Funny Things that Happen While Detecting

talking about beaches where i worked as a young lad my boss was so pissed of with MD,ers coming on the beach and swinging around the punters while they where trying to have a holiday in sunny england every few weeks he would go and get hundreds of diferent metal washers and throw them all over the place in front of his beach bar days of entertainement

fivefingers said:

I just got into this hobby a few weeks ago and love it. I lost my right hand in Viet Nam in 68, you know were I'm going with this. My answer is
" I lost my hand on this beach by a shark attack and I'm hoping he coughed up the ring I had on it" Total silence now follows.

Click to expand...

That is sooo wrong it's really funny!! I was a Seabee from '69 - '72, thanks for serving.

early_americana said:

You should have just said "you use ain't AND a double negative in one sentence, and you're callin' me dumb?"

Click to expand...

Exactly. If you ain't going to find nothing, the only other thing you can possibly find is something.

While I am posting. Here on the south Florida beaches during the turtle egg season the nest are watched for and then protected with some wood stakes and yellow tape to keep people from disturbing them. Turtle eggs get buried in the sand by the female.

Often when asked what I am doing I will tell the people that I have a turtle egg finder and I am the one who finds the nest and puts up the stakes and signs to protect them. It is unbelievable how many buy this story and congratulate me on my efforts.

A variation on the tale is after telling them what I have is a turtle egg detector the response is sometimes, "so your the one you puts up the stakes and tape" to which I reply "naw I just think there real good eatin". The environmental Nazi types go nuts and threaten to report me.

While beach hunting, I tend to get many younger (20s and 30s) aged women stop and ask me, "What are you looking for?"

I tell them that while many people think this is a metal detector, in reality it is really a "hot looking, promiscuous babe detecor, and right now it is going off like crazy."

As you can image, I usually get 1 of 2 responses - they either leave, or...well...let the games begin.........:-)

In either case, I win.......LOL

I had a pan-handler come up and ask for some change. I told him he needed to get a metal detector and kept on hunting.

Funny things that happened while detecting?

1. One ol' confused biddy was convinced I was somehow polluting the soil with some sort of radiation. She was trying to hit me to when luckily, some other lady walked past who knew what I was doing (She'd kept me from MDing the previous time). I don't know how, but she got her of my back.
2. I had a couple walk up to me over a freshly plowed field and thank me for demining the area and making the world a safer place. Don't know what I told them, something to the effect that there was hardly anything dangerous left in the area. It took me a while to work out that I'd missed out on a really great opportunity:".....mine field....take care....!"
3. I had a good laugh recently while out detecting when I found a small pocket knife. I thought: I lost one like that ages ago. When I got the mud off, I realized I lost this very knife ages ago (1979).

Not really an MD'ing story but a wanting to go MD'ing story.

Earlier this summer, I was doing some research on Minnesota ghost towns (with hopes of some detecting of course) and I ran across an amateur photography forum. Someone had posted some great photos of a old town named Melvin, MN. It was located in Polk County between the towns of Fertile & Crookston, a 5 or so hour drive from where I live. I didn't care about that....it was exciting to find that there was such a spot. The pictures were taken in early 2007 and they showed the remains of a small commercial building, and the remains of sidewalks, curbs, etc., plus there was an old abandoned house on the site. The photos showed that all of this now resided inside a cow pasture, with short grass and brush, complete with an electric fence. (Insert metal detectorist's adrenaline increase here).

I contacted the Polk County historical society, and the lady who answered happened to be the perfect connection. She gave me the name and phone number of a guy who lived in Fertile, who was the grandson of the founder of the town of Melvin! Evidently he gave presentations at the historcal society museum, talking extensively about Polk county and the town of Melvin. (Insert metal detectorist's larger adrenaline increase here).

