I got the last laugh

BigWaveDave · Jan 25, 2015

5 months ago I earned a permission from a lady who was selling her house, an old beauty, corner lot, shade, clothesline....drool. I followed up a week later and her dude chased me off, what a tool. Today I was scouting out new turf, and I see a painting crew at this same old house, getting ready to do their thing, place has been empty now for a month after being sold. The kid in charge of the crew says OK...HA!!!I beeped like a champ, pulled out a ridiculous amount of clad, two Rosies, a little silver ring, and my best find of the day...a 1927 Ft. Myers dog tax tag!!! :headbang:

Oldest one I ever found. I am going to follow up with the dog tag guy in the token/tag forum and let him know about it too.. I hope this proves to be the oldest on record for my area.

Thanks for looking! :hello:

Professor of Engineering · Jan 25, 2015

Very nice hunt! The dog tag is a very good find!

DigIron2 · Jan 25, 2015

Nice old dogtag Dave,cangrats!on the silver too.the ring is a sweet little find as well.-HH

BigWaveDave · Jan 25, 2015

DigIron2 said:
Nice old dogtag Dave,cangrats!on the silver too.the ring is a sweet little find as well.-HH

Yea, when I got home and cleaned up the tag I was jazzed beyond all get -out!!! I found a 1954 tag in my yard when I was a young detectorist(last year) :laughing7:

....have been hoping to find one older. If I had to guess, this dog was the original pet of the house, as it was built in the 20's...just wish I knew its name :dontknow:

pong12211 · Jan 25, 2015

Nice finds. Congrats on the silver scores. Thanks for sharing.

Old Dude · Jan 25, 2015

I guess getting to hunt that house makes the finds even better after being chased off. I worked on getting permission at a great looking old place for months. I must have gone by there a dozen times trying to catch someone home. Finally one day I stopped and there was the owner! It turns out he was only there on weekends and after we talked a bit, he said I could hunt but he preferred I do it when he and his wife weren't there. Wonderful! I left my little calling card with my number, in case he had any questions, and drove home. 25 minutes later, the phone rings and it's him. He says he just got off the phone with his lawyer ( oh crap! ) and well, you can guess the rest. Lawyer says because of liability issues, it isn't such a good idea for me to hunt. I still think it was this guy's wife saying they don't know me and why should they let me on their property?
Sorry for rambling, Dave. Great finds! Oldest dog tax tag I have found is a 1970's one.

BigWaveDave · Jan 25, 2015

yea, it sucks when a permission backs out on you

dirtlooter · Jan 25, 2015

love the tag and the silver, congrats on finally getting in there

BigWaveDave · Jan 26, 2015

Ok..so I get the email back from the dog tag fellows...turns out it IS the oldest known for Ft. Myers!!! My finest moment as a detectorist! 8-)

nathan104 · Jan 26, 2015

Ive learned to not ask for permission until you are ready to hunt it! I got permission for an OLD house in a pasture up the road from me from the owners who live next door. They said sure, have at it. I let them know Id be by in a few days to detect it. The next day, they came by my house and said they have decided to buy a detector and search it themselves! If I had detected it right away, it would have been fine. So, I will no longer ask for permission to hunt a property unless I am going to hunt it right then.

Old Dude · Jan 26, 2015

nathan104 said:
Ive learned to not ask for permission until you are ready to hunt it! I got permission for an OLD house in a pasture up the road from me from the owners who live next door. They said sure, have at it. I let them know Id be by in a few days to detect it. The next day, they came by my house and said they have decided to buy a detector and search it themselves! If I had detected it right away, it would have been fine. So, I will no longer ask for permission to hunt a property unless I am going to hunt it right then.

That's a cardinal rule, Nathan. If I had not given the owner my phone number, he could not have called me to back out in my instance above too, lol.

BigWaveDave · Jan 26, 2015

I see your points..but sometimes I feel like I gotta have faith in my salesmanship, and hope for the best in people. Usually, it works out... if not, oh well.

WHADIFIND · Jan 26, 2015

I've watched the back & forth about asking permissions. The salesmanship, the door knocking, the distrust that prevails in
our society nowadays. I hear lots of good points and different techniques. But, I still have a concern and reservation
when it comes to permissions.

I steadfastly will not hunt anywhere I don't have permission. (Public property is an assumed permission in my book. After all
I'm paying for it too. Even that will pretty much disappear one day too.

)
But, that's not the point of my post. What I'm concerned about is how, overall, is the concept of our hobby being harmed.
Harmed? Yes, I do think so. If you don't believe me, just ask yourself how you feel about door to door salesman.

So, does that mean I won't ask someone? No. But, I won't be walking up to anyone's house asking if I can dig up their lawn.

Don't get me wrong, there are many people in this hobby who swear by the method and I say more power to them. But, I think as
a whole we already fight an ever increasing uphill battle, with perception of our hobby. What with TV shows and people who don't
bother to clean up their mess and those who sneak on places at night to dig. Scavengers!! That's what we are, just ask around.

So, now, to knock on someone's door and upset their daily schedule, just to beg permission to allow this totally strange looking
person, equipped to the hilt, with a knife and a scabbard, backpack & shovel, eye patch, etc.

, to dig up their yard. Of course,
with a stranger's promise that if any gold is dug, they'll be told. LOL

It's not an issue to anyone here, yet. But, on top of everything else we're all lumped under another label of "door to door salesman".
I gotta ask myself, is it hurting the hobby? I guess we'll find out.

HH! For as long as we can and have a place to do so.

BigWaveDave · Jan 26, 2015

Allow me to elaborate w/ my technique, which works almost flawlessly...

BigWaveDave · Jan 26, 2015

darn...wait for it....... :laughing7:

BigWaveDave · Jan 26, 2015

My wife and I live in an old neighborhood, and on our walks together, or yard saleing, or being in the community, I know all the potential honey-holes within 3 or 4 miles. In talking up my hobby, coupled with my professional career, I have confidence to ask total strangers if I can detect..no worries if I cant, its just the amount of time that I can hunt. I find myself stock-piling permissions, that when I go out, I have choices. Lucky me I guess, too bad I don't live in an older town.