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Have been accosted over the phone by my 'pet' private permission !

After a couple of years of good relationship, tidy site visits and free communication, he has declared that "you bloody detectors" (including me) are no longer welcome on his land!

The reason?

Some GIT (I can't emphasise this enough!) has nighthawked him - holes all over his lawn, yep lawn, as in within 10m of his house last night (!)
I called in on the way into work to try and smooth the situation, but to be honest the mess was phenomenal, and I could offer no apology that would excuse nor deflect what this prat had done. I helped fill in the holes and patch things up as best I could, to the extent of being an hour late, but he was still really sour.

He knows I'm a clean detector, having watched many times and even being able to remember when a particular target was lost on occasion but I fear he's gone absolutely cold on detectors now! :(

I'm guessing it's a newbie, or just someone who should know better and doesn't give a sh!t. Either way, I more than very pissed off and throw in the following keywords in the hope that dickless will find this post in future and know that he (or she....or they) had better clean up their game PDQ!
Kaeo, Matauri Bay, Whangaroa, 1800's villa

Hard to believe some people are so mindless. That must of been difficult to address.
A couple of hunts ago i witnessed a couple of guys detecting on the beach digging holes and just leaving them open. My plan was to bail them up as one hole was big and about half a meter or so deep. I did actually recognise them so opted not to start. Shame.

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I am with Guardian on this -

I am a believer that if you take pride in your work & have good ethics, moral fibre & taditional values, then you may just be good enough to become a true metal detectorist -

DONT ever think its NEWBIES swinging a cheap asian toy detector thats killing it for us, although its a strong possibilty...

The holes I see left behind are by experienced detectorists that should know better & some old git I had actually taken out for an afternoons hunt, after telling me he used to do it for years with a Minelab.

Put him on a F2 and he was away - In fact I was amazed as the first 3-4 targets he pulled were coins - Then the next target was a pulltab which he fired back over his shoulder - I was stunned as I swooped down behind him and picked it up - This went on for a few more targets until I pulled him up and asked why he was discarding the canslaw and pulltabs back onto the ground "Oh its just rubbish, I dont take that home"

This guy had been metal detecting for years like that - All it takes is for one person to mimic another metal detectorists bad habbits & before you know it.................everything turns to shite

Personally I would have told the property owner that it was Peter Dunne stashing legals highs for the blackmarket

Well, that was an interesting chat!

Seems a couple of other cockies in the area have also had visits. Although none as blatent or as damaging as this episode.
The properties have all been private ownership, and no permissions had been sought.

I'm thinking it's a) not a newbie, and b) a local or ex-local - I know most of the farms and landowners he mentioned and a lot of them have no web presence. So that points to someone who knows the area and its history. Possibly someone up here during school holidays?

On the upside, he has softened and allowed me back to pick up where I left off (only a couple of acres left to finish off!).

Most of the stuff is going to him for various reasons (site has been in the family since the early 1800's), but here's a typical find he let me hang onto:


A Victoria Royal Engineers tunic button :) Sits in pride of place in my cabinet.

Not sure whether to go into damage control and visit the other farms and try to repair MD relations with them - obviously it would be too raw to seek permissions at this stage, but feel some need to reassure them we aren't all arseholes... Suggestions? (about the visits, that is)

MW

Awesome news MW

"Most of the stuff is going to him for various reasons" = this tells us so much about you dude, well done

If I were fortunate to be you at this stage I think I would take it upon myself to approach those other farms, simply because of your attitude toward this hobby - Have a good yarn with them & let them see for themselves, the passion you have for the hobby

YOU MW are what we need more of around NZ mate - Your an ambassodor to our hobby, so thanks man

Go forth and multiply & they say ;)

I am looking forwad to reading you stuff in the future - Cheers

Edited by user Thursday, 1 May 2014 12:15:16 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hi MW, I see now your same experience. I would have tried fixing the area up here myself but it is just too big and would have just increased the chance I would be blamed and nothing would convince anyone otherwise - that's how I see it anyhow, maybe I'm just too old and cynical LOL. Glad you have a chance to make things right for your site. Cheers and HH