Harassed while trying to get permission

[TheFrood]

Thanks for sharing! Possibly something going on that he didn't want you around to see? That sounds like something that would happen if I stumbled upon a Meth Lab here. Of course, it could be someone having a "Bad Day"... for some people, most of their days are bad ones. Glad all is well with you.

I doubt that the meth heads would want to attract that much attention. You may actually get a friendlier response from them
than OP...

 

[BobOso]

Maybe he had bodies burred and did not want you to find them.

 

[Slowtoo]

After thinking about it for a while, I do believe he was up to no good and didn’t want anyone around. Strangest and most aggressive behavior I have ever encountered. I have gone back to door knocking but am much more wary.

 

[Fishincontrol]

As a property owner in Texas, it is NOT cool to roll onto my property with a firearm at the ready. Being a former, active duty combat Marine, somebody gonna be unalive. Do not go door-knocking packing heat. Use your damned head. Always have an exit plan while approaching private property. Remember, this is somebody's home, not yours.

 

[rcornell]

As a property owner in Texas, it is NOT cool to roll onto my property with a firearm at the ready. Being a former, active duty combat Marine, somebody gonna be unalive. Do not go door-knocking packing heat. Use your damned head. Always have an exit plan while approaching private property. Remember, this is somebody's home, not yours.

I think it was explained above. He didn't have the firearm ready. I believe it was in the truck.

 

[Daniel Tn]

MY personal craziest landowner story went like this:

Buddy and me were out looking for new places and stopped at this house to see if they were the owner of the property or if they knew who was. This was in a good area for Civil War activity and word of mouth was, the owners were not friendly and hostile to relic hunting. Call me dumb...I had to see for myself if it were true or just other relic hunters trying to keep us out of a good area. It was an older lady that came to the door and she was really friendly. She said she was the owner of it and told us how many acres and was very vocal about us NOT going onto her neighbors properties. She owned like 1500 acres. She was very kind and knowledgable about the area and history and gave us the go ahead and came outside, gave super great descriptions of where all the fence and property lines were. So me and my buddy take off...begin detecting in some woods and immediately began finding Civil War relics. About 30-40 minutes into the hunt, we are having a ball and then I kept hearing a vehicle horn honking and it was coming from where we parked. Then I heard people talking. I thought...better go check this out. I head out of the woods and walked right into what looked like a swat team gearing up to take somebody down. Squad cars, the whole she-bang. Come to find out...the sweet little lady that gave us permission, had dementia and totally forgot the encounter of us ever occurred. She saw our vehicle parked and went into a panic...called her son, who must have called every body and their brother, and the law too. By the time the story got around, me and my buddy were described as being two armed men who were trespassing on this property and the lady was scared out of her wits. Neither of us had a gun...just detectors and digging tools. But...try convincing a hostile son and the police that you are who you say you are and that you had indeed just gotten permission and weren't sneaking or up to no good. That one took a little bit to sort out but we finally got it. And yes...the reports of being hostile to relic hunters were confirmed lol

 

[Lt.Dan]

MY personal craziest landowner story went like this:

Buddy and me were out looking for new places and stopped at this house to see if they were the owner of the property or if they knew who was. This was in a good area for Civil War activity and word of mouth was, the owners were not friendly and hostile to relic hunting. Call me dumb...I had to see for myself if it were true or just other relic hunters trying to keep us out of a good area. It was an older lady that came to the door and she was really friendly. She said she was the owner of it and told us how many acres and was very vocal about us NOT going onto her neighbors properties. She owned like 1500 acres. She was very kind and knowledgable about the area and history and gave us the go ahead and came outside, gave super great descriptions of where all the fence and property lines were. So me and my buddy take off...begin detecting in some woods and immediately began finding Civil War relics. About 30-40 minutes into the hunt, we are having a ball and then I kept hearing a vehicle horn honking and it was coming from where we parked. Then I heard people talking. I thought...better go check this out. I head out of the woods and walked right into what looked like a swat team gearing up to take somebody down. Squad cars, the whole she-bang. Come to find out...the sweet little lady that gave us permission, had dementia and totally forgot the encounter of us ever occurred. She saw our vehicle parked and went into a panic...called her son, who must have called every body and their brother, and the law too. By the time the story got around, me and my buddy were described as being two armed men who were trespassing on this property and the lady was scared out of her wits. Neither of us had a gun...just detectors and digging tools. But...try convincing a hostile son and the police that you are who you say you are and that you had indeed just gotten permission and weren't sneaking or up to no good. That one took a little bit to sort out but we finally got it. And yes...the reports of being hostile to relic hunters were confirmed lol

Makes me think one of those little spy cams disguised as a pen in the shirt pocket might be a good tool to have in such a case. Even if you lose that said permission because of someone's mental health, you would at least have a quicker way to defend yourself and ease the tensions. Personally I'm not good at asking permission and especially because I live in Chattanooga. I've heard a lot against door knocking, in the past. At least for area's like Missionary Ridge. I have been out of the loop for a good 10 years and just got bit by the bug again. I was thinking of making some flyers/ business cards or something and work up the nerve to try some different locations in the area.

 

[Daniel Tn]

Lt.Dan - I'm Crow from TnDeer BTW.

Me and my buddy had great success getting permissions on Missionary Ridge several years back by doing odd jobs for the landowners in exchange for detecting their property. Example...one lady we door knocked, initially told us no. My buddy who was quick on his feet, noticed a lot of vines and ivy growing up the side of her house and into her gutters. He asked her if she needed any help cleaning that up. She said yes but wasn't going to pay to have it done, and that she was too old to do it herself. So we volunteered to help do a little cleaning and clearing in exchange for detecting her property. We put in a few hours work and done quite well detecting her property. When we came back to hunt again...she'd told her neighbor friends about us, and turns out, they too had odd jobs they needed/wanted done and would let us detect their property if we did so. Every time we did something like that, and returned...word had spread and we had more places to detect if we put in a little elbow grease. There for a couple years, we had more places to detect there than we had time for. But that was back in the early 2000s. I imagine a ton has changed down there since then.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Lt.Dan - I'm Crow from TnDeer BTW.

Me and my buddy had great success getting permissions on Missionary Ridge several years back by doing odd jobs for the landowners in exchange for detecting their property. Example...one lady we door knocked, initially told us no. My buddy who was quick on his feet, noticed a lot of vines and ivy growing up the side of her house and into her gutters. He asked her if she needed any help cleaning that up. She said yes but wasn't going to pay to have it done, and that she was too old to do it herself. So we volunteered to help do a little cleaning and clearing in exchange for detecting her property. We put in a few hours work and done quite well detecting her property. When we came back to hunt again...she'd told her neighbor friends about us, and turns out, they too had odd jobs they needed/wanted done and would let us detect their property if we did so. Every time we did something like that, and returned...word had spread and we had more places to detect if we put in a little elbow grease. There for a couple years, we had more places to detect there than we had time for. But that was back in the early 2000s. I imagine a ton has changed down there since then.

Small world in these forums. That is great thinking on your friends part. I may try that idea. Personally, I like coin and jewelry hunting. I would gladly give up relics while hunting. A picture would be enough for me. I have nowhere to display more than a few little items. I've been working a couple small county parks but with no luck. I have been pulling scrap aluminum bits mostly. I was elated to get an actual pull tab on my last hole the other day. The park had a ballfield (stayed out of that) and a concession stand. I thought that would be ripe for some clad. Nope, not even a penny. I still had fun and have a lot of settings to learn/ fine tune on this new Nokta. Glad to see you are on here Daniel (crowterminator).