what do you do when they say.....

mtruxfan

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NE Tennessee
Ive been asking around and it seems i get the same answer, youd just be wasting your time, theres nothing there. I feel this is theor polote way of saying no. Any advice, I know I cant e the only one getting that response.
 
That's when you explain that you do it for exercise and it is just a hobby. What they think is time wasting may be the find of the day, week, month, year to you. You are correct though, it's their way of saying no, I don't want you here. Otherwise, they would say, you will just be wasting your time, but knock yourself out and have at it.

I tell people that it is my version of exercise and release from the day to day grind.

I get that response alot and at first I wasn't sure if they were saying yes, but you will be wasting your time, or if that was a gentle no. So after we would talk a bit more, I would ask again explaining the exercise part and so on, then you will get your yes or no.

Good luck.

G2M
 
Yeah..thats nearly a yes..they are buying time while they figure you out a little....Everybody has their own style of asking and pitch...It takes some practice for some, and others are just Naturals (beephead)...you can pattern a successful 'askers' approach, or come up with something that fits your personality and area.

Around here, after the introduction, I say "Listen, the reason I'm here, I need a safe quiet place like yours to get some exercise and relax without worrying about anything...Id sure appreciate it if you'd let me spend a little time here"...I dont care if I find anything or not, I just need a place like this to relax a bit..then laugh and smile of course...

Its really the initial visual signals you project...do you look honest and harmless?

People size up strangers, we all do...Are they a threat? Are they just a good old boy? Are they insane? What do they want and how much will this cost?

Natural 'Barriers of Entry' so to speak that you must understand and figure out a way to get around...It just takes practice and a few different angles ready to go depending on who answers the door...Beephead breaks the ice with some patter, and finds a common bond before he takes the shot...It really works well for him...he has a lot of brass though, moreso than most..
Mud
 
I got permission one time at a church and was told the grounds were "clean" but I could look anyway.

After an hour I went inside and asked the pastor if the church was built on a landfill. My 2 gallon bucket was half full of trash I'd dug. There was a Maytag refrigerator door handle, hinges, nails, screws, and lots of sharp metal shards. All of this came out of a playground, volleyball court and picnic area. It was non stop targets.

He was shocked.

I advised him to prohibit anyone from going barefoot and I suggested discouraging open toed shoes, flip flops and sandals too.
 
In an area like that, it seems to help if you name drop. Such as oh yeah, I was talking to so and so the other day. He lives over on such and such street. I also tell who i live by etc etc. You never know who knows who. If you talk like you've lived in a community and know some of the folks there, that too can help put the land owners mind at ease, as you are a permanent fixture in town and not just some drifter. :D

Like Mud said, it's almost a yes, you just gotta seal the deal with easing their mind.

Just my 2 cents as I'm not the best at asking permission yet.

G2M
 
In an area like that, it seems to help if you name drop. Such as oh yeah, I was talking to so and so the other day. He lives over on such and such street.
G2M

That really is an excellent tip there G2M! In Sales, they call this tactic "Trust through Transference" ...Meaning, you drop the right name, and immediately you are a good guy that can be vouched for by somebody they already trust! They are less apt to give you the quick bums rush on account of you are a 'friend of a friend' and listen to the rest of your spiel in an accommodating way..wanting at that point to say 'yes'...so that really is a key starter with any stranger...
"Hey, my cousin/brother/sister works at the firehall/PD/EMT and he/she said you were a good honest guy that might let me spend a little time here getting some fresh air"...that kind of thing really kicks down doors!
Mud
 
It happens to me from time to time, but I learned a big lesson a few years ago at one particular site.
A lesson I already knew but this experience really brought it home.

