First good find of the year, and a question?

[lovelylea]

I found this nice 1.09oz silver chain today and a few fairly new coins. BUT I was not alone at this little beach. When I arrived there was an older gentleman already MD'ing. Which brings out my question. He was on one side, so not to disturb him I went to the other side of the beach. Before I knew it he is along side me, a little node and he walks past. Then he proceeds to go directly in front of me by 15 feet. Basically saying "Hey let me check this before you, in case there is anything good". Now I don't think this is very good MD'ing friendly behavior. Is there a basic rule for things like this? Maybe a unwritten rule book? I just moved my line in the other direction a bit annoyed.

 

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[buzzhead]

Not very nice but no rules against it. I'd not do it.

 

[villagenut]

I would've thrown a handful of nickels at him.....well not really, but bad etiquette like that is very unnerving and can bring out the "grid rage" in you if you let it. Just move on.

 

[bigfoot1]

here is the deal according to me.I would have called him on it at once.The other thing I might add is that that is an italian bracelet...925...its gonna weigh close to an ounce,so you kicked his but anyways

 

[Pennypacker]

Ya that doesn't sound very nice lol.

You had the right idea by keeping a respectable distance.

 

[cudamark]

That's a detecting felony, punishable by stoning (coining?) to death with crusty zinc cents!

 

[SusanMN]

I have had it happen to me a few times at the lake and it feels to me like intimidation. With one guy I moved twice, the second time to the opposite side of the beach only to find him nearly along side of me a short while later. At that point I decided I would stand my ground, and hunt where I wanted to hunt. He was the one who finally blinked and decided to move on. While I don't advocate outright confrontation and pretty much everyone is bigger than me, I don't think we should get pushed around either.

 

[s.c.shooter]

The way I look at it is the beach is huge and the coil is small. What I mean by this is that he could easily miss a target by an inch and you might find it. Still he should have given you space and if he wanted to check behind you in case you missed something then ok. Nice bracelet though. Good luck in your future hunts!

 

[timemachine]

Claim jumpers you say? Get a rope! Ok, j/k, but no bueno! It's happened to me a few times on the beach as well, no less, but I can hold my own and usually just start a conversation...breaks the ice, then eventually, it goes back to this land is my land, this land is your land, in a friendly way. Besides, I'm more worried about the girls sunbathing and having to dance around their 2, ok, 3 inches of personal space, and running out of time before I get hungry. congrats on your bracelet...

Sent from my potato

 

[SouthFLdigger]

Very rude selfish behavior, i would have said something indeed. However it was not worth a real confrontation. Congrats on that chain, never have found one that big

 

[The Aluminum Monster]

There's a gentleman that hunts in the water at the beach I go to. We've chatted a few times. We pretty much have an unspoken agreement since he is in the water and I am in the dry sand that he gets all the gold rings and ketchup packets and I get all the silver coins and pull tabs. If we're there at the same time, we don't cross the tide line.

 

[Randyg12]

I haven't seen this two often. For me, as a general rule of thumb, if I go down to the beach and others are detecting already I give them a wide berth, which to me is about 75+yards. If they are gridding an area I try not to cross their path at all. I'll move on down the beach. Once someone has covered an area and is moving away the area they just detected is open game. No one gets everything and I always seem to dig targets they missed, as I'm sure others have done with me.

If someone gets close to you and is swinging the coil 3+ inches off the sand he isn't going to find much anyway, but be wary of the slow moving gridder that keeps the coil flat on the sand and moves like a snail because this, my friends is going to be someone that if his coil passes over a target he's going to hear it. You don't want this guy close to your spot

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

Well maybe if you weren't whooping it up so loud and swinging the chain over your head!!!

Seriously though there is one beach in particular here that gets a lots of MDer activity and isn't very big. If someone is in the water when I get there I hunt the dry out of boundary respect and go in if they leave; then get there earlier next time. ; )

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Well he probably was trying to run you off what he thinks of as his beach.

I have only had 1 person come up right next to me and detect at the beach, he was 6 and was happy to detect with someone, it was cute!

 

[lovelylea]

Great Replies!! I will just keep an eye out next time and move along to find my next HUGE silver

 

[RustyGold]

It's sad they don't know any better but I'd not get into a confrontation.
Save your strength for yelling out "I just struck platinum!" When he is a few yards in front of you!