Are your hunting grounds illegal?

[Digger_O'Dell]

As I've run afoul of some local anti detecting ordinances lately I thought to do some more checking on areas I hunt or planned to hunt and was very surprised at what I found. At least here in Wisconsin the laws can vary from one side of the street to the other.

One example was Fon Du Lac where I had planned to go this weekend. Seems all is good in the city, but the town has a specific ban on detecting. It took a lot of digging (no pun intended) to find the ordinances pertaining to Milwaukee county, but I found an ordinance that reads "No person shall open any trench for any purpose, or dig into, or take up any park or parkway without the written permission of the department of parks..". Another section mentions to not defile or I'll use of tree, shrub.....turf...etc. As it turns out, almost every place I have detected on public property had some rule making it illegal. Guess it's up to who actually enforces these bans as detecting is mostly banned on public lands at every level.

I would love to hear from around the country, after actually researching their local ordinances who detected illegally and didn't know it.

[CladStabber]

Unless there is a sign posted or someone tells you that it is illegal I wouldn't worry too much about it. .I know where I live (Arkansas ) the only places that I would avoid are the state parks and national parks

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[wisconsin digger]

I don't think I could argue that if you dig deep enough there are probably some ordinances worded in such a way that you would think digging is illegal, but I agree with "Cladstabber" that unless you find an ordinance that specifically states "No Metal Detecting" or see a sign at a park entrance, I would personally have no issue detecting. I usually do a "metal detecting ordinance" web search in an area I plan on hunting and if nothing comes up I give it a try. I only once had someone come up to me and ask if it was OK to detect, but he was assuming it was not and was not really aware of any ordinances. I do not do much in Milwaukee County but everywhere else I hunted, including Fondulac, I have not had a problem. Just yesterday I had a Police car drive by me a bit slow but continued to drive once he saw what I was doing. I always make the point, especially when I see other people around, of picking up garbage like plastic bottles and such to try and make a good impression. Recently in Plymouth, I picked up about 15 plastic water and Gatorade containers before I even started swinging just to try and clean things up in case anyone was watching. Not saying it helps but it certainly cannot hurt. If I ever get called out by someone I'll make sure they know what they are talking about, discuss, and move on if I overlooked anything on ordinances, but until that happens I'll continue to hunt areas I do not find signs or specific ordinances doing a web search. that's my view. Wisconsin Digger

[Digger_O'Dell]

While some parks do post signs with the rules, others do not. I have found towns I detected that have actual specific "no metal detecting allowed" ordinances that are not posted. Those places could pose problems if confronted by law enforcement or government employee with a bad attitude.

[MangoAve]

Hmm. I have only heard some stories from others. One time recently I was at a school site that I was invited to and a guy walking a dog was asking me what I'd expect to find there. I automatically took it as he didn't think I knew what I was even doing there. And recently I did go into a wooded site. The way I entered there was just a diamond sign indicating the boundary. When I came out on a different edge is when I looked back to see there were signs about no entry. Weird if I saw a week old set of foot prints (and dog prints) along the road....