Would you detect a place where you had to give everything back to the owner?

[Juice in the hole]

I have tons of places to hunt here on our farm (late 1700's home sites, tobacco barns, slave quarters) but still I'm drawn to some of the fantastic historic mansions in my area. Many are designated "National Historic Places" and were owned by large plantation owners. There are plenty to choose from and I'll bet at least some would be willing to let me give it a shot. The question is, do you even mention what you plan on doing with the finds up front? Do you give the owner the pick of the finds and keep the rest? What if the owner says okay, but they get to keep everything? Is it still worth detecting to you (time & energy) if you aren't allowed to keep a single item?

 

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[Jason in Enid]

I want everyone who freely gives away everything they dig to come to my ghost town site with me. I can use a lot more diggers to cover ground so I can grow my silver collection. I'm sure there's more key date silver buried out there, and of course, you will happily hand it over to me since you are just happy to dig it.

 

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[lookindown]

I want everyone who freely gives away everything they dig to come to my ghost town site with me. I can use a lot more diggers to cover ground so I can grow my silver collection. I'm sure there's more key date silver buried out there, and of course, you will happily hand it over to me since you are just happy to dig it.

Are you mad everyone doesn't have your mindset or do you not believe people would give what they find to the homeowner?...seems like this has you frustrated.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Are you mad everyone doesn't have your mindset or do you not believe people would give what they find to the homeowner?...seems like this has you frustrated.

No, no frustration here. If digging for the fun of digging makes someone happy I'm fine with that. I'm so fine with it, I'd like them to come hunt my site. We can both benefit.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I would only do this if I were specifically looking for something for someone. I wouldnt see the thrill of finding something and then having to hand it over.

Just like I dont buy lottery tickets for the "fun" of it.

But again, if somoene was looking for something and I was able to track it down, the feeling of finding it would be good enough

 

[cudamark]

Had this happen January 1st at the oldest active Methodist church in the country. Spoken of in advance that if anything directly related to the church would be donated and the rest we keep. 2 hours of freezing and detecting up comes the curator and her panties are in a knot. Who are you, what are you doing..mind you we just spoke with her that morning so now we know she's stupid. After reminding her she starts in with they take donations to help keep the place open, then it was well in my opinion whatever you find I think belongs to the church..real smart mouth..me being the smart A of the group was beaten to the punch by my friend who said sure you can have it and pulls out aluminum cans, pull tabs etc says its all yours..she says no u can keep that stuff..he says oh well thank you for that. She leaves and we decided to do same but take it up later with the church's minister, her boss, and let him handle it. We did actually pull a king George II and a puppy paw buckle but no way she was getting it after she tried to change things up. So I say get it in writing if its a serious place ir at least on your phones video. You may think it wont happen to u, so did I.

The problem with asking to get it in writing right off the bat, is that it can sour the deal altogether and you wouldn't have been able to hunt at all. At least this way, you were able to save a KG2 and a nice buckle.

 

[TheSleeper]

LOL Come on Jason, you know we're talking about two different things here now

I`ll come out there to search and dig, since its your site even be willing to give ya a split, but "everything" not gonna happen.

As many have described here, a lot of times the property owners get the shaft, they grant us permission to hunt on their property, we go out and hunt then show the property owner nothing, nada.

You might as well walk up to them and say, "Thank you for letting me dig all these divits in your yard sir/ma'am".

That's not fair guys, that is just as bad as the property owner telling you he/she wants everything after your done for the day, now honestly isn't it?

Put yourself in the shoes of the property owner, better yet, lets say for the moment you do not detect nor know a thing about detectors. Your home, the place where you are king, someone knocks on your door asking permission to detect on your property, after discussing it for a bit you finally agree they can.

Here are the questions I would like you to think about and answer:

1. The hunters go about their hunting and later that day they come to you and say, TY Mr./Mrs such an such, we found some stuff that we would like you to look through to see if there is anything of value to you.

2. The hunters go about their hunting and later that day they disappear, saying nothing to you no ty nothing, looking out at your yard even though they were careful and did a good job you can still see a lot of divits where they dug stuff leaving you to wonder what was found on your property.

Now honestly, which one of these two scenarios would you be willing to allow/invite those hunters back on "your" property, (remember this is your home now we're talking about)?

 

[Jason in Enid]

If there is not pre-arranged split or show with the owner, I leave when I'm done. I don't see anything wrong with that and neither do most people.

 

[Phantasman]

I would only do this if I were specifically looking for something for someone. I wouldnt see the thrill of finding something and then having to hand it over.

Just like I dont buy lottery tickets for the "fun" of it.

But again, if somoene was looking for something and I was able to track it down, the feeling of finding it would be good enough

That's actually how I see it. I have found a few rings that I listed in our local paper to see if they were lost by someone. Of Course a spot on ID would have to be given. And if someone lost something, I would not expect any compensation for hunting it, but wouldn't refuse a reward for finding it as well. Other than that, my equipment, experience and digging time has value to me. And if someone else doesn't recognise that, let them buy their own equipment and dig.

 

[foiler]

A piece of paper signed by both parties that determines the distribution of finds is the only way to go. No matter what is verbally stated beforehand, anything found belongs to the property owner. If its not in writing, you loose.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

That's actually how I see it. I have found a few rings that I listed in our local paper to see if they were lost by someone. Of Course a spot on ID would have to be given. And if someone lost something, I would not expect any compensation for hunting it, but wouldn't refuse a reward for finding it as well. Other than that, my equipment, experience and digging time has value to me. And if someone else doesn't recognise that, let them buy their own equipment and dig.

