Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Door Knock/ permisson/ owner lays claim...?

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dirt dick

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Joined
Sep 16, 2014
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ROCKFORD IOWA
After hitting a ball field today for clad, driving around town,
I drove past an old queen-ann style house, that's pretty run down,
with a large yard and mature trees. I knocked on the door, nobody home.
I saw across the yard the next house over an elderly man outside, I decided to make small talk with him and get more imfo, and after several minutes I asked if he would mind if I tried his yard, being that his house was built in the '20s, I said that I'll bet you have some older coin in your yard.
The guy was pretty nice and said okay.
Being that his yard was very nicely kept, I was EXTRA diligent to refill my plugs and made sure they looked as if I hadn't dug !
So I started on the front lawn; I found some c.12 in clad and a couple wheats, and one Indian, and a pretty nice Yellow roadster tootsie toy.
As the evening sun was setting I decided to call it, walking past a patio door I saw him get up from his easy chair, and he came out the front door standing on the porch, asked me what I found.........

Me being a Nice guy, I showed him...(holding the tootsie toy)
Not one to lie, but now my lesson is learned.
I said a few wheats, "WHAT ARE THOSE WORTH ?" He asked
Not much I said maybe 20 cents
WELL WHAT'S A INDIAN CENT WORTH ?
( NOW I see where this is heading) Not much maybe 2 bucks at a coin shop...
WELL I'LL JUST KEEP THIS THEN . ( him holding the tootsie toy)

Now I know it's nothing much, but what would you guys have done or said?
before I dug anything in the first conversation nothing was said about claim or
paying to hunt . I said when I was leaving, that I do collect old cars and coins.
I know that it was just a stupid old car but............
the pirate in me, I KEEP WHAT I DIG !:mad:
( it was in very good shape with all 4 tires still intact )
But on a positive note maybe it will lead to other permisson in that neighbor-hood?
As that I did a very nice job refilling my plugs and not making a mess and being polite.
maybe next time I'll keep a small vile of '44 wheats in my pouch, as payment to hunt and say there worth 5 bucks a piece ..........:lol:
 
A small price to pay for hunting a 95 year old yard. Sometimes they keep some items but usually they dont. That may have been a toy he used to have or maybe it just brought back memories for him. Heck he may have even put it on Craigslist :D

It sucks but sometimes it part of hunting a private yard.

G2M
 
Least you got to hunt. You may be a pirate, be he is king of the castle, you play by his rules on his land. Isn't piracy illegal? Besides, you wanted to hunt the neighbor's yard, so now you have a happy neighbor, and a better chance at what you wanted in the first place. It can work both ways, sour one neighbor, lose the whole neighborhood. Better investment, to appreciate what you gain, you walked away with more than you had, before stopping to knock. I'd have been happy, just to get a few pictures. Most people don't even want to touch the dirty stuff, just look it over. That's why I never clean anything until I get home, just rub off enough dirt to see what I got.
 
I wanted to take a picture of the car, but he stuffed it in his pocket
before I could get my phone to camera feature.
Yeah I do realize , I might have gained permission at his place & perhaps others in that neighbor hood, Its just in the way or manner he laid "CLAIM",
In witch that I thought selfish....even thought it is his yard/property,
but no rules were set or discussed, by him, but I said how this is my hobby and that I collect coins and other items and trinkets.
Like I said before, I'll keep a couple extra '44 wheats and some crusty zincs for now on.
 
Yep, lessons learned. .next time wave your pinpointer around with one hand while you slip a coin in your shoe with the other, even if they wanted you to empty your pockets you would be good! Arrrrh matey!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
I recently posted about a lady who requested I look for a long ago lost ring in her yard. Spent a whole afternoon digging trash and 3 pennies. She watched me like a hawk from the inside of her house.
I explained the ring must not be in the yard and she demanded to see what I had. I emptied my pouch and she dug through it and collected the 3 pennies and marched into her house without a thank you or acknowledgment of my hard work.
At least you got a few pennies. :laughing:
 
Given that homeowners probably have no idea what the rules are of digging, I am surprised that this doesn't happen more often. If I were a homeowner, I'd think some kind of compensation for digging my yard would be expected.


BCD
 
You never know, it might have been his that he dropped when he was a kid or something that had sentimental value that he didn't want to see walk off his property. From the way you describe how meticulous he was with his lawn at such an old age I would assume he would be the same way with things under his lawn that might be reminders of the past. : You might have brought a piece of a childhood back to someone wheather that be his or someone else's in the family, it's still awesome to be able to do that.

Or he could have been a selfish jerk that wante some of your loot and in that case we must lay seige to that fort!

