"Young man, would you weed eat my yard too?!"

[GRAY GHOST]

Many years ago, probably back around the late 80's, i was detecting this very old victorian houses' yard and making some pretty good finds... a few indian cents, a seated dime, and a few buffalo nickels here and there. As i was sweeping right along, i noticed an elderly lady watching me, standing on the porch of the neighboring house which just happened to be a large corner lot with an even older house. A short while later i finished up and started toward the car with my machine and digging iron - when the little old lady called out to me " young man, would you weed eat my yard too? i'll give you a couple of dollars."


"Yes ma'am! I'll be right over! ...And i'll even do it for free!"



Not wanting to mislead the little old lady, i explained what i was doing, got permission, and went on to make some really good finds on that old block of victorian houses. Man, those were the days.

 

[Southwind]

LOL.

Had a similar thing happen myself. I had an elderly lady ask me if I was going fishing. She thought I was using my detector to shock the ground and bring the worms to the surface.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Louis,you probably charged her LOL.HH Ron

 

[JB(MS)]

II've had detectors mistaken for weed eaters three times and it happened once to a buddy when I was hunting with him. The last time it happened to me was about three years ago when I went to hunt a grassy area across from the football field that's used for parking, and also for pre and post game celebrations. There's always a bunch of coins lost there during football season and it's an easy place to pick up a couple of bucks in clad. I was getting the Golden

 

[jmaryt]

wow! sweet! what happens when the sweet little old lady discovers you did a "sh**ty" job?
heh! heh! heh!..(lol!)..just sayin!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Yes, I had someone ask me if I was looking for nightcrawlers once. I almost laughed out loud !

 

[Mike Hillis]

I've seen a lot of earthworms crawl out of the ground because of my metal detector. So that was a good guess.

HH
Mike

 

[osgood]

M Hillis, Im not kidding I swear Robins take an interest when Im detecting. In fact in the last 2 years I have never gotten closer to one as I have when metal detecting. I wonder if youre right, is the mechanical disturbance? the noise, the electric field, I dont know what, or maybe the birds see I am so ignoring them and into what Im doing, that they know I am no threat to them. CO

 

[codydog50]

It seems every time I probe for a target, worms start popping up out of the ground, the birds must sense it ! I have been approached by onlookers asking if I am searching for wires..HH C-Dog

 

[Mike Hillis]

We give those little worms a little electical shock and they are trying to get away from it.

The alternating magnetic field that the search coil puts out not only creates an alternating electrical current in the metal objects it passes over, but it also charges up the ground minerals. Those worms are sensitive to that and try to get away from it as fast as they can, which usual results in them crawling up onto the top of the grass. The damper the ground, the more pronouced the effect.

Sounds to me like you are those Robin's buffet organizer

HH
Mike

 

[jim tn]

I seem to attract robins, too. They may sense that a worm may be left on top of the ground. HH jim tn

 

[GRAY GHOST]

n/t

 

[blue dunbar]

I may just try to use my detector for worm hunting and see what it does. It's got to be easier then the "worm grunting" that Mike Rowe did on one of his Dirty Jobs episodes where they put the wooden stake in the ground and rub a piece of steel over the top and up comes the worms.