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Personal safety while detecting scruffy areas

This is a good and fun thread! :clapping::clapping: A guy just never knows what adventure awaits once he gets out of the house..:thumbup:.

Statistically, most of us will die from a heart attack, car wreck or some sort of ailment. I think metal detectorists are in the top 5% of humans as far as being observant to surroundings. We just naturally get good at paying attention to surroundings and people. I think this trait shows itself here on this subject, since NONE of us who have posted have been actually robbed or jumped while detecting? Anybody heard news of such a thing?...As a Detectorist, probably the most immediate life threatening in field dangers would be heart attack, sunstroke, car wreck, lightening, rip currents, bad food, frostbite/hypothermia, dogs, rabid skunks, and MAD WIVES, and all the normal everyday threats that naturally occur just by trying to have a little adventure, yet we dont talk much about THOSE why? 'cause it just isnt fun!.:rofl: And we certainly dont fret about them...well, with the exception of Mad Wives anyway, ALL of us have been beat up and robbed more at home of our finds, money, and time by our Wives than could ever be taken from us in field!..:stretcher:

So following this train of thought, most robberies, heart attacks, and killer accidents occur at home!

Its actually safer to be out detecting a bad part of town than being married and sitting at the house! :rofl: In fact, more old guys like us fall off the roof and die from cleaning out the gutters than get killed while out detecting....more old guys die from shoveling snow, or mowing the yard, or raking leaves...So there you go! Stay away from the REAL threats to your life, GET OUT and AWAY FROM THE HOUSE! and if it comes down to an unavoidable brawl with some disrespectful attempted robber, at least try to "represent" the rest of us old guys to full effect, come out of it with a great story, and if you DO get killed, just thank your lucky stars at least you are not halfway to the ground 20' below, tangled up in an extension ladder, in a free fall situation, thinking to yourself..."Man, I really wasted my Life"!:rofl:

Mud
 
You nailed it all quite well, Mud. That's pretty much, in fact, what I told my wife when I retired and was starting to start my daily routine of four hours or so of morning detecting. She continues to condone it, but also continues to let me know when one of those household hazards needs to be taken care of, too.:rofl:

Over the year's I have read and talked with a couple detectorists that have been robbed and one fellow in Birmingham Al some year's ago was shot and killed, if I remember correctly. Although I and a couple of my buddies have hunted some old parks in very bad areas, most often there has been a police presence nearby as two of these spots had community centers and the police were there to keep tabs on things and another had a middle school nearby.

Anyway, this has been an interesting thread with a lot of good do's, don'ts and how to, in it. HH jim tn
 
Well said, Mud & Jim. Let's all make a resolution to stay safe by avoiding those hazardous home maintenance activities and 'honey-do' lists!
Given the amount of time that we spend outside our huts in the parks and woods, we have a pretty good safety record. If threatened, use my patented method; charge the would-be perp like a Bull on Meth and see if they don't head for the hills! :cheers:
 
William! Of Course! I forgot! You DID charge the guns that one day! Ran 'em right on home to Momma! Now that was an adventure!:clapping:

I remember now one of our brothers took a pellet from a pellet gun some kid shot at him while he was detecting...The thing to think about is, when we least expect it, in a relatively "safe" area, most likely our focus will be on hunting with a more relaxed awareness of surroundings and we would certainly be very easy to sneak up on at that time...THATS probably when one of us will get robbed or suckerpunched or killed.
Mud
 
If someone approaches me that would look like trouble - I might stop for a moment and say ....
"this HAS BEEN HARD WORK. I'm going to take a break - If you want to join me for a beer -
I'll share my detector stories with you.

Have the person follow you to the public area - pretend you got a call on your cell and say -
excuse me - wife is calling - then tell him "sorry" have talk another time - have to take care
of something at home real quick.

Words are powerful and even the biggest bad jerk can be swayed with words. In most cases -
I feel the jerks look for a confrontation so I don't give them the power to have one!
 
Mud, you just explained why it's safer to live on a boat! Actually, statistically it is. In fact it's better odds crossing an ocean then living in the American home and that according to actual compiled numbers! :blink:
 
Mud, you're right. My late ex-wife took out a $50,000 double indemnity insurance policy on me and tried to get me to go deer hunting at night with her brother and two other jokers. I had worked 12 hours loading trucks to support us and said I don't want to kill any deer tonight, but we will give it a try tomorrow. She ridiculed me in front of these 3 and some other people to try and embarrass me into going deer hunting and me being the deer. I said, I'm tired and going to bed and curled up in bed with my 16 gauge and hoped they were not foolish enough to come upstairs. I like for people to underestimate me, it gives me an edge. The policy would have paid her $100,000 if it was wrote up as an accident while hunting, but if they had tried to come up the stairs that night, they would have died for nothing. If I had been naive enough to blurt out you're trying to kill me for the insurance, they would have ganged up on me before I got to my shotgun and I wouldn't have had a chance. Good old radar, it works all the time and when I don't listen to it, I always get into trouble. She joined the Army, found another woman she really loved, hocked her wedding rings and went to Texas. Thank God and Greyhound she was gone. My 20 year old brother was shot to death in his home 40 years ago and after reading your post, I will feel lots safer on the other side of town from now on. Somehow gangs and thugs just don't seem to intimidating anymore...
 
