Found the downside to public park hunting

[Searching4Treasure]

So I had a couple of short hours today to go swing the Ace 250 in the vicinity of an old homesite turned museum on a piece of land donated to the park. I get my first hit and start digging, as I see a scruffy, dirty looking character approaching me. I had just pulled a shell casing out of the dirt and filled my hole and plugged it when it happened. He spoke to me. He was either way off his rocker, or on meth... maybe both. He asked me what I was looking for, and I told him whatever I could find. He immediately jumped on how he had buried things all over the park and couldn't remember where they were at or what they were. I try my best to ignore this person as he follows me. He keeps talking non sense to me... asked me what I had found. I told him I had found a silver ring recently, which of course he asked what it looked like and said he had lost one. I get another hit... dig it out to find a heavily corroded zinc cent I threw into my bag. He asked to see it and said he buried a penny there. I told him I didn't have much time and wasn't digging through the tons of trash in my bag for a corroded 1994 penny. Oh boy... here comes the crack headedness... He asks, did you say 1994?! I have been looking for a friend that's been lost for 24 years and the numbers 2,4,8,12,and 42, and 94 all play an important role in the mystery... Ok at this point Im getting seriously agitated. I told him he needed to get out of my personal space to which he replied personal space? its a public park. I ended up getting the corroded penny out, and giving it to the poor soul, and told him here I hope this helps find your lost friend. I dug the last signal I had just hit, pulled a corroded horseshoe out, filled my hole, and left before I went to jail for shanking this dude with my Lesche digging tool. Anyone have similar experiences with crackheads at the park?

Thanks for reading!

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

ha, pretty funny story. I've run into some crazy people over the years too. And this is one of the reasons why I do most of my hunting at night. So peaceful . So serene!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Yeah. I had one odd 50-something duck who spent 15 minutes telling me how Clive Cussler stole his idea for the movie National Treasure (which was not a Clive Cussler book), and how he had discovered all the clues. He was more pityable than frightening. On his way to the local food pantry.

Have also had one screaming woman tell me I was stealing. Several who also accused me (with less volume) of stealing from those who had lost items. Them I just showed a handfull of trash from my junk pocket of the pouch and said "You mean those litterbugs?

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

That's funny...Thanks for sharing a good story.

 

[TheHunterGT]

My wife and I usually have our MMA hoodies or T-Shirts that say "Combat Grappling" in huge letters across the back with our gym name across the front. Helps I'm over 6ft and in shape. Helps even more my wife is a MMA fighter and pretty well known in our town because of it.

She works a mental lockdown unit as a nurse too boot.....so she understands the crazies quite well.

So far just a old guy asking innocent questions. He was super cool and nice....just walking his dog. Said he owned a Garrett in the 50's.....I let him have his little fib story.

 

[yodi]

They should issue tags for these people cull the herd. Though I don't think the meat would be worth eating.

 

[cruiserkev]

Great story S4T! I mostly get curious people who ask if i am finding anything good. Typically I just reply pennies and trash no matter what I am finding and they move on. There was one time about a year ago where some teenage "thug" types who were obviously skipping school started following me around asking questions. I've heard too many stories about getting jumped and detectors stolen. I made up a story on the fly and told them someone lost a gold ring near a tree in the distance but that I could not find it. Worked great! They instantly left me alone and when I left the park 3 hours later, they were still crawling around in the bushes looking for the fictional ring! Laughed all the way home. HH

 

[coinman123]

Great story S4T! I mostly get curious people who ask if i am finding anything good. Typically I just reply pennies and trash no matter what I am finding and they move on. There was one time about a year ago where some teenage "thug" types who were obviously skipping school started following me around asking questions. I've heard too many stories about getting jumped and detectors stolen. I made up a story on the fly and told them someone lost a gold ring near a tree in the distance but that I could not find it. Worked great! They instantly left me alone and when I left the park 3 hours later, they were still crawling around in the bushes looking for the fictional ring! Laughed all the way home. HH

Lol!! Very creative idea to get the crazies to leave you alone.

 

[kingskid1611]

This is a wonderful story! I hunt some private property and if someone watches me I tell them I am getting paid to find the sprinkler lines, they pay no attention that they are PVC.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

You just need a tee shirt that days "bomb squad" on the back, or what other thing may get rid of questioners.

 

[DonDigger]

Years ago I detected with a buddy that worked for the city water department. He always wore his bright orange vest and white hardhat while detecting, no matter where we where. He said it made him look official and that no one ever ask him questions. May have been right, I don't recall ever being bothered while out with him.

 

[Argentium]

I too have run into various kinds of "zombies" while detecting public park areas in Santa Fe ,N.M. Some can be dangerous -I've
had a large rock thrown at me (missed ) and one drug addict violently stabbed my detector coil with a knife . I also have had
a few inebriants throw money at me or near me , apparently thinking I was more impoverished than they were (possibly correct !)

 

[coinman123]

I also have had
a few inebriants throw money at me or near me , apparently thinking I was more impoverished than they were (possibly correct !)

