Treasure Hunting With Friends and Relatives,What if????

[Ohio Jerry]

Sorry to start a controversial thread but is there some unwritten rule about detecting with friends or relatives?. Say you've researched for months ,take your brother to an old undetected home site and the first thing he digs up is a gold coin worth thousands!!!
I know the odds of that happening but what if?,I just figure it should be finders keepers since he'll be taking me to good sites in his neck of the woods, but should we discuss ahead of time about maybe splitting the proceeds on a really valuable coin?? Thanks for any input on what could be a touchy subject,
Jerry

 

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[jeff of pa]

Absolutely not In my opinion.
It's there find.

As far as I'm concerned There is an Unspoken Rule
That if a Cache or Treasure is dug, it gets Shared with all present.

I'm not talking a small Chicklets container, Coin Purse,
A Large Drop, or a Wallet with No ID just Cash.

I'm talking a Large Obvious Cache.
MASON JAR, Package of Bills, an obvious Buried Gold Bar or bars
(not Dropped) etc.

 

[stanjam]

Kill him and take it! Just kidding!

I have no idea what the accepted rules are for this. Small finds or stuff you can't effectively divvy up I imagine that it would be finders keepers. For large items that can be shared it might be different, especially if you found something because someone brought you to that neat site.

The best way to avoid grief however (though not fool proof) would be to make an agreement before you hit a site, just so everyone is clear on what is expected should that valuable item turn up!

 

[RON (PA)]

Jeff, you hit the nail on the head. I agree 100%.

 

[Farmercal]

What you find if what you keep. What if you are a better detectorist than the relative you bring along? Do you want to do all the hard detecting and hand over half of what you find? I didn't think so

 

[gnewt]

The first timer is usually the lucky one, I would love to divide up with them. Gnewt

 

[stanjam]

What you find if what you keep. What if you are a better detectorist than the relative you bring along? Do you want to do all the hard detecting and hand over half of what you find? I didn't think so

Good points, also why I think regardless on what anyone THINKS should be done, that all parties agree beforehand how things will be divided, if at all. That way everyone knows in advance what to expect if someone finds a cache. Yes, they may be a better detectorist, but they may have also just gotten lucky. How would you feel if you, out of the goodness of your heart, brought your brother, brand new to the hobby, to a site you wanted to work, and the dang fool hit a cache, a cache that would have been yours if you weren't so darn nice? I would feel a little bitter.

Still, if it were me, and even if we all agreed that the finder keeps everything he finds, I would still feel obligated to give at least part of that cache to the person who was kind enough to let me work the site that he had researched and thought of.

 

[jeff of pa]

On Splitting a cache

There are several different ways.

Lay it all out & Pick back & forth
pic by dates and/0r denominations/ types

put it in a pot & pic without knowing what you will get

cash it all in and split the earnings

and of course if there is one extra it goes to the finder as a bonus.

Of course all depends on How close a group you are, on a surprise cache find
as to Whether you feel this all needs to be worked out in advance,
or if you feel comfortale waiting till the time comes.

On a Intentional Cache/Treasure Hunt I would consider hashing out things in advance.

It is Probably Wise to advise a Newbie beforehand,
as they are less likely to think in these terms

 

[handy]

if i wanted to take someone i would take them to a site where they have a good chace at finding somethang but as for a site that i researched for months i would want to go there first by myself

 

[stanjam]

if i wanted to take someone i would take them to a site where they have a good chace at finding somethang but as for a site that i researched for months i would want to go there first by myself

Wise idea! However with my luck I would do the research, go a few times, find a few little trinkets, then invite someone, and they would start pulling up gold bars!

 

[handy]

if they get gold bars then charge them for the ride home

 

[JOe L]

I also say work out a split ahead of time. Then you at least know whats up before you go into it.

 

[Born2Dtect]

Unless you have a prehunt agreement as to the splitting of finds, any find is the finders. One point I would like to make is: "In MD if a buried or hidden treasure cache is found, one not lost or dropped by accident, the owner of the land is the owner of the find." Does anyone know if your state is the same?

Ed D.

 

[angelus]

Kill him and take it! Just kidding!


Holy crap I laughed my ass off when I read this. I'm glad my boss wasn't in the office at the time.

 

[DiggerBug]

First off one of my detecting partner/friends Nana40 (Donna) is a much better detectorist than I and I don't expect her to share her finds with me.
Second, the person that finds/gets permission/researches a site, it is considered their site and the others in our trio don't hunt it without them.
On the other hand we have sites we find and get permission for together. Any of us hunt it at any time.
On one of these particular shared sites I found a toy/jewelry/misc. cache a couple of weeks ago while hunting with Donna. Nothing to make us rich but great fun.
Anyhoo, I had found the initial cache spot but I called Donna over to help me dig it all out and share in the excitement. Anything I could remember that she pulled out I gave to her, then shared the duplicate items like marbles, cars, tanks, playmoney.
I never thought twice about sharing the experience or the cache.
Now if one of us pulls out a coin worth big bucks, I say whoever found it keeps it and more power to them. No matter who's site it is.

 

[Montana Jim]

If you are gonna get whinny because they found a treasure and not you, or, if you are not willing to share - then hunt alone, period.

Otherwise, be cool, and be ready to get skunked! It happens. I hunt alone or with only ONE other person, the same person... if with anyone.

Greed can ruin the experience - be prepared.

 

[radarwill]

This reminds me of a movie quote:

Two men enter, one man leaves!!

 

[radarwill]

Greed can ruin the experience - be prepared.

How true, Jim. It dosen't just apply to detecting, it also applies to an entire country.

 

[Ohio Jerry]

If you are gonna get whinny because they found a treasure and not you, or, if you are not willing to share - then hunt alone, period.

Otherwise, be cool, and be ready to get skunked! It happens. I hunt alone or with only ONE other person, the same person... if with anyone.

Greed can ruin the experience - be prepared.
[Getting skunked by my brother is nothing new,we've been fishing together for 40 years ,this was never about greed or not being willing to share but money can come between the best of friends and i thought it might be better to address the finding of a cache or gold bar ahead of time(we did) and no cache or gold bar came up) but he did dig his first Indian Head,a Barber,and a Merc on my site with his fresh out of the box Explorer SE and that made my day]

 

[(())RandY(())]

Hunt Alone Thats what i do