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A white lie to help MDers

1960DPenny

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2011
Messages
93
Location
philadelphia
We have all been confronted by those who hate our hobby.

Most of this -- in my opinion -- is based on ignorance. For example, people think our hobby tears up lawns or leaves gaping holes.

Few understand the true benefit we provide. Ironically, it is related to what we hate -- all the junk we dig up and removed.

We remove tons of trash from fields, parks and playgrounds.

I have learned to exploit this. Any time I run into any trouble with anyone, I carry this old rusty nail.

I use the same line.

"Want to see my best find." Then I show the nail.


After some bewilderment from my accosted, I continue:

"I pulled this from under one inch of wood chips in that got lot. Probably saved a kid a Gdynia shot and a he'll of a lot of pain."

Works every time.

Of corse, it is a lie -- I never found that nail in a tot lot. But it is a white lie. I have removed hundreds of other sharp nasties from area where people can and do get hurt.

Try my line and gimmick. (I have people threatening to call the cops on me end up thanking me for community service).
 
I found an open pocket knife the other day in an area on a beach that a bunch of kids were playing on... I think I'll use that with a similar story... although people at the Beach seem more accepting...

<D>
 
I too found an open pocket knife in the park the other day...all 3 blades were open and it was only an inch under the dirt! :shock:
 
I have a list of "lies" like that which I've used over the past 28 detecting years. In addition, due to the short summers here, we have some sort of special event going on almost every weekend, including concerts, auto shows, rodeos, parades, etc.. I time a lot of my hunting to happen while these events are going on since the cops have their hands full with traffic and crowd control. A call to the PD about somone using a MD in a school yard is not going to result in a code 3 response......it probably won't result in any response until several hours later.......

Dusty
 
I usually hit tot lots early in the morning or other times like at night when nobody is around.
I always put a few choice nasty looking objects in my trash bag if I am just starting my hunt just in case.
Give me a half hour and I will have even more because I always hunt in all metal at those sites to clean it up for the kiddies.

Once, I was hitting a new to me tot lot in a park on my day off during the week and there were a few mothers and kids playing at one end so I stayed near the other, and I was walking back to the car to move to another place, one of the mothers asked me that same old question "Find anything good?"

I told her just a little change, but I always try to clean up all pieces of metal when I come here as a payback for the privilege of hunting this area, and when I pulled out a handful of rusty nails and other dangerous objects which I really did find that day, her eyes got very big and she just looked at me and said, "Thank You".

Do that enough times and maybe the word can spread about the good we do for the environment and for other people.
 
besides the parents thanking you for pickin up rusty nails so will the maintance and grounds keepers for saving them a flat tire on their mowers. another line that works is " my wife or daughter lost their ring" then people just think i'm lookin for that lost item.
 
With earth day tomorrow, add the line that you are eco-friendly and recycle the metal trash you find. Most of the time this is the truth.
 
truth

Well i dig and put in the trash every year at the beaches,hundreds of metal objects, rusty nails,sparklers,bottle necks with the caps on,sharp straw from cans ,fishing hooks,bob wire,knifes,dune wire,saving kids and adults a trip to the hospital,the same goes for land ! i think the public should know more about who we are,instead of the negitive thoughts in there head towards us,maybe if only the new the TRUTH:yes:
 
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with me, the nail thing wouldn't be a little white "untruth". the last beach i was at i dug up an 8 inch spike. it was buried in the sand, point "up" and barely 2 inches under the surface. someone walking on that or taking a dive to catch a ball would have had one really nice (BIG) , rusty hole poked into themselves!

as a matter of fact, i had a chat with a nice lady walking her dog that day and she couldn't believe i had just dug that thing out of the sand! like i told her.... there's one less hazard for the beach-goers. :yes:

Pete
 
I found a rusty nail that was at least 6 inches long at a public beach. I wonder what parents would have said when I showed them that.
 
I'm always finding screws, nails, pieces of wire, and sometimes even razor blades at the tot lots. I make sure to not throw them away until i leave the area so that if anyone bothers me I can show them what I found and than tell them, you are welcome, I just provided the park with a free service!
 
Keep up the public service, remember, killing people with kindness is the way to keep acceptance for our hobby. Showing examples of what you've found good makes them think you're a low level tomb raider, showing all the bad you've found makes you a low level hero. Best Idea I've seen, carry a photo or print of the junk you found last time out (or even better your best "Trash Haul" in terms of total junk or danger). When they ask what you've found, be honest, today was for me, "I found fifteen pennies, once I found a ring and returned it to the owner but the best I found were these nails and sharp objects, by removing them, no child or adult will ever be injured by them". I'm reminded of the story a friend of mine told, back when he had a detector in the early 80s, about finding the engagement ring of a woman who had crashed into a field, a ring from her fiancee who had already died. A few hours of work made him a true hero. For the record, I'm new to the hobby and am only up a few clad, but many HAVE found rings and returned them, if applicable, work into your script.
 
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At one park I hunt, I've found a seven inch corroded inch iron spike, strong, needle sharp and about the diameter of a pencil, just beneath the soil on a ball field. If a kid had slid into this or shuffled his foot just so, he/she would have had a major injury to deal with.

Likewise, in the last week, I've been finding half-dollar size shards of a shattered pipe, in the wood-chips of the tot lot. I carry these to show anyone whom asks what I'm doing, but mostly I'm left alone and I like it that way.
 
I have found multiple nails, spilkes, an open knife, and MANY metal screw caps still attached to the smashed glass bottles. I have not really been bothered too much but I have an arsenal of responses memorized like these.
 
In my "trash" pouch you will always find several rusty nails, 2 old rusty utility knife blades and a piece of glass. When it gets full I empty out everything and put these back. Have shown them to city parks personell, grounds keepers and park goers. Also I'm not lying when I say "I found these" and never been asked to leave. Huh:D
 
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