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Any good places to hunt on the Eastern Shore of Va.?
- Thread starter Grunter
- Start date
E-TREC-Virginia
New member
I have some friends that hunt the Virginia Beach area all the way down beach to the NC border. They had some good winds last weekend that pulled some of the sand off the beach and they were findings some rings and Spanish coins. They said the hunting was the best right near the border. Good luck and HH.
John (west central FL)
New member
Drive north to Ocean City Maryland.
Well, I went to Chincoteague this past week. There was no place on the island to detect. I went out to the public( YEA!! Right) beach on Ass-a-tea-gue that is controlled by the Federallys. I thought out of curiousity I would ask about detecting. The US park ranger was too the point( detecting is illegal on the seashore). I went into my defensive mode and gave all of the reasoning for allowing detecting as a recreational pursuit to no avail. She said I could check with the Dept of (Game) and Inland Fisheries for a special use permit but that even if one was granted that I would have to have a law enforcement officer with me as I hunted( DUH!!!!,so they can claim everything). I explained to the ranger that I had observed kids digging holes with shovels that were 3-4' deep. I informed her that I would be covering my holes but that those kids would probably leave theirs. She curtly said well the tide would come in and fill them. Now for those that have never been there, this is for now a public beach with OSV allowed as well as camping and fire pits,surf fishing and other beach activities except metal detecting. What do they expect us to do? find some buried Gruber-in-mint secrets, unexploded ordinance,spying equipment, non-taxable loot or some bodies? Ours is a recreational,hobby,sport like any other and we should be granted equal access,right to pursue what makes us happy with undue gruber-in-mint interferance. A law enforcement officio does not have to accompany an OSV'er,camper,sand castle builder,water fisherman so my question is WHY a sand fisherman? We are definitly being discriminated against. But not to worry,the Gruber-in-mint is currently in the process of trying to sev erly limit public access to the peoples land except by their express permissin and fatherly guideance. If you want to find out more go to www.Chincoteague.Com/Preserve-Access/. I went,I saw,I heard and will probably never go back. Thanks but no Thanks keep your nanny state protection for those who need it.
Oh! I forgot to add that there were a number of earth moving pieces of equipment on the beach and several huge mounds of sand. It appears as though they are going to do a beach restoration project,spending tax payer(metal detectorist) money to bury whatever is on that beach under several more feet of sand. Sad commentary on preserving relics if thats their goal. Lost items will probably be recovered a 100 yrs from now when technology has advanced to the point of ground penetrating radar. I can see their facial expressions and hear their monologs" People must have been stupid a 100 yrs. ago,they had rudimentary means of detecting these lost items but were too dumb to do it. Oh Well thats what happens when gruber-in-mint interfers to protect invaluable resources.
I see your question has generated some comments about detecting on federally managed beaches. And no doubt, if you asked enough federal rangers, they'd look up in their books, and get back to you with a "no" (afterall, you asked, they're going to dig in their books to find your answer).
Here's a true story of a guy who hunted a federal beach here in CA 15 or so years ago: The fellow was a newbie to detecting, and was trying to decide where to detect. So .... doh ... he decides he'd try the beach near him. So he goes there, and is simply amazed at the staggering amounts of coins in the dry sand. Coin counts of 200 to 300 in a single hunt, and some rings now and then too. He's over-joyed at his stroke of luck at finding this red hot beach. He simply can not believe the long-time locals hadn't hit this beach (as he was aware that there were hobbyists in his area). He posted his finds (but not his beach location) on a forum. I saw that he was in my state, and only a few hours from me. We traded some emails, and I got his confidence up enough to reveal to me where his honey-spot was. When he told me the name of the beach, I told him that that is a federal beach, and that I'd heard that detecting is not allowed (although I'd never personally been there, as it's too far from me). He emailed back that he simply couldn't believe that it "wasn't allowed". He said that for the past several weeks, several times per week, he had simply gone there and helped himself, in broad view of anyone and everyone. Yup, right in front of manned lifeguard towers, all around the parking lots where rangers come & go, etc... No one had even said "boo" to him. So he was confident that I was mistaken (because .... certainly .... someone would have said something by then, right?) I think he eventually looked into the matter, and perhaps did see the vebage I was talking about. It was then that he realized why he'd been doing so good: other locals just assumed you couldn't do it, so the beach was practically virgin. But the other part of him felt like simply continuing, since it was OBVIOUS that in "actual practice", no one cared (perhaps no one's ever asked enough questions there? I dunno).
