Making a Living With Your Metal Detector?

[Dan Hughes]

There was a discussion recently on one of the treasure forums about the feasibility of making a living with your metal detector by becoming a full time treasure hunter.

Think of it! No alarm clocks, no early-morning commutes to the office, no suits and ties, no office politics, no boss!

Can it really be done?

In my latest podcast (radio show on the internet that you can listen to anytime) I examine the possibilities. Go here and click the pink button to listen:

http://thetreasurecorner.com

---Dan Hughes, http://danhughes.net

 

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[hogge]

My reply is "NO". Can you make a few extra bucks? YES. Keep it real.

 

[CRAZY-TEXICAN]

Its for the fun of the sport ... It will pay for your batteries and if you're lucky , will even pay for lunch , Last month i was off from work for 3 weeks and i went metal detecting at the local park for about 2 hours a day almost every day , i found an average of about $6 a day in just change not including other "goodies" and lots of trash , I saved $1.00 for every $5 i find and the rest went to the kid's piggy banks , after 3 weeks i counted the coins that i had set aside ($1 out of every $5) and bought batteries with it , now i have an arsenal of batteries that will probably last me a year or more and both the kids have about $50 extra in their piggy bank .. ... I had fun, made a few bucks, the kids bought some toys and i lost about 3 lbs by walking 2 hour a day .. I wish RC racing was this simple and inexpensive

 

[Seamuss]

I'm falling a sleep thinking about all the money that I can earn finding a couple of wheat cents and silver coins and pull tabs. Did anyone really believe that you could find that sunken ship of gold on high and dry land?

Indiana Jones could tell me more about this fictional story.

Dan Hughs, I listen to you often, but your putting me to sleep on this story. If there really was a gold bar, diamond ring, or treasure chest full of gem stones on every beach for some half wit like me to find, then exactly how many half wit city slickers are standing by ready to purchase such a find?

I believe that I will find a lot of good things according to the volume of hunting that I will be doing. But I'm wondering if your trying to get people to quit their day job to become an Indiana Jones look alike? At my age, I'm glad that I don't have a day job. I would be calling on the radio station to hire me as a rebuttal commentary to your commentaries if that were the case.

Quit my day job to make a living as a treasure hunter. Thanks for the hair brain idea Mr. Hughs. You did make my day with this idea. Normally you have good common sense ideas with a twist of irony to them.

 

[Dan Hughes]

Quit my day job to make a living as a treasure hunter. Thanks for the hair brain idea Mr. Hughs. You did make my day with this idea. Normally you have good common sense ideas with a twist of irony to them.

Seamuss, you must have fallen asleep while you were listening, and dreamed you heard something I didn't say, because my main point was that you CAN'T quit your day job and make a living doing this.

Drink a couple of cups of highly-caffeinated black coffee and give it another listen.

Best,

---Dan

 

[Seamuss]

Quit my day job to make a living as a treasure hunter. Thanks for the hair brain idea Mr. Hughs. You did make my day with this idea. Normally you have good common sense ideas with a twist of irony to them.

Seamuss, you must have fallen asleep while you were listening, and dreamed you heard something I didn't say, because my main point was that you CAN'T quit your day job and make a living doing this.

Drink a couple of cups of highly-caffeinated black coffee and give it another listen.

Best,

---Dan

Your right, I did fall asleep. I heard the part about making a living detecting and treasure hunting and...Oops...it's the Ozone for me... .

I have to admit that I got carried away with the day job thing their.

At least I'm thinking of doing good at treasure hunting.

Oh, I will also check the batteries in my hearing aids to make sure that my thoughts don't get in the way of what I am hearing.

 

[Silver Searcher]

There are a few professional hunters in the UK, to do this full time here requires a lot of good sites, and some inside imformation(draw your own conclusions).

A site would normally be hunted out after four turns of the plough, and then of course you have the Summer when a lot of fields are under crop, so you would have to switch to pasture fields, which would require a very good deep detecter, like the GPX3000.

in short yes it could be done, but very hard to do.

SS.

 

[Sandman]

Why would anyone take a fun hobby and turn it into a job. Make a living, ya gotta live pretty low to put in the hours you'd have to do just to buy a Big Mac. But on the average, You'd starve.

 

[RGINN]

I don't know about makin a livin. Depends on your definition of a livin. After the divorce, my goal was to find enough to buy a cup of coffee and a newspaper the next morning. I hit that, and that was a living for me at the time. Of course, I had nothing else at the time, like a job, a place to live, a car to drive, and other little minor details I take for granted now. (Bend over, reach down, grab those boot straps, and PULL UP!!) I suppose I could quit the job when I'm about 93 and make a livin at it. Me and Bill Clinton, out on the beach, baggy Bermuda shorts, swingin detectors everyday. I think I'll wear socks with sandals just to embarass the great-grandkids.

 

[OPUS1]

I think you had better go back to MD'ing, you sure won't make a living selling crap like this.

Did I write this out loud?

