Is anybody out there MDing?

[396nova]

I ask this because over the past month I have been out on average 6 days a week for about 4 hours at a time detecting and have not seen another detectorist. I bought my first MDer over 10 years ago, but just started detecting hard the last month or so, I can`t say I have seen many out detecting over the last 10 years. If they are not out there are my hunting areas hunted out? I have not made any big finds, just enough clad and a couple of rings, to keep me interested and going back. I think my lack of a nice silver find is due to me still learning, or are these sites hunted out?

[Tony Two-Cent]

I seldom see other detectorists. There is one guy here in my hometown who is always hunting a local park when I drive by, but I've never seen him anywhere else.

Some public parks are hunted out and some aren't. Keep trying new places until you find one that isn't. I hunt public parks and school yards almost exclusively, and I have found 42 silver coins so far this year. It's out there!

[BOWSER]

i have noticed that the tot lot's i go to are all empty,detectorists usually get up and out very early in the morning,5 o'clock is normal for them thumbsup01

[Dimeman]

I seldom see other detectorists. There is one guy here in my hometown who is always hunting a local park when I drive by, but I've never seen him anywhere else.

Some public parks are hunted out and some aren't. Keep trying new places until you find one that isn't. I hunt public parks and school yards almost exclusively, and I have found 42 silver coins so far this year. It's out there!

Beside club members at club hunts or a few members get together for group hunts( non-club activity) I seldom see others out.
I mostly hunt parks and totlot areas and schoolyards. Maybe 1 out of 10 times I see 1 or 2 other people.

If your area has slim pickins' --it could be someone is getting up earlier than you or find some areas they haven't thought about. There are lots of great suggestions all over the forums.

********Bowser---get out there at 4:30am, to beat them !!!!!!!!!! |

[randy]

I see one guy in my town hitting the tot lots. Fine with me, as I'm not really into tot lots. I also saw him at one of my older park sites -- had this real banana swing, not sure how much he finds with it. Probably alot, as I have not found all that much at that site, I imagine he'd been working it for years (one of the locals told me another guy have been coming in hear for years).

I also had a honeyhole where I saw another guy; I went up to talk to him, at it was clear he did want to deal with me, so we kept our distance from each other. Problem was I'd been hitting this site day after day for a long time, and was getting friendly with the locals and the grounds people, and this bozo left really ugly plugs (it was a deep silver site with deep holes, and he didn't smash the dirt back in so the plugs were raised an inch or two off the ground and you see it everywhere, like a pack of gophers were in there). I had to spend some of my detecting time fixing his plugs so the locals didn't think it was me >:#

He also had an E-Trac but was only there on Saturdays so I made it a point to spend every waking moment I could there to keep the silver out of Dr. Gopher Plug's hands lol

Back to the point of your question -- I've found to to be a bit of all or nothing, many sites seem hunted out, and a handful seem loaded. Just not sure why that is, really. One site I recently finished seemed hunted out when hitting sort of the main areas, but there was quite a bit there after all with a little patience.

I also think it may have to do with mineralization -- we have high but highly variable mineralization around here, and it may be that the sites that seem loaded just have better mineralization than the other sites, and the machine just can't see the deep stuff at those sites. I know one huge, old park that should be absolutely loaded, but never got much there at all. The soil is extremely mineralized, and I just don't think the E-Trac can see very far down. Dunno.

[The_Machine]

Not counting The_Little_Machine with his BH505, who is always around. We see an occasionally detectorist. Usually at one of the beaches we spot them. But, they must be frighten off when we both start heading for them swinging away. rofl

[BHNugget]

Sorry, I clicked on the poll before I actually read the post, so disreguard the all the time vote. I can honestly say that Ive never seen anyone detecting while I (and my hunting partners) were out hunting. Friends have told me they've seen people detecting in town at times, but I only recall seeing one guy I didnt know hunting a park that I hunt at frequently. I watched him for a while at a distance and concluded that the park silver was safe from him for the time being.

[anotherpulltap]

About a year ago when I just got into detecting, I drove down to Hammonasset beach in CT early in the morning. I parked the car and headed torward the beach with my MD. I saw 6 detectorists were swinging away. So I did an about face and put away my MD.

[Jason in Enid]

I have only ever seen one other person using a metal detector at a site I was hunting, and that was about 20 years ago. I do know there are a handful of others in my town, but I rarely see anyone swinging. If I see someone hunting, I will pull over and go talk to them. There aren't many and I like to know my competition!

It's funny because I have talked to a lot of people who OWN a detector, but nobody ever goes out and uses them. I think they are afraid of someone seeing them.

[396nova]

I have only ever seen one other person using a metal detector at a site I was hunting, and that was about 20 years ago. I do know there are a handful of others in my town, but I rarely see anyone swinging. If I see someone hunting, I will pull over and go talk to them. There aren't many and I like to know my competition!

It's funny because I have talked to a lot of people who OWN a detector, but nobody ever goes out and uses them. I think they are afraid of someone seeing them.

Jason, I have had the same experience, but I saw my first detectorist just this week. I got to talk to him, very friendly and willing to share info. I was one of those people who OWN a detector, but never goes out and uses it. I think they are afraid of someone seeing them. I did not feel comfortable out in the middle of the park where everyone could see me. Now I do it all the time, and realize nobody is watching, and most don`t care.

[firstring]

Parks, schools, and a local river is where I usually hunt. Had one fellow come up and talked for a bit who, in the past swung a metal detector. Saw him only once more with his detector at park. He had a nice silver ring along with some clad. Haven't seen him since. I agree with Tony Two-Cent, everywhere has been hunted out.
Where's there trash, there's cash. Not too many people have the patience for it. I read the 1898 census for my county, under 25,000 for the county. Not too many old places left too search. Most of them have been demolished to accomodate todays population of over half million.

[BOWSER]

i painted my detector white and wear a trenchcoat and sunglasses,they think i am a blind man goin thru the park,when i stop to dig ,sometimes they think i have fallen and run over to help me up,while they are doin that ,i pick there pockets. Works for me. thumbsup01

[CODY]

BOWSER, now that is funny!

396nova, I have hunted a few parks around my area without much luck. Most of my silver has come from houses. I look in the older parts of town. And ask for permission. Heck, the worse thing that can happen is they say no. But use caution, around here some of the older parts of town has gone down in, well lets just say they have gone down. Doesnt bother me, I just detect with an extra piece of eqipment in my pocket. Situation awareness always! Have fun and keep swinging!

[milco]

The only place I regularly see anyone detecting is Bradford Beach here in Milwaukee. I see a few regulars and some newbies from time to time. I seldom if ever hit the beaches. Other than that I have only seen about 5 other detectorists in the whole metro area in the past four years since I started.