WOW! Fongu! So sorry to hear bout that! You are right, death can come for a Man from so may quarters, a guy cant keep track of them all!...That Spirit of warning or impending doom is all we really have to rely on..glad you made it through that tough patch! Yes, guardian angels are real! Evidently theres something in your future you and you alone need to do...that was indeed a close one! Sorry about your brother....
Mud
 
I hope your strategy works for you should it ever come to that! But in the mean time I would think about some other options that would be better for you possibly. There has been a ton of excellent advice and information here, I definitely want to check out some of the books that were posted! I'm definitely no expert and do not mean to sound critical of your idea, it just may work with your personality and people skills. For me, the last thing I would do is invite them to do anything. Making casual eye contact periodically to let them know you are aware of them and that you are staying aware of your surroundings and situational awareness but are otherwise unconcerned. I've had a few times while detecting that I knew I was being "scoped out" . When I notice that, I start detecting with my lesche digger in my left hand (I
 
I've had some issues in state parks and highway rest areas with guys following me or showing up out of nowheres and staring at me. I wasn't even detecting,just out exploring the woods and creeks. Got so nervous 1 time, I went to the park office,only to find it closed on Sundays, so I figgered safety in numbers, right? I pull into a crowded parking lot and the jerk pulls in right behind me and parks and starts motioning to me,duh what? I finally found a guy on an atv who was a park employee and he told me there were like half a dozen regular gay guys including the one in the Mustang right behind me.Their favorite targets were single white males I was told,,hmm, lucky me....I even got up the nerve to email the state DNR police and they actually emailed back and said they were aware of such problems but didn't have the manpower to be everywhere but if I felt threatened to call 911.
That was like the 5 th time I have had issues in what I thought were SAFE areas!! No offense against gays, but they should not be using public parks for their activities and scaring the rest of us. So, if you pull into a wooded park and notice single guys in cars or trucks that sit there for hours...watch out...
The only time I was almost attacked was while detecting in a swim lake where a kid was about to impress his teen girlfriend by assaulting yours truly. Some of the locals saw what he was about to do to me and chased him off, whew....I'm no match for a 16 year old tough kid for sure...and don;t care for guns but I do keep my big Lesche digger in sight. I did have a kid ask me how much my detector was worth once.I didn't know until later it was a BAD neighborhood. Best to play dumb on questions like that.
I did have 2 kids following me in a schoolyard once and 1 of them stole an Italian gold chain I had just found,like an 8 incher. Nothing much I could do to get it back? Oh well.

-Tom V.
 
Dude!
What you say is true, any grown man walking around unattended in the woods who is not carrying a gun, fishing pole, bucket, traps, axe, detector, shovel, or walking a dog, should be looked upon with suspicion.

The only plausible reason a guy has to sit alone in a vehicle for extended periods of time is to listen to talk radio on Sirius, waiting for a hunting buddy, lady friend, afraid to go home, drinking, balancing a checkbook, contemplating suicide or divorce, stalking an ex, or several other normal and typically harmless daily routines...:rofl:

That said, theres certain places naughty guys go to meet other potentially naughty guys, especially dangerous are Antique stores, Starbucks, B Dalton, Malls, Golf Courses, Health clubs, Dem political rallies, Museums, Art Galleries, TJ Maxx, Pier One, Bed,Bath, and Bedamned, Petco, and other places like that most of us guys have no interest in going to, and no business ever being there, unless of course, we are married!. Thats Ok, we are operating with a pass in an official capacity as the chief grumbler and pack mule....:rofl:

I guess everybody needs a hobby, but sheesh! You'd think a smart naughty fellow would consider taking up golf, plenty of white guys there! You can even check out the "merchandise" in the locker room before you make your move, chase your quarry around all day in a cart instead of walk, buy drinks at the clubhouse to lower the resistance of a potential like minded partner, and wear a pretty gay ensemble to boot! :rofl:
Yessirree! Like Shootin fish in a barrel at a golf course!:rofl: "Not that theres anything wrong with that" :heh:

Mud
 
n/t
 
A lot of the time I find that I have to watch the Teenagers when they start getting in groups. When they start packing up I am packing to leave.
I had one run in with five of them. I then went to the cop shop and reported it. They told me because they was minors there was Nothing I could do about it. I hunt with someone now and hopefully that will not happen again. Times are tough and the better areas are not what they used to be.
 
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