 

[Silver Searcher]

Why would anyone take a fun hobby and turn it into a job. Make a living, ya gotta live pretty low to put in the hours you'd have to do just to buy a Big Mac. But on the average, You'd starve.

I will tell you why, three guys who live in the Northeast region of England(were I do) found a unrecorded Viking Village, the finds were truly out of this world, all three made enough money to leave there jobs, and pay off there mortgages, this is by no means a isolated incidence, I'm not saying everybody can do it, but the finds over here can make outrages amounts of money.

 

[Saturna]

If you live in a place like the UK/Europe where there is a relatively high amount of ancient stuff lost due to high population and lots of history, in a relatively small area, maybe. Even then I'll bet there are many UK MD'ers who have never found anything major.

For people who live in North America or Australia, different story.

There are many hobbies that people sometimes would like to do for a living (ask musicians for example), but the reality is that only a tiny few will manage such a feat.

 

[Silver Searcher]

If you live in a place like the UK/Europe where there is a relatively high amount of ancient stuff lost due to high population and lots of history, in a relatively small area, maybe. Even then I'll bet there are many UK MD'ers who have never found anything major.

For people who live in North America or Australia, different story.

There are many hobbies that people sometimes would like to do for a living (ask musicians for example), but the reality is that only a tiny few will manage such a feat.

That's very true, and the exact point I was making, only a few have succeeded, also it would depend on what amount of money you would need per an um to make a go of it.

 

[Seamuss]

Why would anyone take a fun hobby and turn it into a job. Make a living, ya gotta live pretty low to put in the hours you'd have to do just to buy a Big Mac. But on the average, You'd starve.

I got into detecting for the fun of the hunt and to keep the good stuff(silver, marbles, gold, relics) and junk the junk (pull tabs...).

I never had the thought of making a living at it. I'm sure some people do make a living at it which would take the fun out of it and turn it into a job from my point of view. I would go broke keeping most of the good stuff because it's fun. It's one of those hobbies that I could make a living at but then again I would get bored trying to brake even deciding what to keep and what to sell for a living. If I want to make a living at something, then I would open up a business down the street and let other people bring me their treasures.

 

[UncleVinnys]

I will tell you why, three guys who live in the Northeast region of England(were I do) found a unrecorded Viking Village, the finds were truly out of this world, all three made enough money to leave there jobs, and pay off there mortgages, this is by no means a isolated incidence, I'm not saying everybody can do it, but the finds over here can make outrages amounts of money.

Good example.
Now if you happened to live next to a grass-covered loading dock
for the US Mint, you MIGHT have a chance of making a living out of
detecting. Or you could look for the hide-out for diamond smugglers
in Africa.

I think more practical, but still a long shot, is to go meteorite
hunting. You can find know strewn-fields, and if you hit the
big one, the meteorites can be worth a pretty penny.

 

[Seamuss]

Why would anyone take a fun hobby and turn it into a job. Make a living, ya gotta live pretty low to put in the hours you'd have to do just to buy a Big Mac. But on the average, You'd starve.

Why would anyone take a fun hobby and turn it into a job. Make a living, ya gotta live pretty low to put in the hours you'd have to do just to buy a Big Mac. But on the average, You'd starve.

I will tell you why, three guys who live in the Northeast region of England(were I do) found a unrecorded Viking Village, the finds were truly out of this world, all three made enough money to leave there jobs, and pay off there mortgages, this is by no means a isolated incidence, I'm not saying everybody can do it, but the finds over here can make outrages amounts of money.

For me I would not be a good sport about putting in the long hours till I find that one viking village or American village that would help me retire if I were to make a living at it.

I would have to be looking for years with a lot of research to find something that good. And all that time spent looking for a living would make me cool hearted on the hobby. I do like the idea of those three men in England finding their nitch and happiness in the hobby. It's a hobby to me and I guess that's where I'm heading with this.

Good luck and happy hunting to all that are trying to etch out a living with this "hobby" of mine.

 

[terryinr.i.]

sure you can, all you have to do is find a 10$ gold piece a day. no problem.

 

[Seamuss]

sure you can, all you have to do is find a 10$ gold piece a day. no problem.

I'd like to see you play poker. I bet you can win every other hand with that philosophy.

 

[Eric Willoughby]

sure you can, all you have to do is find a 10$ gold piece a day. no problem.

I'd like to see you play poker. I bet you can win every other hand with that philosophy.

I believe Terry was being sarcastic on this one.

 

[art of fact]

Re: An Open Discussion About The Future Of Metal Detecting As A Hobby

Why would anyone take a fun hobby and turn it into a job. Make a living, ya gotta live pretty low to put in the hours you'd have to do just to buy a Big Mac. But on the average, You'd starve.

I will tell you why, three guys who live in the Northeast region of England(were I do) found a unrecorded Viking Village, the finds were truly out of this world, all three made enough money to leave there jobs, and pay off there mortgages, this is by no means a isolated incidence, I'm not saying everybody can do it, but the finds over here can make outrages amounts of money.

In response to crusaders post,This is why you have night hawking.