What inspired you try treasure hunting/metal detecting?

[Nana40]

I was sick of living in the burbs and decided it was time to move back to the country. Looked at several houses, but this one was special. It had some acreage and a creek running through it. It was summer time and all the weeds and brush and vines that could possibly grow here was in full swing. Wanting to inspect the creek that was listed as being on the property, we fought our way through all the foliage and ended up next to a big ole beech tree that was standing beside the water. On this beech tree was carvings. Very interesting carvings. Satisfied that the creek was on the property, we signed the contract and was moving in two weeks later. Spent the summer cleaning a pathway to the creek. Got very curious as to what those marks on the tree might mean, so I typed in a couple of words pertaining to my beech tree and somehow ended up at TreasureNet. WoW...a whole new interest. Read the posts for months, then decided that detecting/treasure huntin was what I wanted to do with my time. And glad I did. I'm having a great time.

 

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[EDDE]

I saw a Whites commercial on TV. Then I thought, "I like finding things, I can do this"

someone shoot willie D

 

[Don in SJ]

Back in the 70's I guess when the kids were at the age of where we always were doing things and going places, we got in to fossil and rock collecting and since we live close to the Jersey Shore we would see the metal detectorists hunting in and around the boardwalk in Ocean City NJ. After talking to one of them, I decided to build a Heathkit one.

I believe I had it for a year or two and never really got the interest to beach hunt so the detector sat in a closet for awhile. Then one day while I was walking to my deer stand during bow season, I saw a large brown coin like object lying in the loose sugar sand on an old stage road. The object turned out to be a 1740 KGII Halfpenny, what a nice eyeball find!

I was hooked then and there, I came back the next day with my Heathkit and all I found was .22 caliber casings but that was the beginning of metal detecting becoming my major hobby, the year, 1979.

Don in SJ

 

[d2]

Back when a teacher was more than a teacher, my mom and dad were going through a crappy divorce even by todays standards, and my 3rd/4th grade teacher took me metal detecting one afternoon to a CW site and we found bullets and buckles and all sorts of stuff. I cant remember what brand the detector was but it had a purple control box. I was 9 and the year was 1967. He was passionate about the CW and every play we did at school for the next 2 years had someething to do about it. Because of him I am crazy about history and especially the Civil War. I am now 48, retired and spend all of my time in the woods either MD'ing, hunting or fishing. I have a decent collection of CW stuff, arrowheads, pottery etc. and it is all due to Mr. Jack White. A man that took the time to take a 9 year old kid out MD'ing to get his mind off of the the crappy stuff going on at home. I havent seen him in 30 something years. I think he lives in NW Arkansas. But as soon as I can find him I will go see him and thank him again. I bought my first detector about 25 years ago and really got started doing research and sorta knowing what I was doing about 10 years ago. Mr. White, I think about you every time I dig up a bullet and hold piece of history in my hands. THANKS A MILLION...d2 ( Tim Reaves )

 

[damz68]

I guess for me it was passed down. It seems like every generation adds a hobby in family. When my father was a kid he and his father got into toy trains and photography. My Dad picked up detecting and passed it photography and toy trains on to me. I in turn have added catching snakes, frogs and nature watching on to my kids that also enjoy trains, photography and detecting.

 

[willie d]

I saw a Whites commercial on TV. Then I thought, "I like finding things, I can do this"

someone shoot willie D

Can't we all get along. What did I do?

 

[Mighty AP]

Thats a great story d2, I hope you locate your teacher & tell him how he inspired you.............that'll realy make his day!

 

[d2]

I ran him down about 5 years ago and talked to him on the phone but have lost track of him since...d2

 

[lumbercamp]

Anyone that likes snakes and frogs is all right in my book. And photography. My dad used to keep rattlesnakes for pets. The neighbors complained to the borrough council about it, but since there was no ordinance out keeping snakes , they could do nothing about it. This was back in the 30's. Me, I just keep milk snakes and garter snakes for pets. I know this has nothing to do about metal detecting, but what the heck.

 

[damz68]

Hey lumbercamp,

You are not off topic. Treasure hunting can also be finding a Canebreak Rattler coiled under a piece of tin siding or a green treefrog stuck to a palmetto frond.

What state are you in?

 

[lumbercamp]

Pennsylvania

 

[pgill]

Since I was a child I have always been fascinated with treasure hunting. We used to look around old houses, and any other place where we thought something could be hidden. The story about older people burying their money next to the fence pole because they did not trust banks... (still dont trust them ) as always remained in my mind. When I got the internet, I started to look up about gold panning in South Africa, as I am wanting to do try this, and will next year when we are on holiday A few years ago, a friend gave me a Cscope metal detector, but I could not get it to do much... It was a real cheap thing, it cannot find anything deeper than 1". I then found Tnet and the advert for someone giving away a metal detector, I responded to the advert because detectors in this country are way too costly for a council workers wage, with all the foriegn exchange rates and the detectors coming from the USA, it put them out of range for me. I did not get this detector, but you know what the people on this site are like someone else sent me one (no names mentioned). I have been hooked ever since, and will be for many years to come.

God bless you all,
Peter

 

[Mona Lisa]

As a kid, I always had my eyes to the ground hunting for stuff. If anybody lost anything, they knew that I would find it for them. My dad was interested in detecting so he built a Heathkit metal detector. We used it a few times, but I wanted a "good" detector. I used to pore through those White's newsletters that they used to send out every couple of months....dreaming about owning one.

