The crazy reason I started MDing...how ‘bout you?

vpierceiii

Jr. Member
Aug 2, 2018
59
215
Placerville CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Minelab Manticore
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
A few years back I inherited a diamond necklace from my gma. It is a 1.5 karat near perfect diamond on a gold chain. My grandparents were jewelers. It appraised for $8k. Anyway my wife forgot to take it off before going to work. So she put it in a tissue in her purse. The next morning she wasn’t thinking when she found the “used” tissue in her purse....yeah, you know where this is going, don’t you? Anyway it got flushed down the toilet. :BangHead:
Needless to say (I’m going to say it anyway) I was pissed.
Fortunately though we are on a septic system and not city sewer. So I stopped everything....forbid my family to poop....and drove 2 hours to Cabela’s where I bought a Fisher F4. I came home dug up the septic tank lid and opened her up. I wrapped the coil and shaft in a heavy duty trash bag and went to work. Ugh. Anyway I detected the necklace in about 20 seconds. So I took an old rake and modded it and fished for gold in my terd-farm. FIVE HOURS later, just before giving up, I snagged the necklace!!! :headbang::headbang::headbang:
So I cleaned everything up except the rake which I just dried off and gave to a neighbor I didn’t like. :laughing7:
So after all, some good came out of this: I discover and removed a root ball that was about to clog things up, my wife no longer wants to wear the “poop necklace” :laughing7:, I got back at a jerk neighbor that now thinks I’m a nice guy:laughing7: AND I discovered an awesome new hobby!!!
So what’s your story?
 

Upvote 0

GB1

Gold Member
Jul 12, 2017
7,428
21,863
East TX
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Teknectics eurotek pro
bounty hunter time ranger
bounty hunter quick draw 2
used a teroso compadre.
Primary Interest:
Other
i got one for christmas a few years back went in my front yard and started to find change. Then i went to a old spot by the creek and found a horse shoe and the rest is history from there
 

DiamondDan

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2016
465
1,129
Robbinsdale, MN
Detector(s) used
White's M6; Tesoro Compadre; Minelab E-trac; Bounty Hunter QD2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Bought one for 40 bucks at a pawn shop because I was interested in detecting. Didn't really catch the bug and sorta forgot about the machine. 2 years later, my wife lost her very expensive wedding ring (for which I worked my ass off) and I brought out the detector to see if I could find it. No luck. However, I found so much cool stuff in my own yard I became a metal detecting junkie overnight lol.
 

gunsil

Silver Member
Dec 27, 2012
3,864
6,207
lower hudson valley, N.Y.
Detector(s) used
safari, ATPro, infinium, old Garrett BFO, Excal, Nox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I always looked in the ground for old stuff. I did a lot of gardening for my mother and her friends as a child and living in a very early settled area I would find indian head pennies, early handmade marbles, a large cent and other relics. As I became a teen I found a huge old bottle dump in the woods and excavated it for four summers and made more money selling antique bottles than I could shoveling snow and mowing lawns. I started collecting civil war items at 13 and when 22 in 1970 I went to a civil war show in VA and saw my first metal detector but did not buy one. I couldn't sleep for days thinking about metal detectors and drove all the way back to Richmond, VA from NY to see the guy who had them at that show and bought a brand new Garrett Master Hunter BFO. After a month or so of hunting I went back to Richmond and bought another for my girlfriend. Hunting was fantastic, all schools, churches, and parks were virgin ground and we found plenty with those early beep and dig machines. Permission was easy to get then also and few folks cared what we were doing, many thought it was cool and let us hunt their colonial era lawns and woods. 48 years later I still love listening to the ground and seeing what the next target is.
 

A2coins

Gold Member
Dec 20, 2015
33,807
42,606
Ann Arbor
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
What if you find out where the toilet pipe dumps into the whatever or where ever I would assume it would be under the outlet laying there, Get something heavy with a gps tracker cell phone is to big lol ok yes I get carried away like that diamond,
 

OP
OP
V

vpierceiii

Jr. Member
Aug 2, 2018
59
215
Placerville CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Minelab Manticore
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I always looked in the ground for old stuff. I did a lot of gardening for my mother and her friends as a child and living in a very early settled area I would find indian head pennies, early handmade marbles, a large cent and other relics. As I became a teen I found a huge old bottle dump in the woods and excavated it for four summers and made more money selling antique bottles than I could shoveling snow and mowing lawns. I started collecting civil war items at 13 and when 22 in 1970 I went to a civil war show in VA and saw my first metal detector but did not buy one. I couldn't sleep for days thinking about metal detectors and drove all the way back to Richmond, VA from NY to see the guy who had them at that show and bought a brand new Garrett Master Hunter BFO. After a month or so of hunting I went back to Richmond and bought another for my girlfriend. Hunting was fantastic, all schools, churches, and parks were virgin ground and we found plenty with those early beep and dig machines. Permission was easy to get then also and few folks cared what we were doing, many thought it was cool and let us hunt their colonial era lawns and woods. 48 years later I still love listening to the ground and seeing what the next target is.
Isn’t it amazing how things have changed? I grew up in the 70s and life was safe and care-free. It seems like people were a lot nicer too....or at least a lot less stressed out.
 

