How to get Permission to Metal Detect

In all, 99.9 percent of my metal detecting takes place on private property, and there are a few good reasons why. My number one reason might surprise you: antiquities laws and other government regulations. You see, if you find something awesome on public lands, there’s a really good chance you won’t get to keep your find and an even better chance that you’ll have to pay some sort of fine for disturbing endangered snail habitat or something else.

The second reason why I prefer private property is simply because most of the public places worth hitting have been pounded to death over the past five or six decades. The once-fruitful public honey holes are all dried up. Private property gives you better odds of finding keepers and keeping finds. Unless you own a ton of private property worth detecting, you’re going to have to knock on some doors and sell a stranger on why they should let you retrieve targets on their nice, manicured lawn.

Here’s where it gets a little creepy, but stay with me. Using websites like ReportAllUSA.com and apps like LandGlide, you can find out who the property is owned by. And after you’ve found the property owner’s name, do a Google search, including the owner’s name and address. For this example, I’ll use a fake name. Go to Google and type “Bob Smith, 1234 1st Boise Idaho 83734” in the search field. The search results can vary depending on how common the person’s name is, but generally speaking, by adding the address to the search you’ll come up with info on the individual you’re searching for. Things like Facebook pages, employers, newspaper articles, awards, donations, clubs, arrest records, and all sorts of other information are readily available. Getting creeped out yet? Try your name and address. There’s a reason why they call it the information age. Using these resources you might find out that Bob Smith works at the gym that your buddy goes to and that Bob likes to dabble in fly fishing, a hobby that you also enjoy. You might ask your friend that goes to Bob’s gym if he knows Bob and if he might be able to introduce you. You get a meeting with Bob after your friend breaks the ice and after talking a little bit about dirt fishing (metal detecting), you explain to Bob that it’s kind of like fly fishing.

See what we did there? We used some simple research to find some common ground. Once you do a little digging on the Internet, you’d be surprised how many people you know by proxy. It’s like playing that Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. Some of you might think this technique is a little shady or dishonest, but really, all you’re trying to do here is find a way to break the ice. Preferably, have someone else break the ice for you. It’s always best to be introduced by a friend, as a friend. It helps to take some of the distrust out of the equation. It’s like going to a job interview with a letter of recommendation and knowing that your potential new boss likes donuts as opposed to showing up unprepared and without donuts. If it’s an awesome property that you’ve deemed full of potential, do your research and give yourself a fighting chance. You only have one. At the same time, don’t overdo it. You don’t want to creep Bob out by showing up on his doorstep wearing his favorite team’s shirt and alumni hat, blasting his favorite album from your car while holding a fly rod. Use some common sense ;)

Stay thirsty my friends,
Brandon Neice

For more info check out my book “The Metal Detecting Bible”