Asking homeowners permission to detect their property

[Miss Liz]

ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO APPROACH A HOMEOWNER AND ASK PERMISSION TO SEARCH THEIR PROPERTY? WHAT TO SAY, ETC.?

THANKS, IN ADVANCE.

MISS LIZ

 

[vanoldschool]

First make sure it is an an Approachable place, and there are no No trespassing signs, then just go up and knock on the door and introduce yourself and explain your hobby and How Careful you would be, I am sure if you try this you will get the Knack of it and start getting permission 4/10 houses, all they can say is no or.......................

 

[Twin Digger]

good advise. It dose not hurt to ask...

Happy Hunting

Twin Digger

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Miss Liz,
welcome to the board.



Try these:


http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=209007.0;topicseen

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,69954.0.html

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,43263.msg307899.html#msg307899

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?action=post;topic=208586.0;num_replies=0

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,218982.msg1584615.html#new

have a good un........
SHERMANVILE

 

[sodapoptop]

What works for me.....100% of the time is I bring my 3-1/2 year old son with me and politely ask if we can search for pennies around their front yard...... They see my cute son and ALWAYS give me permission. He brings a plastic shovel and pretends....and has a blast. Then in an hour or two after he loses interest, I tell them that I will come back to finish...(by myself! CHA-CHING.) I have never been told NO yet.
If I am by myself, I will politely ask if I can search for coins by their sidewalk.....this seems to break the ice, and they see that I am not going to be using a shovel/Jackhammer etc.... next thing you know, I am in the back yard.....and 40% of the time, neighbors will see me and ask me what I am doing.... This leads to hunting their yards too!
Good Luck!

 

[hyperion]

I bring my 3-1/2 year old son with me

Gee, where can the rest of us get one of those. My sons (33 and 30) wouldn't garner much sympathy.

Most homeowners have no incentive to allow you to hunt their property and they inately fear you will damage the grounds. Two things you can do to overcome these fears ... offer a cut of the finds and offer to demonstrate your digging technique. Make sure to take a cloth/towel to place the dirt on and cut a horseshoe plug that doesn't damage grass roots. They should not be able to see any traces of a "dig" when you're done. If you find gold on your demo dig you'll never get rid of them!

 

[wobax]

Getting permission can be tricky. Alot depends on if the landowner has had a bad experience with relic hunters before or not. If one guy has screwed up and left holes or something, it ruins it for everyone after him. I joined the local historic association. That can give you some credibility on the more reluctant landowners. I also spend a lot of time talking to them. For example, I don't just get permission and leave. ALot of the landowners I talk with are older and just want to talk for a while. So I shoot the breeze with them sometimes for an hour or more and then go hunt. Always ask in person. Some websites recommend sending a letter asking permission. I have had zero success with that method. it is easier to turn you down in a letter or email than in person.Once you get permission, always leave the place better than you found it. ALways take your trash. After the hunt, show the landowner what you found. I sometimes offer some of it to them. Most of the time they don't take anything. I have given a riker mount with some of the items found on their property where I have found a lot of stuff. A couple of days after a hunt, I will mail a Thank you card with a little note expressing my appreciation for allowing me to hunt. If it is a guy that drinks beer, I will drop off a 12 pack. If it is an old lady, I have dropped off a tin of cookies. Some of the landowners relic hunt also, so I give them my old american diggers and north/south trader magazines after I have them. Sounds silly, I know but the landowner remembers you for that. Little stuff like that usually leaves me with a "come back anytime!" from the landowner.

Good luck!

 

[nova]

Greetings,
If your going to seek permission to detect yards try and stay away from the beautiful short well
trimed cut lawns. Your most likely to get a NO. I myself would not want someone digging in my
well maintained lawn. Try an seek the ones that are less maintained weeds, yellow grass,etc..
Also I have found alot of nice treasure in yards. Yards are my favorite place to M.D.
Good Luck and keep us posted. Also welcome aboard Miss Liz

 

[kdismuke1]

NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU TRY TO GET PERMISSION TO HUNT.ALWAY'S BE NICE.

 

[ringfinder]

All of the above are excellent suggestions. You never know if you can hunt a site, if you don't ask.

My partner and I were going by this old one room school house that was only a mile from his house. I asked him if
he had ever stopped and asked to hunt the yard? He said no, that guy would never give permission. I pulled into the
driveway, knocked on the door and about 2 hours later my partner and I were hunting this old school. The fellow
who owned the land, said no one had ever asked him to hunt his property. He said it was a one room school house in
the 1800's, then a church and then his home. We have been hunting this old place for many years now. The first year, we
each pulled out of the ground over 200 wheat pennies apiece, many old silver coins, lots of old gold rings and many tokens.

