A few points to consider when posting finds & experiences on forums - ANY FORUMS!

[marcomo]

But, sometimes you forget and I'm sure some of these nasty archies have filed away some of the pictures of cellar holes I have posted over the years figuring I have been "Looting" & "pillaging" protected state forests. I made sure my DVD said "Private property" on the box....especially after my short videos are being constantly attacked on Youtube by archies & archie-types (see some of the rude comments they have left). It almost drove me to rip down all my videos. But, since all my sites are Private property with permission I'm not going to be intimidated.......
I agree 100% too on the "sharing sites" part as well. After you get burned several times, and a "guest" you took to a site decides to return without even asking (& then to top it off brings friends!). This all should be part of "the treasure hunters code of ethics" in every magazine & manual. There are guys in one of the local clubs who badmouth me & call me rude because I have resisted their offers of "lets go hunting". Sorry, but too many times this has really meant, "take me to one of your spots because I'm too lazy to research, hike, or scared to ask strangers permission". If I just met you, how do I know I can trust you will never return without me? This has soured me on "clubs" and what they are about, and I wouldn't attend a club meeting now. So, after getting burned over & over, I now will only hunt with a few guys who have earned my trust. If that makes me "rude" or "full of myself" so be it....
The best thing to do when you meet a new detecting buddy is to go find a "neutral site" together. Knock a door, get some maps, & go find a new site together rather than an existing permission one of you already had. That way in theory there should be no problems.....
HH,
Bill

Well said, Bill.

I believe the Latin term is "Quid Pro Quo." Excellent advice on where to hunt with a new partner.

I try not to stereotype all archies because some of them are truly good people who love history, although I know many of them certainly stereotype all of us dirt fishers.

So I won't say a majority, but at least a sizable minority of archies are overeducated, underpaid snobs on the government dole making a living from grants from our tax dollars and they believe that no ground (public OR PRIVATE) should be touched by anyone but them.

I have a relative who detects and sent me a disturbing newspaper article. He lives in a midwestern city where the the official archaeology association is having a fit because a bunch of high school honor students are having the experience of their lives doing a supervised dig of an 18th century site on private property.

The students' teacher has been on several digs, but is not a certified archie so the archies have their panties all in a bunch.

But the site is on private property so they can't do anything except whine about it in the newspaper.

 

[Bill Ladd]

I believe a couple states have had obscure laws pushed through by archies that say you can't even dig on private property! That's a joke. I have dug bottles in my own back yard, something that the archies around my way would still label "looting" as well. Even though a 100 year old dump is something they would never bother with, their attitude is it's better in the ground then on E-bay. Most archies I have had problems with all thought I did this only to sell everything I dig. They see one person selling a civil war relic, or slave tag on E-bay, & now we're all lumped in as profit hungry "pothunters". My "Antiques Roadshow" episode is no longer re-run due to what PBS told me was "several archaeological protests". Even though I said my slave tags were dug in my own backyard in SC., they still said the episode would influence "looting", & use of those evil detector things on protected sites.
But, my response to the archies who attack me is always......."I bring my artifacts to elementary schools to teach kids about history, have you ever done that?" Of course there's always dead silence after that, as their artifacts are all gathering dust in the basement of an old museum somewhere. Never on display like mine for the public to see & learn from. Probably they don't want any artifacts displayed.....they figure that might just influence others to buy one of those horrible metal detector things that just remove all the metal objects out of context even though most hobby people I know are just looking for lost coins which has no real historical impact......

 

[BarnacleBill]

n/t

 

[marcomo]

That is sad, Bill.

Again, I don't want to label all archies, but there is definitely a pervasive "we are the only ones worthy" elitist mindset among many and their official organizations usually reflect that.

The idea of telling someone they can't dig on private property with permission or even in their own yard is so absurd that it would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that there are actually many archies who feel that way.

When you're public with the hobby like you are, you're gonna take some heat.

And not just from the archies, either.

I remember when you made a post about your school presentations and a couple of our fellow dirt fishers said something to the effect of: "just what we need, more people metal detecting"

No matter what you do, no matter how worthy, there will always be some "need to get a life" busybodys to tell you that you shouldn't be doing it.

 

[RichW]

They're mostly control freaks who won't be happy until they can police everything that's buried. And who is watching them?

 

[JRSherman]

My detecting buddy and I have a really nice spot thats put out some good stuff for a good while. He'd been posting it on Tnet for a while, when out of the blue he gets a PM. Some other guy that lives in the area figured out where we'd been hunting and just goes in, no permission, us not there or anything. To qualify the extent of the guy's efficiency, he's a dedicated beach hunter relic hunting in thick pine and brush woods with a CZ-20. Unfortunately, he got lucky and got a 1 R. I won't describe further than that.

He gets blabby though, and pm's my buddy, who understandably gets pretty heated. My buddy goes out there, and the s*b had at least been nice enough to fill in his holes, but was a donkey enough to leave the trash in for us to deal with too.

As a fine result, my buddy, who had been contributing a bit of valued information to a few people due to the location and quantity of things we were finding, has decided not to post anymore so noone else can screw him over.

The good willed actions of the innocent are naught but fuel for the fires of the corrupt.

Great post Andy!

 

[marcomo]

My detecting buddy and I have a really nice spot thats put out some good stuff for a good while. He'd been posting it on Tnet for a while, when out of the blue he gets a PM. Some other guy that lives in the area figured out where we'd been hunting and just goes in, no permission, us not there or anything. To qualify the extent of the guy's efficiency, he's a dedicated beach hunter relic hunting in thick pine and brush woods with a CZ-20. Unfortunately, he got lucky and got a 1 R. I won't describe further than that.

He gets blabby though, and pm's my buddy, who understandably gets pretty heated. My buddy goes out there, and the s*b had at least been nice enough to fill in his holes, but was a donkey enough to leave the trash in for us to deal with too.

As a fine result, my buddy, who had been contributing a bit of valued information to a few people due to the location and quantity of things we were finding, has decided not to post anymore so noone else can screw him over.

The good willed actions of the innocent are naught but fuel for the fires of the corrupt.

Great post Andy!

If you're telling people on the forums where you live, telling people where you hunt or posting pictures of the sites you hunt, you're leaving yourself vulnerable to being poached.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. For many people, this forum is their research on where to hunt.