I HAVE A DILEMMA

[against the wind]

Today I stopped by a garage sale. Lots of stuff and cheap. I spoke to the young man and his wife who are holding the garage sale in preparation of selling their house. Very interesting fellow. He has an interest in tropical fish and was selling off some of his tanks. That's a great hobby, so I told him I was a treasure hunter. I handed him my card and he started to tell me about how he and his boy dug out a Koy pond in the backyard. In the process of digging, he came across an Indian Head Penny. He ran upstairs to get it and show me. I told him, "So Cool!" Then I asked if he would show me the pond. We went to the backyard and I started asking questions that would lead up to me getting permission to hunt his acre of land. I also managed to get permission to hunt with another Tnetter. There is also an old Farmhouse in back of his property where the owner passed away. He has permission to be on that land from the farmer's son.
We bought a few tools and then left. When I called him back to tell him I would be there on Sunday, he started to say things like, "Well you know if you find anything of value, its on my land, so it belongs to me.
After a conversation that explained how rarely does a person give us permission and then ask for us to give him whatever we find. I explained that we search for old coins but it is rare that we find a coin that is worth a ton of money. He said,, well I do want to see what you find. I may want to sell it.
We left it at, let's see what we find. I even offered to give him any jewelry we might find. So we are set to hunt it on Sunday. Do you guys think I should bother. My partner already gave me a suggestion that we split up and only show him the clad. Do you guys think I should even bother??

 

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[ecmjamsit]

Nope. I wouldn't do it. Just my gut instinct. Too many easy places without any chance of a possible hassle.

 

[Hawks88]

Could get nasty if you find something he may want. Who knows he might want to watch you while you are detecting. But I would do it anyway. If two of you are out there he can’t keep an eye on both of you at the same time. I would still do it though.

 

[Timebandit]

that’s a tough one...you don’t want to give up a good permission but it sounds like he is going to lay claim to your finds. I think the bottom line is - are you ok with the possibility that you can’t keep everything you find? It still sounds like a good opportunity and he may just lighten up once you are there talking to him again.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Naw, don't do it. He's shown his hand. Wait for the new owners, tell them you had permission from the previous owner, and would they let you hunt it, too. LOL. Wouldn't be an outright lie.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I had a fella do this once, so I told him that if he really thinks there is something valuable on his property, I would charge him $20 to teach him how to use my $5,000.00 Minelab metal detector, and stay with him as long as he wished to hunt. He went for it because he was greedy, and thought he was getting to use a top-of-the-line machine cheap. Of course I chose one of the heaviest machines I owned at the time! The next morning I got him all set up with a Lesche and kneepads, put the splitter on the earphones and off we went.

A few nails and some canslaw later, I could see the enthusiasm in his eyes fading. He lasted less than 40-minutes. I said, "Tell ya what, you let me hunt now, keep what I find, and I'll give you back your $20." He agreed, so I went to the car, got my Tejon, and ended up with a couple of seated coins and a silver ring. I didn't show him!

 

[Peyton Manning]

not even close for me
would you get to hunt it at all without his permission? no
I would hunt anywhere even if I cannot keep it
you still will be the one who FOUND it, just get pics

 

[releventchair]

Reads like the owner has $$ signs in his eyes.
Will he expect you to produce?
And if you do not?

 

[GA_Boy]

Don't walk away from a deal like that------------------------------RUN like a Grizzly bear was chasing you.
Marvin

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes RUN AWAY very fast. First, he'll assume you are hiding stuff from him, even if it is imaginary. You could even get sued for "stealing" from him. The nutjobs are out there. Find another place.

 

[lairmo]

Hunt it!!! With him in tow. Just only dig the iron...pulltabs..nails..etc. When he tires out and leaves get the good stuff!!!

 

[Ogre1190]

Let's see...I do all the hard work and you get all the fruits of that.

Where do I sign up? 😠

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I'm a coin shooter. If I ask permission to hunt a property I put it up front that all relics and jewelry or personal items I'll turn over but the coins are mine.

 

[Ogre1190]

That's the exact same deal I make, Charlie. 😁

 

[RustyGold]

Agreements that start off like this one I would do my best to avoid. One never knows but the intuition usually does.

 

[redcobra8u]

Nope. That's the start of a bad relationship. If he was really interested in knowing what was on his land, he should dig it. What the point of hunting and not keeping the spoils anyway??

 

[kingskid1611]

Hey he was excited about the indian head penny so offer him to rent an extra machine from you. have him stay with you and teach him how then watch him get frustrated when he digs the trash. He is taking his Indian head penny find as this is a everyday occurrence and all of us know that coins are not easy to come by....while the trash is.

 

[Rawhide]

Your a pirate, take all you can, give nothing back - Jack Sparrow.

 

[nomad 11]

you're a hagler ! he's a hagler ! hagle,hagle,hagle ! beforehand make the agreement you can keep all coins. he wont know anything about what might be collectable ? all he'll notice is bling. and ask if any jewelry has been lost on the property he knows of ? and keep us informed.

 

[chub]

he gave you permission for the wrong reason....nuff said

Chub