Scary experiences while detecting/prospecting.

[The Dirt Pirate]

I know we've all had some strange or even scary experiences while out detecting and or prospecting so I thought I'd create a thread where we can all share our experiences.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Great Idea!

I still remember the time I was out at the old Jackson Farm. It was getting dark and I was just about to quit for the day. I took off my headphones and got a strange feeling in my stomach. And then it happened!

Ex-wife #4 called complaining about the alimony check. If that don't scare you nothing will.

 

[The Dirt Pirate]

Lol. I guess funny experiences will be ok too.

 

[The Dirt Pirate]

I will start with one of my own scary experiences. I was detecting up in the mountains in Colorado and I had made my way down the slope of the mountain into the trees when I heard something walking and I was out there by myself so the sound caught me by surprise so I stopped and waited to see if I could see anything. I finally was able to catch a glimpse of who was following me. It was a bear and a pretty big one at that but I don't think it was following me as much as it was following something else because it was now walking in front of me almost as if it didn't know I was there or if it did it just didn't care. I walked slowly through the trees until I came to a stream at the bottom of the mountain slope and the bear was walking in the stream catching fish as I jumped across I took one last look at the bear and continued on my way. I walked over toward an area where the bathrooms are and was gonna go sit down and take a break because I needed to rest a while because I had already walked at least 10 miles. I had to cut through another section of forest to get to the restroom area and as I walked out of the trees and started walking toward the picnic tables there was a group of women standing around a fancy black SUV and they looked at me and started screaming and jumped in the SUV and slammed the doors. I thought that was kind of rude that they took one look at me and screamed like I was some big machete wielding generic Hollywood horror movie serial killer or something. I continued walking toward the picnic tables so I could sit down and figure out where I was headed next and I was walking around behind a pickup truck and the man driving that drive was standing beside it getting something out of the cooler in the back of the truck and he told me hello and asked how I was doing but before I could answer him he screamed a string of expletives and leaped on top of his pickup truck and I looked at him like he lost his mind and he pointed at something next to me and I looked to my left and about jumped out of my skin when I saw that there was a mountain lion walking beside me and I had no idea it was even there. I didn't freak out though, I continued walking toward the picnic table and sat down. The mountain lion continued off into the trees and it stopped and looked back at me for a second and continued up the slope of the mountain. I think I ran into the same mountain lion again another time because I had one sit down beside me when I was resting up in the trees in about an hour or 2 away from where the other encounter happened.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I had a gun pointed at me by a military MP before. He lost his job over that (turns out he had multiple gun-waving incidents in his file). But .... at the time ... staring down the barrel of his gun ... was not fun

 

[toolmanbutch]

I once stayed in a Motel 6!

 

[BigWaveDave]

I get scared when I have a good target beneath a fire ant mound....

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Scary like the three times in the late 80's when I was digging targets and county sheriffs tapped me on the shoulder and said I was trespassing.

And that's what drove me out of the hobby for 30 years.

 

[GTB]

Your a very lucky man Cali.

 

[GTB]

Your a very lucky man Cali.

 

[100acre]

I will start with one of my own scary experiences. I was detecting up in the mountains in Colorado and I had made my way down the slope of the mountain into the trees when I heard something walking and I was out there by myself so the sound caught me by surprise so I stopped and waited to see if I could see anything. I finally was able to catch a glimpse of who was following me. It was a bear and a pretty big one at that but I don't think it was following me as much as it was following something else because it was now walking in front of me almost as if it didn't know I was there or if it did it just didn't care. I walked slowly through the trees until I came to a stream at the bottom of the mountain slope and the bear was walking in the stream catching fish as I jumped across I took one last look at the bear and continued on my way. I walked over toward an area where the bathrooms are and was gonna go sit down and take a break because I needed to rest a while because I had already walked at least 10 miles. I had to cut through another section of forest to get to the restroom area and as I walked out of the trees and started walking toward the picnic tables there was a group of women standing around a fancy black SUV and they looked at me and started screaming and jumped in the SUV and slammed the doors. I thought that was kind of rude that they took one look at me and screamed like I was some big machete wielding generic Hollywood horror movie serial killer or something. I continued walking toward the picnic tables so I could sit down and figure out where I was headed next and I was walking around behind a pickup truck and the man driving that drive was standing beside it getting something out of the cooler in the back of the truck and he told me hello and asked how I was doing but before I could answer him he screamed a string of expletives and leaped on top of his pickup truck and I looked at him like he lost his mind and he pointed at something next to me and I looked to my left and about jumped out of my skin when I saw that there was a mountain lion walking beside me and I had no idea it was even there. I didn't freak out though, I continued walking toward the picnic table and sat down. The mountain lion continued off into the trees and it stopped and looked back at me for a second and continued up the slope of the mountain. I think I ran into the same mountain lion again another time because I had one sit down beside me when I was resting up in the trees in about an hour or 2 away from where the other encounter happened.

Blessed you are, not because you lived, but for the raw experience.

 

[Rawhide]

I walk a lot of old trails and they can get narrow or be blocked by large boulders. As I was coming over one such boulder I twisted my ankle, and the ledge was very narrow. As I dropped to my hands and knees I let go of my F75. I watched in horror as my detector went coil over handle down the side of the cliff wall. It landed in a bush, and thank goodness for covers. Amazingly the detector still worked and I walked off the spained ankle enough to get down the mountain. I now have a backpack to carry my toys.

Now I could have shared the story of the mountain lions that were fighting over who was gonna get first bite......

