Hatteras

[Wooden Nickel]

Can anyone tell me if one can metal detect around and near Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks? I'm going there this summer and want to know where I can, and can't metal detect.

Thanks.....

 

[jimmy]

Hi Wooden Nickel, I hunt the outer banks a few times each year however I never hunt from the Cape Hatteras National Sea Shore areas and south because they are off limits but you can hunt from Nags Head and north thru Kitty hawk and on north to the Virginia line no problems, Good luck, there are some great finds to be had there if you get the coil over them. In the summer I hunt very early morning and late evening, the best time to hunt this area is the winter months and always low tide regardless of the time of year.

 

[BillF]

I don't wish to sound ignorant, but why are the National sea shore areas off limits?
Thanks.

 

[jimmy]

Good question bill, I think it is mostly because of the sea turtle breeding grounds and the historical significance of this area. I know if yu get caught detecting there it can lead t a big fine and confiscation of your equipment incl. your car/truck. This is a federal government controlled area.

 

[BillF]

Wow!, I guess I can understand the sea turtle thing, at certain times of the year, but the historical significance baffles me. If we dont bring something to the surface it stays buried forever.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Not sure about the sea-turtles thing (how the HECK does a detector bother "sea turtles" ?). And as far as the "historical significance", then ..... what's to stop someone from only hunting for new coins ?

Anyhow, silly "go-to" answers like that (things that detectors "might" do, if some bored desk-bound clerk thought about it long enough and hard enough) often got put into "rules", ONLY because people-in-the-past went and asked "can I metal detect?". Those people who did that thought they were doing the "right thing" (afterall, they didn't want to "get arrested", blah blah blah).

For example, right now, you can detect state-of-CA owned beaches till you're blue in the face, and no one cares. But I have no doubt, that if enough people went asking for clarification (asking if cultural heritage verbage applies to us, or if we might bother the sea otters, etc...) that ....... sure .... I bet someone in Sacramento would come up with an answer of "no more md'ing". Thus I can't help but think, that other such places in other states, that I read of with supposed rules, didn't actually START in this very fashion.

Sheesk, it's as if we can be our own worst enemies!

 

[jimmy]

Hi tom, I live in N.C. and I can't go there to detect. They have signs up that specifically say "Metal Detectors Prohibited", this is a National park area and as far as I can find out metal detecting is prohibited all across the U.S. in National Parks. I suggest anyone interested in detecting that area just Google "metal detecting at cape hatteras national seashore" and there is a lot of info on the subject. Thanks, Jimmy BTW I am quickly learning the etrac, I appreciate your encouragement.

 

[BillF]

The sea turtle thing would be disturbing nests or some such. The rest is beyond me.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The mention of "sea turtles" as a reason for "no md'ing", reminded me of an incident that happened to me, along our coast-line. There was a particular time, about 10 yrs. ago, where for some reason hundreds of sea lions came on-shore at our local beaches. It was in the newspaper, about how these "poor little sea lions" were now sun-bathing all over the rocks, taking over boat docks, etc.... (quite a nuisance for boat owners trying to walk along the boat slips to their boats! and the sea lions make a mess with their poop, etc...). I think it had something to do with mating season or something. The newspaper article advised caution to beachgoers not to go up and bother the sea lions, to leave the newborns alone, etc... Most of the sea-lions were on rocky areas, or on boat slips, not the open sandy beach.

Anyhow, about this time, a friend and I were getting ready to go do some beach detecting. We arrived at the beach (a cove beach with rocky areas at each end). There was a few sea lions in the distance, but not where we were getting ready to detect. We spent about 5 minutes detecting, when all of the sudden, we heard a voice on the walkways above us, trying to get our attention. We turned to look at this guy, who turned out to be a harbor patrol. He was saying "you can do that here", or something like this. So I climbed up to talk to him, to ask "why not?" He answered: "because of the sea lions". As we talked, I noticed a lady with a scoul near him. Apparently there is self-appointed nature-lover preservationist types in our area. They have little Sierra club like get-togethers, and patrol the shorelines, to make sure no one steps on ice-plant, or hurts butterflies, etc... Apparently she had seen us, and called the harbor patrol, and he was just responding to her call.

