Whatcha' Doing? - Handling The Watchers

It is a fact that metal detecting in public places, and even sometimes on private permissions, tends to attract what I've always called "The Watchers," although other detectorists and treasure hunters have other names for them, mostly unprintable, but all-in-all they are members of the public, mostly bored, who have become interested in what you are doing. Some just innately curious, and others with trouble-making in mind. 

Usually the first order of business is to try and ignore them. Wearing a pair of headphones is usually a great idea, and your body-language and motions should imply "I'm Workin' He-ah!!" with your head down, gazing at that moving coil...and sometimes, just for show, press a few benign buttons, and make a bit of a deal of checking the control panel, and pretending you can't hear them. Above all, if you can help it, according to my friend Rob Hill, "DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT!" 

Now to be fair, here in Central Florida, we have visitors literally from all over the world. And it appears that metal detecting along a public beach is not very common in some countries, and they genuinely want to know what you are doing, and why you are doing it? Many people stop me and ask "What are you looking for?" You can usually tell by their tone and body-language if they are really interested or just trying to distract you as they toss cut pennies or fake treasure coins behind your back. One middle-aged guy did that to my wife while we were hunting a park...I stay reasonably close to her most of the time, cause you never know, and she can get distracted during the hunt, so I keep my eyes scanning all the time. He was asking her questions, and while she was answering, I see the jerk tossing stuff in the grass behind her...usually these morons throw zinc pennies that they have cut in half or into quarters. That did not end well for him, as the Park Ranger I called over offered him one of two options; either pay a $200 fine for littering, or he could get down on his hands and knees and recover all those tiny bits of copper. I bet he wished he knew how to use a metal detector.

Usually, my beach hunting takes place on Cocoa Beach here in Central Florida, and just north of it, The City of Cape Canaveral Beach. These beaches are just south (about 3 or 4 miles) of Space-X's launch facility and draws people to watch space shots, so they are good to hunt after a launch. And I never know when they are going to launch...many times I'll be startled from a deep rumble then a bright lance of flame, as a Space-X Falcon 9 flares above the shoreline and vanishes into the sky. And I've been know to go back to metal detecting, forgetting that Space-X rocket boosters usually come home for a landing a few minutes later. More than once I've had to return to my car for clean underwear after the twin sonic booms of returning spacecraft have scared me half to death.

Buddy Jerry Hitson asking me if I hear a rumbling sound on Canaveral Beach 

On occasion though, someone you might view as a "...watcher" or a heckler may not be what they seem. Case in point, in the middle of one week I was having a bad day and headed for the beach for a few hours of solitude metal detecting. I was having very little tolerance for "The Watchers" and descended into my curmudgeon mode; I ignore everyone, no questions asked or accepted. While detecting along Cape Canaveral Beach, a man followed me along, parallel to the beach as I scanned the wet ocean sand. I reversed course and headed south, and the guy did the same, walking at my speed, watching me as I detected. Finally, exasperated, I kind of snapped at the guy. "Is SOMETHING wrong Sir???" 

He was a bit startled and said "Oh no, no, nothing is wrong. I'm on my lunch hour. I work for the City of Cape Canaveral and I just noticed you were metal detecting along the beach."

I looked at him, somewhat annoyed, still wondering what his angle was...I soon found out. He pointed to a certain stretch of beach I had passed and he said "I grew up here in the late-1950's and early 60's and that part used to be called 'Family Beach' back in the day. Hundreds of people would park their cars in that vacant lot over there and absolutely packed the beach until long after dark. They built bonfires, sang songs, cooked hot dogs and they left happy! " 

He smiled then and said "Those were the days!" After talking with him a bit more he had to get back to work and I back to metal detecting. I can say, his advice was on the money, literally, and I enjoyed a lot of very nice finds there until that stretch of beach was "reclaimed" with 7-feet of sand dumped on it, then the adjacent vacant lot was bulldozed into oblivion just in time for a brand new sterile high-rise to be constructed over it, entombing any further artifacts from the past forever...well, my forever anyway. Listening to what the "watcher" had to say was gold, and he unselfishly gave that information to me, hoping I would rescue some of those lost items and bring them back into the light of the 21st Century. I learned then it is better to pause and listen for a few minutes...there may be important things to be said.

Me, my metal detector and associated gear been in a lot of  photographs taken with Norwegian families, badly-sunburned English families, Japanese tourists, German and French folks on holiday, as well as Korean and Chinese tourists alike. I was as polite and informative I could possibly be and they moved on, having had an enjoyable experience that they may remember for a long time. Then again, maybe not. My point is, when you absolutely cannot avoid a conversation with the watchers on the beach, be polite, informative and friendly. I've donate fishing lures and handfuls of lead weights to beach fishermen along the shore. I can't use them and they are somewhat expensive to purchase and the fishermen are glad to get them. Several folks from out of state stopped to ask questions one day, they were very polite and friendly, and I ended up handing them a NASA medallion (costume jewelry...I'm not crazy, mind you!) I'd found as a souvenir of their visit to the Space Coast. Remember, no matter where they are from, they are still THE PUBLIC and treating the sincere ones with respect will garner respect for those of us in the hobby and the hobby in general.

Metal Detecting Tool Holster 1982

In the old days (or "the early days," for those of us who are old-er) it usually all boiled down to a garden trowel and/or a ground-off screwdriver for excavation operations, and the usual heavy-cotton carpenter's pocketed apron tied around your waist. Usually these aprons, usually unbleached cotton, were usually white or light vanilla colored, printed with the hardware store's logo, and quickly became filthy with dirt; smeared and stained after just a few days use. A lot of detector operators also wore the almost obligatory flannel shirt over a white cotton tee-shirt to complete the look of the day. Detectorists in the 60's, 70's and early 80's were not big on fashion sense...practical clothing was the rule. 

The interesting array of metal detecting tool and finds pouches available now didn't exist either, with me finally breaking down and making my own leather tool-pouch seen here below circa 1982. And dig that crazy digital watch on my 30-year-old arm! All the rage in the late 70's and early 80's, despite it being a piece of crap to use. And you will notice that the tools IN the tool pouch are all custom-made for that era of the hobby when few commercial tools existed. On the left, the coin probe is nothing more than a plastic-handled screwdriver with the slotted-blade ground down and rounded. The cleaning brush was a 1" wide enamel brush with the bristles cut in half. The thin, coin-digging tool on the right was a piece of electrical conduit pipe, hack-sawed, then metal-filed, at a 45-degree angle with a bicycle grip pounded over the end. And the tool resting in the center back of the holster is a standard wood-handled trowel, mainly used for moving quantities of dirt back into the hole you'd pulled the target from. 

Home-Made Tool-Leather Detecting Holster Circa 1982

Thanks to Tandy Leather, still in business today I might add, for providing a few tool leather scraps, a few dozen leather rivets, and a cheap rivet setting-tool. And of course, continual customization was the watchword as long as you still had a few open areas that you could rivet another leather loop onto. And it was almost indestructible; it would not rip, tear, pull apart, shrink or wear-out. And as a side benefit, leather, unlike myself, seems to get better with age! I've owned about a half-dozen modern detecting tool-holder/finds pouch arrangements, made of heavy canvas and/or synthetic materials that have finally worn out, ripped or finally came apart. Luckily, most tool and finds pouches are reasonably priced enough that replacement or having a few different ones for different types of hunts (the beach, parks, clay soil, fresh-water, rocky river bottom, etc) is not unreasonable. And they now come with an assortment of zippered pockets, water-proof mesh with Velcro-ed cubbyholes for junk, artifacts and coins...high-tech is not always the best tech, but things are improving.