How many years do you have treasure hunting? Im 33 and this is my 5th yr into this so kinda young at it? My goal is to continue to learn from the vets out there.
Treasure Hunting has come in as decades have gone out.
Growing up on a flat dry land West Texas, treasure was found only in the small town's Bookmobile with "Coronado's Children", "50 Balloons", and "King Solomon's Mine". And, maybe the time I found my first arrowhead taking dad a cold drink of water as he plowed in the black land soil, or the time the heavy rain washed away the end of a cotton row's dirt to let me find some poor hired hoe-hand's old glass faced pocket watch..
High school days of treasure hunting were limited to Grandpa's old two story stable and various neighbors' old barns. Maybe something found at the town's dump before it was covered over. Mostly, these teenage days' treasures were measured in social acceptance or an opposite gender's warm heart....
College days found me doing afternoon and late night dumpster diving with a flashlight and those young days of "Early Marriage" after old tenants moved out of the apartment complexes we lived in.
Going to the large monthly flea market in a new and strange town that contained our jobs was always a treasure hunt as we bought our first house with its carport workshop.
Then, when a new Lowes opened, I found that I could find newer, better, and cheaper Treasures there than I could at the flea market. 90% of all the lumber I used to build a 16'x32' two story cabin came from the 90% off lumber, plywood, and returned windows and doors that were sold in Lowe's "Cull Carts for 10-cents on the dollar. Plus, Lowes and Home Depot store-wide clearance/close out materials, merchandise, and "OOPS Paint" Treasures came with a "30 day return policy" never known at the flea market....
I began detecting in 1999. It was years before I found my first gold ring, but the "Something for Nothing" fever never let go. It only evolved to a higher plane when historical items like a WWI dogtag was found.
It was only in the past seven years that I actually stumbled upon a garage sale on the fringes of our neighborhood. Old wooden sewing/thread cabinets, an old handmade dovetail wooden chest, rebuilt hammer drills, and new & antique hand tools for my workshop were priced far below retail, clearance, or flea market prices... Collecting newfound treasures for keeping is great. Selling a $5 electric 1960's pea sheller for $35 to a fellow who was going to use it to flatten the meat of his homemade beef jerky made us both happy and made me laugh.
As time passes, a new level of understanding occurs, the emotional high and low waves of missed items or the adrenalin joy of the garage sale finds pay far more than all the things I get to keep for "Free". These emotional times are measured in seconds and minutes, and then, when you stop to think about it, you realize that Treasure Hunting has lasted six and a half decades.
