NY Resolution - Don't Talk while Detecting

[LawrencetheMDer]

Northern wind howling at 20mph. Frigid temps in low 30s. But the sun is shining here in Florida and it is a great day to metal detect the beaches. Huh? When you hunt the beaches, the last thing you need is people everywhere gawking at you. At the same time, you want to hunt the beaches visited by the most people. I learned a valuable lesson recently: I was talking to a lady as I was metal detecting a distant west coast beach about...it really doesn't matter what, but I'm sure the first question was; What's the most valuable thing ya ever found?". As I'm talking to her I get a good signal and recover a double ring (ring w 2 bands and some have 3 bands; usually junk), or at least I thought, as I immediately placed it in my pocket for safe keeping and to avoid discussion of the find w the gawker. When I got home, I discovered that the double ring was actually a sterling and diamond ring guard for a wedding ring! If the ring guard fell off you know the wedding ring can't be far away. However, now I was about 20 miles away from the beach and didn't take a second notice to exactly where I recovered the ring guard being distracted by the gawker. Had I not been distracted by the gawker, I would have spent more time examining the find immediately and would have discovered that a wedding ring was close by...Went back several times but no luck...New years resolution - keep my mouth shut when detecting.



UPDATE: Found matching wedding ring for ring guard, discussed in another article. Found wedding ring 15 days after finding ring guard.

 

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[against the wind]

Good advice.

 

[digging440yrs]

LOL, that reminds me of my 12 yr old son. He has been detecting the fields and woods with me since he was about 5 yrs old. But man, that boy can talk, hardly ever stops, even with both of us wearing head phones ! Normally I just nod my head and smile--its all good-

 

[Normsel]

When someone talks to me I usually just stop for a few moments and then proceed when they walk away. I did find a ring in the presence of someone that was talking to me but it was costume jewelry worth $22 in the store..I picked it up and showed it to them and they said wow and walked away.

 

[SD51]

At least she didn't say it was hers!

 

[SD51]

When people stop to talk to me,I will ask them if they know any old places that I could detect, like their property!

 

[Loco-Digger]

Most people not into the hobby that walk up and ask a question do not take up much of my time time. I am polite and cordial so as not to give the hobby a bad rap. The ones that want to Bogart all your time are those noobs who have hunted a little, but have about a million questions. I ran into one of those 2 years ago and after about 45 minutes I had to let the guy know about the volumes of hobby related info that can be found using google and also that the best site for info is Tnet and then excused myself so I could continue the hunt.

 

[Loco-Digger]

I did have a not so pleasant experience with a younger MDer and his son in 2016. I went to the small block where the school once stood in town (was just torn down a month prior). I saw those 2 hitting the front part of the lot, so I drove to the rear area about 150 ft away. I ran 2 grid passes and noticed them walking towards me. I was about 3/4 done with my 3rd grid line when the yahoo started to swing in my grid 10 ft in front of me. In a couple sweeps get git a signal and pulled a sterling ring. It really upset me, I mean that was very rude. a whole block to detect and he decides it would be fine to detect in the line I was going. He wanted to know if I would like to be his hunting partner. I simply stated, no-thanks I am a lone-wolf type of hunter. (I mean how many other times in the future would the guy swing in my grid) I did let him know that I was not pleased with how selfish he had acted by leaving the area they were hunting and then infringing on my grid line. He honestly felt like he did nothing wrong. Needless to say I left and found another site to hunt.


See the picture below, they were hunting in the left side of the block (front of where the school was) where I put the blue circle They could have hunted in any of the green outlined areas and I would consider them to have been considerate. You can see at the lower left the area I planned on gridding. The 80% of the block was not enough for them since they decided they just need to encroach in the 20% area I was hunting.




I have gone to large schools before and if I see someone hunting in the front, I go around to the back, or if they are on the right hand side of the school I hunt the left side. Just common courtesy.