This was what I call a linear park, houses lined up along the opposite side of the street but on this side there was the remains of a part of an overgrown driveway of at least one house and there could have been a couple more around there in the past.
Not very wide, just enough area from the street to a creek that ran behind in the back for a small backyard and a normal but not huge front yard and this strip ran about 3/4's of a block long.
The city knocked down any houses and put up a few picnic tables, a tot lot and there was an open part near one end where you could play Frisbee, soccer or throw a ball around.
I showed up here the first time with my F2 and the sniper coil I had just started using and not long after an old guy that evidently lived in the area walked over to tell me not to bother.
He wasn't being mean, protective or defensive, he was just being friendly because he said he and several friends scoured this site in the past for a long time and he was sure that everything good that was here they already found.
He sincerely thought I would just be wasting my time.
I just thanked him and said since I do this hobby for the exercise and fresh air and I was already here with nothing better to do I would just hang around and swing a little.
Also even then I didn't believe any site was ever truly hunted out, ever, but I didn't tell him that.
That first day I found a bunch of clad that was probably dropped after that guy and his buddies hunted here, some toy cars, a few other things and sorted through a bunch of normal park trash like tabs, can slaw, foil and the like.
There was enough here and it was big enough for me to decide to come back and hit this place a few more times, grid some of areas to search better especially around the area with the old house and see what I could find.
Over the next couple weeks I came back several times and eventually found some great things.
One silver dime, an older ID bracelet with a girl's name and date etched into it, a silver ring, an old Zippo type lighter and much more clad.
I didn't dig everything but I dug the solid stuff according to my digging rules and it turned out this place was not a waste of my time but a fun area to spend my time and do this hobby.
There still might be more there still but I moved away from that state so I will never know.

Oh yea...there was one more thing that came out of this site that all those other guys somehow missed.

A 1 5/16" size Harry S. Truman inaugural stock medal made by the US mint celebrating his second term.
Not the official large size inaugural coin but a smaller version still made by the mint and sold to collectors.
Officially catalogued as Stock medal # 732.

The U.S. Mint's 8th chief engraver John Ray Sinnock who designed the Roosevelt dime did the front, after he got ill the 9th chief engraver Gilroy Roberts designed the back and it was minted in 1949.

If I would have believed this guy I would never have this cherished item in my collection today.
To this day I have never seen another hunter post on any forum about finding any kind of official inaugural medal like this large or small from any president.
Plenty of presidential tokens of all kinds yes, official mint stock medals...no.

Even now I am hunting a park that most gave up on long ago and I can tell you there is a surprising amount still coming out of this so called hunted out place.

When someone tells me not to bother with hunting any site for me that is always when I say let the games begin.
 

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In an area like that, it seems to help if you name drop. Such as oh yeah, I was talking to so and so the other day. He lives over on such and such street.....

Good in-put so far. And yes, like you say, it might the "polite way" of saying "no"

I like greek-2-me's answer so far.

My answer to the dilema/answer you get, is to say: "I'm willing to be disappointed". And like Greek's answer, to have at-your-ready a sample buffalo nickel, mercury time, etc... "that you just found down the street at your neighbor's yard". Sometimes having a coin or two to show (even if just pro's you brought along) do wonders to break the ice, and "put a face" on the type finds and potential that can occur.
 
Ive been asking around and it seems i get the same answer, youd just be wasting your time, theres nothing there. I feel this is theor polote way of saying no. Any advice, I know I cant e the only one getting that response.

When I'm told I'd 'be wasting my time, there's nothing there', I just say:

You know...metal detecting is not about finding valuable treasures because I never do. But it IS about making new friends and finding time to metal detect.
Gets 'em every time. And as an added bonus, they mistakenly think I'm intelligent! :shifty:

mountain digger
 
When I'm told I'd 'be wasting my time, there's nothing there', I just say:

You know...metal detecting is not about finding valuable treasures because I never do. But it IS about making new friends and finding time to metal detect.
Gets 'em every time. And as an added bonus, they mistakenly think I'm intelligent! :shifty:

mountain digger

Interesting. Never really thought of it that way but that is what we are doing when we meet new people, making new acquaintances and sometimes friends. Good points. I will have to remember that.

G2M
 
Another excellent approach is this one. "Well, I love to find stuff... but I know that this is not just "a yard" to you... it's your home. It's your history. tell me if you have lost something on the grounds. I'll work at trying to find it.. If you haven't... let's make a deal... I will bring what I find to show you. You take the first pick of the stuff, I take the next, you take the third, I, the fourth, you the fifth and so on. How about it?"

I NEVER got a refusal with that proposal! Of course if they had NOT lost anything, and I *did* find something I REALLY wanted... that object might find its way into a different pocket! But usually I made a very sincere effort to share my finds with the homeowner. yes, I did all the work, and they got to pick over my finds... but heck... it *also* got me permission! I hit a LOT of yards that way.

SageGrouse
 
I love it when they say there is nothing there... so would you mind if I give it a shot.
 
I like to say, that technology of todays detectors have come along way in the last 15 years, and detectors are much more precise.
 
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