Why did you start?

I can remember back in the early 70s when I was just a kid. There were these two guys would would always come around the neighborhood and detect in the yards of the properties where no one lived. I would follow them around for hours just to see what they would pull out of the ground. Not long after that, my dad bought a detector from Sears and I would go with him to the beach and help him dig the goods. When I got older, I was watching some late night TV show and saw a White's commercial. I got on line, and ordered a machine. That was about 10 years ago, and here I am. The hobby has always be a fun time to get away and do something fun, it's a great stress relief and, hey, I can even make a few bucks doing it!

That's my story. . .

HH
PTP
 

Yes remember it well. As a kid also I watched 2 older gentleman using metal detectors at the courthouse lawn. They were finding all kinds of Indian head penny and also silver dollars. Thought that was so cool. Took me quite a while to finally get one back in the mid 80's and it was a very old whites. Took it out in the woods and ended up getting into poison sumac. Broke out big time. From then it took me 15 years to get back into the habit. I guess when you get older you think more about history. Been detecting since 2001 steady. It's not really the treasures I seek but the history associated with them.
 

I started around 4-5 years old picking up arrowheads with my grandad in the fresh plowed cotton fields around his house, as I got a few years older he let me go on digs with him. Then in my teen years I would go with him digging ginseng , star root, blood root, and jewel weed. Metal detecting was about the time I was 5 or 6, he would let me keep the insignificate coins to buy a soda and candy. I guess its in my blood. Out of 6 kids 19 grandkids and 47 great grandkids , I'm the only one who knows what ginseng looks like and where to find it. Maybe 40 percent of us have some sort of arrowheads and only 2 of us metal detect. But with my grandson I hope to make that number a 3.
 

Back in the fifties I lost my lunch money out of my pocket while playing at recess. A month later I saw an article in Popular Mechanics about how to make a metal detector. It took a month to gather the parts and I made a simple unit that worked. It gave a constant tone in one small earbud and the sound varied when I went over metal. I went to the school with it on a Saturday and found my lunch money and a lot of other coins as well. Yes, I also found a lot of bobby pins and other junk. But, it worked. It was good in loose sand down about 3 to 4 inches max. The big problem with it was the size of the battery. The MD had a round wooden base I cut from plywood and was wound with copper wire from an old car radio transformer. There was a little circuit that produced a constant tone that was upset by the coil being near metal. That was about fifty three years ago! Time flies when you are having fun!
 

Been detecting for almost 2 years now became addicted to the hobby when I saw this website and seen people pulling out civil war relics lol and the thought of holding history in your hands instead of seeing it in a museum is pretty cool!
 

I had an inherited machine my mom left me...she bought it for my brother and he couldn't handle it, so Mike had it for well over 10 years and never turned it on. It sat here in my garage for another 10 years. A buddy of mine's brother lost a wedding ring playing volley ball in 2010 and asked if I still had the detector. I revamped the thing with a new power pack but he found the ring before I could try, and it's been a roller coaster for me in detecting ever since. I used it and fell in love. Funny how things happen.
 

I am a history fanatic. I found my first arrowhead in the 3rd grade and have been looking every since (will be 39 tomorrow, its my birthday yea me!). As a child growing up on Lake Eufaula an older man would visit every spring and was a self proclaimed treasure hunter. I would go with him and found an old trade post and he showed me several treasure markers he had found looking for lost Spanish silver taken by the Kiowa. I had planned on getting one for a long time and always talked myself out of it for whatever reason. Then as luck would have it I found an ACE 250 on Craigslist at a great price and bought it, 2 years latter and I am about to upgrade to either a MXT pro or ATPRO...still trying to figure out which one I want lol.
 

T-NET.
 

It's funny that before I started this hobby I paid no attention to loose change the ground etc, ever since I e been detecting I've been scanning my change and always scanning the ground with my eyes wherever I go lol I love this hobby, I just wish I've started a lot earlier instead of almost an year and a half now lol HH!!
 

I found detecting a slightly different way.lol!!! In the process of recovering from alcoholism and drugs a guy I met in group told me he was going mding. I went along and used a older Tesoro he had. We didn't find much that day but enjoyed the woods and getting away from the city.
A couple of detectors later and a year and a half sober I have a new addiction! Takes all kinds. HH all.
 

Love these stories also especially when MD'ng helps with addiction such as alcohol and drugs. Now so many people think that MD is just about finders keepers losers weepers is a bunch of malarkey . The positive side of MD can show it is more than finding a treasure. It also provides hours of relaxation and enjoyment plus it does help with getting rid of the spare tire. Which being retired I need allot of help.
 

These are great,I might write a book ;-) Get rich....
 

I wanted to make the largest tin foil ball in the world.
 

I started 4 or 5 years ago since we go to the beach every year. I had a cheap detector and did not know it was not for the beach so I basically found change, two long metal shelving rods, and a necklace. I have since caught the bug and I am buying the AT Pro to use in fields and at the beach.
 

tims1chap said:
I started 4 or 5 years ago since we go to the beach every year. I had a cheap detector and did not know it was not for the beach so I basically found change, two long metal shelving rods, and a necklace. I have since caught the bug and I am buying the AT Pro to use in fields and at the beach.
Click to expand...

Great choice Tim and good luck on your hunting.
 

I had a metal detector when I was about 5 years old and "pretended" to use it all the time but it was never in functioning condition. To this day I still have no recollection of where it came from since nobody that I knew had ever used one. Fast forward, after 35 years of thinking about it I finally bought one, now 1 own 5. I'm proud to say that I did start metal detecting before all the treasure hunting shows. I'm happy for that.

I've always been a treasure hunter... As a child I collected beer cans with my dad and I'd often go out into my grandfathers woods to find rusty ones because I liked the challenge of trying to clean them just enough to make out a name.. As a kid I also collected agates, stamps, playing cards, bells, buttons... the list goes on and on. As an adult I became more and more interested in the history of items that I could find out in the wild despite the fact I absolutely hated History class in school :) Being a treasure hunter has been a constant thread through my life and I'm fortunate to have held a growing interest in such a great hobby. I must say that even though I'm very thankful for this forum because of the motivation it gives me during the winter months, I'm also very thankful to have started long before this place existed.
 

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