I actually got lucky once, I had a guy that spotted me dectecting some empty lots near his rental home. he asked if it would find rings.

So he showed me where he lost his gold ring about 20 years ago, He told me my buddy and I could hunt there whenever we wanted and exchanged numbers.

I ended up going there in all hopes to find this guys ring. after about an hour, I had a few wheats and my buddy found a rosie. Then I ended up digging a US NAVY big silver ring. I called the guy and ended up meeting back at his house ot show what I found. I told him it wasnt his Gold ring but it was a Ring.

He looked at it and said " Dont know whos that was, but thanks for trying" and walked off...Not once did he even act like he wanted it.

Im sure not all of the landowners are like this thou

 

[lookindown]

A piece of paper signed by both parties that determines the distribution of finds is the only way to go. No matter what is verbally stated beforehand, anything found belongs to the property owner. If its not in writing, you loose.

I do it for it fun...if I loose, I loose...Im not going to ask a homeowner to sign a contract.

 

[goldnugget]

I had the same situation happen to me last year. He wanted all of the finds. I did not search his property, but then I thought. Would he accept a picture of the Finds and I get to keep what I dug.goldnugget

 

[catherine1]

Depends on who the owner is...

 

[infotraker]

I detect my nieces ranch in n. Ca. We find lots of old ranch artifacts and she displays all of it at the ranch for visitors to see. Great fun !

 

[omahaorange]

I'm kinda surprised at some of the selfish and arrogant responses here. Seems the original topic of the thread was "Would you detect a property if you had to give everything back to the owner?". This is pretty much a yes or no question only. So, based on some of the replies, we would either (A) ask for permission, but not mention a split if anything's found, (B) lie to the homeowner, either by saying we didn't find anything or hiding the good stuff from view, or (C) if they ask for your finds (on their property, that YOU approached them about) tell them sure, but then it's $30/hour. Sure, it's nice to think we can make some money on the side doing this, although getting rich isn't very likely. But remember, you are knocking on their door and asking the owner for permission to dig relics, artifacts, and coins/jewelry from their land. They didn't approach you (at least as I interpreted the original post, that would be topic for another thread). With this kind of attitude you may be denied permission. Then what have you accomplished. Also, research "Finders/Keepers" laws, depending on where you live, you may not get to keep it anyway. If a property owner wants to push the issue, you may have a bigger problem that you planned for.

Again, if the property owner approaches you, the rules of the game change slightly, and you have a little more control over what you keep/give/charge. But if you make the first move, it's the owner's game. He can choose to play, or not. Depending on how much you want to dig that property, honesty and compromise is a must.

 

[Fletch88]

Yes, I'm about to do just that just for the thrill of the hunt on this late 1800's farmhouse site is 1/4 mile from me. The acquaintance whose family owns it are the greediest people ever known.

 

[TheSleeper]

Couldn't have said it better omahaorange.

Best of luck to you Fletch, hope you get your foot in the door and it turns out great for you.

 

[omahaorange]

[/B]

You seem to contradict yourself in the two sections I highlighted. As a general rule I would say no but there could be circumstances where I would.

Not sure how I contradicted myself. I mentioned two different scenarios. Each would need a different thought process.

In the first, where you ask the property owner, I think it's unreasonable to expect to keep 100% of your finds. I also think it deceitful when not bringing up the subject of viewing and splitting the finds. Me, personally, I would discuss the possibility of showing/sharing. If the property owner was adamant about keeping everything, I would simply decline the opportunity and move on.

In the second case, where the property owner asks you, it would be appropriate to ask the owner about keeping some finds. Suppose someone saw you detecting in a park, and asked of you'd come over to his place to help find a lost ring. While I wouldn't necessarily decline, or ask for compensation, it would be reasonable to ask "what's in it for me?". Same as if this same owner asked you to look for "any cool things on my old property". I would expect a cut from what I find. In this case, yes if he agrees, no if he doesn't.

 

[Lailanie]

Hi everyone, I am new in this site and I am not hunter I just registered hoping to get serious treasure hunter who is willing to invest their equipment and invest to dig to hunt the treasure. I am from Philippines and one of my officemate is looking for such serious partner to hunt treasure in their land area. The history behind is that their land area was camp and cemetery of Japanese soldier during World War II. There was hunter already before and they hunt a piece of gold in one of that area but its says it still more of it. Those interested let us know and email me at [email protected]. Only serious hunter please. Thank you

 

[Carolina Tom]

I always ask if they have lost anything, if they say 'yes', I look for that item and would return it. Something like a ring, or something that has a family name on it. On historical sites, I know that some of the boys return relics, mounted in a frame, to the property owner. I am there to find coins, so that is all that I am really interested in, I like the other stuff, but only so much.
If the owner started off with "I get to keep everything", I would thank him, but not hunt. I would not bring up s split deal right out of the shoot. Most times people don't care about rusty junk or silver dimes.

Beware of implying that you want to find "treasure", as people always assume that we find objects of great value(ie: gold coins), and most of us know, that aint true. Another angle is put a Merc and a couple of Wheaties (prior dug) in the pouch before the hunt, that way you have something to give them, should the need arise.

I see that you are in NC. If you need any help hunting those antebellum mansions, just PM me. GL&HH!