Traveling country and surviving off of md finds?

[7up2000]

Kicking around the idea of doing some traveling this summer. I was wondering if it was possible to survive off just the coins/proceeds you find metal detecting? Has anybody ever tried it? I spoke with another hobbyist about this a while back and he said it was a dream of his to be able to travel and live off his md finds.

Admittedly, some(many) days would be sparse. Recently, in 2 outtings I've found a total of $3.30. That would be enough for a cup of coffee in the morning and later in the day some fruit/raw vegetables and maybe an occasional burger(coffee + 2 lite meals each day). Fruit, raw vegetables, canned goods are relatively cheap.

One would be living in an RV or camper van so there is no housing expense--stay in Walmart parking lots, BLM land, truck stops, etc. Gas could be charged to a credit card and paid off at the end of the summer. For argument's sake, I'm assuming the RV is in very nice condition and there are no breakdowns. If you want A/C then then the gas for the generator would be an extra expense. I would bring along a tumbler to clean the coins so they are in spending condition.

It would make MDing a priority and finding good sites paramount. It seems challenging, but do you think it could be done?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Terry Soloman]

This is a dream many of us have had. I spent one winter living off gold nuggets and fines I found in the Arizona desert in 1978. I was able to sell the gold to a local dealer for 75% of spot, and kept gas in the truck, and beans on my plate. It was hard, hard work, and I slept good at night. Now? I look back on it as a great learning experience and a true adventure, but in reality it was a wasted winter in hard conditions for an average of $7.00 a day. I would have made a lot more money digging irrigation ditches. Best of Luck!

 

[cudamark]

Nope, not just finding clad. You'd need some serious silver and gold finds to do it. Good luck with that......

 

[Urien of Rheged]

I made a deal with her indoors that if - and that's a big if - I find something in the 10's of thousands, that for a few months or however long it would be affordable we could manage me taking time out from work, that I would take up the hobby in a professional sense and treat it as a job putting 40 hour a week shifts in.
I've been doing the hobby now for just less than 4 years and in that short time and in a region of England not particularly renowned for buried bling, I've had five Gold coins that have been sold earning me £3000 (split with landlord except for one that the landowner refused to accept her half.)
I also have a collection of finds and silver coins that I would estimate a conservative value of £4 -5000 and a rare English civil war siege coin that is due at auction and is expected to go somewhere between £6 - 8000 🫰 halved with landowner and also 15% auction fee though so there's always a caveat unless your ruthless and don't mind the bad karma of not sharing your spoils. Either way there is obviously potential when you consider that I made this haul as a hobby in my limited spare time.

It's basically a major gamble (metal detecting is a form of gambling with the chips being our time and effort) and going off experience, the metal detecting God's can be very cruel. They do not reward for braving the elements or being doggedly persistent. And they seem to twist the knife in at times when your really chasing a nice shiny endorphin hit.
They seem to reward me most when im least expectant. I dont think ive ever dug a signal, thought it was bound to be something nice and it actually turned out that way. Most often they come out like a bolt from the blue.


I certainly wouldn't like to go out hunting reliant and desperate to find something good though. It wouldn't be good for the soul and I could imagine feeling demoralised if all I was finding day after day where crusty coppers and ring pulls. Psychology is a massive part of this hobby too as we all know and when things are bad, they're bloody awful.

 

[7up2000]

This is a dream many of us have had. I spent one winter living off gold nuggets and fines I found in the Arizona desert in 1978. I was able to sell the gold to a local dealer for 75% of spot, and kept gas in the truck, and beans on my plate. It was hard, hard work, and I slept good at night. Now? I look back on it as a great learning experience and a true adventure, but in reality it was a wasted winter in hard conditions for an average of $7.00 a day. I would have made a lot more money digging irrigation ditches. Best of Luck!

Where'd you sleep?

 

[Terry Soloman]

Where'd you sleep?

 

[Nathan W]

I would rather.... save some money , travel for a couple months and hit certain sites you've researched and got permissions for and hunt those. That would be my ultimate

 

[pepperj]

40-50 yrs ago when it was easier to have days of many silvers and the occasional gold.
The urban settings were still enriched with a multitude of better recoveries.
Now going forward the dreams of being able to even survive on the recoveries is just that a dream.

Living off a CC to pay for fuel, and the occasional repair. Paying it off at the end of summer-how?
A minimum payment has to be rendered every 30 days. The occurring interest @18-22% on the balance.

I traveled 25,000 around the lower-mid states in the early 80s. Fuel and living was pretty reasonable for the most part.

I dropped a coil on the ground many times, grabbed a little silver and clad.
But seriously if I had to be just dependent on the coil recoveries-I would of probably starved, and not traveled to far.

Now when a person has the financial means to just travel on the cheap. Detecting and what the recoveries produce for incomeuis another thing.

 

[TORRERO]

Kicking around the idea of doing some traveling this summer. I was wondering if it was possible to survive off just the coins/proceeds you find metal detecting? Has anybody ever tried it? I spoke with another hobbyist about this a while back and he said it was a dream of his to be able to travel and live off his md finds.

