Big Boys Hobbies

How often to you run into fellow detectorists while hunting?

maxxkatt

maxxkatt

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Sep 20, 2015
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Location
North Atlanta, GA
I am not talking about competition, vendor or club hunts.

Just on your normal hunt.

For instance I live near a very busy park along side of the river running through Atlanta.

2-3 years ago, it was not uncommon to run into a detectorists once or twice a week. I walk my dog in the park daily and detect it probably 2x per week.

It is a very trashy park. And based on some to the models they are using, I can see why they would find much other than modern junk.

About half were total newbies, and I told them that this was not the best place to start and never saw them again.

Over the past 2-3 years there have been about 3 fellow detectorists that hit that park probably at least once per month.

We have a volleyball court so that is an attraction. I seed it with a penny with a "X" stamped in it in the center of the net about 2 in down so any dector cannot miss it. This is how I gauage how often the volleyball court is being hit by others. Probably about 1 time each month.

Only one time in my civil war location did I meet a fellow detectorist. He was hunting the same area that I was hunting and we were both using the Nox 800. He said he was not having luck finding CW relics as was my response for that day.
 
Never

But then again, I only get in about half a dozen or so hours of hunting per month (on average)
 
I've had detectorists who were driving by stop and talk to me when I'm detecting near a road. And I've stopped once on my drive to a spot when I saw a guy detecting. But even though I hit a lot of public places I've never run into another detectorist detecting where I was detecting.
 
1. Years ago I had county cop in his patrol car stop and walk over to me. He just wanted to see if I was finding anything. He was a detectorist and we discussed our best finds for a while.

2. Ten years ago a guy stopped while I was in a city park. He told me all the great things that had been found in the park in the 1980s, but was not trying to discourage me. I have since found many good finds there, including six large cents.

3. In that same city park, a cab driver who was parked nearby walked over and told me about an overgrown site in the woods nearby where there had been activity in the 1940s and before. He was also a detectorist, but no longer active. I found about thirty silver coins at that site.

4. Another old-timer (detectorist) stopped me one day, and told me about a site in the park where a soccer field was being renovated. I was a little late to the game, but did find my first SLQ there.
 
Question should be : When do I NOT run into another hunter !
40 years ago , only a few here and there. I could go 2-3 weeks without seeing anybody.
14 years ago was my awakening. The start of the real estate meltdown and metal market boom. Everytime I hunted I ran across some guy trying to scratch up taco money.
3 yrs ago - it's on the daily. With the Nox out , guys who have never hunted before are now "experts" who have magically "been detecting for 20 years", marching across the sands like newborn sea turtles.
Today - on peak weekends , I can see or run across 8-20 guys hunting. But as I've shifted more to night stalking , on occasion I run across 1-3. Depends on locations , some hunts I'm by myself but not often.
 
In my town of about 100,000 folks, I have encountered 5 other detectorists since I started this hobby in late 2017. I talked to 4 of them but I've never seen the same guy twice. I hunt , on average, 5-10 hours a week, almost always in the oldest parts of town. 3 were in parks, 2 were hunting curbstrips that I had already hit. I know one guy was just passing through town on vacation and had some time to kill. I do personally know one other detectorist that lives here but he chases gold nuggets in other parts of the state and has no interest in coins or relics. I have found about 150 silver coins- mostly dimes- since I started the hobby. But I am positive that past detectorists did a reasonably good job recovering most of the easy silver. And unfortunately, some of the best old neighborhoods have been razed and paved over for the expansion of our medical corridor over the last 20 years. And, after hunting with Loves the Shiny and reading his posts on the forum, I have come to the conclusion that there are much, much better places to hunt than where I live.
 
I’ve only been detecting for two years, and only recently started detecting in parks. But in a city of 200,000, I’ve never seen anyone else.
 
maxxkatt said:
I am not talking about competition, vendor or club hunts.

Just on your normal hunt.

For instance I live near a very busy park along side of the river running through Atlanta.

2-3 years ago, it was not uncommon to run into a detectorists once or twice a week. I walk my dog in the park daily and detect it probably 2x per week.

It is a very trashy park. And based on some to the models they are using, I can see why they would find much other than modern junk.

About half were total newbies, and I told them that this was not the best place to start and never saw them again.

Over the past 2-3 years there have been about 3 fellow detectorists that hit that park probably at least once per month.

We have a volleyball court so that is an attraction. I seed it with a penny with a "X" stamped in it in the center of the net about 2 in down so any dector cannot miss it. This is how I gauage how often the volleyball court is being hit by others. Probably about 1 time each month.

Only one time in my civil war location did I meet a fellow detectorist. He was hunting the same area that I was hunting and we were both using the Nox 800. He said he was not having luck finding CW relics as was my response for that day.
Click to expand...

never! they have all disappeared like a "fart in the wind!" me thinks people have given it up for 'golf" or "knitting!" (lol!)

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 
I mostly detect private properties, so that cuts down on sightings I've been approached by more people saying they metal detect (or used to) than I've ever seen out detecting. For as much time as I spend in old neighborhoods I'm surprised I haven't seen more of them.
 
Not often. When I do see someone, just tell them to get the heck off my beach.:D
 
Last edited:
While I've run into several detectorists elsewhere, and been run into while detecting by several people claiming to be, I've never once been metal detecting and run into someone else metal detecting, or really, I've never run into someone else metal detecting, period. I hope that logical mess makes sense to someone.
 
Redwaller said:
While I've run into several detectorists elsewhere, and been run into while detecting by several people claiming to be, I've never once been metal detecting and run into someone else metal detecting, or really, I've never run into someone else metal detecting, period. I hope that logical mess makes sense to someone.
Click to expand...

That's EZ for you to say. :laughing:
 
Water hunter....Has a lot to do with where I hunt. I can run into 5 to 12 any given time during the summer. Then I go out by boat .. to older beaches.. rare to see anyone.

Fall and Winter rare.
 
Once.

A state park fresh water beach had been added to the "allowed" list, and I was there on "opening day" to detect during the allowed hours -- something like 8-11am. Got to be good stuff on an "unsearched" beach, right? Kind of surprised, but no other detectors but me. I went a bit past 11am, nobody there, nobody cares. Found next to nothing. I'm packing up when another detector shows up, he's not from the area, working nearby, and heads into the water with his gear. A perfect example of why there's nothing to be found at the beach -- this guy had no idea a permit was required, what days/hours detecting was allowed, what gear was allowed -- and probably wouldn't care if he knew. I thought about telling him, but figured he's better off ignorant if any Rangers happen by (and care.) Further thought about narcing on him, but that would be uncool. I learned *something* from Charlie Sheen in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. ;)
 
None. One guy just walking on the sidelines of a line of soccer fields, 4-5 fields,
was not a detectorists stopped and spoke to me a while while I was hitting the sidelines. I was at least getting a couple bucks clad and a few wheaties on a hunt. there was a lot of sideline left and a path along a brook that was sweet looking and I hadn't hit yet. The walking guy, not detecting, spoke how he had thought about getting into the hobby. By the time I got back to the site I dug only a few zincs!! One clad dime and can slaw. 2.5 hours detecting. Someone had detected there before I got back. We share info here on the forum and become sort of Pen Pals but outside in the parks maybe it's not a good idea to share much info. I think here in CT it's probably near impossible to find a spot that hasn't been scourged and beaten. I go and dig trash( in case of gold) and a small amount of clad. You can easily tell by the lack of quarter hits and if no nickels you can assume someone knew what they were doing. A few zincs? You know its been pounded with these modern detectors. My thoughts anyway.:roll:
 
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