I will call him Dave, since that is his real name, like mine. I called Dave and we talked for some time; he told me all about Melvin. A cool history, I thought. His grandfather, named Ludbic, came here from Norway, to a small town in southern MN. At age 21 he moved to Polk county, and bought a small plot of land and built a small general store (1898) between Fertile and Crookston. He was able to some time after that purchase 3800 acres of land on a spot where the ancient glaciers retreated and left huge gravel deposits. That turned out to be a very good business, and Ludbic founded the town of Melvin, which was a name he chose because he didn't think that Ludbic was a good American name. The town grew for some time and had a hotel, saloon, etc. All those buildings are long gone now. Melvin existed basically from 1898 to 1945 when the general store finally closed. The pictures mentioned above showed only an "office" portion of the general store that is the only thing that remains, plus the old sidewalks and curbing, etc. The old abandoned house is falling apart and ready to be knocked down.

Needless to say, now my metal detectorist's adrenaline is really going. As I respond to various parts of Dave's story, I finally tell him....

"My interest in Melvin is because I am into the hobby of metal detecting. I would love to drive up there and explore around the area". Would that be possible?

The response was: <Scroll Down>










"OH REALLY? MY BROTHER AND I HAVE BEEN DOING THAT SINCE 1975"

"I buy a MD every year. My current one is a Garrett 1500".

(Insert metal detectorist's HUGE loss of adrenaline here).

I couldn't believe it. Dave told me he and his brother had probably been in the area 100 times. Pulled lots of silvers, mercs, etc. out of there.

Dang. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I was glad that they got the area cleaned up, and found all they did. It turned out OK for me, as I got a Melvin, MN merchant token (grandfather Ludbic had them made, and it's uncirculated) and my first Indian Head penny. Dave sent them to me via the mail after we talked. He knew I had never found an IH while detecting.


So many cool people exist in this hobby.

HH,

Dave (laserfocusguy)

People coming up to you while THing

Be nice to the people that come up to you while you are THing. You are an Ambassador for the hobby. Elderly folks are a wealth of information. I have had several people give me tips on good places to hunt, the vacant lot that all the neighborhood kids played on years ago or the oldest house on their block was on that empty lot or the church or school picnic was in that grove of trees or you ought to come and look around my house. I don't know of any THer that would give up an invite to a possible great site.

i do allot of my hunting in the woods. i was once charged by a doe, ran at me at full force from about 15 yards and turned at the last second. i have been stalked by wild dogs as well. when I'm in the woods i use my ww2 Nazi trench shovel my grandfather brought home as a souvenir. any animal that comes close enough will be dinner.

now the funny one. i once knocked on a older ladies door to ask to MD her yard when she opened the door i said "hello" she said "thank god you here" she tells me to come in and said the bathroom is over here. i follow her mind you the only thing i have said was "hello" at this point ( i was very confused i was thinking in my head is she gonna turn me into a ginger bread cookie) i get to the bathroom and there is 4 inches of water on the floor leaking from the toilet. i walk into the bathroom reach behind the toilet and turn the off valve the water stops. she says. "thank you for stopping the water whats wrong with my toilet" this is when i say my name and tell her that i was knocking on her door to ask if i could MD her yard. she says "your not the plumber" i say "no" well she was a little embarrassed and asked what mding was i explained and she said yes. well after and hour of detecting didn't find much i see a plumber van pull up he gets out knocks on the door goes in about 5 Min's later i see him walk to his van looks at me with a huge grin and waves.

Do Those Things Really Work ?

first off i just joined the site this morn ,so I would like to introduce myself . my name is richie and I`m an ex-nyer from long island ,used to do lots of beach ,park,old site detecting with my mine lab, found ton`s of stuff. best find was a rolex . and movado watch along with numerous rings and jewlery from beach. must of found hundreds of dollars worth of clad over the years. old bottles,metal cars,bullets from WWI still in their stripper clips and the oldest coin was a large 1 cent from 1817, and morgan from the 1880`s. been out of it for some time but came across this site, still have my bountyhunter. loved the stories you all wrote.
talking bout things that happen, one day while on the beach 2 teenage girls came up asking questions, one asked can you find me a ring ? I said thats easier said than done ! they followed me awile watching what was in my basket every time I shook it out. some time later I got a hit pretty deep I scooped and scooped still not getting anything (water kept filling hole ) finally a girls gold ring 14k with a red stone. they looked at it and went to hand it back I said you asked me to find you a ring keep it . they went away happy and so did I.

