Has anyone else been harassed while they were metaling detecting?

[EastHavenCT-ACE350]

The other day I was out detecting a local ballfield/park I figured it would be a good place because its kind of secluded and basicly not used in the winter months, I was ther for about a half hour and an older gentleman came up to me and asked me how I was doing and if I found anything, I told him no not yet and we proceeded to talk for a good 20 mins about how he was a coin collector,His service at the park and just life in general, He wished me luck and was on his way, Shortly after a car with blacked out windows pulled in the parking lot and parked off in the corner I continued to swing my detector enjoying the day, About 15 mins later the car backs up and a kid probably 18-26? Started yelling out the window at me "Hey look its a penny" and started throwing change out the window..I shrugged it off as some moron and figured it was over, well he came back and parked up on the street and was yellling down at me for a few minutes until I decided I better get out of there because I didnt know what he was capable of, So I walked slowly to my car and packed everything up in my trunk and sat in the car with the heat on to warm up hoping he would leave because there was only one way out of the park and he was pretty close to it and I was affraid he was going to block it..He left shortly after I got in my car so I go out of there and made sure nobody was following me....Never would I thought that I would get harassed while enjoying a "new" Hobby ( I have only been detecting a little over a month) Have any of you guys had similar experiences?? Is there anyone out there in the state of Connecticut? If so have you had anything like this happen to you?

 

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[Tnmountains]

Welcome to t-net/ Some kids are just punks. I suggest that you always protect yourself to what the law allows but you did right in not being confrontational. He left because he did not know what you had in your car. These are desperate times for many and the days of respect are hard to find. Enjoy the hobby and do not let one isolated incident slow you down.
Good luck out there and have fun.
HH
TnMtns

 

[pickaway]

Yea one time I was detecting in a rundown area of Columbus OH and a homeless guy kept yelling at me when he approached me my dectector turned into a club I stood my ground and he left.Hard to know the intentions of ppl nowadays.

 

[Sandman]

I think we have all been hassled and been made fun of. I've even had folks throw rocks at me while wading the water. Don't take it personal as it is the sport or hobby you are doing. People don't understand we just like to find stuff and we don't care if we make a "Profit." Depending where I hunt, I am usually armed.

 

[Red James Cash]

Dont let morons intimidate you,its your right to have a hobby,now practice one of your other rights,to bear arms.No more worries.

 

[calmerthanu]

some people frown on it but i dont really care what they think about it, but i carry a handgun with me while i detect, its a pretty nice deterrent

 

[BaronH]

Strange, I've never had anyone harass me. If anything the amount of people (usually kids) asking questions and following me around with interest can get annoying. One time I had 3 boys and a girl who became my self proclaimed treasure hunting partners that would nearly come to blows fighting over who gets to dig the next hole.

Sent from my Android using TreasureNet

 

[Coinstriking Michigan]

I've been harassed, never by kids though. It's typically some old, miserable woman who has nothing better to do. I actually wish men would do it so I could smack them around a bit..lol It hasn't happened in awhile but what I use to say was "Is this your property?"....no..."Then mind your own business".

 

[XLTer]

Can't say I've ever been harrassed , but have had curiouse questions from many people . I also commend you on how you safely handled the situation . You never know what some idiot is capable of . As Sandman says , I always have my protection close at hand just in case . If your not old enough to have a concealed weapon/permit , you should at least carry Pepper Spray . You never know when you may need it for a dog or other critters .

 

[birdman]

I had a cat woman( nut with a bunch of cats) try to run me off of an abandoned property . She ended up calling the cops who parked and watched me for a while and left.

 

[Bell]

Yes yes and yes. While detecting I've been bitten by one dog and just narrowly avoided being bitten by many others. Gotten more poison ivy so many times I think I've developed immunity. Been treed my a pack of wild hogs. Almost stepped on more copperheads than I care to recall. Came uncomfortably close to an alligator. Swarmed by hornts. Ate up by fireants. Once I got into mosquitoes so thick on Galveston Bay I literally got sick from all the bites. Lots of sunburn. Been made fun of by kids and others (who got it right back). Yelled at by old ladies. Mistaken for a john by a would be prostitute. Asked to kill a homeles guy by another homeless guy who thought my minelab was a rifle. Been questioned by cops but never told to leave by them. And ran into more than a couple folks who thought they owned the city park. And they say this hobby is for old folks.

 

[mfitzs70]

I wear the headphones and dark sunglasses. Most of the time people go away if you ignore them long enough. I had a teen walk up on me once and saw him comming, I slid my hand towards my digging too .....he was looking for the nearest bathroom( not sure if I caused that or not). Lets all remember that we are still representing a hobby and some people think were weird and the more times you give then a reason to think your weird the more it might be true.

 

[aarias]

Unfortunately, there are always bad elements no matter where you are. I would suggest going with a friend if you are in an isolated area.

 

[spartacus53]

Want them to disappear

Look them over and tell them they would go great with potato's

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

some people frown on it but i dont really care what they think about it, but i carry a handgun with me while i detect, its a pretty nice deterrent

Nothing Wrong with that, Times are different these days...Dopeheads/Thugs are out there in many forms

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

The only one who ever harassed me was a cop...Even though I was not breaking any law and was being cooperative he hit me with a misdemeanor charge for "damaging property with a dangerous instrument" (later knocked down to a lesser charge). He got his though. While he was busting my balls, a man walked into the local K-Mart and put the whole gold jewelry display case in his shopping cart and walked out the front door with it!

FYI, if I see anything funny, I get my cell phone out, and look like I am making a call while staring right at them. I also take a photo of them with my phone.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Nothing Wrong with that,

There's a lot wrong with that.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

There's a lot wrong with that.

There something wrong with having the means to protect yourself? You never get a second chance to get your life back

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

FYI, if I see anything funny, I get my cell phone out, and look like I am making a call while staring right at them. I also take a photo of them with my phone.

A cellphone wont save your life

 

[sue in pa]

Yes I have, earlier this year I moved to Columbus, OH. My fiance and I was at a local park detecting and a group of colored teens (16-18 yrs old I'm guessing), (African American, Black..wanna be politically correct) showed up and at first they were just asking questions about what I was doing and I answered all their questions, showing them my detector, it's features and probe and they left to go sit on a picnic table nearby. Sometime later I heard a thud sound close to me and seen woodchips go flying..here a good sized rock had just and I mean just missed hitting me..I looked in the direction it had come from having seen the direction the woodchips had flown and it came from where the group of teens were. I didn't say anything but they were sitting there laughing and two of them looked away quickly when I turned towards them..there was 4 of them verses just me, I just went on with scanning but the more I thought about what they had just nearly done to me (had that hit me, it would have hurt like he**, it would have done some damage from it's size) the madder I got. I finally turned around and told them calmly & nicely..I don't know which of you threw that rock at me but if you do it again you'll found out how bada** a white woman can be...that done it, a huge fight ensued. My fiance jumped in front of me to shield me when they came at me..at one point, the one thug put his hand in his waistband like he was going to pull a gun, my fiance flashed his Lesche digger in his face and the other 3 teens grabbed their friend and they left..still spewing their garbage at us. That's the worst we've faced so far..except for another time when we were in another park, a kid maybe 7-8'ish wanted to help. He had been bugging us for quite sometime, going back and forth between us helping with the digging but we wouldn't let him do the scanning. When my fiance laid his detector down to start digging a target..the kid grabbed it and took off but he caught him easily and got his machine back. We're on-guard at all times now.