Lots of Silver and Possible Fallout From The TV Shows.

[Zofchak]

What's the worst way to start a day of detecting? When you go to your favorite park and find out that they have closed the entire property to metal detecting!

I live close to a city owned park and it's my "go to" place when I only have an hour or two to detect. I've been detecting it for the past 3 years and it's where I found my first silver coin, my first gold ring and my first class ring. Today I was super excited to finally get out detecting, only to be completely shattered when the groundskeeper informed me that they are no longer allowing metal detecting.. What?
.
I briefly spoke to the manager of the park and he just made the rule change as of 3 days ago. I'm not sure that it has anything to do with the TV shows, but I would not doubt that it does, and I was not about to bring up the subject. The only good thing about it is that he seems to be open to allowing detecting if he can insure that detectorists won't be damaging the property. That's a tall order considering the rush of newbies that will be hitting the scene in the next few months. I'm going to work on a letter this weekend highlighting the positives of detecting (I've cleared buckets of glass and metal debris from the park over the years.) I'm also going to suggest a permit process to allow the park to keep tabs on those who may be doing damage. .


Now for the silver lining to my horrible day. Since detecting is no longer allowed in my favorite park I hit up another spot a few miles down the road. I hunted the thick brush and in 3 hours scored 2 Silver Washingtons, 2 Mercs, a Silver War Nickel, 7 Wheaties and a Sterling Silver spoon. Not a bad hunt, but I could hardly enjoy it knowing that this may be my last chance to detect this park if the fallout continues. Happy hunting and enjoy it while you can!

 

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[MICHIGANJAY]

How ironic. I was out in a park today (in the Pikes Peak Region) and I kept comming across half filled holes with the metal 'junk' (that could have been easily packed out) poking out of the mounds. This post was the first thing I thought of. Needless to say, I cleaned up somebody elses mess and tried to fill their holes, I wonder if it was the guy who I saw walking around another park last week with a full size garden shovel. I just didnt have the heart/courage to approach and/or correct him... Not sure what some people are thinkin'. This is a Bummer and I think that we are all startin to feel it. I like the idea of buying a permit or sopmething like that-and then you are good to go and also the parks dept. is happy too. Sorry to hear about your park..but I will say that you made out ok for the day. Keep us posted.

MJ

 

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[teverly]

sorry but i have to disagree with you guys about the tv shows.....several people i work with have mentioned to me that the shows are not putting me in a very good light as a detectorist...
you can not be so unaware of the of fact that a lot of people DO see these shows and they think that is how we all are..
If you Dont believe it..ask anyone that goes to auctions or collects things..all these auction shows on tv have made everyone think they can make huge amounts of money and you cant even get a decent deal at auctions anymore...I wont disagree that the banning has been going on for a long time,but shows like these where people see detectorist actin like they dont care DO have an effect on the rest of us......just like people i run into when asking permission ..they wont let me hunt because people before me have trespassed to hunt arrowheads or deer and they wont let anyone else in...same thing they see others tresspassing and they ruin it for us...
so please remember,even if it seems unfair, that if one of us does something wrong it paints us all with same brush.

 

[kane23]

Between all the "Whites" commercials and the new show "Digger's" things will get worse and worse, to many newbies with detectors that don't know what they are doing. I stopped a guy with a 80 dollar detector in the park from digging a huge hole. Total insanity!

 

[gilgar]

On the positve side, maybe the shows will convince more people to allow detectors to search their property?

 

[JerV3]

Nice finds,

To bad about the park. It has happened to us all. Show up to a site to see it mangled. Then you get the boot. I just got asked to leave a ball field I hunted about 30 times last yr. Finally I guy came and said during the ball season someone left open holes.

I said yeah it wasn't me. I wasn'y here during the ball season. To make a long story short I was told I can't hunt the field anymore. One day you won't be able to detect at all. I'm hunting as much as I can till that day comes. Then I will buy night goggles and just hunt at night.

HH Jer

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

Actually the TV shows were just featured in a very negative light on our local news, so a lot of people outside of the metal detecting community are aware of them. It may be a complete coincidence, but this park has been extremely accommodating to detectorists in the past and I had just detected it a few weeks ago so something definitely changed their minds about detecting.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...-show/-/1719418/9224444/-/9wbgcq/-/index.html

I can't stand the idea of this show... I hate how they sold the stuff at the end of the show. Anything I find of historic value, I try to find out if a historical society or whatnot would be interested in it. Also, I ALWAYS show my 5 lbs of trash in every post I make on this site. People need to see that stuff. I will also post even when I only found pennies during a hunt. If we only show our big scores of silver and gold, we are also only glamorizing the hobby...

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

I remember years back when they were about to ban metal detecting in Sacramento parks because people were digging holes and not filling them in.After the park crew watched the park for a whole low and behold those squirrels were digging holes and not bothering to fill in there holes and we got there blame.So from now on I never trust those squirrels ever again and do my best to cover there holes after them.

I actually had to stop detecting a section of another park because of squirrels. No matter how completely I repaired the holes they would dig up just above every splug I had left behind

I saw a racoon last night diggin holes too...

 

[Zofchak]

Good to see you filled in your holes, but your digging technique looks a bit messy!

 

[Roland58]

I wouldn't be so fast to blame the tv show. The same thing happened to me about a year ago, involving a park about a mile from my house and the spot to go when I only have a little while to get out. It seems there had been a couple of guys, probably with a new detector from Christmas, that were digging up some soccer fields, leaving the holes open and discarding any trash found right at the spot! As a result, ALL metal detecting was stopped. I told the manager over the fields that they should allow detecting by special permit to those people that can demonstrate the proper way to dig and cover a hole and replace any sod intact! Not to mention removing trash.

