How OFTEN do you see other detectorists in your City / Town?

[joeman]

How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

Do you guys/gals REALLY get so many people detecting in your Cities and Towns?

I'm REALLY curious as to this question, because I live in a CITY of over 1,000,000 People and I have seen ONLY 1 (one) other person using a Metal Detector in the LAST 26 years! Now to be fair, I'm just getting back into it, but even when driving around, visiting Parks, Lakes and Picnic Day trips, I see NOBODY. I know what you're thinking,... that this sounds like a bunch o' Crap, but it's true!
As an example, I live 'RIGHT NEXT DOOR' to my Kid's Elementary School. So close in fact, that I could 'literally' Toss him over our fence, onto the School property! There are at least 8 other schools within short walking distance and I've NEVER seen a person with a Detector in the 10 YEARS that I've been living in this neighborhood. Could it simply be a matter of Location and Numbers, seeing as how I live in a BIG Country with a MUCH smaller population and that Metal Detecting is VERY seasonal for the Hobby (5 or 6 months MAXIMUM) ??

Cheers,

 

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[stagger]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I've only seen one in our town. This was about 5 years ago.

 

[Sandman]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

For personal hunting I enjoy the water and have a lot of room to myself, except after Labor Day. If I am diving, I never see anyone else with tanks or hookah systems.

 

[diggummup]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I'm in S. Fl, at the beach they are all over. I've seen detectorists at several local parks too.

 

[TORRERO]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I'm in S. Fl, at the beach they are all over. I've seen detectorists at several local parks too.

I think he is really referring to in town away from the beach,
because I can stand on a beach and see for several miles in both directions and I will see several.

But here in Charlotte NC where there are almost a million people I never see anyone else
walking around with machines....
I know they are here though because I know about 10, and that is probably about 1% of those
guys in this town.

I just think it's more a timing thing, because I will not return to a park or playground within a month
or 2 after hunting it for half an hour...

 

[Demon_Wolf]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I live in a community of about 4000 people, I have only seen one other guy metal detecting and he has hit our area hard over the years.

 

[deepskyal]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I've bumped in to a couple fellas. Belonged to a club or 2 and there are quite a few in those.
Had one guy come running over to me one time and said he recognized me from Tnet. I almost felt like a celebrity the way he ranted. He didn't have a machine with him but said he had covered the area where I was with a minelab.
And of course, I've hit those parks where my detector didn't beep a bit, telling me some dedicated enthusiast was there before me digging all the trash to get all the goodies.

I'm sure there are quite a few hundred around me in the Pittsburgh, tri-county area. That's why parks are a last resort for me.

Al

 

[CrazySlasher]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

All the time.

 

[SeaninNH]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

Never. I live in an area that is now the ghetto lol.

It used to be a rather wealthy area in the early 1900s though.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

Since I'm out on the road and not spending much time looking down at the ground (detecting), I see lots of THers here in northern Michigan where we have extremely poor detecting (one can hunt all day for a single wheat).

I watch for THers and I'd say in our small city we easily have at least a dozen avid hunters. These guys (some lassies) are diehards. But there are a lot more who hunt occasionally. I've seen groups of 5 or 6 many times.

In these modern times we don't get to know our neighbors very well but I have made it a point to at least chat a little when possible (garage sales, local meetings, etc.). There I discovered many people own detectors but rarely use them. They hit the parks and other obvious places mostly maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

But if one just got outside after work and rushed to ones hunting sites, one wouldn't think anyone else is doing it. Tons of people are doing it. I started THing in 1968 and since then I'd say there are at least 1000 times more people doing it today.

Where it's really visible is over in certain locations in Europe. At any given time one can see 20 to 50 people working certain fields. Just 10 years ago one would maybe see a couple people doing it.

We'll be driving the highway heading downstate and I'm saying to my wife: "look, over there, THers." But if you don't make it priority to look for them you'll rarely see them.

Back in the 80's I talked to lots of THers who had found many great finds. Today most admit they have never dug an Indian cent anywhere in Michigan.

 

[Westfront]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I dont see other detectorists very often. But i know that they are there! This year i have only seen two. The reason is mostly the legal situation. I bet that You can meet lots of them by night on the right spot....

 

[diggummup]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I'm in S. Fl, at the beach they are all over. I've seen detectorists at several local parks too.

I think he is really referring to in town away from the beach,
because I can stand on a beach and see for several miles in both directions and I will see several.

That's why I said I have seen them at several local parks too, so the answer to the question would be a definitive yes.

 

[joeman]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

For those interested, the location doesn't matter... Beach, Park, while driving, other. Wherever YOU can detect and where you might find people would 'count' as 'people seen'.

Last Year, I detected for about an hour and a half at my kid's School and pulled out about a $1.50 (and a bunch of trash) over a mere 10 yards of swinging with my VERY old Bounty Hunter 240 vlf which honestly, wasn't working too well. Being in a very 'obvious' area (walking path), this tells me that NOBODY has been there with a detector. To test this, I tried around the 'kiddie playground' and sure enough, I started pulling out coins at 0" to 3" (along with a lot of trash again). This park has to be 'Virgin Territory' or at least something close to it. Anyway, it started to Snow! So here I am now, waiting to buy a new unit and test out my theory again!

I'm also looking forward to detecting again since the 1$ and 2$ coins only went into circulation AFTER I quit detecting in 87'. Clad might actually be 'worth finding'..

Cheers,

 

[TexasDigger1]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

In my town, I'd have to look in the mirror to see someone else hunting....I like it this way. HH

 

[onbrake]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

Just last week ran in to two guys with Minelabs.They told me the big wooded area was hunted out and they looked mad about it.I only had 45 minutes to hunt with my O8 found 2 IH,s and 3 silver dimes.

 

[longsocks]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I know they are there, when I get to tot lots and see in the sand the grid or pattern of foot prints, they were there either in the middle of the night or some time after dark, or sun up... only thing I have to say, is to be out in the middle of the night or sun up , it becomes a job and this is suppose to be a hobby not work... I know some are in a frenzy to beat the next guy to the next spot, that they don't take the time to work the site and get all the change from the obvious spots..

 

[sniffer]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I've only seen a couple of people hunting here, but I know of at least 5 md'ers from here on tnet in my area

 

[2bits]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

As far as I know, I'm the only detectorist in our small town. There may have been others in the past, but right now I'm it. I miss having a partner.
HH, RCW

 

[bazinga]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I see them pretty often. I have a 1920s era park right in front of my house and see somebody out there at least once every week or two in the spring/summer. I never see the same person there twice. They all seem to be clad/jewelry hunters though and use fairly inexpensive machines.

Honestly, I see so many that I don't even stop to say hi anymore. Somebody using a 15 year old Garrett with a 3" coil isn't looking for the same things I am and I don't want to remind some of these old timers that there are still old coins left in these parks, haha.

 

[Goose-0]

Re: How OFTEN do you see other detectorist's in your City / Town?

I detect in a neighboring town of 65K people. I've seen 7 others in 21 yrs.