Playground hunt...first encounter with an outsider

[the_hunt_is_on]

So I'm new to this hobby and I gotta admit I've been a bit shy to just get out and do it. My gear hasn't seemed quite right and my wife thinks I'm nuts, but hey! These are things I've always known!

So I said today is the day and I conducted my first playground hunt at an elementary school across the street.

I observed the sign posted at the entrance of the field which states, "NO ANIMALS, NO BIKES, NO SKATES, NO SKATEBOARDS, NO KITES"

I entered and searched the sand for about an hour. I found some buried soda cans and nails and a bit of clad.

And then just as I was finishing my grid passing underneath the monkey bars, that which I had been dreading finally happened.

A middle aged guy with a border collie approached me. Now, understand, I have nothing against middle aged guys or border collies, but the way he approached from behind, plus the "I've got something to tell you" look on his face really got me bothered, before he even opened his mouth.

And then . . . he opened his mouth.

"You suppos'ta be doin' that HERE?" he sneered as Lassie began to squat.

And I said, "You know there's a sign over there that says 'no animals', but it says nothing about me." I continued my path.

He raised his voice, "HEY! I don't think you're supposed to be doing this here and I live in that house over there! And I'll be watching! And I better not see you around again or I'll be calling the cops, mister!"

I turned off my detector and started to leave, but I just couldn't help myself. I turned back and said, "It's probably best not to tell people exactly where your house is, you know, since you're such a C-sucker."

Your MD Ambassador to the World
THE HUNT IS ON

 

[Wayne/TX]

Well, your language was a bit strong, even though you were dealing with
a person of extreme ignorance. I once had a similar person ask me
what I was doing with that "geiger counter"? I simply told him that
"certain stolen isotopes were lost in that area and I had been asked by
the director of civil defense to help find them in order to protect the
children from possible contamination and to warn others to stay
away from the area except those like myself who were trained in
the use of specialized equipment like this". He said, "Oh!, well keep
up the good work!" He then left, a bit hurriedly. Sometimes a sense of
humor helps when dealing with the woefully ignorant.

 

[dieseldust]

I don`t know what was eating him but I wouldn't worry one bit.
If you pay taxes and your a citizen then you have every right to search a schoolyard unless a sign says differently.
The only exception I know of is a private school on private property.
The only thing you need to do to keep yourself in good standing with the cartakers is to not dig holes too often.
Use the probe often and pull the target out with it as much as possible.
Good luck out there

 

[tabdog]

Hi The_Hunt_Is_On,

I am a retired surveyor. My shyness left me years ago and I've dealt with
the public for most of my life. I'm also a bald headed old far+.

I have dealt with all kinds. Some people can't be dealt with effectively, but
I've found that fear and defensiveness just causes friction.

I may be wrong when I say this, but I don't think so.

I would have made a friend with that old far+ and his dog. It takes one to
know one.

Take it from me, you get more flies with honey than vinegar. And I can
spread it thick.

What people do wrong is to portraying that MDing is more important than
BSing.

I agree that MDing is more important than BSing. But you want to MD,
don't you? BSing comes first. The better you get at it, the more success
you will have.

I am an ambassador of my hobby, and I sell it.

We are all ambassadors of our hobby. Like it or not. We have been poorly
represented by too many.

I would request that we all represent our hobby with more integrity.

HH,

 

[John (scoops)]

I had a similar incident at a church a gentleman was in the cemetery part and approached me. Explained what i was doing and looking for showed him how I dug a plug no mess. He accused me of digging holes all over the place 100's of them, they were skunks or crows looking for grubs.He called the cops on me, when I explained my self she laugh out loud and sad the man was in his 90's when i said nails he heard snails and thought I was mocking him. I found 18 coins on the left side of the church returned next day about 5 min into a truck screams up out comes a woman and a man screaming and threatening me I stayed cool. They had 2 buckets of soil to fill up all of the holes i made right i explained to them i do not MD in cemetery's they told me to get the @#@$%@ out of here.Guess what the cops called explained what happened she had to go out to look at the ground 100's of holes for the second time agreed with me that were i was digging my plugs she could not tell. She advised me give it two weeks before I return to find all theses nice finds and clean out all those snails. ha ha.. What I'm trying to say is, if you lose your cool and put your self at there level of ignorance of not understanding a great hobby and enjoying a bit of exercise also. You have to keep in mind your not the only person out there who enjoys MDing we don't want to make this hobby hated by being so rude to others. Respect Respect

