park rules ("no dogs allowed" "park closes at sunset", "no overnight camping", etc....) if you don't see anything about metal detectors, well then presto, it must not be dis-allowed.

 

[kapidr]

Hey John I'm down here in St. Augustine and have only been metal detecting for about 4 months. I started with a Whites Prizm2 that I found at a garage sale for 40 bucks and took it to the beach and became hooked. I can share with you what I found while detecting on the beach. When I detected all over St. Augustine beaches I had no problems including around the pier which was recently restored/renourished with dredging (creating a whole new beach area). However when I went into the Anastasia State Park I was advised by a park ranger that I had to stay east of the high tide line in order to metal detect. Not too bad. Then I tried going south of Matanzas ramp which as I found out is a federal park area and was told I had to leave as they dont even allow metal detecting east of the high tide line. Sad face. At least they were nice about it and I didn't get into trouble. I do know according to local websites that Metal detecting anywhere in St. Augustine city limits is prohibited without a permit and permission. OUCH.

So to recap...
Regular beaches, hunt anywhere,
State Park beaches, stay east of high tide line
Federal park beaches, stay out altogether.

I recently bought a DFX 300 on ebay and am having a bit of trouble getting it to detect deeper than my prizm2. I'd love to meet with you sometime if youre interested in helping me out and we can do some testing. I bring a thin gold ring tied to a string to the beach with me and bury it about 4-5 inches down and then mess with the settings to try to get it to find it. My prizm2 finds it no problem but so far the DFX300 cant. I know its how im setting it up, because from everything I'm hearing the DFX300 should be way better than the prizm2 I'll figure it out eventually. If youre up for some testing and maybe even teaching I'd be happy to meet up with you and your wife in St. Augustine to do some hunting and testing. I'm especially interested to see if its the settings or if I need to send my machine in for repairs.

At the very least the two of you might look into searching this sand by the St. Augustine pier. Since the restoration was done we are finding all sorts of neat things from cannon balls to old gold rings to musket balls. Its a big beach so I dont mind sharing

Barbara down in St. Augustine

 

[redsman]

So since your not here in Mississippi anymore can you give me any info on some places to hunt here? lol I visited my sister in Jax at the end of August and detected the beach all I found was bobby pins. I hope you have better luck than I do.

 

[lt1z350]

I am also in jax and have had good luck in greencove and in middleburg at the local parks finding musket balls and buttons.I have never been told not to hunt and been thinking about going off beaver st area as there is a park there with civil war history.

 

[CWRelichunter]

Hi,

When you say PARKS, do you mean the baseball fields, or nature conservation-like parks?

J in FL

 

[Ashsav]

Did you ever go to camp Milton? I'm new to the hobby and would love a partner. They had a few bh on sale at SAMs a few weeks ago so I purchased one and am hooked. I've been out about 30 hours so far and would love to find some civil war relics. I know Stilwell Middle School was also a site of camp finnegan, but I haven't really had any luck there. I got about 3 bucks in clad before the cops were called on me for " trespassing". Anyways, if you want a partner or have any tips I'd love to hunt with ya.

 

[kapidr]

If you meant my post I was referring to Parks you usually have to pay to get into. I only know about Anastasia State Park, you have to pay go get into the park but you can get into the park by the beach without paying. You can only detect east of the high tide line there. No detecting anywhere else on their property. For Matanzas State Park its similar with most of the area you can get into without paying except for by the fort but there is NO metal detecting anywhere in the park at all, not even by or even in the water at the beach. As for parks in town where kids play on swings I've never been bothered when searching those. I happen to have a son that plays baseball with little league and am hoping to ask the men in charge there if I can search the fields as well without digging. I don't think they'd like me digging up the baseball fields. There is a law in St. Augustine City Limits that no metal detecting is allowed anywhere within city limits with both a permit AND permission from the archaeological society. As for outside of City limits you just need to get the land owners permission. This is how things are to the best of my knowledge. I don't really do much park hunting at all I'm big into the beaches. Sand is super easy to search Perhaps someday I'll get into other areas. I've never heard of camp Milton but it sounds neat!

 

[lt1z350]

Well I found out clay county has passed a law no metal detecting on any state property like parks or schools basically no where other than private property being your own or with permission in clay now. But baker county is still ok which is the Starke area which is old. I have been to camp Milton a few times and came up dry. You cannot hunt the park only around it as it is a state park and they are off limits as are historical sites which it is both really. So I have been in the woods all around it and on the Baldwin rail trail and nothing there either. Went to camp finigan last weekend and nothing but tons of trash in the woods next to the site that is actually fenced off. I went to Thomas Jefferson park that was founded in the late 1800s and turned up some coins and a few relics one being an old marines belt buckle so that was a decent place. Been up to fernandina a couple times and found some old coins on the high school property. Been getting creative lately with looking at all the regular parks in Jacksonville and seeing which are the oldest and hunting them. So far been to springfiled park next to down town and confederate park which is near there both are in Springfield that was founded around 1870s and it is very very trashy lots of screw caps from the homeless drinking but I have turned up some old silver and even an antique braclelet but the trash is crazy and hard to deal with as it drives my e-trac nuts. Since they made my favorite spots I. Clay county off limits I am gonna try to come up with other civil war sites as they are the best. Maybe start looking just over the boarder in Ga. Just seems like so much around here is all hunted out and only the trash left of sites never had anything good. Maybe just hitting wrong parks and areas next to parks luck of the draw I guess.

