Do you ever get tall tales from "detectorists" when you're out?

Jodo_Kast501 · Apr 21, 2019

I've recently noticed a trend. When I am out detecting, occasionally folks will come up to me to talk and a few of these tell me they metal detect as well. But often these ostensible detectorists will regale me with stories that are at best unlikely and more probably totally false.

I had one guy tell me recently he found diamond rings "down by the docks" of a particular local lake, where the only docks are wood, the shores are large limestone rocks, and the park rangers are pretty on the ball about keeping detectorists out (illegal in state parks here). But the one that took the cake was a guy telling me he got so good with a particular White's machine he could tell you the specific date of a coin before he dug it up. :roll:

Anybody else get this?

georgeinsc · Apr 21, 2019

I usually just ignore those outrageous claims. But I do get a kick out of the ones who tell me that they have a Very High Quality machine but they did not bring it with them. When i ask what machine they have invariably they tell me that they do not remember. It is always a tourist at the beach.

Seaking406 · Apr 21, 2019

I have yet to meet another detectorist while hunting locally with a detector in hand, though encountered several without gear in hand. So far, everyone is nice and not outlandish with their hunting tales..

However, while down vacationing in Florida, now that is a different story.. I usually carry a BS flag to wave if the occasion arises though.

Tom_in_CA · Apr 21, 2019

judo-kast-501 , you've noticed that trend/phenomenon too :laughing:

Not only fellow md'rs, but there can just be stories shared by random passerbys, of "someone they saw digging up gold coins", or "I know where a sure-fire treasure is, via a long-time story in my family ", blah blah

One time, when I was doing an oldtown demolition site, I could see, out of the corner of my eye, someone standing there @ the cyclone fence @ the street, studying me for awhile. Eventually I could see he was trying to motion for me to come to the fence and talk. I took off my headphones cups, and ... at first, it was the usual "what are you finding?", etc... type talk. But then he launched into a story about how ... a few years earlier, another demolition site had gone on in that city's oldtown district, and that handfuls of gold coins were found .

My heart sunk in me, thinking that "oh no, I must have missed knowing when that demolition site had gone on". So I pumped him for information, and he pointed, down the block, to the exact spot where the bldg. had come down. I then realized that I had personally been "all over that", and that the person was talking about ME ! So I corrected him and told him "No, it was just some silver coins, no gold, no treasures, etc...". He just shrugged his shoulders and walked on.

This phenomenon which you & I have seen, just goes to show what I feel is the origin of a lot of treasure legends and stories. (Even when bolstered by "eye-witnesses"), that are nothing but conjectures and imaginations, run wild with sincere enthusiasm.

Mud-puppy · Apr 21, 2019

I ran into a couple of guys out detecting this morning. I was nearly finished up with my totter run and they were just starting out, GBing and getting all ready to dive into a very nicely manicured and active sports field...

One had a Minelab and the other a brand new AtMax, both had big D handled gardening style shovels, they drove a fairly new big Chevy Truck of some sort....

So I pulled up in my little wreck of a rig dressed like a bum and introduced myself and we got to talking pleasantries about Metal Detecting and this site in particular...

They asked me if I have ever hunted here and if I've ever been tossed...Well, I honestly told them "Yes" on both counts. So they said "Its a Public Park!" "Aint nobody tossing THEM off of here!" I said I work this place with my little weak F70 and my little peepee screwdriver for clad is all, generally super duper early and on off hours, and since its super active, with houses all around, its not a good idea to be out here with all this heavy mining equipment.....

They were not to be deturd or willing to listen to what is obviously ignorant underclass bum, with inferior gear, driving a 20 yr old car....I got it, and therefore switched gears into "Mean Mud Mode"....

So, the long shot is, I told them this particular Michigan Urban Park was the site of some Civil War activity, and that a guy had to really go after the deep targets, like sprinkler fittings etc, but since I'm just after clad, I dont care about breastplates and belt buckles, I just hunt for immediate shallow fresh dropped beer money...I've hunted here thousands of hours and got the top 5" pennies and pultabs pretty much cleaned out for you...

Their greedy eyes lit up, so on I went, pouring gas on the fire, "Oh yeah, big Civil War encampment here! (I actually waved my arm to the North in a very stimulating arc!) "This site was the staging post for the Michigan 5th infantry, and the local legend is this is the site where Charles Hackley buried his Civil War Gold like what was seen on TV!" I didnt stop there! "One guy with an Ace 250 found a $5 gold coin over there by that piss elm, and just last fall a guy swinging a NOX 800 pulled a $20 double eagle over there by the basketball court!!"

So, I wished them good luck and off I drove.....about a half hour later a few miles away kicking chips at another totter, during a smoke break, I thought 'What the Hell', lets give them a Royal West Michigan dirt road Rodgering!....so I called the cops....

I mean hey...They shoulda got up earlier...plus, Its Easter Sunday Morning? Who would go out detecting on Easter Sunday Morning? With a great big shovel in an active Park? Some insane person! And as further evidence submitted, the one guy was a Minelabber, and the other drove the Chevy, so they were clearly insane and had it coming...

They were asking for it, a massive bullcrappery that is, and they ran into the Master...They did not know a damn about this Friendly Forum, said Forums are for sissys and preverts....

I did good right?...This morning I pulled @$6 in clad and one paper dollar eye find bill..a few empty cans along the way, bullcrapped the usual "Springtime Treasure Hunting Tossers" ....I got my beer money, and thats all I really care about!... :laughing:

Rickdes · Apr 21, 2019

I confess I wear the headphones partially for better tone recognition but mostly so I can pretend I don't hear people that want to chat. It works well for me. I like my alone time and like to keep it that way. I do talk if they have a detector with them. Im new and like to learn about detecting. They likely know stuff i dont. But those with no detector but a tale about the amazing detector they have at home is likely bs. It's not that important to me. Why lie?

