What are you in it for ?

northeast hunter

northeast hunter

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Mar 21, 2005
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The reasons I metal detect,when I can, include most of the reasons so greatly articulated already in previous posts. But probably the number one reason is the thrill of the hunt. Not knowing just what you're going to find on any given day at any given place. When your coil passes over a good sounding target you just don't know for sure what you're about to dig up. I like the anticipation of digging up an unknown target. Telling myself "maybe it's not just another memorial cent". Or "the odds are it's just another pulltab but it MIGHT be a ring this time". My first "treasure" hunting experiences were digging bottle dumps when I was ten years old. The anticipation was there way back then. "It's probably another plain aqua medicine but it might be an embossed whisky. Or a blob top soda with a graphite pontil".
Yep, for me it's mostly the thrill and anticipation of this might be the day I find something special. Oh, I like the beer drinking part too. ;D
 

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Great posts Paul, Gypsy & Jeffro............I wish my kids were young again so I could share this great hobby with them, I think they could benefit greatly from it. My son & daughter are grown & scattered across the western US, kinda sad. Hopefully have grandkids soon that I can take out & expose to the bug............... :)
 

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As my fictional hero Indy says "Fortune and glory kid, fortune and glory"



Actually, I got into it because I've always been a history nut, and actually enjoy the research more than I enjoy swinging the coil sometimes.... sometimes.... Except when gold is involved, then I like the coil better... lol
 

I am in it for the thrill of the hunt (and the finds). I am a coin collector and detecting allows me to see and own coins that I would not have if not detecting. Detecting is a good clean, fun, (and moral the way I do it) hobby. I get exercise, have fun, get together with other detectorist, learn a lot, and monitor the TN internet forum. I put modern coins back into circulation, sell a few pieces of jewelry, keep most older coins and relics. If I were to find a coin or relic worth a new detector ($1000+) I would probably sell it. I would like to take the afternoon off and go detecting but I need to save them for when the next good storm hits the beach.

Ed Donovan
 

Although it is exciting to see the silver or gold glint of a ring comming out of the ground........I am more into finding those things which always make me say "what the heck is this'.....then passing a picture on to all you folks for the ultimate test of what is it...........and might I add up to this point you have all passed with flying colors.......other than that it is the getting out into the fresh air and taking my mind off of everything else.....so coooooooool....be good all and happy hunting.......gregd573
 

Oh yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to get TOO sappy there, I'm also in it for the thrill of the chase.... Every hit on my machine is like a siren beckoning me to see what's there.

Research is a big part of it too, like most other people. I think I have learned more about history from MDing than from school! At least the local history, anyways.
 

The mystery !!!!!!!! The unknown !!!!!!!!!

Metal detecting finds are mine to keep.....They are not LOST anymore...

Someone else's throw aways... Garbage picking....is GREEN in my pocket....( over the years alot of GREEN )
alot of finds are keepers too...

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
 

WHA????????
 

I got hurt in an accident and can't work out like I use to. I got started just for the exercise mostly but liked history and finding out about things of yore. I enjoy the research also and best of all communicating with those of you with similar interests. Treasure hunter, not me. Just give me a little clad a silver coin or two and some artifacts and I am a happy camper. Monty
 

I do have to admit that instead of a tone from the detector I actually hear " Diiiig Me, Diiiig Me, You MUST Diiig Me !". So I do.

Ed Donovan
 

Gosh Ed, I use to do that a lot too but when my complexion cleared up and I started getting myopic I tried to quit! ::) Monty
 

Paul is Dead said:
This forum has taken a turn of some kind. People used to argue about what machine was best, now, now I don't know what to think! I was detecting on the beach and a young lady, who seem to knew something about the machines, had asked,"What kind of depth, where do you think it bottoms out?" I didn't know what to say, so I reacted like I was confronted by a bear. I passed out, and played dead...
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ROTFLMAO :)
 