I tried to reason with the fellow, and pointed out that the nearest sea lion was way over there (to me it seemed like far enough away, that we weren't bothering it). But to no avail, he would not be swayed (no doubt to just keep miss-lookie-lou happy). So we left ..... but were not too happy about it. That night, I dug in deep and heavy and looked up to find out all the laws concerning wild-life, the beach, and the particular city-entity section of beach we'd been on. Turns out that there is indeed verbage about disturbing wild-life and so forth (I mean, go figure, probably boiler-plate stuff for ANY park, forest, beach, etc... anywhere). And this particular verbage had something measurement like the requirement was 100 ft. distance or something like that. So I got on my google satellite, and measured the distance from that nearest sun-bathing sea lions, to exactly where we had been on the beach. We were in excess of the required distance.

Now, of course, there's no way someone would "win that debate" in the heat-of-the-moment, right? I mean, what is someone going to do? take out a tape measure and walk up to the sea turtle or sea lions and measure? No, of course not. If anything, debating semantics like that (even if we're in the right), will only cause powers-that-be to merely INVENT rules to further restrict detectings.

So it's better in cases like this, to merely give lip service, and just come back later when lookie-lou busy-bodies aren't present.

 

[Grunter]

Just for a point to ponder I was on Chicoteague Island this past spring. I went to a public park on the Island that is designated as a National Seashore. I observed children and adults digging huge holes and trenches in the sand for firepits and sand castles etc. There were even big pan shovels for moving the sand on the beach to extend or replace the parking areas. Ah!!!! but no metal detecting,not allowed,protected archeological,historical area. Now there is a definite possibilty of a wreck and treasure cache just off the Northern tip of the Island on the Va. side. The Grub-er-in-mint does not want you to find any of it. And I have been told by a reliable source that if you should find any lost valuables you have to turn them in for lost and found, and if they aren't claimed in 6 months you can file a claim on them. Anyway I was told by a uniformed individual that metal detecting was not allowed and that what was on the beach or land had to remain there for the enjoyment and equal opportunity of future generations. What happens when all of the Ferrous items rot away and the non-ferrous items are covered in tons of donor sand or washed away by a giant storm? And while I'm sounding off I would ponder a question, Has anyone seen any Archeologists excavating on a beach while you are detecting? Or if you visit National Seashores, have you seen any? When do they work? How many are available nationaly to find buried artifacts,interesting metal objects? So what happens if someone else discovers an item and reports it, does an excavation begin? When something is found it is studied again and again,cateloged and stored in a Gruber-in-mint facility for years for other academics to study some more and then maybe placed on public display so future generations can pay good money to look at it under glass until it is no longer profitable and it goes back in the basement somewhere. Well its like I always say if its lost it will be lost forever until a detectorist or GOD uncovers it.

 

[Wooden Nickel]

I know this isn't a political forum, but our hobby is at stake. Many of the laws and regulations are asinine. it's time to take back our country from an over-reaching government and it's unconstitutional, over-reaching, assumed authority.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Grunter, you say you observed:

"children and adults digging huge holes and trenches in the sand for firepits and sand castles etc. There were even big pan shovels for moving the sand on the beach to extend or replace the parking areas."

Do you know what the difference is between those people, and md'rs? Those people didn't go seeking clarification and permission to do what they did. And as you can see, no one cared. But trust me, if those people (like so many md'rs you observe on forums saying we should ask permission & inquire of laws) had asked if they can please "dig with shovels" and "move sand to extend the parking areas", ..... THEY TOO would have been told "no". And then perhaps they too would have had forums, like ours, discussing the horrible-ness of how they can no longer shovel sand, because it's illegal and they might "be arrested".

Moral of this story?

 

[Wetdogg72]

So much of this hobby reminds me of my other hobby.. hotwheels.. Quick what-I'm-talkin-bout for the unknowing.. Mattel, makers of hotwheels make these chase pieces called "treasure hunts" these are hard to find and have some value on the secondary market. What happens is guys go early to stores, we call them "door warmers" anyway, they rush to the toy section, tear it apart looking for hunts, leave a mess, generally bother employees about new cases when they are gonna put them out etc.. Well, sometimes the new, unopened boxes sit on pallets and some people "pallet raid" they will grab the boxes, go off into another section, open them, take the goods and leave.. Not all of us do that and generally its frowned upon by the general population. Some of the guys have a saying.. "Its better to ask forgiveness than permission" I wonder if thats not necessarily bad advice in this case??


I have always asked, been denied, been granted permission occasionally.. Its all in who and how you approach them.. Sometimes claiming stupidity works great!



I was gonna get to another point but forgot


Oh, one thing I was gonna mention about C ape Hatteras.. I was there a few years ago when they were moving it back.. so its not currently sitting in the original spot.. maybe, you, or someone, can look there! My sister lives not far, has hundreds and hundreds of fields around her. I'm tempted to go back for a visit and detect around there!