mastereagle22
Silver Member
- May 15, 2007
- 4,909
- 31
- Detector(s) used
- E-trac, Explorer II, Xterra30, Whites Prizm IV
Well I had the first really bad experience last night since I got my metal detector. A friend and I got permission to detect a house built in 1898 on what was prior to that a Civil war Horse stable site. The ground was original grade and there had not been any ground work done since the house was built. We pulled up and got out of our cars and gathered our stuff and headed to the yard of the house. An older gentleman that lived next door happened to be outside and he stopped us and asked us what we were doing. By talking to him we learned when the house had been built, that he had lived in the house next door for 80 years!! and that he had never seen anyone with a metal detector on the property. He also stated that at the back of the property where his yard and the yard we were going to detect meets, he had found a lot of rusty "square looking" nails and one time had even found half of a horse shoe when he was planting some plants in the ground. My friend and I got really excited because a Civil War fort used to be about half- a block down the same street and it had all been turned into private property and we just knew we were about to find something good!
Well five minutes into the search I am in the gravel driveway when I get a signal and start gently sifting the gravel because my machine indicated the target wasn't very deep when a guy in a convertible drives up. He YELLS at me what the h#ll are you doing? I stood up and walked over toward his car and politely told him that we were metal detectorists and that we had gotten permission from the Lawyer that owned the property to detect there. He then stated, "The lawyer doesn't own this property I do." UH OH! So he asked me and my friend who we were and what our names were and I told him and he became more irrate as the seconds ticked by. I have some business cards I made up with my info on it and I handed him one of them. He refused to take it and knocked it out of my hand. He then said "Who the h#ll do you think you are just coming onto my property and using your coin machine? I can't believe the nerve of you guys." At that point I told him I was very sorry and that we would leave. His response was "You da&n right you are going to leave and you are going to leave now." This was said in a scream, this also got the attention of the neighbor and his wife. Anyway we were trying our best to get out of the place and I was appologizing like crazy and this man got more and more irrational as the seconds ticked by. He yelled at us as we crossed the street to our car and were loading our stuff and was yelling at us when we drove away. The neighbor guy and his wife just shook their head and waved at us as we drove off.
Man what a nutcase!!! Well I did call the lawyer that lives in the house immediately after leaving and filled him in. The lawyer is buying the property from this guy and he wasn't very happy to hear the story. He said he would work it all out and call us when he had. I told him I wouldn't come back unless he was going to be there the whole time. He said that he would work something out with me! Man what a bummer. This was the first really promising site for me and my friend to find some relics and we got ran off. Just remember that if someone approaches and challenges you reply politely, stay friendly, and leave. We lost permission to hunt that area for now but the elderly neighbor called me late last night (I gave him a card) and told me he had talked to another neighbor that had lived in the same neighborhood for seventy-five years and that that neighbor wanted to meet with us and talk to us about potentially giving us permission to search his yard and the gentleman who I gave my card to. Seems the original neighbor gentleman was very impressed with the way I handled myself in the situation. He told me on the phone, "Young people today just don't respect others but the way you handled yourself proved to me that you respect others and their property, I like that." So a bad situation may turn out not to be too bad but I am glad I read on this forum how to handle such a situation or I may have made a real mess out of the situation.
Remember you may have permission from some one to detect a location but if challenged and they are not available your best course of action is to leave and work it out later. Just thought I would share.
Well five minutes into the search I am in the gravel driveway when I get a signal and start gently sifting the gravel because my machine indicated the target wasn't very deep when a guy in a convertible drives up. He YELLS at me what the h#ll are you doing? I stood up and walked over toward his car and politely told him that we were metal detectorists and that we had gotten permission from the Lawyer that owned the property to detect there. He then stated, "The lawyer doesn't own this property I do." UH OH! So he asked me and my friend who we were and what our names were and I told him and he became more irrate as the seconds ticked by. I have some business cards I made up with my info on it and I handed him one of them. He refused to take it and knocked it out of my hand. He then said "Who the h#ll do you think you are just coming onto my property and using your coin machine? I can't believe the nerve of you guys." At that point I told him I was very sorry and that we would leave. His response was "You da&n right you are going to leave and you are going to leave now." This was said in a scream, this also got the attention of the neighbor and his wife. Anyway we were trying our best to get out of the place and I was appologizing like crazy and this man got more and more irrational as the seconds ticked by. He yelled at us as we crossed the street to our car and were loading our stuff and was yelling at us when we drove away. The neighbor guy and his wife just shook their head and waved at us as we drove off.
Man what a nutcase!!! Well I did call the lawyer that lives in the house immediately after leaving and filled him in. The lawyer is buying the property from this guy and he wasn't very happy to hear the story. He said he would work it all out and call us when he had. I told him I wouldn't come back unless he was going to be there the whole time. He said that he would work something out with me! Man what a bummer. This was the first really promising site for me and my friend to find some relics and we got ran off. Just remember that if someone approaches and challenges you reply politely, stay friendly, and leave. We lost permission to hunt that area for now but the elderly neighbor called me late last night (I gave him a card) and told me he had talked to another neighbor that had lived in the same neighborhood for seventy-five years and that that neighbor wanted to meet with us and talk to us about potentially giving us permission to search his yard and the gentleman who I gave my card to. Seems the original neighbor gentleman was very impressed with the way I handled myself in the situation. He told me on the phone, "Young people today just don't respect others but the way you handled yourself proved to me that you respect others and their property, I like that." So a bad situation may turn out not to be too bad but I am glad I read on this forum how to handle such a situation or I may have made a real mess out of the situation.
Remember you may have permission from some one to detect a location but if challenged and they are not available your best course of action is to leave and work it out later. Just thought I would share.
and then left not so politely. 
nty