 

[rmptr]

I have taken best advantage, over the last 20 years while raising our children, to see they made full use of as many of the nice parks and playgrounds that have been available in many different places. It was almost always nice.

There were only a few occasions where arrival of a flock of gang bangers determined we should probably be elsewhere.

The most consistent problem we have seen was dog owners, bringing their pet to leave a load on the grassy areas designated for children to play in. Dog fights occurring amongst playing children happen from time to time, also.

I've only been asked to desist MD once, upon county land, and complied with the request, but only because my schedule at the time did not allow for a confrontation. Yet I could not resist informing the designated 'bad guy' who was sent out to chase me off, how I felt.
He was a good enough fellow, and we parted on good terms, but I never ran across him again.

I would be inclined to deal with a confrontation much as the Tabdog has described.
I'll avoid a confrontation, if possible, under most circumstances.

Some people push too far, though.
I will respond to someone with a bad attitude, and offensive manner, in exactly the same manner they have chosen.
In spades.

Over the years, considering the amount of scrap and trash I've removed from public property, I should be on the payroll!
HH

 

[therover]

Whenever I go to a tot lot or school yard, I fill up my pouch with some garbage BEFORE I do. Shards of aluminum, broken glass, rusty nails and bolts...and even a hypedermic needle ( all found on previous lots).

Then, whenever a person comes over and give me grief, I show them my pouch of garbage and let them know I dig all targets and take all junk OUT of the play area. I do dig all targets in wood chips since they are very easy to dig and filling the hole back takes 5 seconds. I also show them the 11 cents I found compared to the garbage !! ( obviously I don't show them anything good !).

And if they want to call the police, I tell them very politely to do so since I would like to ask them if it is ok to detect...and I will show them what I took out of the ground also.

If more people realized that we take more junk then good stuff, and end up cleaning up after others, then they may have a different opionion.

My 2 cents

 

[the_hunt_is_on]

I see what you guys are saying and I apologize for being a A-hole whilst operating my detector.

I'm just not great at keeping it in sometimes. In the future, I promise to be more polite and use your suggestions to do my best to schmooze the general public toward seeing our side.

Also, a big part of it was that was startled by him coming up behind me. I'm so focused on the sounds and sight picture, but I need to be looking around. Who knows, it might have been somebody who really wanted to do me wrong. If I had seen him sooner, I might have been cooler. I might have smiled. I might not have elicited his bad attitude, and I might not have reciprocated.

What I'm trying to say is, I really don't want to disgrace or reflect badly on us. I just took it personal, when I should have blown it off.

Sincerely,
THIO

 

[tabdog]

I don't doubt your sensarity.

We all have bad days. There are times when I could have handled a cituation better.

All we can do is the best we can do. Some days that's better than other days.

You sound like a good detectorist.

We need to remember that our finds aren't everything.

HH,

 

[Gunnar of bradford MN]

Dont quit going thear , you are cleaning the park up anyway why have a park or school if it does not get used for something that guys dog craping all over is worse he better get the board out of his eye befor he wants to peck at the sliver in yours give him a pice of candy next time as long as he behaves like a 2 year old ive never encounterd someone that bad exept one time i was detecting a bulldozed farm and the guy accross the street keept looking at me like i was going to steel the read grader and put it in the trunk of my compact he came over and told me the guy who lived thear did not have any money and the house was torn down ten years ago, i thought humm they just tor it down a week ago and wehar was he during prohibition ? he wasent even a sperm cell yet and he was telling me thear was no treasure thear some people just dont know who the enimy is keep going out thear you have every right to be and like i say give him a candy do devert his atention

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[Tinfoil]

n/t

 

[rmptr]

Hunt, I just can't feel a rosey disposition is a requisite for metal detecting in public and certainly don't think you should apologize when someone interferes when you are peaceably minding your own business, whatever that may be.

