Depending on your location and detecting desires, there are probably many places that are perfectly fine to detect in your town or city. Other places, such as ones you know are private property of any sort, will require permission. Check your local laws and ordinances and use this article as a rough guide from the author’s personal experience.
Your own yard!
You might be surprised what people find in their very own yards. It’s a great place to start and practice with your detector before going out into public. Get real good at digging and filling in your holes, test different things like coins and jewelry to see how your detector handles them, and actually discover neat things in the ground. Almost everyone has at least coins buried in their yard; I’ll bet you do, too!
Parks
Some parks simply don’t allow metal detecting but if nothing is posted, it’s probably okay to go swing there. As I mentioned above, keep in mind that it’s very important to fill your holes in; don’t be the guy who ruins it for everyone else. Leave things as you found them (maybe minus a coin or two!) and everyone stays happy.
Beaches
If you live near an ocean or a lake, the beaches are a fine place to metal detect. All manner of items are lost at the beach, including coins and jewelry. Do a little research on the tides, if any, and you’ll be way ahead of the game. Also, don’t stick the coil of your metal detector into the water unless you are sure it’s waterproof.
Schools and churches
These may require permission, but most people won’t have a problem with you metal detecting the grounds, especially since you asked them, and mentioned that you’ll fill the holes in. See the trend there? Of course, the older the grounds the more chances to find older stuff, but any school or church will yield something.
Get creative!
Remember, just because there’s nothing there now doesn’t mean the area has always been bare. Do a little research and you can find a lot of local places where old houses or farms were. These areas are great to hunt. Also, random empty spaces often yield cool finds; just make sure you aren’t breaking the law.
I hope these ideas will help some of you detect new local areas. For even more ideas, join a metal detecting forum like this one: http://metaldetectingforum.com/index.php. I really like that place and it’s always family friendly.
Happy hunting!