Be Careful Out There!!

[Monolyth]

About a week ago I was just finishing up a freshwater lake hunt at one of our local lakes. The area I was hunting is a beach area in a somewhat remote area where people will sometimes go to sunbathe or swim.

I was out in the water using a mask/snorkel for maximum depth. This day there just a few people out there with me. A mother and her two little ones splashing on the shoreline and building stuff out of sand and two 20something girls sunbathing on the beach.

The pickings had been decent... clad, 1 ring and a junk earing and tons of fishing weights and lures?? How does fishing gear always end up in designated swimming only areas? I was just thinking about packing it up and moving to another lake when I heard loud voices approaching.

At first I thought it was just some obnoxious teens..lots of rapid talk, cuss words pushing and shoving.

It wasnt until they came closer that I saw they where not kids....they where mid 20ish and very dirty..not in dirty in the "oh, I just fell in some mud kind of way", more like greasy lanky, matted hair, faces ingrained with dirt and clothes that had not seen a washing in a loooong time. It was obvious by the jerky body movements, hollowed frames and collection of open sores that they where meth users.

They continued to the beach area and began harassing people. Now I am not a hero by any means and I was about to leave. But I could not in good conscience leave these people here alone so I decided to hang out for a while longer.

I kept detecting along whilst keeping an eye and ear out making sure that no boundaries where crossed and everything was calm. It wasnt too much longer that I hear one of them say.."Hey, lets F@#$ with that detector guy."

Its funny that if you are wearing headphones people somehow think you cant hear them. I popped out of the water and gave them my toothiest smile and said, Hello!!

I am a fair sized guy..about 6' and 240lbs and keep in shape weightlifting and running. Add to that my strap on dive knife and big SSteel scoop and I can look somewhat intimidating at times. I was nervous..sure but I wasnt let them going to see it. Add to that I have grown kind of thick skinned to comments over the years from detecting.



They seemed surprised and took to conferring amongst themselves and I fell back into detecting while keeping an eye out. Time passed...they where still annoying people and I was getting cold and tired. A large group came down to the beach and I thought with the number of people here now I could safely leave those I was watching.

I headed up to dry beach and met a nice family from Europe that asked me like a million questions about what I was doing. Other people where still coming onto the beach. Weirdos still being weird but subdued. The day was young and I was off to another beach!!

I hiked up to the parking lot and was putting my gear in my SUV and saw rapid movement from the corner of my eye. The 3 guys from the beach where sprinting up the trail towards me.

I looked around and noticed that I was alone in the parking lot. I quickly decided this didnt look very good for me. I thru the rest of my gear in ...slid in the drivers seat..started the vehicle and rapidly popped it into reverse skipping my seat belt in the process.

They where within 6 feet or so of me now. I saw one say something to another and they converged all around my vehicle trying to block me in. I couldnt here what they where saying...My stereo was on while I had shut off my vehicle and was now blaring that ,"Today I dont feel like doing anything song,....funny the things you remember

I popped it in drive and started moving out turning my vehicle as not to hit them. This didnt work long..I started running out of space as they kept converging on me and was about to become trapped.

Only one in front of me at this point just off my front bumper and I rammed my foot down on the gas...Yes he did jump out of the way..althought at this point I wouldnt care so much if he did or not.

I drove down the road a bit and pulled over and called the local sherriffs office to have them check those guys out. I dont know if they where even still there when the police showed up. I am hoping my actions possibly saved someone else. As for myself I was a bit shaken, but came out of it unscathed.

While we detectorist go out..mostimes by ourselves, sometimes with a partner or group we are often in remote areas and have no one to rely apon but ourselves. I am writting this just to remind you all to use caution and to watch out for yourselves.

Dont let my story deter you. It certainly hasnt stopped me. Lots of fun to be had and treasures to be found. I wont let a few bad seeds ruin my recreation time or fun.

Safe Travels all,
Monolyth

 

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[TheRockDoc]

Sounds like a pretty intense situation. Makes me wonder a million things as to what they possibly had in mind. I cant imagine people doing something like this these days, you never know what someone is capable of, what type of gun and or weapons and training they have. Some people just shoot first and then ask questions. We see it on the news all the time... Crazy. Seems like you did the right thing, and handled it the best possible way based on the circumstances (nobody got hurt anyways).

Happy Hunting.

 

[Lowbatts]

Being a notroious coward myself, I still think it would have been preferable to beat them down into a pile of mush rather than leaving them to find others who they could entertain themsleves with.

 

[joeman]

Being a notroious coward myself, I still think it would have been preferable to beat them down into a pile of mush rather than leaving them to find others who they could entertain themsleves with.

