Professional hunters: how do you make money?

[TintedSnow]

For the professional treasure hunters that do it full time, how do you make your money? Is there a way to live off treasure hunting? Can it be a stable job or is it hit or miss for days, weeks, months?

 

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[Toecutter]

I would think to be a professional in treasure hunting one would have to be funded or sponsored and have alot of schooling to back it.
semi-pro is where alot of t-neters would fall if categorized...
if you find another way please share as most of us would quit our day jobs to treasure hunt.....lol

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Depends on how much your wife enjoys sleeping in the car and eating fast food all the time.....LOL

 

[Grizz12]

I would think to be a professional in treasure hunting one would have to be funded or sponsored and have alot of schooling to back it.
semi-pro is where alot of t-neters would fall if categorized...
if you find another way please share as most of us would quit our day jobs to treasure hunt.....lol

Why would someone need schooling, other than learning your machine and its signals?

 

[Clad2Silver]

it's like they say.....Don't quit your day job !

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey there tinted-snow, I just chimed in on your hypothetical (your words) scenario on the legal forum here. Good luck. Hope there is a cache there for you. And hope you get to keep it, etc...

The average cache you hear of in md'ing circles (even the one in Alaska that a miner might-have-buried), tends to be in the class of "bread and butter" caches. Eg.: Joe Blow, or farmer bob buries a bunch of coins in a jar. I've found many such scenarios (admittedly mostly on posse hunts for the next-of-kin). And NONE of them would be something you/I could "live" on. Even one that I found that was filled with gold coins, *might* have justified my living standards for a year or so.

And as for the types of caches and treasures you/I *COULD* "live on", I'd say that the vast majority of them are in the category of camp-fire legends, ghost stories, etc.... Fun to listen to. Fun to muse about, but .... nothing but ghost-story telephone game.

A few lone exceptions exist (Mel Fisher, etc...). But beyond that, the rest of us are happy to pay for their gas, batteries, equipment, etc.....

That doesn't address TH'ing venues such as nuggets, gold-in-natural state, etc.... I was assuming you meant caches/treasures, right ?

 

[TintedSnow]

Hey there tinted-snow, I just chimed in on your hypothetical (your words) scenario on the legal forum here. Good luck. Hope there is a cache there for you. And hope you get to keep it, etc...

The average cache you hear of in md'ing circles (even the one in Alaska that a miner might-have-buried), tends to be in the class of "bread and butter" caches. Eg.: Joe Blow, or farmer bob buries a bunch of coins in a jar. I've found many such scenarios (admittedly mostly on posse hunts for the next-of-kin). And NONE of them would be something you/I could "live" on. Even one that I found that was filled with gold coins, *might* have justified my living standards for a year or so.

And as for the types of caches and treasures you/I *COULD* "live on", I'd say that the vast majority of them are in the category of camp-fire legends, ghost stories, etc.... Fun to listen to. Fun to muse about, but .... nothing but ghost-story telephone game.

A few lone exceptions exist (Mel Fisher, etc...). But beyond that, the rest of us are happy to pay for their gas, batteries, equipment, etc.....

That doesn't address TH'ing venues such as nuggets, gold-in-natural state, etc.... I was assuming you meant caches/treasures, right ?

I’m great info, thanks. I was curious. I’m in no way trying to live off of it. I have a great job making kids happy that I’d never leave, but I was doing some research (for that other post you commented on) and it just kind of came into my mind. It’s just a curiosity question.

 

[smokeythecat]

As Clad2silver says, don't quit your day job. And Tom_in-Ca says, it "might" cover living expenses for a year. I've been collecting things out of the ground since I was a kid and JFK was President. I don't think I'd get six months' income off ALL of it if I sold it. That is if the first half of it I hadn't lost by now anyway.

For the most part, it's a pipe dream.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

it's like they say.....Don't quit your day job !

Haha. I knew a guy, in the early days of nugget hunting with md'rs in CA (very early 1980s when detectors first started being used for that purpose). He found himself between jobs, and ..... had the stroke of genius to realize that he was actually making MORE on his hobbyist hours (on an hour-per-hour basis), than he was by punching a time-clock !

So he figured he could detect nuggets for a living (instead of just on Saturday with his buddies).

All of the sudden, IT WAS NO FUN. Every day became a quota . Lest he not put food on the table, pay the rent, etc... So he kissed "treasure hunting" goodbye, as a way to make a living.

The rare exceptions would be something like Mel Fisher, or if you were an actual mining company, etc....

 

[Grizz12]

If you want to get rich in this business you should design a "new" shovel or some other trinket and market as a "must have" for everyone who is serious about the hobby

 

[firemanphob]

the only way to become a millionaire from treasure hunting is by starting out as a billionaire.

 

[RustyGold]

the only way to become a millionaire from treasure hunting is by starting out as a billionaire.

This is too funny!

 

[RustyGold]

If you find a TV Series that requires a guy to detect for them maybe you’d have some income. But be prepared to have a couple of Marvedis to throw down. Lol!

 

[sawmill man]

You You Tube it. if your a women you just put on some very tight fitting clothes and strut around ,dosent matter if you find anything or not , or if your a man just act like your stoned and giggle and laugh at everything and poke at toad frogs and every bone you find. heck its working for some . just shoot for a million views.

 

[haxor]

I would think to be a professional in treasure hunting one would have to be funded or sponsored and have alot of schooling to back it.
semi-pro is where alot of t-neters would fall if categorized...
if you find another way please share as most of us would quit our day jobs to treasure hunt.....lol

Funded/sponsored misses the 'professional' point for me. That is charity. Professional, by my standards, is making a profit/standing on own.
(the OP states 'make money'. Though I guess caveat is OP didn't say turn a profit.)

 

[haxor]

You You Tube it. if your a women you just put on some very tight fitting clothes and strut around ,dosent matter if you find anything or not , or if your a man just act like your stoned and giggle and laugh at everything and poke at toad frogs and every bone you find. heck its working for some . just shoot for a million views.

**THIS***

 

[smokeythecat]

Now if you are retired, then the best way would be to go through about $5k in boxed half dollars a week to try and pull out silver.

I however, am not doing that! Around here the banks look at you like you're a troll or something if you just ask if they have any loose ones.

 

[A2coins]

Dont quit your job we are lucky to find what we do your better off studying antiques and hope to know enough to turn a profit but that takes alot of time and money and mistakes

 

[smokeythecat]

A2coins, I am best at making the "mistakes" part, but since I generally don't resell anything, it doesn't really matter much, and these items aren't too expensive either.

 

[RustyGold]

You You Tube it. if your a women you just put on some very tight fitting clothes and strut around ,dosent matter if you find anything or not , or if your a man just act like your stoned and giggle and laugh at everything and poke at toad frogs and every bone you find. heck its working for some . just shoot for a million views.

You could call yourself “He Detector” 🤑