Once at the beach I had a guy throw pennies at me

 

[Kevin in IN]

Some kids can be very annoying. Throwing sand, and getting too close for you to hunt. I've had to show some my scoop and tell them if they step on it, it will cut them open like a ripe melon. The parents are no better for letting them do it.

 

[NWMP]

I was out in an isolated middle of nowhere spot once detecting an old one room school site that had burnt down long ago. A van full of drunk Indians pulled up near by and proceeded to empty their bladders in the middle of the road in broad day light. Seeing that the day was early for me and likely a long night for them, there was very little traffic. They started with the usual questions and I half answered while slowly swinging away from them. Of course they took instant offence and started to get belligerent. I just shut down and started walking to my car. The female driver saw all of this and screamed at them to get back into the van. As they drove away I saw the sign indicating that their reserve was just a few miles down the road. If things had gone further down hill all I had on me were my digging tools. I was left feeling threatened by a group of drunks in an isolated location with zero chance of help. It was a lousy feeling.

 

[Kevin in IN]

I was out in an isolated middle of nowhere spot once detecting an old one room school site that had burnt down long ago. A van full of drunk Indians pulled up near by and proceeded to empty their bladders in the middle of the road in broad day light. Seeing that the day was early for me and likely a long night for them, there was very little traffic. They started with the usual questions and I half answered while slowly swinging away from them. Of course they took instant offence and started to get belligerent. I just shut down and started walking to my car. The female driver saw all of this and screamed at them to get back into the van. As they drove away I saw the sign indicating that their reserve was just a few miles down the road. If things had gone further down hill all I had on me were my digging tools. I was left feeling threatened by a group of drunks in an isolated location with zero chance of help. It was a lousy feeling.

Those kind of places I hunt with a friend, Smith & Wessin.

 

[Higgy]

Last summer I was out in the middle of a huge hayfield, which had just been mown. The field birds were singing, the dew had just left, and the sky was blue. I was in Heaven. I was swinging away, having a great time, and all of a sudden, I caught some movement out of my field of vision, and walking very briskly up to me was this 50-ish woman, smiling and all nice, and asking me what I was doing, and started in on babbling to me about her Great Danes, and how she needed a place to run them, and could I let her run her dogs here?

I told her that the field was not mine, and that I had permission to be there because the owner was a friend of mine. She managed to get me to tell her who owned the field and where they loved so she could go ask. In hindsight, I regret telling her, but I just wanted her out of my face. At the time I actually didn't think I was going to sick her on my friend. So she hung around for another 20 minutes, babbling about her dogs, and about other people and different stuff I couldn't care less about. While she was babbling away - me standing there, being polite (hey, I have good manners, what can I say? ), the sky was darkening, and some clouds began to obscure my lovely sun.

The woman ran across the field to her crappy minivan full of dogs and drove off. A stiff breeze kicked up, and five minutes later it started to rain.

 

[Slingshot]

When the nutzos show up, I'm out of there - pronto. Too many other places to hunt and I don't enjoy being around crackpots of any shade. Cheers!!

 

[heepiepow]

That fella sounds a bit schizophrenic. I've run into them and crack/methheads, but only one time did things escalate (and he wasn't on drugs, just an old homeless vet worried about his stuff).

I'd been detecting at some train tracks just adjacent to a shopping center when this guy started screaming at me and walking towards me. I quickly packed up my detector and started walking towards McDonald's as I didn't want any confrontation. But he kept following and screaming that I'd stolen the bag he'd put somewhere around there which I guess he couldn't find. And that he was going to kill me. He got too close and I turned around and kicked him, and we exchanged a few blows that made my glasses fly off (and headphones which I still had on). First fist-fight I'd been in in decades. Luckily he then backed off and got all friendly. Said he and other homeless people had a "fight club" that I might like to attend, and he was a 'Nam vet, etc. I opened my backpack and showed I didn't have his stuff, then we parted ways. About fifteen minutes later I recalled that I'd seen a bag behind a telephone pole which was probably his. Hope he found it. I sure wasn't going to go find him to tell him where it was.

I've met other homeless people, 90% of whom are just curious and interested in what I'm doing, and a big majority of them also give me tips on hunting spots. I've even made a few friends among them (and one stood up for me when one of his homeless acquaintances tried to swipe my backpack). For schizos I find it best to just listen and wait them out, and maybe say "yup" "uh-huh" every now and then, and/or try to divert the conversation into something more lucid, if they mention something real. The OP's giving him the coin is a good way to deal with it and lower any tension. If you can become a "pal" to their delusions instead of an "enemy" everything works out better. I don't think escalating/threatening works at all with schizos.

 

[NWMP]

Maybe I should appreciate the heavy duty quality of Mr. Lesche's Predator Tool shovels a bit more, because I sure had a death grip on my Raven a time or two....... I work with addicts and my heart goes out to their suffering. But I also know that many of them have concurrent mental disorders and I am always on guard if I am unfamiliar with someone, or haven't seen a case file on the individual. Drugs can make people pretty weird, I should know because I did my share. And a person with a mental disorder, off their meds, and taking street drugs, well............... ya, spooky.