 

[GA_Boy]

So far not a problem but should it become a problem I will hang a card from my neck that states that I was captured and the terrorist cut out my tongue and ruptured my eardrums. That will stop them.
Marvin

 

[dirtdigginfool]

I did have a not so pleasant experience with a younger MDer and his son in 2016. I went to the small block where the school once stood in town (was just torn down a month prior). I saw those 2 hitting the front part of the lot, so I drove to the rear area about 150 ft away. I ran 2 grid passes and noticed them walking towards me. I was about 3/4 done with my 3rd grid line when the yahoo started to swing in my grid 10 ft in front of me. In a couple sweeps get git a signal and pulled a sterling ring. It really upset me, I mean that was very rude. a whole block to detect and he decides it would be fine to detect in the line I was going. He wanted to know if I would like to be his hunting partner. I simply stated, no-thanks I am a lone-wolf type of hunter. (I mean how many other times in the future would the guy swing in my grid) I did let him know that I was not pleased with how selfish he had acted by leaving the area they were hunting and then infringing on my grid line. He honestly felt like he did nothing wrong. Needless to say I left and found another site to hunt.


See the picture below, they were hunting in the left side of the block (front of where the school was) where I put the blue circle They could have hunted in any of the green outlined areas and I would consider them to have been considerate. You can see at the lower left the area I planned on gridding. The 80% of the block was not enough for them since they decided they just need to encroach in the 20% area I was hunting.

View attachment 1538442


I have gone to large schools before and if I see someone hunting in the front, I go around to the back, or if they are on the right hand side of the school I hunt the left side. Just common courtesy.

There's not many MD'ers (fortunate) around here, but maybe once a year I'll run into someone else detecting and they're usually pretty cordial...we usually exchange information but I tell them, like yourself, that I'm a lone wolf also..I've had some bad experiences while taking on hunting partners, one being he slipped in the old back door and hunted one of my permissions I worked hard to get, telling the homeowner that I said it would be ok...AND he brought his brother..grrr. Another nice old guy I met at a school told me he lives across the street from an old school and has picked it clean, little did he know I had been there and pulled a LOT of deep wheats and a couple silvers, but he kept following me, hunting so close that his rig was interfering with mine...I simply said my goodbyes and packed it up. I don't interact with many onlookers, I guess the headphones and lack of eye contact sends a message in itself. Ddf

 

[fuzzy535]

Most people not into the hobby that walk up and ask a question do not take up much of my time time. I am polite and cordial so as not to give the hobby a bad rap. The ones that want to Bogart all your time are those noobs who have hunted a little, but have about a million questions. I ran into one of those 2 years ago and after about 45 minutes I had to let the guy know about the volumes of hobby related info that can be found using google and also that the best site for info is Tnet and then excused myself so I could continue the hunt.

funny i ran into you about two years ago too! hey wait a minute!!

 

[Loco-Digger]

funny i ran into you about two years ago too! hey wait a minute!!

Nah, not you, I was hunting in Oberlin, at the old high school and a neighbor saw me from his porch. Came over to me and I thought I'd never get back to swinging the coil. Nice fellow, though, had been using a BH machine for a month or so.

 

[Evilpope]

I totally agree with you,,I live next to lake Michigan in northwest Indiana I have people always gawking asking what I've found,, one couple who have a house on the beach told me "we'll let you detect our beach" it's a public beach like they was given me permission.i don't mind if someone is interested in the hobby but if it is just to be nosy I'd much rather be left alone,, anyway happy dirt fishing to you good luck in the future

 

[Ogre1190]

"Another nice old guy I met at a school told me he lives across the street from an old school and has picked it clean..."

I like old guys who live across from old schools. 😁 I was hunting one a few yrs back and a Gentleman walked across the street to let me know that he'd already "cleaned it out". After several POUNDS of clad, some silvers and several rings/jewelry pieces, I still go back there a few times a year. 😂