DetectingWales.com

Working in Builth over the week and had the chance to call in on a few farms to ask permission to take my son metal detecting on their farms next year. Well 2 of the farms were willing for us to have a search, but the other three gave me a right ear bashing. This was all down to "night Hawkers" as they called them. wandering over their land at night detecting for whatever they can. >:(
I tried to explain that i don't operate that way and neither do most of the self respecting detectors around. They understood what i was saying but they pointed out that with the presence of Roman forts and roads the "NIght Hawkers" have wrecked certain areas of the sites.
Really got me annoyed  how idiots always ruin it for everyone else. Might still be able to build a bridge in the future as one of the two farms i do have permission for borders the others land. :-\

Have you thought the farmers may just be saying that as another way of saying "no"?

Sometimes they say they already have another detectorist doing their farm and don't want anyone else. This and other excuses.

It makes them look less mean than an outright "no!"

Don't believe everything you are told.  ;)

asking the adjoining farm often works , BUT , if they dont like each other , well , you will get an even firmer  'no'  :(

Got to be honest,i dont know how they do it(nighthawking)
Ive detected in the dark(legit)and soon gave up ,even with
lights flashing everywhere.

i go along with the farmers excuse theory.

it definately goes on ,and by people you least expect,worked with a son of a detctorist who regularly wrote for a well known md magazine, the son told me of lots of occasions when his father went out night hawking ...

you cant stopem ,roman forts is like honey to a bee ,whatever you try to do they wont stop a coming ,night and day the onslaught will continue

You have to admit they're not on their own.  Archies are much the same.  Tell them you've found a Bronze or Iron Age whatever and it takes forever to get any response. But tell them it's Roman and they strait there.

Val

Had a permission at Builth Road through family next to an important piece of Welsh History. Detected it twice when I got a call from the owner was I out detecting in the dark, said no our agreement was weekends and I would call by to let him or the wife know I was there. Arranged to see him in morning and the field was a mess holes dug everywhere and on the scheduled monument as well. It had to be a group of people for the damage done and need less to say I left it at that with the farmer. I actually approached two detectorists near Evesham in broad daylight who promptly legged it like Olympians who I think must have been dodgy as they left open holes as well. It goes on and they want shooting but don,t be shocked about how brazen they are.

What I don't understand even you wanted to detect at night, 'how the hell do you do it'....as I have difficulty finding a coin in a hole during the day, can spend a while trying to locate my find with my pinpoint probe during daylight and its right under my nose, whats the chances of finding anything good even on a roman site in darkness while watching out for angry farmer, cattle, dogs plus looking where you are walking...its the farmer saying No if you ask me, which is fine, as its his land......

Going back to the original post,you asked 5 farmers for permission ,2 said yes ,thats a good result,whatever the reason for the 3 no`s it hasnt stopped you

so dont go blaming us ,i mean err the nighthawkers  ;D.

Nice one White Duke lol.
No i know two is a good result, and lets see how it goes from here. Had another result on a local farm, which as others stated "people have been on before and found nothing". He let us go on anyway s which after a few hours had turned up a few small find some of which i need to clean up first. Happy days. At least I know that most of us respect our hobby. Just wish I could find my first bloody Roman lol

2 farms is a good start,some hawkers use night vision gogs,met a few who openly admit it. :o

Night Hawkers are still a bane on this wonderful hobby and i meet them from time to time at rallies ,hiding in amongst the genuine law abiding detectorists and raiding neighbouring farms.....Dont worry their cards are marked as police know their registration plates and are monitoring them..They only make up a small percentage of people who own a metal detector.,.I remember being in a pub in Yorkshire chatting to the bar staff about our hobby and local farmers treating us like vermin because of night hawkers invading their land...I had won award in the Isle of Man through my efforts in metal detecting and fielding walking a couple of  weeks before ..I was embarrassed, as my mates were for being placed on the same level as these criminals >:(

You'll get one - I detected one field for two years before I started finding stuff - I've had about 40 romans (one a really nice denarius) off it this year.

Cant come quick enough probono.
Itching to get out, but last Saturday saw me putting up the Christmas tree, taking the kids to a birthday party, and delivering cake orders for the missus. Sunday had me decorating the outside of the **** house, then taking the kids to a Christmas party   :P
Sat down in the evening a pouted better than any of my kids can  :'(
Oh the joy of having little ones

I know what you mean - I've two small(ish) children - 3 and 7, so they do take up a lot of my time :)

But as I said to my missus, if she's out a couple of nights a week with the things she does, then I need a few hours on the weekend having some fresh air.

I don't go out every weekend, but having given pretty much everything else up I used to do (before children), it's nice to get that fresh air :D

- and I came to the decision this year that it was better all round if I paid for someone to paint the outside of my house.

But a roman will turn up soon enough

'Nighthawkers' Why do we keep associating them with the detecting community?

A criminal whatever their field of activity (no pun) carries the tools for the job.
"Their criminals with a detector".  Surely this should be our argument when faced with condemnation from the public...

My thoughts exactly Mike, we don't condemn all locksmiths because burglars exist. Yes there are some of our number who lack scruples and probably more than we would like to admit but those who leave the landscape looking like the Somme are probably detecting purely for gain and at whatever the cost.

The sad thing that a very small number of nighthawkers are hiding in amongst the decent detecting community and whats even sadder that we, the hobby should be doing more to get rid of them...Any detectorist caught on a protected site or private land without permission (night or day) should be featured in a rogues gallery to be banned from any rally.or club..Drastic measures needed to stop these criminals bringing the hobby into disrepute.... >:( >:(

Hear, hear..
Perhaps their using the info they gain from club membership to find the best farms and land?
So, you won't get any argument to to contrary from me.