Pay to hunt

Pay to play doesn't sound appealing to me.

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zach66604 said:

Pay to play doesn't sound appealing to me.

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It does to some people


I remember a few years back we talked about this and I balked at the idea of paying to detect somewhere. After a few years of struggling to find productive places to metal detect I may have changed my stance a bit.

There is a civil war marker near a field that I sometimes drive by. It is documented and on private property, and the house sits very close to where the actual camp is on the property. There is a possibility it has been hunted... but that doesn't deter me because my motto is that it hasn't been hunted til I hunt it...(we all should have that attitude)

That is a site that I would be willing to pay to get on. No guarantees of finding anything, but the opportunity and chance to find CW artifacts would be worth paying for... and I am certain that I'd come away with a few goodies from that camp.

MY delimma has been on how to approach the land owner and pay... do I offer cash? whiskey? apple pie? steak? Just a handshake? Will it insult him if I offer to pay, possibly sending the message that I was thinking I can waltz in there and throw couple dollars around and free run of the place.

I've hesitated on offering to pay because I'm unsure how to go about it. I used to laugh at the idea of paying to detect a property, but getting permissions on sites with great potential around here is harder than I used to think it would be.

"Hi Sir, here's some money, a pie, bottle of whiskey, a silver dime, a subscription to espn, a gift basket and some envelopes... Can I detect your property?"

Depends on how much...

Yeah I'd pay too depending on how much and keep what you find.

I did a paid hunt and came away with a 1652 Mass Oak Tree Shilling.

I paid not because I was expecting to find that but because its a place that would have otherwise never been available for me to hunt. If there is history to the land and only would be accessible by paying a small fee I do not see why not.
Its like why pay for going to a baseball game when you can watch it on TV. Your paying for access and the experience that is limited

I would never pay to do a "seeded" hunt. For me its the "treasure hunt" where you don't know if there is anything there.

rreahard said:

Depends on how much...

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And which foundation gets the donation

"The landowner" foundation

I've got several places i hunt that i always throw the caretaker beer money ON MY WAY OUT, i am always welcome because of this. These are spots that i have researched the heck out of and went through the trouble of finding, usually at the end of long bumpy roads.
Some spots it really pays to be nice and pay, others you'd have to pay me to go to...

I have definitely made donations to historical societies to gain permission to hunt certain properties. In addition, a lot of the colonial farm owners are not necessarily rich, as a matter of fact they struggle. There was a hay farmer who had a Revolutionary war encampment on his land. Sells bales of hay for 3 bucks a bale and says fuel costs more to delver it...... I offered him 200 bucks for me and my detecting partner to have unfettered access to his fields. That got his attention and he was thrilled.
id pay for a spot like that rather than a seeded hunt anyday. Also I used to play a lot of golf......2 rounds of greens fees would equal 200 bucks so its a no brainer for me....especially if it helps someone on the fence about giving permission

A lot of times offering to tell the Owner exactly what you found with pictures helps a lot. This is especially true if you make them a little display. Another thing is always show them the trash you removed.