Do you set goals?

[1320]

I called Onionhead recently for some advice on detecting.? He offered some great advice and one thing that he does is to set goals for each trip.? Just curious if any of you do the same?? Just to let you know how serious this guy is, he set a goal last year to find $1,000 in coins for the year and he did it!? That's around $2.75 a day, assuming he gets to detect every day of the year.? With the limited time that I have to detect, I'd have to find about $19.00 per day to reach that goal.? Either way, it's a lot of dedication and digging....no wonder he finds all the rings.?

Based on his advice, I am setting goals each trip.? I started off easy....on one site that I hunted this weekend, I knew I wouldn't find a bunch of coins so I set a goal to find:? one penny, one nickel, one dime and one quarter.? Three of the four were fairly easy since I purposely cranked my DISC up but to get that nickel, had to crank it way down.? It forced me to slow down, concentrate and focus on a nickel.? I finally got it but my trash to treasure ratio was over 10:1 but you know what?? That's where most of the really good stuff falls too.....? ?One negative tradeoff with establishing a goal was that I hunted a little longer than I wanted too in marginal weather....I was committed!?

Tell me about your goal setting experiences (if any), good or bad.

 

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[True_Metal]

Mine is to find goodies in previously pounded sites. I'm happier at pulling a Merc on edge from a foot down and next to a nail that some other joker passed over than digging sitting ducks from 4" down, unless of course they are all silver

 

[lonewolfe]

I have a 'set' of goals that are long term and on going. I don't get specific and set a goal for each and every place I hunt and or each time I hunt new ground, or put a # on finds at each place, etc.

My goal/s are based on a yearly ratio shown below:

1: to find as many and the best coins, relics, etc. as possible within the allotted time of ea. hunt.

2: to find at least 2 gold rings per yr.

3: to find at least 10 pieces of jewelry per yr. no matter the comp. of metal.

4: to find at least 10 relics from the civil war period (not necessarily true soldier pieces, pieces from the time period are fine with me).

5: to research during the winter and have at least 10 new properties and 2 new lakes to hunt when the weather breaks.

other than that, I enjoy finding whatever I find and don't much care if sometimes I do worse than others. I usually obtain these goals every yr and sometimes exceed them. Rarely do I ever fall short of them.

P.S.

I do have a new goal this yr. though. I am looking to find some pieces/relics from the period of the war in 1812

 

[spotz]

My # 1 goal is to get retired so I can hunt more. ?My # 2 goal is to find multipal OLD Gold Coins. I think it is a good idea that Onion gave you. Where I live, it would be unrealistic to set my daily goal so high because there is a very small population base here. I have to think in terms of High Quality finds from research rather than volum finds. FTD does well because there seems to be a lot of construction going on in her area & there are numerous old home & building sites to hunt as the are demolished. All of the old homes where I live are occupied & not likely to be taken down in the near future. My whole town that I live in is only about six blocks square. Poulation 1800 people. Nearest larger town is 14,000 people. & these are current populations. Ten years ago it was 635 in my town & 5100 next door. The towns have been here since the 1860's & in relative terms, that is not very old. There are about 5 old homes in my town & maybe 11 in the larger town next door. You can see how drastically that narrows opportunities unless I travel out of the area or really pin point my research. This is what makes it interesting. I WILL MEET MY GOALS eventually. We just can't let a little adversity over come our goals. Spotz

 

[OnionRings]

My daily goal is $2.00 dollars in clad once that is achieved I slow down and look for better sounding targets. I rarely miss my goal but weather and time are normally factors in missing it.

This is my hunting style and it's not for everyone but I will leave the dimes a foot down for others to find they're no interest to me. I can buy just about any old coin I would like with the amount of clad I find not to mention batteries and and gas and still have money left over to buy these!

Onion

 

[1320]

What up Onion?! Slowing down has been hard for me to do but setting the goal for a nickel sure helps! I gave myself what I thought was an unachievable goal on a night hunt this weekend. My hunting partners from Canada were leaving for the night and they asked me how much longer would I detect, I said "until I find silver or one hour, whichever comes first". Twenty minutes later a nice 1952 half is in my pouch

Of course, I hunted for the next three hours

 

[OnionRings]

Did you post a pic? I would like to see it! I haven't been hunting all week due to the fact that were selling our house and in the the hunt for a new one. I will get out today for a break and do some Hunting.

HH,

Onion

 

[True_Metal]

Ah, what can i say, i like the challenge. 8)
?
Nice coin! Have a couple myself. Found them about a foot down on edge and next to nails. Someone must have cleared out all that pesky clad and girls rings before i got there that were masking the good stuff signals.

 

[1320]

I didn't post a picture of it because I didn't thing anyone would want to see it. I'll snap a photo tonight and post tomorrow in Today's Finds. Also eye balled some cool bottles from the 50's that I'll put up.

