Metal Detecting on Georgia's Middle & South Georgia

7 locations · 2 limited · 5 prohibited

Rules last verified: 2026-08-19 · Georgia statewide rules

Middle and south Georgia are lakes, farmland and history. The big reservoirs — West Point Lake and Walter F. George / Lake Eufaula — are Corps of Engineers projects where detecting is limited to designated day-use beaches and parks (West Point even publishes a metal-detector brochure with the open areas and tool limits). The state parks (Providence Canyon, Georgia Veterans, High Falls) ban detecting, and Ocmulgee Mounds and Andersonville are national-park sites where it is prohibited. This is old cotton-country ground, so most of the good hunting is on private farmland with the owner's permission.

Beaches and parks on the South Georgia

🟠 West Point Lake (USACE) Limited · Troup County
Corps rules allow detecting only in designated 'open' day-use areas (ball fields, playgrounds, swim beaches within the swim lines); hand too…
🟠 Walter F. George Lake / Lake Eufaula (USACE) Limited · Clay County
Corps rule 36 CFR 327.14: metal detecting is allowed on designated beaches or previously disturbed areas unless the District Commander restr…
🔴 Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park Prohibited · Bibb County
Federal NPS land — possessing or using a metal detector is prohibited (36 CFR 2.1(a)(7)); this is a protected ancient Native American mound …
🔴 Andersonville National Historic Site Prohibited · Sumter County
Federal NPS land — possessing or using a metal detector is prohibited (36 CFR 2.1(a)(7)). A Civil War prison site and active national cemete…
🔴 Providence Canyon State Park Prohibited · Stewart County
Georgia State Parks rules prohibit metal detecting and even possessing metal-detecting equipment; damaging or removing rocks and natural res…
🔴 Georgia Veterans State Park Prohibited · Crisp County
Georgia State Parks rules prohibit metal detecting and even possessing metal-detecting equipment on this Lake Blackshear park land (OCGA 12-…
🔴 High Falls State Park Prohibited · Monroe County
Georgia State Parks rules prohibit metal detecting and even possessing metal-detecting equipment; damaging natural or historic resources is …

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Other Georgia regions

Atlantic Coast · Metro Atlanta · North Georgia