Something Crazy Happened

[HunterMF]

Sorry for the long read, but I have never heard of this happening to anyone.
About two years ago, I worked on a boiler in an older home for a customer. We got talking about the home and the farmland. I talked to him about my metal detecting hobby.
He gave me his info.
Fast forward 2 1/2 years. I reach out to some of my contacts that I made while working to see if they remember me and if I could metal detect. He is one of them that said something along the lines of "Sure! Come out whenever you would like!" (Apr 7 first contact via text)
This past week I had text him again asking if I could come up to the property with a friend. He said "I don't see why not, come over whenever you like"
I text him early yesterday morning and he confirmed for us coming up. He is about 1.5 hours from where I live.
We drive up there, arrive at his house and no cars in the driveway. I call and text him with no answer, so I go out to one of the fields away from his home to start. This old lady walking down the old farm road stopped to say hi and asked what we were doing. Very nice older lady and a great conversation.
She proceeds to tell me that the man doesn't live in that house anymore and that his wife does (They separated). At that very moment my friend and I turn our detectors off and I ask a few questions. Come to find out, that house is rented out, was never "his" property. So I show the old lady some of my favorite finds and she loved the show and tell! She explained where the actual owner of all the lands lived.
I drove up to his house and he was gardening. I explained everything to him and he seemed so confused and explained that the guy left about a year ago and doesn't live there. CRAZY!!!!
I tried calling him again and his phone was shut off. What the heck!?
Has anything like this happened to anyone My day was completely ruined... wasted gas, felt defeat, and frustration!
The land owner did give me permission for the future, he said to just go knock on his door to let him know that we're there. He didn't want me detecting that day though.
Thanks for reading, be safe and keep swingin!!

 

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[smokeythecat]

No. Fortunately my best permissions have been owned by the same folks for years.

 

[Gare]

One of my FIRST questions when asking for permission to hunt is "DO YOU OWN THIS PROPERTY"

 

[HunterMF]

One of m,y FIRST questions when asking for permission to hunt is "DO YOU OWN THIS PROPERTY"

Totally correct on this, I agree. I typically do ask every time. I made the mistake of making an assumption that he owned it because when working at that house, he told my company he was the owner. My company asks that question every single time, so he lied.

 

[Pb2Au]

It kind of sounds like the guy didnt really know who you were, maybe had memory or dementia issues. He thought that you were talking about detecting where he lives NOW, not 2.5yrs ago. He's probably pretty friendly and loose, and just figured you were someone he spoke with last week, but couldnt actually remember.

 

[HunterMF]

It kind of sounds like the guy didnt really know who you were, maybe had memory or dementia issues. He thought that you were talking about detecting where he lives NOW, not 2.5yrs ago. He's probably pretty friendly and loose, and just figured you were someone he spoke with last week, but couldnt actually remember.

I see what you're saying. The guy is in his 40s though. I believe he is being malicious towards his wife since they recently got separated and he was the one kicked out. To not answer me at all when I got there, then turned his phone off because it went straight to voicemail. The neighbor even mentioned him always lying. The old lady didn't seem surprised that he did that. It is what it is though. Still got the legit permission and will going there in the near future after they till.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Around here, most of the farm land is owned by absentee landowners. Near impossible to track them down. So, it's normal to get permission from the farmer who farms the ground. That's who you have to answer to around here. Luckily, I know most of them and have never been turned down asking permission. Permission is easy, finding good stuff is hard. Gary

 

[Megalodon]

Even if the landowners are local, they may forget to tell you their farmland is leased, so it is now SOP to ask permission of both the landowner and the farmer.

My issue is somewhat different. Older folks who gave me permission 40 years ago are now gone. In some cases, I remembered the names of their children and that helps. It also helps to remember stories of interesting interactions with their parents and how much their permission was appreciated.

 

[Dug]

I had a similar frustration. I had researched a late 1800s beach site in SC Lowcountry that later became a private property. After work, another Marine (who was just starting in metal detecting) and myself drove 30 minutes to the property and knocked on the door. A younger guy answered and I told him about the research and asked permission to detect. He advised he was just a renter and that the owner worked at a grocery store in the next town over. We thanked him and drove 45 minutes further to the store and inquired about the gentlemen and was told he worked the meat dept. We saw a gentlemen there putting meats in the display and asked if he was Mr. So and So. The guy got all shook up when he saw us, I guess the short haircuts made him think we were some Govt agency and I immediately put him at ease telling him we were Marines and were just pursuing our hobby of metal detecting. I told him I had researched his property and had found it had some history to it and was hoping to turn up some evidence of the research. He told us to help ourselves and just check in with the renter and let him know he had said ok. By the time we got back to the property it was already dark so we decided to pursue it after work the next day.

Next day comes and I'm pretty excited figuring we were going to find some late 1800s coins at least from the beach goers. We drove over to the house and knocked on the door and the renter comes to the door with a funny look on his face. We tell him about the conversation with the owner and we were just checking in with him. The renter says he has bad news for us, he got a call from the owner earlier in the day and was told to tell us that we could not metal detect the property. Seem that when Mr. So and So got home and told his wife about us she had a conniption and said absolutely not. Apparently she wears the pants in the family.

So sometimes even when the land owner says they are the land owner, they may actually not be the owner.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Just tweet Bill Gates. He probably owns it.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Anytime I get a permission, I hit it ASAP
If I wait 2 1/2 years, I’d almost expect a cluster F

 

[HunterMF]

Anytime I get a permission, I hit it ASAP
If I wait 2 1/2 years, I’d almost expect a cluster F

Yeah I got into work and never had time for myself.. literally lol so I guess I should have just stepped back from the property and approached it like a new one

 

[ToddsPoint]

Anytime I get a permission, I hit it ASAP
If I wait 2 1/2 years, I’d almost expect a cluster F

I knocked on a door once to get permission to arrow head hunt a farm field. The lady was super nice and said go ahead. I drove straight to the field and hunted it all. Found a nice little dovetail and some broken points. Got home and the phone rang. It was the lady. She told her husband about me and he rescinded the permission. She was totally embarrassed but I told her it was okay, I already got the good out of that field. Gary

 

[Trezurehunter]

My situation is the same as ToddsPoint (Gary). Around my area, a lot of the farms are cash leased by the farmers. They are the ones who give me permission to look around. It is the same for most homes, the tenant can give me permission to search the yard.