 

[Rick182]

Basically Clay County Florida Ordinance 2009-34 covers County-owned properties listed on the Florida Master Site Plan. The Florida Master Site Plan is Florida's official inventory of historical and cultural resources. If the County-owned property is not listed there then it does not fall under this ordinance, IMO.

The initial wording of the proposal stated: "All objects in or lying upon the ground on County park or property, including historic artifacts, old coins, pottery shards, jewelry, or other valuables, are the property of the County and shall not be removed from the site."
However this wording was removed before the ordinance was approved.

The actual ordinance reads: "(j) Removal of artifacts prohibited. The following activities are unlawful and a violation of this subsection:

Operation of a metal detector and digging with any instrument to retrieve objects or artifacts embedded in or lying upon the ground on any County-owned burial site or cemetery or on any County-owned property listed on the Florida Master Plan by the Division of Historical Resources of the Department of State pursuant to Section 267.031(5)(m), Florida Statutes."

 

[CWRelichunter]

All,

I have been on the phone for 30mins calling State, County, and Local governments. In Clay county, GREEN COVE SPRINGS is OFF-LIMTS...No detecting.

Just because a site is NOT on the Florida Master Site File does not mean you are good to go. Local laws are also in place.

Be careful.

J in FL

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Basically Clay County Florida Ordinance 2009-34 covers County-owned properties listed on the Florida Master Site Plan. The Florida Master Site Plan is Florida's official inventory of historical and cultural resources. If the County-owned property is not listed there then it does not fall under this ordinance, IMO.

The initial wording of the proposal stated: "All objects in or lying upon the ground on County park or property, including historic artifacts, old coins, pottery shards, jewelry, or other valuables, are the property of the County and shall not be removed from the site."
However this wording was removed before the ordinance was approved.

The actual ordinance reads: "(j) Removal of artifacts prohibited. The following activities are unlawful and a violation of this subsection:

Operation of a metal detector and digging with any instrument to retrieve objects or artifacts embedded in or lying upon the ground on any County-owned burial site or cemetery or on any County-owned property listed on the Florida Master Plan by the Division of Historical Resources of the Department of State pursuant to Section 267.031(5)(m), Florida Statutes."

Hmm, very interesting Rick. This is a case where, as you can see, state level rules (regarding state parks) don't necessarily subrogate down to county and city level parks UNLESS SPECIFICALLY INCORPORATED by a city or county, by choice. You know, for example, like state parks may not allow fireworks, yet a county park might allow them. Or state parks might have a dogs-on-leash law, while a city park is silent on the subject (doesn't address dogs either way). And so forth. But in the case you cite here, the state level verbage on the subject is brought down, by incorporation, to that particular county's park's specific inclusion.

How much you want to make a bet, that the ONLY reason this was done, in that county, was d/t years ago people went asking "can I metal detect?" type questions. And then sure as heck, they have to "address the pressing issue", and give an answer. Doh!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Just curious CW relic-hunter, when you got that "no", did they cite an actual rule, that actually/specifically said "no metal detectors"? Or did they just morph something else to apply to the "pressing questions" you posed to them? Eg.: disturbing vegetation, cultural heritage, etc....? The reason I ask is, I've heard of places that were routinely detected, and no one ever had a problem before. But then someone takes it upon themselves to go ask, and finds themselves a "no" from some desk-bound bureaucrat. If they had an actual rule saying such a thing, then so be it. But if not, then you might have been a victim of "no one cared, till you asked". You can always look up rules for yourself, to get to the same objective of knowing whether rules exist. If you saw nothing saying "no metal detectors", then .......... presto, I guess it must not be prohibited, right?

 

[Rick182]

Guess we need to find out if all Clay County owned property is listed on the Florida Master Site Plan.

http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/sitefile/

 

[Rick182]

Here is some further research that I have done concerning the ban on metal detectors in Clay County Florida.

You can go to the Clay County Commissioner's web site at:
http://www.claycountygov.com/commissioners
Scroll down and click on the link: www.claybcc.com/public
Username: press
Pasword: presspass
in order to read past emails to/from the County Commissioner's, look at the emails dated in September 2009.
Since these emails are public record and available to everyone I have posted responses from the County Commissioner's to save you some time. I removed the original senders name and edited the email to get to the point, but you can read the full emails at the link above.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis Cummings" <Travis.Cummings@co.clay.fl.us>
Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 4:20 PM
Subject: RE: Metal detecting in your county

FYI: the Rules committee which I serve on did not support staff's
recommendation to ban metal detecting throughout the County, but rather only
in certain historial sites.

Take care,
Travis Cummings
County Commissioner, District 3

----- Original Message -----
From: Chereese Stewart
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: Metal Detecting proposed ban in Clay County

the ban is specifically for historical sites owned by Clay County only; not all of Clay County.

Sincerely,
Chereese Stewart

----- Original Message -----
From: Ronnie Robinson
Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 4:03 PM
Subject: Re: Metal Detecting proposed ban in Clay County

Thank you for being interested in our county. I hope if an ordinance is passed to do with metal detectors, it will be only prevent the use of detectors on sites that are on the Historical Register, Burial sites or Cemeteries.
Sincerely,
Ronnie Robinson

To me it is clear that the county DID NOT ban the entire county owned properties but those areas that I stated earlier. I will attempt to contact the state via contact information posted on their web site at
http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/sitefile/ and obtain information about the Master Site File and also email the Clay County Commissioner's and attempt to get clarification/confirmation. In the mean time could you provide me the individuals/departments contact information that stated MDing was off-limits.