If an individual was not intelligent, and aggressive, they would stay home and watch judge judy instead of hoping they might find a little treasure if they went out and did considerable work digging scrap that inconsiderate people discarded.

You just can't make all the people happy, all the time.

I once took my family to a 4th of July celebration, with fireworks, along with a friend and his family...
He had decided he wanted to listen to his favorite rock music during fireworks, and brought a ghetto blaster...

Some fellow 30 or 40 ft away became IRATE, took offense, and stormed over to us, just about to fight over our choice of music.
I was able to prevent my friend from separating the fellow from his limbs and other body parts, and we turned down the radio.

It was not 10 minutes later we discovered the fireworks people had a full-tilt program in store for us!
As the first fireworks shot off, Jimi Hendrix version of Star Spangled Banner blasted at extreme volume from a HUGE PA system less than 100ft in front of us and the crowd went wild! They played a varied, full length musical program for the whole show.

You just never know what's gonna happen next, when people are involved.
Enjoy yourself.
rmptr

 

[viper]

I wanted to hunt a place last sat. that i worked at when i was 15, I talked to the a man that lived next door to the property, he informed me it was owner by the county. He said he did not see any problem in us mding, that his children ride there 4 wheelers on the property.. But with a heads up the man that lives a few houses down the street WILL CALL THE COPS !!! He thinks he owns the community !!! We had a nice chat, Then we headed on our way to mding, But we did not run into the guy that owns the community !!!! Or i would had to !!!!

 

[GRAY GHOST]

n/t

 

[Beale]

I was hunting a school on a Saturday one time. It was during a fall break for the kids. A fair amount of teachers were there as the following Monday was classes again. I was aproached by a "school housekeeper". She told me I did not belong at the school. I informed her that this was a "public" school, and I was a tax payer. She sterted writing down my plate # and was calling the Cops. I interupted her and asked to speak with whoever was in charge.

She took me to the principal of all people. We chatted a while about school, and my hobby. The principal told me to "go back to what I was doing. " As I was leaving I glanced back. The princapal was talking to the "housekeeper".

 

[EdUK]

In addition to the excellent points made by the posters above , how about enquiring to see for certain whether detecting is banned from said lot. If it is ok to detect there then you know you have nothing to worry about and need not even speak to this unpleasant character again. I can't honestly see the police getting too bothered about it anyway, especially if you show them the nasty trash that you have extracted to make it a safer place for the kids.

 

[kurt-ks]

Speaking of grumpy old farts, I had words with a guy that was metal detecting in a park, that was digging huge holes with a small shovel and leaving big piles of dirt everywhere! I was polite at first then he said mind my own business! It is my my business when the city tells me I cant hunt because this jerk is walking around with an ace250 and digging 2 foot holes everywhere! I even took time from my hunt to show him my tools and how I use them, but he started to tell me how he has been detecting for 20 years and to f&^%$* off.The problem with that is I am a pretty big ole boy and a short fuse.Was really hard not to plow this old mans field! I just don't know how to keep this guy out of the parks and not to ruin my hunting grounds? Any advise?--Kurt

 

[EdUK]

Nothing is more sure to ruin it for everone than his irresponsible and selfish behaviour. Can't you get his licence plate number and a pic or 2 and have a word with the park staff ? Not an easy problem to overcome.

 

[rmptr]

Kurt, I suppose you could offer to wrap his machine around his neck and stuff him in one of his dug holes.

...if he won't leave things as he found them.

There's times when diplomacy just won't work.

rmptr