mike b

Sr. Member
Sep 21, 2012
454
2,161
STATEN ISLAND NY
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ONLY MINELABS, and now one Detector Pro Underwater.
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
A few years back I inherited a diamond necklace from my gma. It is a 1.5 karat near perfect diamond on a gold chain. My grandparents were jewelers. It appraised for $8k. Anyway my wife forgot to take it off before going to work. So she put it in a tissue in her purse. The next morning she wasn’t thinking when she found the “used” tissue in her purse....yeah, you know where this is going, don’t you? Anyway it got flushed down the toilet. :BangHead:
Needless to say (I’m going to say it anyway) I was pissed.
Fortunately though we are on a septic system and not city sewer. So I stopped everything....forbid my family to poop....and drove 2 hours to Cabela’s where I bought a Fisher F4. I came home dug up the septic tank lid and opened her up. I wrapped the coil and shaft in a heavy duty trash bag and went to work. Ugh. Anyway I detected the necklace in about 20 seconds. So I took an old rake and modded it and fished for gold in my terd-farm. FIVE HOURS later, just before giving up, I snagged the necklace!!! :headbang::headbang::headbang:
So I cleaned everything up except the rake which I just dried off and gave to a neighbor I didn’t like. :laughing7:
So after all, some good came out of this: I discover and removed a root ball that was about to clog things up, my wife no longer wants to wear the “poop necklace” :laughing7:, I got back at a jerk neighbor that now thinks I’m a nice guy:laughing7: AND I discovered an awesome new hobby!!!
So what’s your story?
You win ! That's a hard to beat story .
 

Ammoman

Bronze Member
Oct 12, 2015
2,211
5,348
NC
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Nokta Impact, Tesoro Compadre..
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I spent most of my childhood on the Island of Guam. My friends and i used to explore old Japanese Caves, root around in fox holes and generally hunt for treasures left behind by American and Japanese soldiers. For me, a metal detector was the only logical choice in feeding my obsession with unearthing history.
 

Back-of-the-boat

Gold Member
Apr 18, 2013
6,873
8,471
California
Detector(s) used
AT GOLD/Garrett /C.Scope cs4PI/Garrett(carrot) pro pointer/ 5x8 double d coil and sniper coil/Lesche digger/Lesche "T" handle shovel.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went to school in one of the last one room school houses in California and lived three houses away so it was my playground and on the weekends when I would be over there playing on the playground equipment, people would show up to detect the school grounds.That was my first introduction to detecting and I got the bug by seeing what the people were finding.
 

pulltabfelix

Bronze Member
Jan 29, 2018
1,006
1,624
North Atlanta
Detector(s) used
Currently have CTX3030 and Vanquish 440.
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Always wanted one. started going gold panning in North Georgia mountains with my two boys back then 8 and 15. Was just the excuse to give to my wife that we must have the fisher gold bug to find gold nuggets. Had one off and on since then.
Still even today I have to justify a new detector to my wife. Some things never change.
 

Whyme

Silver Member
Aug 22, 2007
3,731
5,451
Western New York
Detector(s) used
CTX-3030, Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My father loved electronic stuff. He bought a metal detector kit from Heathkit or Lafayette Radio Electronics. I think it was Lafayette. Anyway, dad and I soldered it all up and took it out for a spin. Was pretty cool at the time. Later in life I remembered the metal detector kit and started looking on the net for a detector. Bought an Ace 250 and have been detecting on and off since then. Can't wait to retire so I can really do some detecting!
 

Waterbug

Full Member
Jul 6, 2005
110
142
Iowa
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, XLT & GoldmasterV/SAT
Fisher 1280x
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
In 1975 I picked up a treasure hunting magazine at a book store.After reading through it,I ordered my first detector,a Whites Gold Master,from the Sears catalog.What a hobby-passion it has been!
 

Switchblade

Sr. Member
Sep 6, 2018
411
527
Nazareth, PA
Detector(s) used
Garrett 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Used to detect when I was like 7 with my grand father. Just recently got back into it.
 

Escape

Bronze Member
Apr 4, 2009
1,643
1,881
Because I didn't save for retirement. Hopefully I can serve as a warning to others.
 

ZR2guy

Sr. Member
Jan 6, 2011
454
510
Southwest Ohio
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 700 (stock and 6" coil), Pro-find 35 PP, Makro PP, and a little luck.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
My Grandparents bought me a Radio Shack MD when I was about 8-10 years old. My Grandpa was always a "gadget guy" so it was fitting. It was a big deal for me, especially at that age. This detector could barely find a quarter at about 2-3" and obviously very rudimentary. It did leave an impression on me and years later I was at an old girlfriend's house watching TV late one night when a White's Metal Detector commercial came on. I was suddenly thrown back in time to when I was a kid and received that Radio Shack detector. I called around and was a little disappointed when I found out the cost on one of these White's units. I still thought about it a lot and a few years later looked into getting one again. I started with a couple different Bounty Hunter detectors then bought my first "real to me" detector which was a Garrett GTP 1350. I used that for a good while then moved on to a Minelab. Since then I have owned almost every brand of detector out there. I enjoy this hobby with a passion and I always will.:icon_thumleft:



I should add that I wish my Grandparents were still here, especially Grandpa, as he would love the technology of today’s metal detectors.
 

Last edited:

Kantuckkeean

Bronze Member
Apr 30, 2009
1,608
1,879
Cornfield, IN
Detector(s) used
F-22, cheapo pinpointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My older son wanted one for Christmas, so we got a couple of kids models (one for each of the boys) that got good reviews online. Went out into the fields, dug a bunch of junk but it reinforced the fact that boys like digging holes, playing in dirt, and dreaming of finding gold coins and treasure... go figure! My wife got me an F22 for my birthday last April to start off with something decent but inexpensive, in case I didn’t like the hobby. Haven’t been out much. Need to get some permissions so that we have some better places to detect. I don’t want to discourage the kids by digging nothing but trash.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck
 

dhog

Jr. Member
Feb 26, 2018
55
79
SW Va
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garett ace 400 AT PRO Fisher F22
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Have always been interested in history and treasure but never had time, now that I am ******ed.... And have some time it is a fun hobby. And I love being outside 😀
 

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