Got my First No :(

[RIdirtdigger]

Finally overcame my fear of door knocking today, and tried to get my first permission to a pre 1800 house. (house was 1782) Well I got rejected for "personal reasons". They guy was very nice and also told me people have asked before. I wonder if there is a cache or something very very personal hidden there? If that's the case I wouldn't want someone digging on my property either. Oh well, there's plenty of fish in the sea and at least I am beginning to realize the worst anyone can say is "no"

[Pacivilwarluke]

Finally overcame my fear of door knocking today, and tried to get my first permission to a pre 1800 house. (house was 1782) Well I got rejected for "personal reasons". They guy was very nice and also told me people have asked before. I wonder if there is a cache or something very very personal hidden there? If that's the case I wouldn't want someone digging on my property either. Oh well, there's plenty of fish in the sea and at least I am beginning to realize the worst anyone can say is "no"

Thats a shame but don't give up, door knocking tends to be effective. Maybe he has pets buriedsonewhere or something along those lines. Good luck on your next try! HH!

[RIdirtdigger]

Thanks Luke, there's a ton of other old houses close by and I'm sure one of them will say Yes!

[MangoAve]

I've gotten a few "No's" and two "maybes". The maybe's I gotta follow back up on but the No's are not an issue. I found so many places that the no's, are not as significant, altho a waste of time. One was a run around. First it was insurance, then second time returning with a waiver, it became a family issue because of a nephew in the historical society who got a 'no'.. as far as I was told. And supposedly it is near a treasure legend, which I think is bogus due to many reasons, but he made a mention of it on the second time telling me about the wagon's going by there. The other no was because I asked the wrong person. I asked the tenant versus the owner who wasn't home, and got a snotty attitude until I told her to call me when she gets a detector and my "in" was to teach how to use it. I still got an 1752 and an 1868 (next to a significant historic property) and an 1840 with all yes as my first on the list (or next on the list once thawed if woods are a go before yards).

[Digger Don]

I've had very good luck door knocking. I definitely get my share of no's, but almost always in a polite manor.
I just thank them for their time and move on to the next one. I am really surprised on the amount of yes's we actually do get.
More often than not, we end up doing the neighbors properties as well.
Good Luck

[MartinL]

With the crime these days and the saturated survaillence activities of innocent folks here, I won't ever promote letting strangers detect. My yard's off limits. You should know though that I had a home burgurly and I suspect the cheap labor a contractor brought who saw all around my house. A stranger with a detector is the same to me, unless she is pretty ;-)

[MangoAve]

With the crime these days and the saturated survaillence activities of innocent folks here, I won't ever promote letting strangers detect. My yard's off limits. You should know though that I had a home burgurly and I suspect the cheap labor a contractor brought who saw all around my house. A stranger with a detector is the same to me, unless she is pretty ;-)

Really? I don't think the two coincide. No one said criminals are smart, however most detectorists who want to detect a property come up to the owner and reveal their faces and their car and license plate number are now known to home owner. Kinda leaves just a bit less up to chance. Never say never, but in my eyes it's foolish so therefore unlikely. Based upon my experience, it's either 'No' due to liability since everyone has become sue-happy these days, and digging holes in the land, and saying 'yes' spawns a thought that it now opens a door for others to ask and get innundated with requests.

My house is only 1959. Sure there is a slim chance of silver, but each and every yard is a mound that the house sits atop, so I would question why anyone would waste their time detecting it. If I lived at an older home tho, my personal reason is that I detect myself so it would be off limits to others.

[MartinL]

Really? I don't think the two coincide. No one said criminals are smart, however most detectorists who want to detect a property come up to the owner and reveal their faces and their car and license plate number are now known to home owner. Kinda leaves just a bit less up to chance. Never say never, but in my eyes it's foolish so therefore unlikely. Based upon my experience, it's either 'No' due to liability since everyone has become sue-happy these days, and digging holes in the land, and saying 'yes' spawns a thought that it now opens a door for others to ask and get innundated with requests.

My house is only 1959. Sure there is a slim chance of silver, but each and every yard is a mound that the house sits atop, so I would question why anyone would waste their time detecting it. If I lived at an older home tho, my personal reason is that I detect myself so it would be off limits to others.