You just never know and like they say all they can say is no.

HH, Ringfinder

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

I never walk up to a home with my equipment. I begin by telling them I am interested in local history and then tell them why I was interested in talking to them. Ask about the history of the house. People love to talk about themselves and will often tell you legends associated with the house.

I had a women tell me that her homes previous owner told her that there are gold bars buried somewhere on the property, as well as a Nazi pistol. The old owner told her she could keep the gold, but if she found the pistol she wanted it returned.

I never found the gold or the pistol, but I found some neat old coins!

Good luck!
Neil

 

[ivan salis]

while you were right in pointing out that typing in all caps is wrong -- so is using foul nasty curse words ---again too blue for this family freindly website (kids do come here ) so please my freind clean up yer act -- strike two .

 

[Noodle]

Ivan, that post is gone, thank goodness. I replied to it after it was "poof" and deleted my post. Now onward and upward.

I love it when folks ask if they can detect my property, mainly because I've already detected it, plus had a TN hunt out here. Anything they can find is fine by me. At this stage in my life, I want to find the arrow points, not Lincoln cents. Strange thing is, I'm the only detector here. Nobody ever asks if they can hunt my property anymore. :P Word has leaked out!

Noodle

 

[ivan salis]

it was a bad seed child --that used his uncle's computer * while uncle was unaware --problem fixed * rapidly

 

[ivan salis]

liz never be afaid to ask -- what is the baddest thing that can happen a "NO" --and if you never ask you already in effect got a "NO" rate of 100%* but you might get a "yes" when you ask --even 1 yes is better that the 100% "no" rate you got if you do not ask. -- and with a bit of practice you will improve your "pitch" and your yes rate will most likely improve as well. -- so theres nothing to lose by asking , and a lot (to dig in) to gain .

 

[cwdigger]

Don't know if this will help but it helps with civil war sites

The way that I ask is I will approach the door and the when they answer start off by introducing myself and that I am intrested in the civil war (or what ever your into) and then I ask them if they know of any historical significance of their property, Most of the time they will say what do you know, that when the research pays off, some people like it when they know that their property has "value" and even more so when you know a little as well. So I will tell them what I know, and they will always add something I didn't. Then you just politely ask may I detect on your property, and I always ask if they have ever detected if not, I have another detector in the truck and you are welcome to come along. I have only been told NO twice. But if they say no I respect that it is their land and they don't want me on it that's fine there is plenty more to be found.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Smile! assure them you are responsible and that you wont tear up the property. Tell them that this is a passion of yours and that if anything you find is significant to history of the land that you will donate it to them or the local museum. Keep it short and smile, smile, smile! lol you'll see most people are curious and will let you detect. There are some folks that are going to flat out tell you no! But,always ask first!!!!! Ive heard of people who have been shot at trespassing! some folks just might be hiding something on there property they don't want you to find. stay persistent and positive and you will find some great sites!

 

[Bridge End Farm]

Ocala 6 also has a post in general discussion that will give you some good ideas as well,

 

[crazyjarhead]

Just be polite and be a good salesman

 

[CRUSADER]

I find sneaking around wearing all black at night is a lot easier.

If the above fails & gets you arrested you could try any of the previous suggestions.

Seriously, have you had any success yet?

If it were me doing this I would try the following technique:
- Research the older houses in the area & target the old ones or newer ones that are built on older land now used for different purposes.
- When you have gathered up your evidence including maps etc Take it all to each of the homes of interest.
- Show the owners that your interested in history & you have picked their house (out of many) for further research because you think it has potential.
- Never mention that you do it for money or sell the items but you have a keen interest in local history.
- Tell them you will show them everything that you find & do a small map of where the interesting items were found.
- Tell them you will do no lasting damage to their grass or garden.
- Tell them your happy to share some of the finds with them, but as your pretty new to this & like collecting you would like first refusual of anything found.
- If you get anything that is family related you will be happy to see it returned to the rightful owner.
- If they want a go or there kids want a go, you can show them.

All of the above can lead to new opportunities, never leave after a successful hunt without asking 'you don't happen to know anyone else that might be interested in history?'

Always talk to work collegues about detecting & show & tell interesting finds to everyone you meet. Soon people will invite you or ask you to find a lost ring for a friend. They can only trigger this thought if the think 'wow I know a lady at work with a metal detector she might be able to help!. This can lead you to land with little or no door knocking.

Personally I would do the ploughed fields where old maps have lead you.