The Nature Preserve Lady

About a year ago I found a what appeared to be a good place for metal detecting. It is a nature preserve on public land. The office is in a house built in 1856 and was part of the underground railroad. Being public land I figured I would detect in the wooded areas, away from the old house. In order to get to the trails, I had to pass by the office.

As I walked past the office, metal detector in hand, the door flew open and out came the manager yelling "what do you think you are doing"??? In my mind I was thinking "oh well, scratch this site off my list". I politely explained that I was looking for old coins, to which she replied "Oh I thought that was a weed wacker! Have fun!" I breathed a sigh of relief and went on to find 6 colonial buttons a copper bracelet a copper ring and numerous other old artifacts (although the oldest coin from the spot was a 1941 quarter!)

I don't know how many times I've been ask " Find anything with that Giger Counter"?

Dealing with kids

If I'm out detecting and youngsters want to come around and talk, I just stop and look each one in the eye and say:
" Sorry, I don't talk to strangers."

Bill

I've just started MDing myself. I have been hitting a sandy tot lot near my house. Not much trash it seem relatively new. Last 5 or so years. Mainly Ill go out at night with a headlight on. But, I was bored the other day and went out just before school let out. Anytime I would look up, kids where just stairing. But one time this kid was about 5 feet away when I looked up. 7-8 yrs old im guessing.

Kid- "aaaannnnnddrrreeewwww ffffiissshhhheeerrrr"
me- "What"
kid- "Andrew Fisher"
Me- "Is that your name?"
kid- "yup, what cha looking for?"
me- "anything I find"
of course right now I hit a signal bend down to start diggin
Kid- "you find something"
Me- "maybe"
Kid- "what could it be"
me- "money, metal, garbage"
Kid- "why would you wanna find money?"
I'm a little dumbfounded for an answer to that one. I kept digging, pulled out a pulltab, kid was thouroughly unimpressed and walk off, thank goodness.

Some classic stuff in this thread........seeing how I am in Japan, I will have an almost automatic out when folks try to talk to me. All I have to do is smile and give them a big Kon Ichi Wa in my best Texas accent. They figure it out really fast that you dont speak the language. Aside from that, I think I will just feign deafness......

As far as my funny story, I was with my buddy who was swinging an excalibur at Mexico Beach in florida when this 30 something gentleman walked up to him very politely and seriously explained to him that "those devices" cause sterility and at the very least he will only have girls and not any boys. To which my friend replied, "I have 4 kids and had my cord cut already, but you are standing mighty close to the business end."

lots of goofy stuff and people I have encountered, the one that sticks out is a lady said I was nice and she ''felt sorry for me having to look for change'' but was glad I wasnt out begging people, so she tried to hand me five bucks, I chuckled and tried to explain it wasnt about the change ect.... I refused the money, when I returned to my truck she had placed an envlope with the five under my windshield wiper........

Deep silver said:

lots of goofy stuff and people I have encountered, the one that sticks out is a lady said I was nice and she ''felt sorry for me having to look for change'' but was glad I wasnt out begging people, so she tried to hand me five bucks, I chuckled and tried to explain it wasnt about the change ect.... I refused the money, when I returned to my truck she had placed an envlope with the five under my windshield wiper........

Click to expand...

Counts as a "find"!!!!

SeabeeRon said:

Counts as a "find"!!!!

Click to expand...

Indeed, I prompty went and bought a giant milkshake on the way home.....

i get the usual what are you looking for or what are you doing
and once a little kid spent about half a hour telling me that they have a treasure map and they found (treasure) in there garden

now i prefer to detect alone so i just get to the park early before anyone gets there