Be careful who you tell where your hunting spots are! My "friend" snaked mine...

[TK in VA]

Be careful who you tell where your hunting spots are! My "friend" snaked mine...

I have been hunting with this guy for years now. I even took him to the spot where I found my 2 CSA buckles. -The deal was that he only go with me and tell nobody else. I went back to my "secret" spot the other day, and BAM! -Holes EVERYWHERE! I quickly sent him a text hoping that it wasn't him...but it was. He acted like it was no big deal. Well, it is to me! Our relic hunting days are done, and I hope he falls and breaks his machine. LOL! Guess you never know who your friends are...

 

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[justdugcrazy]

Let's be realistic here. There are very few "virgin" sites anymore. If you discover a site then most likely it has been detected before. I know that there are exceptions to this but for the most part it is true. But this does not change the fact that when you spend hours doing the to research and reading about the history of an area then go to the effort to gain permission to detect a site and then do the scouting and searching of the property you can't help but feel possessive and not want to share it right away. I have also shared a good site with a newby and didn't even think to tell him not to go back without me only to find out that 3 weeks later he had been back there 6 or more times. I blame myself for that because him being new to detecting didn't understand the code of etiquette and respecting another persons site. From now on if I have a good site I keep it to myself.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that trees that are here now we're there then knowing how old trees are approximately will give you a huge clue to what was there before.RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS TOWN IS A PATCH OF WOODS OLDEST TREES 100 YEARS OLD TOPS BUT IN PICTURES OF TOWN FROM EARLIER NO PATCH OF WOODS......NO MD ALLOWED SO IT DOESNT MATTER BUT IM CERTAIN AMAZING HOT SPOT...I WILL BE PATIENT AND WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME AND THE RIGHT OWNER.....EVEN 40 YEARS AGO IT WAS NO TRESPASSING......O AND JUST FOUND THE VAN METER SCHOOL HOUSE TOO.THERES NO FOUNDATION OR ANY SIGN IT WAS THERE,BUT AGAIN I KNOW IT WAS THERE......FOUND 6 ABANDONED HOME SITES WITH NO SIGN OF LIFE FOR A GOOD LONG TIME ....POINT IS PLENTY OF VIRGIN GROUND MY FRIEND GOTTA KEEP DIGGIN TO FIND THEM THERE OUT THERE JUST WAITING FOR US KEEP DIGGN KEEP POSTING O AND JUST FOR THE LURKERS IM IN VIRGINIA BERRYVILLE TO BE EXACT..... GOOD LUCK :-)

 

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[TK in VA]

It's all good. I'm just taking it as a lesson learned. If you are in BVILLE, we should hook up. Maybe I could steal some of your sites!!! LOL- Just kidding. I'd never do that.
TK

Let's be realistic here. There are very few "virgin" sites anymore. If you discover a site then most likely it has been detected before. I know that there are exceptions to this but for the most part it is true. But this does not change the fact that when you spend hours doing the to research and reading about the history of an area then go to the effort to gain permission to detect a site and then do the scouting and searching of the property you can't help but feel possessive and not want to share it right away. I have also shared a good site with a newby and didn't even think to tell him not to go back without me only to find out that 3 weeks later he had been back there 6 or more times. I blame myself for that because him being new to detecting didn't understand the code of etiquette and respecting another persons site. From now on if I have a good site I keep it to myself.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that trees that are here now we're there then knowing how old trees are approximately will give you a huge clue to what was there before.RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS TOWN IS A PATCH OF WOODS OLDEST TREES 100 YEARS OLD TOPS BUT IN PICTURES OF TOWN FROM EARLIER NO PATCH OF WOODS......NO MD ALLOWED SO IT DOESNT MATTER BUT IM CERTAIN AMAZING HOT SPOT...I WILL BE PATIENT AND WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME AND THE RIGHT OWNER.....EVEN 40 YEARS AGO IT WAS NO TRESPASSING......O AND JUST FOUND THE VAN METER SCHOOL HOUSE TOO.THERES NO FOUNDATION OR ANY SIGN IT WAS THERE,BUT AGAIN I KNOW IT WAS THERE......FOUND 6 ABANDONED HOME SITES WITH NO SIGN OF LIFE FOR A GOOD LONG TIME ....POINT IS PLENTY OF VIRGIN GROUND MY FRIEND GOTTA KEEP DIGGIN TO FIND THEM THERE OUT THERE JUST WAITING FOR US KEEP DIGGN KEEP POSTING O AND JUST FOR THE LURKERS IM IN VIRGINIA BERRYVILLE TO BE EXACT..... GOOD LUCK :-)

 

[Jeremy S]

I always detect alone. Your "hunting buddy" stealing your spot and opening it up to his circus of friends is an old story that has been happening for years.

