" Claim Jumpers. "

[Dancer]

Three of us been hunting Florida Gulf for years and know each other well. Happens more often than it should. Sometimes while wading one of us will show up, short talk and move on. Except the Claim Jumper. He will slide in around where your hunting and score something good, sometimes Gold. Last time he came around, I told him about a good hole down the beach. So he goes down and scoops up TWENTY quarters. I can't stand it. So the other day, New guy goes up and Raids Claim Jumpers fav hole for a 64 Rosy, matching Brass ring and bracelet. Well what goes around, they say. We can't figure how this happens but it does create a good many laughs.

 

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[dewcon4414]

We all have that competitiveness about us. We get excited when someone else shows up at the beach we are hunting. I get it all the time and its no fun at the end of the hunt when they show you all their gold ..... while you only have pennies to show off lol. So i dont know if its the GOLD..... or the competition/bragging rights most of us enjoy. BUT..... this is one fun hobby.... and we all get our share.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

Dancer, Its funny to say claim jumpers, it a beach! I wish only 2 or 3 others were showing up to hunt. Its normal here on the Jersey Coast to see 10 or more hunting the same small beach. Back in the 1990's I started hunting at 0 Dark 30 because of too many hunters. Today at the we hours of the night its not uncommon to meet 10 hunters with headlights attached to the heads looking for treasure buried in the sand? Never understood why you need a light? Look when you get home. After a storm we see 50 skimmers come out. (skimmers)= those who come out and remove all those nastycoins, running all about the beach the first day and being happy with a 25 dollar day of coins and maybe a few silver rings. Its only then a good hunter can concentrate on the deeper gold signals left behind and no longer maked by loud blaring coins. It's just fun to me saving items from the ground and a bonus if its a nice gold ring.
steve

 

[OBN]

I see the beach as been public, competition or friends who shows up....it's just the luck of the draw. The only time I'm bothered ... is if they continuously follow me around, sometimes getting so close I can hear their detector.

The only time I call them claim jumpers is when they come out looking for you. They find you, (telling you they were out looking for a good fishing hole) and in there the next day hunting with you. Only had that happen once and really it was my own fault for posting several gold rings from one spot in a short period of time. Lesson learned. If I'm finding gold at multiple beach's I'll post, but if I hit a honey hole...I'll hold for several months.

 

[danloop]

Compared to farming dirt, the beach sounds like easy pickings.

 

[cudamark]

Sure, beaches are public, but, when you've been gridding an area (obvious with your scoop marks) and someone jumps right in front of you, that's bad behavior. One time, a buddy and I were hitting a good area in the wet sand during a really low tide. We generally hunt 50 yards apart or so, and leap frog over each other as we work down the beach. We'd been there a couple of hours, gridding away, when some knucklehead comes and jumps right between us. My buddy was heading that direction towards where I was and got really upset about that and confronted the guy (nicely at first) We both told the guy that it wasn't cool to do that and we would appreciate it if he moved down the beach a ways. He pretty much told us to buzz off, and continued to detect. Well, my buddy and I discussed it for a minute or so, and decided that instead of beating the guy to death with our scoops, we would just move right up next to him on both sides and dog him to the point where he couldn't hear anything but our detectors singing in his ears. He got the hint, and moved about a 1/4 mile away.

 

[cladpirate]

A lot of detectorist want to hit the main beach only and that makes for some close encounters.

 

[Golden oaks]

This post pulled a smile from me as I can completely relate to this situation. At one time, you could just look to see if it was an inexpensive detector being used and not worry so much about the competition. Now with the Equinox, Simplex and others the other person usually has just as good of a chance to find good targets. This is where knowing the beach can give you the edge!

 

[DJWEHAGE]

A true water or beach detectorist knows the "rules," and will follow protocol. Usually, a newbie has no clue. I've done all the above when one has invaded my "space." I really find that they're usually no threat. What really ticks me off, though, is when someone who knows better, jumps in front of me to detect the same lane I've been walking for blocks! Even then, they usually miss a ton. I'll slow down and dig the faints.

 

[davest]

florida has 8436 miles of coastline, not including the shores of all the little islands. It's bad enough the richy riches and hoteliers want ya to stay off their beaches and out of their waters as it is to see folks thinking they have the right to sand..

geez, it's not like we're not looking for someone elses misfortune.

this is also the gunshine state and ticking someone off that thinks they have a right to a dropped earring can lead to crazy stuff happening.

 

[RustyGold]

Unless their scoop hits my foot I could care less.