Got burned by 2 friends..thinking of giving up the hobby

[Dean (Whitby Canada)]

Well again I have been burned by "friends".
@ friends contacted me to ask if I could go hunting with them..as I was working I told them I couldn't...They had about 40 sites in the area that they could have hunted...I asked them not to hunt one site I found 15 years ago, until I could go with them. I helped them with these sites.
Guess what, they hit the site I had found and asked them to wait for me before doing....yup they found 1640s trade axes. trade knives ect

Upset me so much I feel like throwing it all in...it's happened before.
Why can't I find some locals that are honest and only like to hunt relics?

The places I hunt you don't want to go alone to..in case something happens to you...rough, hard areas..far from houses.

Man I really hate this happening..I guess my "friends" have been to the site several times and have cleaned it out.

Dean

 

[greenmeanie]

No site is ever cleaned out I would still give it a try.

But those so called "friends" really are not your friends are they?

 

[Dean (Whitby Canada)]

Hey Greenmeanie..love the avatar..I remember the show..your guy scared the hell out of me as a kid!!!!
I thought they were friends..but I guess to some "found items" are worth more than friendship..in the long run they will lose..I know so many Indian sites..not just the 40 I put on their maps...but over 100 more..all in the same general area..all 1590-1650

Dean

 

[jeff@middlesex]

Years ago I took a guy to ghost town I was hunting. Did the research, found the land owner and all was good. It was a great spot that I hunted for years and was pretty huge. I should have never took that guy he told some others and that was the end of my ghost town. Last I heard they were having club hunts there. So now I always hunt alone.

 

[Eddie Currents]

Ever see the movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"?

Keep your sweet spots to yourself.

EC

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Dean,

Sorry to hear about those two friends claim jumping your site, People who claim jump are the same ones that do property damage. They have no respect of others, Bad apples they are.

I know the feeling and it hurts, I've had friends claim jump my sites. Another type of hunter that gets my goat are the ones to complain if they don't find anything after you invite them to one of your sites. To be a relic hunter one must have patience, we can't hit home runs every trip out and the ones that expect to find old coins every trip out are in this hobby for the wrong reason.

Also, It drives me nuts when these friends or people we invite toss away the relics only keeping the old coins. They even go as far as tossing back the trash on the ground with no regard of caring it's got to be detected again wasting our time. They don't appreciate the historical information these old relics hold as much as we do, To them it's a piece of junk and meaningless. Now, I don't invite anyone back to a site if they show any of these signs and just want the old coins only.

Please Dean, Don't toss in the towel because of these two friends. Be the warrior and continue on, The hobby will bring you continuous joy for a lifetime.

HH, Paul

 

[Dean (Whitby Canada)]

Thank you Paul...you do get tired of hitting your head agaist the wall.,..you may not know this but I was A&E's Historical Co-ordinater for 5 years here in Canada..thats the kind of research I can do..and fools screw me over????

Why

Dean

 

[Butch in Colorado]

n/t

 

[Batty]

Hey Dean, I think we all have friends that have or will do that too you. I think it is called "greed", and it is in all of us, just some can't control it. This happened to me as well with my hunting "partner", so I shined him on for about 6 months. Then this wise man kept telling me the same thing that I am telling you here, keep the friend but don't share with him ALL your sites, and maybe later share the unshared sites with him after you have cleaned it out and the really hard targets are left. For a lot of us the fun is in the sharing. So finally, after hearing this many times from Paul, I finally broke down and let my partner back in my life and hunting is fun and I keep "My" sites to myself.
HH, Batty

 

[Steve in PA]

If YOU found that site 15 years ago, YOU should have cleaned it out by now.

 

[jbow]

I live nowhere near you but there are people near you who are honorable, and that is what it boils down to... honor. A lot of people these day's have no clue what it is to be an honorable person whom you can count on to keep their word. You should not alway's hunt alone, just "test" your new hunting friends with a spot that is not one you would want to lose... heck you could even plant a few finds at a site to excite a new friend.. to check and see if they cross you or stay true.

I don't know... but i hate to see anyone become jaded. I have alway's tried to not let other people's evil affect the way I choose to live my life. I have been lucky so far but i've only been at this for about a year. I have heard the storys though... of people following folks who are finding good stuff... stalking them! How weird. How sad!

It's like people who shoplift and cause retailers to suspect all of us. For a long time I would get offended because I did not understand. I tend to think everyone else is honest too but then a retailer told me just how much stuff was being stolen from a store... I was shocked. I guess it's the same kind of people...
Maybe you'll find someone you can trust. I have one person I really trust and one I trust but keep and eye on... I have had no reason to not trust him but something intangible make's me keep an eye on things.

Good luck to you.

J

 

[James N.D.]

If any so called friends do that, they truly are LEECHES! They are using you for the research and don't care for your feelings and should be tossed aside like vermin! It's up to you but if you know sites, don't share them with anyone anymore and just because they took advantage of your spot or spots, don't let them think that they got the best of you and quit, go out there and show them what kind of finds your making and they will soon realize that they messed up and try making up with you. DON'T LET THEM!!! Find another new partner that they do not know and go out there and find that treasure. Good Luck and HH and hope that you don't throw in the towel because of jerks like that.