He did tell me that he would allow me to hunt, but, I did not accept because if someone sees me out there swinging, they will assume it is okay to do so. They have since changed the ruling and now allow hunting with a permit, but, you have to stay, at least, 6' from the field border.....that works for me.

I may be new at this, but, it is just common sense and courtesy to leave things as you found them. However, as we all know, there are many that lack those abilities....with or without a tv show!!

 

[Papa Bear]

sorry but i have to disagree with you guys about the tv shows.....several people i work with have mentioned to me that the shows are not putting me in a very good light as a detectorist...
you can not be so unaware of the of fact that a lot of people DO see these shows and they think that is how we all are..
If you Dont believe it..ask anyone that goes to auctions or collects things..all these auction shows on tv have made everyone think they can make huge amounts of money and you cant even get a decent deal at auctions anymore...I wont disagree that the banning has been going on for a long time,but shows like these where people see detectorist actin like they dont care DO have an effect on the rest of us......just like people i run into when asking permission ..they wont let me hunt because people before me have trespassed to hunt arrowheads or deer and they wont let anyone else in...same thing they see others tresspassing and they ruin it for us...
so please remember,even if it seems unfair, that if one of us does something wrong it paints us all with same brush.

I do auctions too. It is amazing to see how many newbies have been turning up. 90% of them just sit there for four hours and don"t even lift a hand during the bidding. And those that bid drive the prices up because they are bidding with emotions.....

 

[creskol]

Having heard all the recent excitement and commotion about a recent Spike TV series in which a former professional wrestler (turned modern day relic hunter) and his team target areas such as battlefields and historic sites in the hopes of striking it rich and then capitalizing by unearthing and selling the bits of American history they recover really got my juices flowing.

And then, when I heard that the Spike TV Network crew had found Spanish gold in somebody’s backyard, I was beyond myself.. I thought, BY GOLLY .. If they can do, then so can I! I was hell bent and determined to go out and find some "Spanish gold" of my own.

After doing a bit of impromptu research, I decided on my prospective target area. Of course the only thing standing in my way was the homeowner, who I had to convince to allow me to dig up his property using state-of-the-art metal detectors and heavy-duty excavation equipment. Hopefully, I will find some great artifacts that I will be able to sell for a substantial profit, but not before negotiating a deal to divide the revenue with the property owner.

With permission granted, I moved in for the kill.

Using my million dollar metal detector, I located a very deep target, as the property owner looked on:

AH HA.. My heart started to pump in anticipation, so I brought in my piece of heavy equipment and started to dig!

I dug and dug, but still could not locate that coveted target … or so I thought!

Boy was I mistaking .. As I studied the mounds of excavated dirt, I quickly realized my dream .. YES SIR.. I had found the very treasure I had been looking for .. a treasure that had been buried deep in the ground for over 50 years .. and I was extremely thrilled:

Having harvested my very valuable payload, I replaced it with treasure of a different composition that somebody else will get a thrill out of digging up 50 years or so from now.

With the new treasure placed securely in the ground, I practiced one of the relic hunter’s code of ethics by filling in the hole, as my helper watched:

We then raked out the entire area and seeded it with grass seed in hopes of making the homeowner happy .. Perhaps we could get permission to dig again some time:

Well ..I hope you have enjoyed the first exciting episode of my all new mini series .. stay tuned for another exciting adventure in “Digging With Rob” .. Here is a sneak preview of my helper going after our next exciting treasure!

Stay tuned!

 

[matt092079]

I can't stand the idea of this show... I hate how they sold the stuff at the end of the show. Anything I find of historic value, I try to find out if a historical society or whatnot would be interested in it. Also, I ALWAYS show my 5 lbs of trash in every post I make on this site. People need to see that stuff. I will also post even when I only found pennies during a hunt. If we only show our big scores of silver and gold, we are also only glamorizing the hobby...

Man, I admit these guys were jackasses, but you all are tearing this show a new one and it really isn't THAT bad. For one, there are tons of sites dedicated to people selling their metal detecting finds. Many people on here sell what they find. And IF I'm not mistaken, the people they sold their stuff to, such as the button the guy found...I think was a place where things are put on display.

I for one wouldn't sell anything I found unless it's gold or silver jewlery. BUT these guys aren't the only ones that sell their items they found...a lot of detectorists go out for the hunt hoping to strike it big. And you gotta remember...metal detecting, although fun and enjoyable to us who are in the hobby, will not come across that way on television. They have to spice it up a little by making little wagers and doing crazy antics. It's television and meant to entertain...not a PBS documetary on lava cooling and hardening. If the average joe watching this at home isn't smart enough to realize just that, that it's TV then that's on them.

 

[matt092079]

AND another thing...they certainly didn't glamourize what they found. They found some good things at the colonial house...but when they went to the prison they actually showed them finding just modern clad, nails and other junk. At the one ranch house he thought he found a real gun, ended up being just a toy. I mean...personally, I thought that was great that they showed them finding the junk items we all do.

 

[PI PETE]

In the parks I try to dig with the probe and leave NO sign of me being present. I return to the same park several times so I can see when I do a good job or not. I figure if they never know I am there they should not ban me from the park.

The T.V. Show will come and go and there will be a few thousand or thousands more people detecting but let's face it, like anything the best things come from hard work and perseverance. The vast majority of these thousands of people just wont put in the effort to make really good finds over the long term.

Always hunt with a pouch so you can show the park attendant your trash you are removing from the park.

And we all know the best answer to the famous question - "What are you doing?" - I AM CLEANING THE PARK FOR FREE!

 

[VB Sanddigger]

What's the worst way to start a day of detecting? When you go to your favorite park and find out that they have closed the entire property to metal detecting!

I live close to a city owned park and it's my "go to" place when I only have an hour or two to detect.

What part of the country do you live in?