At the end of the day, crack a cold beer and the earth will spin.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Personally, I don't see myself just walking up to a complete stranger, and asking to hunt his property. There are way to many, that are much stranger than others these days, just too many unknowns. Fortunately, I live in a small town, hunt the curb strips often, walk my dog twice a day, least a mile. We have some strange people, but at least we aren't complete strangers or unknown. I'm not in this hobby, with any expectations of getting rich, just enjoy the fun and adventure. Each hole, is like opening a gift at Christmas time, never know what's in there, not always something you want or need. Whatever you get, is more than you had, least it was fun and exciting. Homeowners can be a whole other adventure. Initially, they make the call, "no", or "go ahead", can change their mind at anytime, so you want to be careful, not make a mess, or trample the flowers and shrubs. The stuff you dig on their property, is still their property, Sure, you spent all that time, did all the work, but the owner never asked you to do it, you asked for permission, granted a favor. I'd appreciate the operatunity, and grateful for it, and anything I was allowed to keep. Most people don't want to touch the dirty stuff, just take a quick look. Just leave all the trash and treasure dirty, don't separate it either, shows how much work you did, to get a few keepers, plus potentially sharp and dirty items defends the good stuff. End of the day though, you want to leave the owner in a good mood, and you want to walk away with a positive reputation. Tough, when you deal with someone unreasonable, or more greedy, but it's just one hunt, you don't have to go back to that yard. Upset people make the most noise, not good if the neighbors all have old properties too. Sometimes, it's a charity hunt, you're a guest on another person's land, you have no rights, other than to leave with what you brought.
 
You'll encounter all types when asking and detecting new places.

I almost always give the property owner an item...even rare items at times. I call it buying karma and it leaves a positive image of the type of person I am. I know in the future they'll let me come back and detect.

Sometimes it isn't the item they take that is the point but rather a test to see how you'll react. Sounds like you passed the test by remaining calm.

Now you have a decision to make. You can either go back knowing the property owner may do that.... or go back to detect n have two pockets to your pouch. One you show one you don't. ..

I'm sure that you would rather just show everything so either just accept how it went down and go back knowing it may happen again... or if it was a deal breaker now you know what you get when dealing with that guy.

Personally it wouldn't have bothered me as much as it did you because I plan to give them an item anyway. :)
 
This is a tough one!...Are we Pirates or Hobbiests? If he was wearing a heavy gold wedding ring, I probably would have killed him, then robbed him!...Just to teach him a lesson about talking to strangers!:laughing: But thats just me...I leave the house with the best intentions, but in an awkward situation such as this, I tend to skew 'Pirate'...

(This is what you wanted to hear right?):laughing::laughing: Pm me your address and I'll send you a few cars...:laughing: No really, I probably wont...
Mud
 
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I think the lesson here is that you need to establish the ground rules of who keeps what before the hunt, otherwise you are setting yourself up for this situation or worse (the crazy lady story).
 
Too funny. When I first started detecting, the woman and myself hit a house on our street with permission. The owners were total creepers though. They literally kept looking at her every time she bent over, while chugging beer after beer. Well they asked her what she found while I was maybe 30' away. She busts out 3 tootsie toys and a handful of clad, which the creepers took from her. Then they asked me what I found. Not wanting to give up the goods, I reached into my trash pouch and pulled out some can slaw and bud light caps. (these guys are big time boozers that live at home with their mom) He sees the trash and leaves me alone.

We go home and she's remarking how much it sucks that they took her tootsie toys. I tell her "yeah that sucks, next time keep your mouth shut" and took out my own tootsie toys which I taunted her with. :laughing:

Nobody takes my tootsie toys! :lol:
 
Chipk said:
I recently posted about a lady who requested I look for a long ago lost ring in her yard. Spent a whole afternoon digging trash and 3 pennies. She watched me like a hawk from the inside of her house.
I explained the ring must not be in the yard and she demanded to see what I had. I emptied my pouch and she dug through it and collected the 3 pennies and marched into her house without a thank you or acknowledgment of my hard work.
At least you got a few pennies. :laughing:
Click to expand...


WHAT?

If I understand, you hunted for a lost item pro bono and she wanted to take the 3 cents you found...right?

I've done a few "find my lost ring" type of hunts. I only do it one of two ways. Option one, you want to keep anything I find, no problem, $20/hr, one hour minimum, billed in half our increments. This means I find it in 5 minutes, you pay for the hour. I find it in 70 minutes, you pay for 1.5 hours. Option two, you don't want to pay for my time, no problem, anything other than the ring I'm looking for that I find is mine, period. This is the option that has been chosen every time for the record.

If they won't agree to either one, good luck finding your lost ring, move on.
 
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