Yeah, that's the freaky thing about these 'Meth Heads'. Their Brains are scrambled and they are VERY unpredictable, but so utterly poor decision makers that it's quite pathetic and somewhat 'unnerving'.

I've been on a couple 'ride-alongs' with some copper buddies and was fortunate enough to witness them put the 'beat-down' on a few of these losers... They are DESPERATE people and will fight like a 'crazy person' (which many of them are..), so they are 'dangerous' that way because they just don't 'know' when to give up! This is why I think that the 'OP' did the Right Thing by leaving and calling the Cops. Speaking of which, watching the Meth Heads getting TASED was 'extremely' educational and I found out quickly that they REALLY don't do well when they get TASERED! The on-duty Sergeant thinks that it might have something to do with all the Chemicals in their system or how it affects their brain or something...*. Apparently many of them urinate themselves (not abnormal for many 'normal people), but others have had seizures and a disproportionate number of them actually fell into unconsciousness. They also recover MUCH, MUCH slower than 'Non' Meth users after being zapped. Anyway, I thought that was an interesting observation...

Cheers,...

 

[TerryC]

Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Trouble is, though, the winner is he that can explain himself best in court. I was sued in court.... as a police officer. The outcome was a WIN for the fellow, simply because it was CHEAPER than defending me.... or the city, in court. I've got stories... but not here. Bottom line.... are your actions defendable? TTC

 

[Produce Guy]

We had a Meth-head at our store the other day that stool ed a women purse and a 6 pack of beer,well 4 of us ran out after him,after about a 100 yards he stops and pulls out a big ass knife and tells us that it has AIDS tanted blood on the tip,well we didn't want to found out the hard way if it did,so we backed off a little bit.Just then he takes off and runs out in traffic and gets hit by a car,the funny thing was he was sooooooo high that he stood back up after getting hit and walked over to the curb and passed out.
I stayed with him until the fire department and cops showed up,and we told them what had happend.The EMS guys told us later that he had a broken hip,foot arm and bruised ribs,he was missing some teeth that probably came out that day or when he got hit, and he also required about 25 stitches to close up a head wound.You or me would have probably died,but he was so drudged -up they said he probably didn't feel a thing,and yes we recovered the beer and the women's purse.

 

[TheRockDoc]

We had a Meth-head at our store the other day that stool ed a women purse and a 6 pack of beer,well 4 of us ran out after him,after about a 100 yards he stops and pulls out a big ass knife and tells us that it has AIDS tanted blood on the tip,well we didn't want to found out the hard way if it did,so we backed off a little bit.Just then he takes off and runs out in traffic and gets hit by a car,the funny thing was he was sooooooo high that he stood back up after getting hit and walked over to the curb and passed out.
I stayed with him until the fire department and cops showed up,and we told them what had happend.The EMS guys told us later that he had a broken hip,foot arm and bruised ribs,he was missing some teeth that probably came out that day or when he got hit, and he also required about 25 stitches to close up a head wound.You or me would have probably died,but he was so drudged -up they said he probably didn't feel a thing,and yes we recovered the beer and the women's purse.

WOW-that is all I can say about that..... but I had to say it, WOW. In a sick way, I almost wish I could have witnessed the second part of that awesome story.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Meth addicts are notoriously unpredictable, and can be very dangerous. I've known a few, having worked in the construction trades for so long, and there were quite a few in the staging industry as well. One of the problems is that they tend to develop intense paranoia and after a few days awake, they are hallucinating but not aware of it. You find one in that state there's a good chance he'll lash out if he perceives you as some kind of threat. Another problem is when they run out, they get desperate for more and will go to unbelievable lengths to get it. You did the right thing getting away from them when you did, it could have been an ugly situation.

Luckily here the meth problem seems to mainly be out in the suburbs, un luckily, we have a mind boggling number of crackheads. They tend to be easily dealt with though and seem to avoid people that will put up a fight. We do have a serious armed robbery problem though with young thugs running around with guns, occasionally shooting someone for as little as a cell phone. Those are the ones that I worry about, and there are many places I'd love to hunt, that I simply won't go near because of them.

These days I carry a Swiss bayonet with a 9 1/2 inch blade on my belt for "cutting plugs". Most young thugs don't want to be anywhere near a guy with a big knife, and I've noticed a few of them look and move along, possibly looking for an easier mark. It's a sad commentary on our world these days that you have to constantly look over your shoulder in many places, and I'm afraid it will only get worse any time soon.

 

[njnydigger]

Here's another little tip for my fellow treasure hunters...

If you're out in the deep woods detecting by yourself and hear a banjo start to play, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction

 

[froggy38383]

Thanks for sharing your story...