Admittedly, some(many) days would be sparse. Recently, in 2 outtings I've found a total of $3.30. That would be enough for a cup of coffee in the morning and later in the day some fruit/raw vegetables and maybe an occasional burger(coffee + 2 lite meals each day). Fruit, raw vegetables, canned goods are relatively cheap.

One would be living in an RV or camper van so there is no housing expense--stay in Walmart parking lots, BLM land, truck stops, etc. Gas could be charged to a credit card and paid off at the end of the summer. For argument's sake, I'm assuming the RV is in very nice condition and there are no breakdowns. If you want A/C then then the gas for the generator would be an extra expense. I would bring along a tumbler to clean the coins so they are in spending condition.

It would make MDing a priority and finding good sites paramount. It seems challenging, but do you think it could be done?

Just my personal experience over 35 years of hunting, NO you would never find enough to live off of unless you could live off of $5-$8 a day.
and that is being generous....
and in today's world even less so, that's because ... although there are thousands of places to hunt, almost all of them have someone local to hunt them.

The largest American coin you can hope to find is a quarter... with the occasional $1 coin .... it takes a LOT of quarters to make enough to buy breakfast...

I've been going out with a friend almost every weekend for close to 20 years, we look for ballfields, playgrounds, schools, parks etc anywhere there can be possibly a lot of change and we normally come back with -$5 even on good days... on bad days its more like 50- 75 cents..
If you can find some GOLD it would make a BIG difference but there is no guarantee of that....
Good Luck we will be watching from the sidelines...

 

[metrotec]

If you're over wight, it would better than the gym
Good luck, hope you hit a "jackpot."

 

[Mackaydon]

For peace of mind, travel with all the money (credit) you will need; finding coins/etc. will be the icing on the cake.
Bring your own coffee maker; an endless cup at Denny's in Oceanside Ca. will set you back about $4.00.
Don......

 

[cudamark]

View attachment 2199923

That doesn't look like New York! Looks more like my neck of the rocks.....

 

[Mackaydon]

50 years ago, and after a strong wind on the Venice, Ca. beach, I could 'limit myself' before dinner, to picking up, not MD-ing, one dollar in coins. On other days I would MD; a rare sight then. A few years later my prime spot was fenced off---for a resting place for migrating birds. More recently (still 10+ years ago) the entire beach was annually bulldozed to create up to a 15 foot wall of sand--'to protect the eroding beach'. The surf was not then visible to those living on the first floor in their beach front condos, nor was there a view of the surf from those walking on the east side of the sand dune.
As Bob Dylan said: "The times they are a changin".
Don in SoCal

 

[achanceforgold]

Do it if you can!
You'll find free food in almost every town and the bigger towns will have a place to sleep.
You might meet some questionable characters. But you might meet the same at work anyways.

I would rather.... save some money , travel for a couple months and hit certain sites you've researched and got permissions for and hunt those. That would be my ultimate

As Nathen said, you may want to research some areas first.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Unless you are extremely lucky, and find some high dollar finds, living off your finds will mean a very poor diet that can affect your health.

 

[Terry Soloman]

That doesn't look like New York! Looks more like my neck of the rocks.....

Weaver Mountains, east of Stanton, Arizona.

 

[smdog66]

Kicking around the idea of doing some traveling this summer. I was wondering if it was possible to survive off just the coins/proceeds you find metal detecting? Has anybody ever tried it? I spoke with another hobbyist about this a while back and he said it was a dream of his to be able to travel and live off his md finds.

Admittedly, some(many) days would be sparse. Recently, in 2 outtings I've found a total of $3.30. That would be enough for a cup of coffee in the morning and later in the day some fruit/raw vegetables and maybe an occasional burger(coffee + 2 lite meals each day). Fruit, raw vegetables, canned goods are relatively cheap.

One would be living in an RV or camper van so there is no housing expense--stay in Walmart parking lots, BLM land, truck stops, etc. Gas could be charged to a credit card and paid off at the end of the summer. For argument's sake, I'm assuming the RV is in very nice condition and there are no breakdowns. If you want A/C then then the gas for the generator would be an extra expense. I would bring along a tumbler to clean the coins so they are in spending condition.

It would make MDing a priority and finding good sites paramount. It seems challenging, but do you think it could be done?

Don't you have monthly payments on your CC?

 

[cudamark]

Weaver Mountains, east of Stanton, Arizona.

Oh, that's right....you used to be a Zonie too.

 

[7up2000]

I found the silver ring on Saturday--doing some night hunting near the University. Students/cops must have thought I was crazy--wasting my time. 7.1g. Might be worth a few bucks. If diamond is real maybe a lot more. The margerine cup is 2024/2025 finds. No pennies in there. Enough for a tank of gas, anyways.

 

[7up2000]

Don't you have monthly payments on your CC?

I usually pay off the last statement balance so I don't get hit with interest or late fees.