I'm new to detecting as of a few weeks ago. I was lucky enough to find and earring with a pretty big stone that is diamond like but very likely glass or whatever. Of course I'll have it looked at. If, on the off chance, it is real I would likely not tell many people. I guess I think that they would think I'm feeding them bs. I'd just cash it in and get a nox 800 or e Trac and keep the story to myself. So if the equiptment in my profile changes youll know.

Rollie · Apr 22, 2019

I have not run into any other people who metal detect. I'm sure they are out there, I just haven't crossed paths with any. I do run into those kind in some of my other interests and activities. Mostly it is with musicians. Almost every time I do a gig, an open mic, or festival someone comes up and tells me that they are a musician and try to prove it by telling me that they opened for this famous band or that famous band, or played some famous venue. Conveniently they never have their instrument with them so they can't jam, but if they did, they sure would. Anyway, bull schitters don't bother me. I write fiction for a living. I like a good story.

Silversmith45 · Apr 22, 2019

I know a guy who claims that he and his wife both found large cents in a park that I have hunted for over thirty years. I have probably covered every foot in that time. It is built on what was a housing development that got started in the 40s. I seriously doubt that there were ever any large cents in that area which was probably fields in that time, let alone finding two in one day.

SoOregonMd · Apr 22, 2019

Mud-puppy said:
I ran into a couple of guys out detecting this morning. I was nearly finished up with my totter run and they were just starting out, GBing and getting all ready to dive into a very nicely manicured and active sports field...

One had a Minelab and the other a brand new AtMax, both had big D handled gardening style shovels, they drove a fairly new big Chevy Truck of some sort....

So I pulled up in my little wreck of a rig dressed like a bum and introduced myself and we got to talking pleasantries about Metal Detecting and this site in particular...

They asked me if I have ever hunted here and if I've ever been tossed...Well, I honestly told them "Yes" on both counts. So they said "Its a Public Park!" "Aint nobody tossing THEM off of here!" I said I work this place with my little weak F70 and my little peepee screwdriver for clad is all, generally super duper early and on off hours, and since its super active, with houses all around, its not a good idea to be out here with all this heavy mining equipment.....

They were not to be deturd or willing to listen to what is obviously ignorant underclass bum, with inferior gear, driving a 20 yr old car....I got it, and therefore switched gears into "Mean Mud Mode"....

So, the long shot is, I told them this particular Michigan Urban Park was the site of some Civil War activity, and that a guy had to really go after the deep targets, like sprinkler fittings etc, but since I'm just after clad, I dont care about breastplates and belt buckles, I just hunt for immediate shallow fresh dropped beer money...I've hunted here thousands of hours and got the top 5" pennies and pultabs pretty much cleaned out for you...

Their greedy eyes lit up, so on I went, pouring gas on the fire, "Oh yeah, big Civil War encampment here! (I actually waved my arm to the North in a very stimulating arc!) "This site was the staging post for the Michigan 5th infantry, and the local legend is this is the site where Charles Hackley buried his Civil War Gold like what was seen on TV!" I didnt stop there! "One guy with an Ace 250 found a $5 gold coin over there by that piss elm, and just last fall a guy swinging a NOX 800 pulled a $20 double eagle over there by the basketball court!!"

So, I wished them good luck and off I drove.....about a half hour later a few miles away kicking chips at another totter, during a smoke break, I thought 'What the Hell', lets give them a Royal West Michigan dirt road Rodgering!....so I called the cops....

I mean hey...They shoulda got up earlier...plus, Its Easter Sunday Morning? Who would go out detecting on Easter Sunday Morning? With a great big shovel in an active Park? Some insane person! And as further evidence submitted, the one guy was a Minelabber, and the other drove the Chevy, so they were clearly insane and had it coming...

They were asking for it, a massive bullcrappery that is, and they ran into the Master...They did not know a damn about this Friendly Forum, said Forums are for sissys and preverts....

I did good right?...This morning I pulled @$6 in clad and one paper dollar eye find bill..a few empty cans along the way, bullcrapped the usual "Springtime Treasure Hunting Tossers" ....I got my beer money, and thats all I really care about!...

I LOVED the way you and Rosie Rolled on that one !!

keep up the good work !!

Tpmetal · Apr 22, 2019

Silversmith45 said:
I know a guy who claims that he and his wife both found large cents in a park that I have hunted for over thirty years. I have probably covered every foot in that time. It is built on what was a housing development that got started in the 40s. I seriously doubt that there were ever any large cents in that area which was probably fields in that time, let alone finding two in one day.

Never know though, weirder things have happened in this hobby

E Hedberg · Apr 22, 2019

B.s.

I get b.s. some times mostly curious about my finds which I always down play. I was once a t a small beach when an old man yelled down to me that I would not find anything as he already detected the place. I told him he did not do a very good job as I had already found several good coins. He came down to talk to me and he was impressed by my high end detector (it really wasn't). He went to his car and got his machine and came down and cut right in front of me. I thought you sob but let him go figuring he can't be to good. My mistake in about 30 feet he found a mid 1800 s dime he didn't even know what it was. He said he had to go home and show his wife he ran up the hill thru his detector into the trunk and took off I never saw him again.

Do you ever get tall tales from "detectorists" when you're out?

Jodo_Kast501

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georgeinsc

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Seaking406

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Tom_in_CA

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Mud-puppy

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Rickdes

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Rollie

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Silversmith45

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SoOregonMd

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Tpmetal

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E Hedberg

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