For some of us this hobby is fueled by a love for the outdoors, history, and the thrill of the hunt. If I come home with a handful of clad change, a silver coin, or even just a bag of pull tabs I still had fun finding it. I feel that I am a minority though as many others are in this hobby for money and wealth, which goes hand-in-hand with being cut-throat and greedy/jealousy.

I recently had a friend of a relative send me a request on Facebook. I will not be friends with them as I don't know the person. I later found out that this person metal detects and has been asking a lot of questions about where I detect, with who, etc. I don't share my hunting grounds with anyone so they took a different approach to attempt to find out information through FB. I haven't heard from them since denying their frind request, but I expect that they won't give up there.

I later found out that this idiot was responsible for getting detecting banned at a local public property due to making a mess and causing trouble when they were asked to leave by the property employees. I'm sure they they would so much desire to be my "hunting buddy" and would say anything that I would want to hear to achieve that.

I hunt in some public places but don't openly advertise it to others. I ran into an older gentleman once before at a park. After a short friendly chat I hunted at the opposite side of the park. Since it is a public park, it doesn't "belong" to either of us, but I do respect the fact that he was there first that day and gave him space.

The world is full of leeches, hunt alone and keep your mouth shut about your spots.

 

[ivan salis]

lesson learned --sometimes you learn the hard way

 

[huggis]

Take a look in a mirror the reflection you see is the one you trust. And maybe your spouse (MAYBE) LOL.

 

[reapp]

Tell your friend that you have an awesome new spot, and you'll be by to pick him up at 5:30 Saturday morning. Tell him that you'll be bringing the beer and barbeque. Sleep till 9:30 that day.

 

[Tnmountains]

Tell your friend that you have an awesome new spot, and you'll be by to pick him up at 5:30 Saturday morning.

Now that is funny.

 

[justdugcrazy]

Tell your friend that you have an awesome new spot, and you'll be by to pick him up at 5:30 Saturday morning. Tell him that you'll be bringing the beer and barbeque. Sleep till 9:30 that day.

Then call him around 930 and tell him your still coming just running late then around 11 call him and hold the phone to the toilet and flushshhhhhhhhhhh

 

[Plumbata]

I take it you consider yourself one of the 'clever', and certainly not one of the 'foolish'. Hot damn, you are good.
Don't see you post anything though. too smart for that, someone might track your site from the patina. HH.

Yes, my post was in poor form and I won't conduct myself similarly if a future opportunity presents itself. At the time I was reeling from a loss somewhere along the shipping-service chain of a 3K+ out-of-pocket shipment of very lucrative material from an overseas supplier, and had a few too many brews to drink in response. Already in a disgruntled state to begin with (seeing how the supplier was being eminently uncooperative), plus the disinhibition due to drunkenness, I reacted rather uncharitably when presented with: "Here's X, Y, and Z info (items required to triangulate the location of my site), but I'm not telling a soul about it!"

No, I don't post my finds here, but that is because my overwhelmingly preferred quarry is antique bottles and stoneware residing within old dumps on city/state land, and by showing the finds the truly clever old diggers out there could determine more-or-less where I'm digging rather accurately; down to the neighborhood in many cases. The different soil conditions or chemicals present can significantly alter the glass just as they do metal (albeit in different ways), and with a few key noted observations regarding the finds alone the experienced oldtimers can narrow down the possible sources significantly. With a few slips of the tongue or casual references to cardinal directions, hills, trees, railroad grades or other illustrative descriptors meaningless to the uninitiated, one might as well have given the sharks GPS coordinates to the precise spot. In some instances; such as digging in smaller towns, all a lurker needs to know is the fact that someone found an accessible spot there which is producing good stuff and they'll be motivated to comb through the trademark locations for old rubbish deposits and likely find the spot in no time. It's one thing to detect public parks or other areas which anyone else can conduct the same research on, and entirely another to expend the blood and sweat actively hoofing it in search of goldmine virgin dumpsites for which no surviving records exist. Likewise; it's one thing for someone to snake your juicy public park, and entirely another for someone to snake the secret dump you worked so hard to locate. Detecting has only distant secondary appeal when I can go to a tried-and-true spot which consistently produces 3 and even the occasional lower 4-figure finds. In Illinois, where early 19th century sites are a rare treat and anything earlier practically unheard-of, "bottle digging" is overwhelmingly more productive for those seeking good finds than it is for detectorists seeking cobs or Massachusetts silver, and arguably more cutthroat and devastating in terms of snakeage. A spot may never be truly "hunted out" in the context of detecting, and the snakes are necessarily limited by the capabilities of their machines so they won't ever totally clean out someone's site, but a bottle dump is an extremely concentrated deposit of finds with distinct boundaries and can most certainly get torn to shreds and cleaned-out rather quickly by motivated diggers.

