what is the deal

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

Ghost towns must be protected? Can you hunt them? If no posting what do you do? Got into trouble hunting a place in the forest out in the open no signs, would have never known till we got stopped by the feds ranger....now the last thing I want to do is make another mistake like that again...can't hunt for maybe another year due to cancer but I guess you can't hunt them.

 

[chuck ky]

you have to have permission from the owner even if its not posted. if its on private property and you have permission it would be legal. public property would be controlled by the local laws. good luck with your cancer and your hunting.

 

[Charles B]

The ghost towns we hunt are on private land although I do photograph and document sites in State Forests etc. I realize that lots of folks don't ask for permission before they hunt and this used to be acceptable years ago. Today it's just the opposite; land owners want to know who is on their property.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

a clue in your post is that you say you got hassled by "the feds". So is this to assume that you were on federal land? There's a lot of people on md'ing forums who have simply taken the stance to avoid all federal land (stick to state or city or county or private, etc...). Why? Because ARPA, which is a federal law (and thus only applicable to federal sites, unless specifically drawn in by inclusion on some lower/lesser level entity by-choice).

However, with that said, believe it or not, not all federal land is off-limits to detecting. For example: NFS land and BLM land are not altogether off-limits (even some specific verbage ALLOWING detecting, and not simply a matter of "silence on the subject). However, the "gotcha" is going to be that there *might* be some cultural heritage verbage (if you asked enough desk-bound bureaucrats), that disallow the taking of older items (I guess over 50 yrs. old blah blah). So for example, you can hunt for new items, or gold nuggets, or meteorites, etc..

So I'm not sure what type of federal land you were on. Perhaps you want to expand a little?

I was stopped one time in NFS land, while hunting a CCC era campground. The ranger barked "you can't do that". However, after some casual conversation, he changed his tune and said "well.... you can .... but you must turn in any coin over 50 yrs. old to the ranger station". Doh! (my math never was that good).

And also: it sort of depends on what you mean by ghost town too. Because if you mean that in the glamorous and colorful sense of the word (standing buildings like Bodie type of "sphagetti western" move scene), then perhaps you were ... uh ... not using a little discretion on the type places you hunt. Because go figure, no matter WHAT entity governs/manages a site (whether fed, state, city or county), you've got to figure it's always not a good idea to be hunting around "obvious historic monuments". That's like swatting a hornets nest, no matter whether there really was a rule or wasn't.

But if you meant just lone foundations (or a naked spot where nothing is left to mark the site, etc...), then .... people are going to care far less about that (especially if it's out in the middle of nowhere). JMHO.

 

[Charles B]

We've found some CCC camps on private property as well. One of our club members works for the State and knows the local Rangers; hunting CCC camps hasn't been a problem. Unfortunately it's the old saying of who you know. I find that a lot of these rangers and local law enforcement are on a power trip with no actual knowledge themselves of what the law actually is. The question is...Is it worth the fight? I avoid lots of places not because you can't hunt them legally but it's just not worth the hassle with so many sites out there.

 

[Connecticut Lovejoy]

In Connecticut, it is against state and federal laws to search state and federal forests and parks, which is total wrong.