I always had an interest in foundations in the woods and old abandoned houses even when I was young. My parents would tease me about the kind of house I was going to live in....because I was so fascinated with old farmhouses.

Fast forward to Christmas 2 years ago. I opened a present from my husband. It was a pair of big goofy headphones. I just looked at him wondering what the heck he was thinking and said a confused thank you. Why would I need a pair of big goofy headphones?? Then I opened a copy of the United States Coins RedBook. I just started crying because I was so excited and I knew what was coming next. The next package I opened was a White's Prizm IV.

I told him it was the best present he ever gave me. I detect all of those foundations and old houses I was so interested in 30 years ago.

 

[digdug_rita]

As a child growing up in Cattanooga Tn on Missionary Ridge I was always fascinated with the Civil War. Used to get up on Saturday mornings and head for the woods where you could (at that time) dig bullets and musket balls out of trees. Also, just pick a big tree and start digging around the trunk...always finding things that way. No detector needed at that time, had never even heard of one. Then after my own children had grown and moved from home I had more "ME" time. My fascination led me to buy a Tesoro, then to a Garrett 1500 which I have used for 12 years with no problems. I have had some rather good luck finding neat things....cannot boast about any gold coins or pirate treasures but whatever I uncover is a treasure to me.

 

[Shamus]

My uncle gave my aunt a MD for Christmas one year, back in the 1970s. Later in the afternoon she took it into their front yard and tried it out. The first thing she found was a Spanish piece of eight, dated in the late 1700s, just a couple of inches or so down! This was in Port Orchard, WA and her first time detecting, ever. She guessed that a past resident's kids were playing with dad's coin collection and lost it. (If so, I bet they got their butts blistered!)

At around that same time my older brother had one which I used a few times to find pennies, pop tops and rusty tin cans.

When I was young my family would often pile in the pickup and dad would take us onto old backroads where we'd look for then explore old abandoned houses and cabins, and old dumps. A bit later, as a teenager, I collected antique bottles and glass insulators. So relic-hunting is in my blood, you might say.

Earlier this summer I was daydreaming about getting a pan and doing a little prospecting in the Cascade foothills, so I found and bookmarked a few prospecting supply websites. I happened to be looking at one earlier this week and saw that they sold metal detectors too. I got to looking, Googled for MDs and read some more, read some reviews, and next thing I knew I'd ordered a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV, thinking I might try shooting nuggets with it or at least go for coins and jewelry at spots closer to town (which is a more realistic goal). I think I was mostly inspired by my aunt, after all these years.

I'm still waiting for my detector to arrive.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Probably the old sunken treasure/pirate stories us kids loved in the 1950's and then in the 60's the Whites detector ads.

Before I owned a detector I would play "deep sea diver" at our local swimming hole. My first keeper find was a silver ring and I still have it.

The year was 1962 and the "smart" kids at Spring Lake Junior High (Spring Lake Michigan) laughed at me because I believed it was possible to find coins with a metal detector machine.

Back in those days one could hunt most anywhere because people didn't believe in metal detectors. My how things have changed!

Good thread!

Badger

 

[bazinga]

A little over a year ago I attended an auction with my dad. I was inside the building bying the old antiques because I sell on ebay. He was outside buying up the junk because he sells at flea markets from time to time. One of the things he got in a whole row of stuff for a couple bucks was an old, cheap metal detector. I scarfed it up and didn't pay much attention to it for a few months.

Then one day I saw it laying in a closet and decided to look up metal detecting online. I found this site and decided to buy a garret ace250. I was hooked before ever even using one.

Oddly enough, I met a guy from my hometown that detects and runs www.coinhunting.net. I live about an hour away from there now because I went to college, but what makes it wierd is that when I was 10 or 12 I was best friends with his son. Wish I would have known about detecting back then and gone out with him!

I lasted a month with the ace250 and realized something... if I was going to devote as much time to this hobby as I thought I could then I was wasting my time if I didn't have the best machine on the market. I bought a used Minelab Explorer with 2 extra coils and the sunray probe off of ebay for $750 shipped!

It has all been down hill since then, haha. I also bought a Minelab Excalibur 1000 as well. Gotta have the best, right?

 

[djui5]

The Lost Dutchmans Mine

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

Just wanted to know what got y'all into this wonderful hobby. I'm sure this has been asked before but it time to refresh this subject. Besides, it might further inspire some of our newer "diggers" here on the forums.

What inspired me: The National Geographic special: Atocha: Quest for the treasure back in 1986. I've seen that special about 50 times on VHS no doubt, I was only 14 then... Then in 1991, while I worked at a scuba diving shop in California, I picked up the book: Treasure Recovery from Sand and Sea by Charles Garrett. Even though I have never hunted on sand or sea, I was hooked.

I was finally got my first detector in 1995, a Fishers CZ-20, and yes, while I owned it, I still never did any water hunting.... I unfortunately has to sell it a few years later to help others in need during Christmas. Then in 2003, my wife got together with family and friends and secretly got me a White's Spectrun XLT for my birthday. Yes, my wife is the greatest treasure that I've ever found.........

The floor is now open.........

GL & HH,

DugHoles

The thought of becoming richer than any dead old pirate.....I bet none of those pirates has dug as many memorials as I have!! I'm on my WAY!