Anyway, if a person values their detecting spots they should be very hush-hush about the details. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for someone to "stalk" a detectorist who talks/boasts too openly about their cornucopia of finds by following them the old fashioned way, or by hiding a GPS tracking unit under their car or something. If you have an amazing spot, keep quiet until you're satisfied you've tapped it out, or if you must share the finds, be sure not to share anything else. There are so many lurkers here just waiting to jump a claim that it isn't funny. As an exercise I've located peoples' bottle digging spots based entirely on the finds alone, and when they offer a few descriptors it becomes that much easier. Same with a few detecting spots, but as stated I'm geared more towards glass. That said, I have never ever even touched these spots; the most I've done is contact them and suggest that they be more careful regarding presentation of finds and information disclosure. I find my own spots the hard way and have no patience for those lacking suitable ethics. I've been mighty tempted in the past (one fellow was digging a town dump loaded with stenciled jugs, rare sodas/beers, and emerald and cobalt druggists and I was able to pinpoint it precisely) but in order to maintain personal dignity and self respect I stick to my code. Many are similar in this respect, but there are plenty of cretins out there who are morally stunted and generally detestable greedy little thieves who actively prey upon the hard work of others and relish the opportunity to hijack their honeyholes. Be careful and your spots will be safe.

Sending the advice via PM would have been proper. Too many people act before they think.
(and many more think they are really smart) Best wishes TK

Yes, a PM would've been ideal, but didn't consider it due to my frustration with the business transaction. I was angry in general and lashed out needlessly, which was wrong and directed towards the utterly innocent. I apologize for my indiscretion. Your insinuation regarding my self-perceived intellect, however, is absolutely inane when juxtaposed with the facts: On every single academic aptitude test administered, up to and including the ACT, my ranking was invariably 99th percentile, and with all of them combined the total time spent studying or preparing was 0 seconds. I've always taken pride in my own and others' innate abilities, and thus considered the mere idea of preparation tantamount to cheating because the results would be skewed by rote-memorized information irrelevant to the measurement of raw native intelligence and ability. The ACT score received for the extemporaneous performance on the morning of my 17th birthday (I was decidedly displeased with this scheduling) was superior to that of the valedictorian of my private high-school class, and he had studied hard for 6 weeks straight, lol. In 7th grade, my parents made me take the ACT (had no idea what was going on) and I still scored several points higher than the average scores of incoming freshmen at UIUC, where I later attended. If we are talking IQ, you'll need a group far larger than 100 and I'd still rank at the very top. It's not a matter of "thinking" I'm very smart; the fact is that I am. Your petty attempt at public shaming might work on most people here, but not this guy. Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are plenty of intelligent people out there besides yourself, and some of them leave the likes of you eating their intellectual dust.

 

[ivan salis]

photos from cell phones can give away locations * there is gps inbedding in the photos for those that know how to decode it.

 

[Mad Machinist]

After glancing through all the posts on this, either I got some damn good friends or I got real lucky. If one of us finds something, we share with the others. We're back to the four of us now. The fifth guy was brought in when the BLM screwed up his prior payment leaving the claim open and we accidently filed over him. Hell, I was laid up when the others finished coring the claim we had. Everything was brought to me tied with GPS coordinates. Of course when we sold out, we each got a nice payday.

Poor guy was in his 80's and heartbroken. The only way we could make it right was make him part on the deal on this one. None of us will ever forget the look on his face when we handed him a 6 figure check for his share in the claim with a complete breakdown of all costs. That look he had on his face made all the blood, sweat, and tears worth while. I think I am starting to like the chase more than the actual mining.

Their are still good partners out there, but choose wisely. Not all that glitters is gold.

Oh, and before I forget, be careful posting assay reports. The really smart ones have a library of these, and can tell from the assay report on the ore, the general area your in. They are all quite distinctive.

