Here in my hometown of Brownwood in central Texas and the surrounding area, I use our local social media to educate our citizens on all the good things our Central Texas Treasure Club does to help the community. I update them regularly on my most recent finds and on our area's illustrious history so almost everyone here is very friendly to me whenever they see me detecting at a city park, other public area, or on private permission sites. A lot of the older ones and kids approach me as I'm detecting and I always take the time to answer their questions honestly and I make sure to follow the Metal Detecting Code of Ethics wherever I am. I also have things that I never do and stress those "no-nos" to our members.
The main points I stress are: 1) NEVER use a long-handled shovel when detecting out in the public! That gives a horrible impression to everyone who sees you because the first thing they think of is "OMG, those detectorists are tearing up public property that I pay taxes to maintain!" I only use a 3-in-1 digging knife that I've used for the past 35 years. 2) Learn how to pinpoint with your detector so that you don't have to dig a hole the size of a dinner plate to retrieve a penny. 3) Take great care in refilling your holes so that someone standing 3 feet away can't even tell you retrieved a target there. 4) ALWAYS be courteous and remember that each one of us is an ambassador for this hobby. 5) ALWAYS place your dug metal trash into your pouch and dispose of it properly. Don't rebury it or toss it away. 5) When you come across an uncovered hole that was dug and not refilled by an inconsiderate jerk, take time to refill it and clean it up like you do your own. I often come across holes that were originally refilled but which have been dug out again by a squirrel or other animal. I make sure to refill those too because we'll all get blamed for them if we don't.
Curious kids can be our best allies. Whenever I'm hunting a park for an hour or two, I routinely am approached by little kids, many of whom don't know what a metal detector does so they're usually full of questions. The main ones I get are "What are you doing?" or "What are you looking for?" I take time to explain that I'm looking for coins and lost jewelry and metal trash so that I can throw it away so kids and others don't hurt themselves on it. That always satisfies them. Some stick around and watch as you dig a few pieces of trash and hopefully a coin or two. Once their curiosity is satisfied, they'll say "Good luck!", "Hope you find something good." or something similar. Then they get back to playing or doing whatever else they were doing. When they get back to their parents, they educate them on what they learned about treasure hunting and metal detecting and tell them that we remove hazardous metal trash from the playgrounds to keep them safe. Some of them will get hooked on the hobby themselves and will get started off on the right foot, thanks to you.
~Texas Jay
Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club
The main points I stress are: 1) NEVER use a long-handled shovel when detecting out in the public! That gives a horrible impression to everyone who sees you because the first thing they think of is "OMG, those detectorists are tearing up public property that I pay taxes to maintain!" I only use a 3-in-1 digging knife that I've used for the past 35 years. 2) Learn how to pinpoint with your detector so that you don't have to dig a hole the size of a dinner plate to retrieve a penny. 3) Take great care in refilling your holes so that someone standing 3 feet away can't even tell you retrieved a target there. 4) ALWAYS be courteous and remember that each one of us is an ambassador for this hobby. 5) ALWAYS place your dug metal trash into your pouch and dispose of it properly. Don't rebury it or toss it away. 5) When you come across an uncovered hole that was dug and not refilled by an inconsiderate jerk, take time to refill it and clean it up like you do your own. I often come across holes that were originally refilled but which have been dug out again by a squirrel or other animal. I make sure to refill those too because we'll all get blamed for them if we don't.
Curious kids can be our best allies. Whenever I'm hunting a park for an hour or two, I routinely am approached by little kids, many of whom don't know what a metal detector does so they're usually full of questions. The main ones I get are "What are you doing?" or "What are you looking for?" I take time to explain that I'm looking for coins and lost jewelry and metal trash so that I can throw it away so kids and others don't hurt themselves on it. That always satisfies them. Some stick around and watch as you dig a few pieces of trash and hopefully a coin or two. Once their curiosity is satisfied, they'll say "Good luck!", "Hope you find something good." or something similar. Then they get back to playing or doing whatever else they were doing. When they get back to their parents, they educate them on what they learned about treasure hunting and metal detecting and tell them that we remove hazardous metal trash from the playgrounds to keep them safe. Some of them will get hooked on the hobby themselves and will get started off on the right foot, thanks to you.
~Texas Jay
Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club
