Is metal detecting really just a hobby?

[Sandog]

Someone asked me if metal detecting was my hobby. Not sure how I answered at that moment, but it gave me pause to think that over. I'm sure it could tick all the boxes to qualify as a hobby. But would you call finding and returning precious items to folks a hobby? Or finding bits of history long buried? Every year I donate a baby bottle full of found coins to Care Net Baby Bottle Campaign. Hobby? I'll bet there is at least someone who does our kind of metal detecting as a living. Would you call Terry Soloman's efforts to help veterans through metal detecting just an extension of his hobby? So, just curious , would you call your metal detecting a hobby, and all that other stuff is merely coincidental, or do you call it something else?

 

[DizzyDigger]

I would consider it a hobby. It's something you enjoy, and go and do in your free time.

Anybody trying to make a living at it likely eats a lot of ramen.

 

[Merf]

Someone asked me if metal detecting was my hobby. Not sure how I answered at that moment, but it gave me pause to think that over. I'm sure it could tick all the boxes to qualify as a hobby. But would you call finding and returning precious items to folks a hobby? Or finding bits of history long buried? Every year I donate a baby bottle full of found coins to Care Net Baby Bottle Campaign. Hobby? I'll bet there is at least someone who does our kind of metal detecting as a living. Would you call Terry Soloman's efforts to help veterans through metal detecting just an extension of his hobby? So, just curious , would you call your metal detecting a hobby, and all that other stuff is merely coincidental, or do you call it something else?

More of an addiction for me. I can’t stop.

 

[UnderMiner]

My metal detecting is definitely a hobby, it's actually the least profitable endeavor I engage in (when extrapolated for hours spent doing it versus the return I get in found treasure value). Let's face it, unless you get really lucky and find a treasure chest full of gold you're mostly just going to make a few dollars a day with spare change, but it's fun isn't it 😄👍

 

[Chilli]

Its a hobby, a passion, for some a profession and even an obsession.

 

[ToddsPoint]

It’s one of my many hobbies. Unfortunately my back is so messed up I can’t do it as much as I’d like. For me, having fun is a bunch of work anymore!😝

 

[Terry Soloman]

Metal detecting, for me, started as a medicine for my PTSD, and became a favorite and needed pass time. For millions it is indeed a hobby, for me it is salvation from racing thoughts, anxiety, and paralyzing depression. I turned my passion for detecting gold nuggets into a business that I ran for ten-years near Rich Hill, Arizona. I watched thousands of guests discover a new passion. I have now introduced metal detecting therapy to hundreds of combat veterans silently suffering from mental terrors brought on by combat. Metal Detecting helps, because it makes us focus on one thing - the message our machine is sending us. It gets us outside, moving, getting sun, not drinking, not sleeping, not sitting on the couch. Finding something once lost is exciting, fulfilling, and every so often profitable. Yes, metal detecting is a hobby, but it is also tool, balm, medicine. It is an escape from our everyday lives that many other hobbies will never provide.

 

[rginn]

Well to me, since I don't have to clock in, get a weekly paycheck for it, and it ain't usually hard physical work, yeah it's a hobby. (My Dad would tell me that.) Plus it keeps me out of the bars. And if you find a location in an out of the way place where a long since closed bar was operating, it's worth checking out.

 

[Nathan W]

Yes a passion and a lifestyle

 

[ArfieBoy]

At this point in life it is for sure a hobby. Actually, I also used to write articles for the TH'ing magazines and that, too, was part of the hobby. So, yes, for me it is a hobby!

 

[BigWaveDave]

I think metal detecting is a sport.

 

[Paul Revere’s Ghost]

Someone asked me if metal detecting was my hobby. Not sure how I answered at that moment, but it gave me pause to think that over. I'm sure it could tick all the boxes to qualify as a hobby. But would you call finding and returning precious items to folks a hobby? Or finding bits of history long buried? Every year I donate a baby bottle full of found coins to Care Net Baby Bottle Campaign. Hobby? I'll bet there is at least someone who does our kind of metal detecting as a living. Would you call Terry Soloman's efforts to help veterans through metal detecting just an extension of his hobby? So, just curious , would you call your metal detecting a hobby, and all that other stuff is merely coincidental, or do you call it something else?

It’s no longer the case. But before I was married I had a commercial fishing business, and a rock and roll band. That was my living. But I also had a buddy who I met through my brother who said from our stories, it sounded to him like we were searching for the same sunken French ship which had chests of gold, sunk in a mere 40 feet of water in Boston harbor. We had a meeting and determined it was true.
But we became good friends and went beach and underwater metal detecting very often. The last year I was single I did 40 dives. The next year, 4. But our adventures were documented in articles I sold to treasure hunting magazines. All the payments were saved as well as all my finds. Then one day I found myself watching metal prices going up, as interest rates went down, and I cashed out. All the money went into a down payment on the house I’m currently in, which is now worth about 900K.
So it can be more than a hobby for sure. My buddy…. He moved about 10 years ago to New Mexico where he’s still searching for a hidden gold mine. His phone number has been disconnected. We’ve lost touch. But he bought a nice chunk of property with commercial buildings there. Lives and circumstances change. I’m now retired and getting back into the “hobby” I love. A bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work every time. 🏖️🏴‍☠️