The guy who cases a place to rob wouldnt have be the actual robbers. Besides, if he was, it could happen months later if the guy was the crook. Time makes it complicated enough to forget about that detector. But, things are more organized than one guy casing and then abruptly robbing. His cousin and his friends would organize and rob ya.

I still say I wouldn't chance any stranger hunting my yard after my robbery experience. Let's say that a place where a detector had gotten permission and hunted, and then the place was busted into in the back yard a weekor more later. Shouldn't the homeowner think about that stranger? Maybe wonder about the liscense plate not jotted down? I just won't promote them giving easy permssion to strangers to any of my friends and family. The feeling after you are broken into once makes you distrust even some of the friends-of-friends. You don't need a total stranger out of the blue,,,I won't.

[Tony Two-Cent]

Sadly, I'm sure there is some legitimate concern among some citizens about strangers possibly "casing" their property.

Here is a thread posted recently by zrickkid stating that he got pulled over by the police for that exact reason:

http://www.americandetectorist.com/f...is!&highlight=

It just goes to show you that yes, door knocking can pay dividends, but there could also be some unpleasant ramifications.

[freemindstuck]

I don't really worry about strangers casing my house to rob it in my area of the country. We live in small towns and everybody is armed to the teeth. Breaking and entering is a very hard and dangerous way to make a living especially if you want to stay alive.

[don in ny]

Don't give up. Sometimes it's just a numbers game and the more doors you knock on the better your chances are of getting a yes. My experience, if you catch someone out in their yard the answer is usually yes. In my personal experience, I get 100% yes when I catch people outside. Actually knocking on a closed door has not been very successful for me. Good luck!

[MangoAve]

The guy who cases a place to rob wouldnt have be the actual robbers. Besides, if he was, it could happen months later if the guy was the crook. Time makes it complicated enough to forget about that detector. But, things are more organized than one guy casing and then abruptly robbing. His cousin and his friends would organize and rob ya.

I still say I wouldn't chance any stranger hunting my yard after my robbery experience. Let's say that a place where a detector had gotten permission and hunted, and then the place was busted into in the back yard a weekor more later. Shouldn't the homeowner think about that stranger? Maybe wonder about the liscense plate not jotted down? I just won't promote them giving easy permssion to strangers to any of my friends and family. The feeling after you are broken into once makes you distrust even some of the friends-of-friends. You don't need a total stranger out of the blue,,,I won't.

As far as your yard, that's your prerogative whether or not you want to allow detectorists. This is a forum and peole have their opinions. I just hope their wasn't trolling. You already explained you had a break in, but if you never allow detectorists on your property, then the break in didnt come about from being cased from a detectorist so the two instances are different, however, being compared as the same. I wanna bet 10:1 that Zrickkid's instance was exactly the same as what Brian and Lee ran into over this summer. Zrickkid was telling the truth, but from his perspective. I am fairly certain the first owner had no idea of the matter and assumes it's like a forbidden thing, got scared and called the cops. By the time they were asking at another house, the cops have this story to tell that properties are being targeted by people pretending to be detectorists (but actually referring to the actual detectorist without realizing the people were calling about them). You have to look at things a bit more intuitively to make a generalized statement. There needs to be a lot of variables met for casing by posing as detectorists to be the issue. It has to be specifically an older home, because it would be the most ridiculous thing to ask at a pricey looking neighborhood that was built less than 50 years ago to detect there. Instantly the homeowner would know something is awry and doing a crime you might want to keep a low profile. If you own an old home and the person asking to detect is really there to case the property, your house has already been specifically targeted. And if you are targeted, I am sure they have already determined you don't have a home alarm system or a deterrant like the brinks or ADT signs or stickers. It's extremely hard to case a place from just a few hours of detecting to determine the person's schedule to know when they won't be home and for how long. I am sure there are far better ways to case a place than to pose as a detectorist. Heck, you can hide a wireless camera near by and don't even have to be around to get a 24 hour surveilance to determine absolutely the person's schdule and when the house was vacant. So I am saying if ever, detecting was used as a scapegoat, it was most likely at a targeted old house and the person was knocking to see if anyone was home, then using detecting as an excuse as to why they were there when someone does answer.