Here's a true story of a guy who hunted a federal beach here in CA 15 or so years ago: The fellow was a newbie to detecting, and was trying to decide where to detect. So .... doh ... he decides he'd try the beach near him. So he goes there, and is simply amazed at the staggering amounts of coins in the dry sand. Coin counts of 200 to 300 in a single hunt, and some rings now and then too. He's over-joyed at his stroke of luck at finding this red hot beach. He simply can not believe the long-time locals hadn't hit this beach (as he was aware that there were hobbyists in his area). He posted his finds (but not his beach location) on a forum. I saw that he was in my state, and only a few hours from me. We traded some emails, and I got his confidence up enough to reveal to me where his honey-spot was. When he told me the name of the beach, I told him that that is a federal beach, and that I'd heard that detecting is not allowed (although I'd never personally been there, as it's too far from me). He emailed back that he simply couldn't believe that it "wasn't allowed". He said that for the past several weeks, several times per week, he had simply gone there and helped himself, in broad view of anyone and everyone. Yup, right in front of manned lifeguard towers, all around the parking lots where rangers come & go, etc... No one had even said "boo" to him. So he was confident that I was mistaken (because .... certainly .... someone would have said something by then, right?) I think he eventually looked into the matter, and perhaps did see the vebage I was talking about. It was then that he realized why he'd been doing so good: other locals just assumed you couldn't do it, so the beach was practically virgin. But the other part of him felt like simply continuing, since it was OBVIOUS that in "actual practice", no one cared (perhaps no one's ever asked enough questions there? I dunno).
Sorry I did not see this to reply before your visit. Assateague is posted at the entrances, very clearly, as national park and no metal detectors. Last trip we made there we came back with several dozen mussels that we steamed and ate; but no metal detected loot; not worth risking having the detector confiscated.
Chicoteague does not have much in the way of beach area to hunt. May have some productive private home sites if you knocked on doors; but not much in the way of beach. There are some piers that maybe someone dropped something off of, but most are private and you would need to find the owner and get permission. We have pulled some nice flounder out of the more protected areas around Chicoteague.
Cheers,
tvr
Chicoteague does not have much in the way of beach area to hunt. May have some productive private home sites if you knocked on doors; but not much in the way of beach. There are some piers that maybe someone dropped something off of, but most are private and you would need to find the owner and get permission. We have pulled some nice flounder out of the more protected areas around Chicoteague.
Cheers,
tvr
tvr, I read the signs going into the refuge and didn't see anything prohibiting metal detecting, thats why I ask if it were permissible. I fully expected to hear a resounding NO,NADA. I met with a friend from MD. on the beach and she said she and her family have been coming to the beach for decades and she has seen people metal detecting and has never seen one arrested or stopped. The thing that bother me the most is the response by the ranger that if the Div. of Game and Wildlife would issue me a special use permit that I would have to be accompanied by a law enforement officer. My question is Why? if no other beach activities have the same requirement. I spent the month of Jan. in Fl. and probably cleaned the beaches of several pounds of aluminum sharp pull tabs,can slaw,needles,razor blades,fish hooks and lead sinkers. I can imagine what lurks beneath the sand on Assategue just waiting to harm people,wildlife the enviroment.
I'm sure there are a lot of fish hooks, shredded cans and broken glass that many of us would be willing to help clean up for the chance of finding coins and possibly a little jewelry and enjoying the effort of the hunt.
Why the regulations to not detect in national parks? My guess is a well developed lobby by the archaeological community and essentially no lobby for the detecting hobby.
I'm a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. The federal government crafted anti-terrorist language into regulations for un-manned aircraft that would have essentially shut down the flying model aircraft and model rocket hobbies. Using lobbyists and friendly congressmen, that hobby organization worked out language for exclusions for model aircraft and model rockets within the bill that will allow continuation of the hobby; with essentially no added restrictions. There is at least one club that flies in a national park.
We metal detectorists need to get big enough in number and organized enough under a common organization to have an impact or we will continue to loose access to areas that we have hunted for years. The county that I live in excluded metal detectors from county parks starting this past January. Not by ordinance, but with a published park "guideline". Wish I had a good count of how many box cutter blades, screws, nails, needles and sharp scraps of metal I've removed from the tot lots in these parks. So far I have not had a council representative interested in taking up the cause. So it is time to join a local club and start adding numbers to the group and commence the battle.
tvr
Why the regulations to not detect in national parks? My guess is a well developed lobby by the archaeological community and essentially no lobby for the detecting hobby.
I'm a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. The federal government crafted anti-terrorist language into regulations for un-manned aircraft that would have essentially shut down the flying model aircraft and model rocket hobbies. Using lobbyists and friendly congressmen, that hobby organization worked out language for exclusions for model aircraft and model rockets within the bill that will allow continuation of the hobby; with essentially no added restrictions. There is at least one club that flies in a national park.
We metal detectorists need to get big enough in number and organized enough under a common organization to have an impact or we will continue to loose access to areas that we have hunted for years. The county that I live in excluded metal detectors from county parks starting this past January. Not by ordinance, but with a published park "guideline". Wish I had a good count of how many box cutter blades, screws, nails, needles and sharp scraps of metal I've removed from the tot lots in these parks. So far I have not had a council representative interested in taking up the cause. So it is time to join a local club and start adding numbers to the group and commence the battle.
tvr
Tom, I may not ask next time but if I do its going to be one of my cheap detectors that I wouldn't mind losing. There is currently a cotrversy brewing on the Island of Chincoteague between the locals and the Federallys. I'm sure everyone involved is feeling real territorial, so maybe it wasn't a good time to ask.