 

[Lowbatts]

I'm not going home without silver. Okay, silver-colored things. Okay, things that were once silver colored. Okay things that could be exchanged for silver or silver-colored things or things that were once silver colored.

It's been three days and the birds are circling overhead. The sun, it used to be my friend. Now it haunts my obsession with it's burning glare. My neck has blistered and my breath is shorter but I'm not going home without silver. Okay, silver-colored things. Okay, things that were once silver colored. Okay things that could be exchanged for silver or silver-colored things or things that were once silver colored.

Winter moving in now. Cold winds become icy blasts and the ground hardens. My footsteps slow as the feet inside my shoes, once blistered and swollen are now frozen and hardened but I'm not going home without silver. Okay, silver-colored things. Okay, things that were once silver colored. Okay things that could be exchanged for silver or silver-colored things or things that were once silver colored.

Hmm, just noticed, forgot to turn on my machine. Time to start over. I'm not going home without silver. Okay, silver-colored things. Okay, things that were once silver colored. Okay things that could be exchanged for silver or silver-colored things or things that were once silver colored.

 

[1320]

LMAO!

 

[bigrig40]

I try to top my previous year such as last year I found 6500 coins,oldest was an 1880 V nickel,this year I want 10,000 coins and hopefully a coin in the 1850's.Would like to top last years ring total of 50 also.So far this year we already have over 1300 coins and a dozen rings.

bigrig

 

[Monty]

My goal is to learn my machine #1 and #2 to find silver. Not very lofty goals but realistic for a novice. I can't imagine finding 50 rings! Have you found a place where folks go to throw their rings away? Right now I find a bit of clad which seems to be pretty easy so perhaps some of the other finds will become easier as I learn? I usually find a couple dollars in clad every time I go out. I've not been digging pennies lately and consequently have been finding more nickels and quarters, but alas no silver.

 

[bakergeol]

Goals?-Keep on learning( my machines, research)- keep on seeking new challenges.

Well I started out bulk coin and jewelry hunting in an era when silver was as common as sand. Then some minor relic hunting. Then a lot of old coin hunting. Then I moved up to gold specimen hunting. Well after all those activities what's next? Well as I need a challenge you are not going to find me in one of Denver's parks digging clad. ?I am presently learning about meteorite identification and plan on doing some space rock hunting with a detector/mag this summer.? Just a new challenge.

George

 

[jeff of pa]

Just to get out & do my thing

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey George, I've heard estimates on the number of meteorites that fall to earth each day and given some of the estimates, it seems there should be one or two detectable specimens every so many acres. Being at the edge of farm country, this concept interests me. Seems the smaller ones surely would have been turned over in the hundred plus years of plowing and many could me laying atop the ground or within easy detecting depth. Maybe one of these days you'll catch following you around picking up a few pointers.

 

[DiggerX]

I generally do not set goals, because I may end up really disappointed if it's a bust. I detect because I enjoy it, and for me...getting too planned out just spoils it.

Mind you, I have things I LIKE to find to make it a more "satisfactory" experience. When I go detecting in the UK, I usually hope to at least find a hammered silver (coin), but as much of a history geek that I am, I am usually pretty giddy to find any identifiable ancient or medieval coin (or relic).

I still love finding ARW & ACW bullets, even though basic minnies are fairly common to find.

Doc

 

[bk]

My goal was to obtain a complete set of dimes from 1892 to 1964 in fine or better condition. After over 30 years of detecting, I only need 6 coins to complete the set. Most are the key dates of course. I only need the 1916D mercury for that set. The ones that I do need I have seen other people find, so I know it can be done. If I can't find the ones I'm missing, I can always try to up-grade the ones I have.

 

[spotz]

Lowbatts! About your post of " not going home without silver". You are one sick dude. Really my kind of detecting guy. I love it. Yes!! Spotz

I have had the meteorite idea in mind for a long time. I met some folks at a GPAA outing last year that had three small one about the size of a shooter marble. Definitely gets your interest going & your detector arm twitching.

 

[whiskers]

Hey Spotz, did you find that Flying Eagle or is it just your favorite design, as it is mine?

Goal #1 - To have a good time. I'll often decide on the spur of the moment (I.E. - on site) whether to use my detector on old Gold Rush sites or just to scruff around looking for 1906 Earthquake relics.

Goal #2 - Not to run my pick through the top of my shoe. (I did that once about 35 years ago, sitting in a hole chopping away at a dirt wall. There was a rock in that dirt wall and the pick glanced off the rock and went right through the top of my shoe and between my toes. I had a couple of sore toes for a few days but at least I didn't lose one. My "keeper" for that day was a shoe with a hole in it. Still have it.)

Goal #3 (Concerning this forum) - To post enough times to get that cursed "Newbie" sign off my nameplate. I've been THing since 1959 and I darned well resent it!

-Jim Lyons