Yes, inform others that there is a chance a detectorist can be profiled wrong and be aware of such when they go around asking for permission. Maybe to chose how they present themselves better; I think outright telling them "I'm not here to check out your possessions" is shooting yourself in the foot. Others should be aware of the instances that occur more often, tho. I went to the resident trooper to ask at an "abandoned" property and he said yes as long as I don't go inside. Yet another town I didn't go directly to the police for another abandoned property, and someone who wasn't the owner called the police claiming it was his property, and they cops me this story about people breaking in to steal the copper from the plumbing. Another town it was a stupid woman who thought she was right and her property included town property and supposedly there were drugs being done in the area... it was a cul-de-sac in the middle of no where. If anyone was doing drugs, it was her. And a street near me, clearly on the assessor map the street is still owned by the town even tho its blocked off and unpaved yet when I went there, I got the person at the end watching me and giving me a threatening attitude telling me this bs about things happening in the neighborhood and that the assessor was wrong and someone owned the propery (ies) from one street to the next. Again, using this farce statement because he didn't like what he saw. How come if I live in the same area, did he hear about criminal activity there, yet I did not?

If I was Zrickkid, I would have probably stood my ground a little more. Ask me 10 years ago I would be saying different, but I suggest knowing your state's general statute. It's not the movie Rambo where the police can tell you to get out of the city limits just because they don't like the way you look, and arrest you if you don't comply. I would be asking for a lawyer right then and there. Allowing the authorities to have a totalitarian attitude is how your civil rights get trampled without you knowing any better. I suggest not to define door knocking as a bad thing because it's hard enough to do as it is. I only know three people with older homes: 1746, 1820/40, and 1900. So just shy of relying on public parks and schools (which can be off limits in some areas forcing you to rely on the private property), you kinda have to rely on door knocking. Are you seriously going to purchase all these properties yourself just to have permission to do them?

[Trooper Bri]

That's one reason why I had hobby cards made. All of my personal info (address, email, phone) are listed and can be easily verified by my drivers license.

[don in ny]

I'm with you Bri. I think it helps if you have a hobby card. I used the back to tell a little about myself hoping it makes me seem more "legit" and figuring maybe they can identify with something.

[Trooper Bri]

I thank Skamaniac for the inspiration to get them made up Don, and glad I did. They do work, and handed out one to a family friend on Tuesday for a ring rescue once the snow goes away. At the very least it's a foot in the door if you're going to approach a homeowner. I did 2-sided cards in a simple B&W for now.

[JenniferK]

There's a really cool 60 acre tract around the corner from my house with a beautiful old house on it that hasn't seen the light of day in at least 80 years. I tracked down the owner, couldn't find a phone number, so I sent her a very nice message on facebook asking for permission to go on the land with my daughter to detect.

It was a no, BUT, she also told me that she leases the land to a hunting club, and she didn't think it would be safe for us to go out there. She thanked me for asking permission, noting a bunch of people who didn't and just trespassed, and promised to let me know if the hunting club gave up their lease.

[Trooper Bri]

I didn't do a lot of permissions last year, but got a few no's. One with AD member Lee in my town. I think we spooked her home alone in the middle of the day, but talked to her husband later on (have his number). I'm going back by myself in a few weeks to try again. It's 1700's with a barn, can't let it go. Just stepped back and waited so I don't look desperate. There's another no I might try again as well.

My 1'st permission of the year is turning out to be good and makes up for the no's. The 7th or 8'th gen farm house I can hit is part of an extended farm family in the area. Got permission to hit their other house across the street as well, and am headed over tomorrow to talk to them for a while and hopefully learn about the history of that area, plus try to nail down other family property to detect. One of their fields nearby supposedly dates to the 1700's, and only used for haying the livestock.

[UNC_]

i have k nocked on many doors for all kinds of reason from fishing to hunting to metal detecting and came to the conclusion along time ago even if people say oh they wont let you do that go up and knock anyway because the worst thing they can tell u is no and u never know til u ask

[RIdirtdigger]

I got permission last weekend to a 1720 house, the yard was filled in though but hey I got my first colonial permission.