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Walking a trail to get to a prospecting area I was going with my wife and a friend and his wife,came upon a young bear on the trail, now that didn't scare me but what did was wondering where the mother was,My wife and friends all got behind me and hightailed back down the trail, as I carried a small caliber weapon or so I thought that was the reason, But they later informed me that if the bear attacked, I was a big meal, so they could escape.That was the last time they got to go prospecting with me.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Your a very lucky man Cali.

I agree. You must have a special gift that wild animals do not attack you. From now on, carry a gun.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Great Idea!

I still remember the time I was out at the old Jackson Farm. It was getting dark and I was just about to quit for the day. I took off my headphones and got a strange feeling in my stomach. And then it happened!

Ex-wife #4 called complaining about the alimony check. If that don't scare you nothing will.

Many of us are wondering how many ex-wives that you have. No wonder that you are poor.

 

[The Dirt Pirate]

Well I wouldn't say I have a gift so no wild animal will attack me but yeah most won't attack me. I have been bit by rattlesnakes twice though. Both of those times though it was because the person I was with messed with the snake and I got bit because of it. That's why I am really picky about who I go detecting or prospecting with. I have walked right by rattlesnakes since then and they go their way and I go mine. I usually do carry a gun but not because of animals, I'm more worried about other people than animals because I've had more than my fair share of situations where I've ran into growers and other criminals while I was out detecting in the forest and hills. Hell I live in the desert now and I've ran into criminals out here too. The last time was recently I stumbled upon a meth lab out in the hills and the people cooking that meth weren't very welcoming to say the least they tried to sick their pit bulls and rottweiler on me and I thought the dogs were gonna attack at first because they all ran at me and were snarling and acting vicious but then they sniffed me and then just walked away, probably because I have a pit bull. The meth cookers then decided to pull guns on me and I sat my detector bag on the ground and I knelt down beside it and looked up at them and I said "Do you know what's in this bag?" They looked at me dumbfounded and said "Hell no." I said "Well if you keep pointing your guns at me, you're gonna find out and let me tell you unlike your puppies this thing will mess you up." They looked at each other and screamed "He's got a gun lets get the hell out of here." And they all hightailed it out of there while I sat there laughing.

 

[Dave Rishar]

A couple of years back, I was doing a little panning fairly far out in the sticks. For some reason I happened to look up and I saw a young woman approaching me on the trail that ran along the creek. I said hello as she passed by and she glanced at me but didn't respond. Something bothered me about it but I couldn't put my finger on it.

A moment or two later, I realized that we were miles from the trailhead, it was a rough trail during this time of year, and that she was dressed completely inappropriately for the terrain. I looked up again to see where she was going and there was no trace of her. This was during the winter and with the lack of vegetation, she wouldn't have had time to get out of my sight, even if she'd been running.

I thought this was very odd, so I decided to follow her tracks. There was a small amount of slushy snow on the ground so this should have been easy, but I lost them in a puddle of water a few feet away. I then followed them the other way (back towards the trailhead) and lost them in another puddle, right about where I'd first caught sight of her. The whole thing weirded me out enough to call it a day, so I kept going until I made it to the trailhead. My vehicle was the only one there.

I'm still not sure what happened, or how she'd gotten in there in the first place. I suppose that she could have come in from another entrance and made it past me without me seeing her, but there were only two sets of human tracks...mine and hers. Granted, her feet were quite a bit smaller than mine and it would have been possible for her to step inside my tracks, but then how did she get past me?

I still wonder about this one.

 

[RGINN]

Not that much scary but it did get my attention. I was out in the national forest lookin over a mining area. It is very quiet in the forests up here and I'm just basically wandering around aimlessly when I heard voices. Speaking in Spanish. Mexican cartels are known to come up here and set up grows out in the forests. I figure they got perimeter guards and if I can hear them I'm too close, and they may have me scoped in already. They were just talkin regular guy talk, about wives, girlfriends, their trucks, etc. I can't see anything due to the foliage, but decide to ease away and if they quit talkin run like hell. I circled away and around and to a high point to the south where I had an open view of them. Two vatos workin on a fence line that ran through there. Like I said, not that scary really, but somethin to be aware of up here in the high country.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Well not as scarey as most.
I was detecting at a playground close to dark just got off work.
I see a guy walking toward me carring a double barrel shot gun across in front of him.
I know for a fact i can't out run a bullet. He wasn't pointing it at me so i waited to see what he wanted, figuring if he got close enough and if i had too, i could clock him with my detector. Really didn't want to distroy my detector but if need be i would.
As it turns out, they had been having trouble with drug dealers and he was making sure i wasn't.
.....never been back to that playground.
I think i like wildlife better! They haven't pulled a gun on me.

 

[BARKER]

Hi; Back in the 80's I was diving off Cable Beach, Gitmo Base, Cuba. I was about 40' down. There were the usual small coral fish swimming around. A I was working on recovering a signal I got a weird feeling. The first thing I noticed was there were no little fish swimming around. Not a good sign. So I stopped and looked around. I looked to my 160 and I saw the grey shadow outline of a HUGE Great White cruising through. My heart froze but thankfully he was just passing through. I got back to shore and asked the Boat Patrol Guards about it. They said they saw it too. That they figured he was about 17' long and
1 1/2 TONS.!!! That sucker could have used me for a toothpick.!!! They closed the beach for 2 hours to let it leave. I got lucky. Now I dove in teams with bang sticks after that one. PEACE:RONB