gypsyheart said:
My dad always took us girls on treasure hunting expeditions, whether it was in the mountains or looking through old teardowns or log houses.He just lived for adventure and was shadowed every where by us girls. He always had us finding money or crazy stuff. He told us if we lifted a cat in the air by its tail a silver dime would fall out of its mouth....trust me ...no cat was safe around us six girls. When I was fifteen he took me to the top of Canada to a deserted Mining Island where we camped for ten days and explored every old building on the island. It was the trip of a lifetime. He had an old metal detector and I was hooked for life. He always told mom, every time things got tight ...."Pack up the girls and the horses... , we're moving to the mountains to pan for gold " and it was a running joke for our entire llives.
Dad would seed arrowheads and coins for us girls so we would always find something. Christmas ,we always recieved books on treasure hunting or pirates.
He was a history buff and I am pretty sure thats where I got it. We would spend hours talking history and books and pouring over maps.
I lost my dad a few years ago in a freak accident and everytime I hunt now ,I think about him and how he would enjoy the girls and my finds.I cant really say I am in it for him, but I am definately in it because of him and enjoy every minute of it ...from the research to the preservation and history of our finds.
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GHXXX ;) ;) ;) ;) Says it all. Burdie
 

gypsyheart said:
When I was fifteen he took me to the top of Canada to a deserted Mining Island where we camped for ten days and explored every old building on the island. It was the trip of a lifetime.
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That is a great story, gypsyheart.

I got into detecting because my parents had an old D-Tex from the 1960's, and as soon I as I was old enough to walk, they used to take me along when they hunted for railroad spikes, axe heads, and that sort of thing. By the time I was 8 or 9, the effects of those rusty old pieces of iron and that old metal detector had taken hold of me. We don't have that old D-Tex anymore (it couldn't find anything smaller than about fist-size :D ) but I got me a late-model Coinmaster when I was a teenager. I just love finding things and never knowing what I might dig up next.
 

Bit of a long story, but it explains it.

My father and I got into metal detecting in the very early ‘70’s after I talked him into buying a Compass Yukon 77B, which I still have and still works. My father was an amateur geologist and a resident of the LA area since the late ‘30’s, with a short stay in Baker during the early to mid ‘50’s. He knew where the old gathering places were, as well as a few of those secret spots where we would go rock collecting and detecting. Even after all the freeways were built, we would go for a drive and he would spontaneously take a side road and we would find some amazing minerals for our collection, sometimes only yards from the freeway. He had hundreds stories about treasure, hidden caches of guns and ammo, and gold, and many of the stories were from those who had first hand knowledge as early Calif settlers. One story I remember was about an underground river and a vein of gold, and I know the spot because the underground river crosses a major freeway – though whether it is true or now, who knows. (Just a note: My father had one of the most amazing lives of anyone I have known or read about. He loved to tell stories. He died 18 months ago and I realized that no one will hear those stories again, and those stories were history, including early Calif, WWII, life during the depression, nazi spies in Calif, and much more. The biggest regret I have is that I did not record his stories, and I am sure, if transcribed as told, a great book could have been written.) With a father like that it is hard not to be interested in detecting and geology.

Anyway, in college, for the first few years I was a geology major until it was necessary for me to leave to return to Juneau which has no geology program (switched to science). Because of my father I am interested in rocks and minerals, metal detecting, finding things, collecting, and many other related activities. My daughter, now 19, likes to detect also, partly because I always took her with me and gave her her own detector, and partly because of the stories she heard from her grandfather. Juneau is not the best place for detecting, but we always find something when we go and it is a great family activity.

I am just getting back into detecting now that I have more time after raising two kids, school, and work. In fact, today I received my new Whites GMT to play in some of the known producing streams around the Juneau area. Will I find gold – who knows – but one thing that is known is that when I tell my wife I am going to find some gold with my new machine, her hysterical, tear producing laughter makes it all worth it! ;D

Finally, there was that time when my father and I were detecting at a beach in Calif and this 14 or 15 year old girl and her sister rode up to us on their horses. Every finger on both girls had at least one gold ring on them, including a few real diamonds. We had a nice conversation and it seemed there father detected the beaches and had found many, many rings. That is motivation.
 

Paul is Dead said:
This forum has taken a turn of some kind. People used to argue about what machine was best, now, now I don't know what to think! I was detecting on the beach and a young lady, who seem to knew something about the machines, had asked,"What kind of depth, where do you think it bottoms out?" I didn't know what to say, so I reacted like I was confronted by a bear. I passed out, and played dead...
Click to expand...

You should have said, "How deep doesn't matter. Mine always bottoms out!" You might have gotten treasure of another kind that day! ;) ;D

And Il....Bob,
FINDING BOTTOM DEPOSITS???Notice color ;D Is that some kind of Illinois slang term for digging up outhouses? Picking dingleberries?.....or something worse???

Mike
 

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