 

[Tnmountains]

photos from cell phones can give away locations * there is gps inbedding in the photos for those that know how to decode it.

That is right Ivan. You need to turn off location services when using your smart phone. Adobe Photo can pull out the GPS locations easily.

***Plumbata if you were thinking you could have edited your post or at the very least asked a Moderator for help if you had been concerned enough after disclosing the members location. But you sir did not. I did. And I did not have to swipe my Mensa card to do it.

Everyone needs to realize that what you post and say is seen by thousands of people. You have members and then you have viewers.

When I first started posting I was giving landscapes and insitu's. I was new and showing everything. I hunted far from people and what I thought was the boon docks. A guy signed up to send me a Pm.
He said" Please realize that when you show the landscape you are not only giving away your spots but you are giving away mine." Good luck in your hunts.
To this day he has never posted again but at least now I know his foot prints when I see them...
Lesson learned and I appreciate it.

 

[g-olden years]

Interesting thread.

As to criticizing one another's intellect, anyone here is invited to join my free-wheeling, non-testing, non-organization entitled "Beyond Mensa", ha-ha!

Andi (smarter than I look, but dumber than my cat).

 

[Plumbata]

Sorry tnmountains. I had totally forgotten about the post until the thread was revived. Once the original was quoted, and then a 2nd and 3rd time, I figured that editing the post would be pointless. That's how my thinking went, anyway. After having my attention drawn to the poor judgement exercised, editing would have been my first response provided the copies didn't exist, but that was not the case. I appreciate you editing the original, but the quoted copies need to be edited as well. Thank you for your assistance and I promise that no stunts like that will be pulled in the future.

edit: I see you're on top of things. Thanks for getting that straightened out.

 

[Tnmountains]

Sorry tnmountains. I had totally forgotten about the post until the thread was revived. Once the original was quoted, and then a 2nd and 3rd time, I figured that editing the post would be pointless. That's how my thinking went, anyway. After having my attention drawn to the poor judgement exercised, editing would have been my first response provided the copies didn't exist, but that was not the case. I appreciate you editing the original, but the quoted copies need to be edited as well. Thank you for your assistance and I promise that no stunts like that will be pulled in the future.

edit: I see you're on top of things. Thanks for getting that straightened out.

You are most welcome. We all are after all a brotherhood of hopefully like minded souls.

 

[justdugcrazy]

Lol this conversation went from people who miss the old saying " your word is as good as gold". To embedding GPS coordinates in photos I LOVE THE WAY METAL DETECTORISTS THINK SNEAKY SNEAKY LOL 007 STUFF GOIN ON LOL A SNAKE WILL be a SNAKE no matter how long or friendly it is.........sneaky snakes lol

 

[Rusted_Iron]

It seems like people who snake sites are also the kind who leave holes. Hmm, coincidence?

 

[fishkiller41]

I once invited a close friend for a day of fishing on my 18ft boat. The day arrives and he shows up at my house with 2 other guys and their girlfriends. 6 people on a 18 ft. bayliner is crowded. I looked at the girls with all of their crap like beach towels, and coolers, etc. and the 2 other guys, i didn't even know them.

I was not taking this circus out in the ocean and told them sorry but my engine is broken and making some really bad noises.

I went in the house and closed the door. end of story.

pic: me years ago.

I think going OFFSHORE with even 2 people,on a "BAYLINER" is tempting death...
Y do U think their called BAY LINERS?

 

[rlc1940]

Hunt alone, keep your "places" to yourself! Do not tell another soul! You've already found this to be true...it'll always be the same result if you let a "buddy" know your secret place! Most all of us have experienced this at one time or another. You just can't do it! Happy hunting in your next secret place!

 

[Limitool]

Yea I had to learn the hard way also. When I was exploring a cave this summer I took someone back to show them. I asked he not go back without me and he agreed. And within a span of 3 weeks when I invited my new friend (Huntsman53) Frank from east TN. to help and his arrival we discovered "someone" had entered it. This cave is VERY HARD to find even if I pointed out where it was. Now they didn't do much except chip away some mud near a wall in a couple places but it still pissed me off a lot. I asked a couple pointed questions later to his son and got the "right" answers. I guess the point is that a lot of us would like to share the "adventure" of possibly finding something special with someone... but when it isn't returned you feel violated of sorts. I guess I'm too honest because I just couldn't do that to someone... and besides that it wouldn't be fun.