LIFE is TOO Short

BuckleBoy · Jan 14, 2009

Life is Too Short.

You can only go detecting so many times.
You can only put your coil over the ground at so many sites.
You can only search so many square feet of ground in your lifetime.

What will you search for?

I've talked to a lot of unfocused detectorists that seem to be caught at the throat by Hope. Hope is NOT enough. There are thousands upon thousands of sites out there--too many to be counted. How will you choose where you hunt?

If you're Lazy, or have no Focus, what will the quality be of what you find?

Fact of the matter is, if you don't know enough to look for other finds--glass finds, caches, stoneware, buttons, relics--then you sell yourself short.

We have the power to make this Great Hobby of ours into the most it can be for each of us, and we have a limited amount of time on this Earth to learn as much as we can.

This past year, my goal has been to hunt every old housesite in a certain area in Kentucky. As we've hunted more and more sites, it has become clear to me that along with this goal comes a responsibility--and that is to make every find that I can make at every site.

Usually if a detectorist misses something, other hobbyists will say "Good! More for Me!" However, I realized this year that if my team and I don't make a find it will likely never Ever be found. Put yourself in the shoes of another detectorist that in the future decides to hunt a few cellar holes in the same area where my team and I are hunting today. After hunting 10 cellar holes or housesites--and not having any finds to show for it--will that person continue to persevere? Or will they give up, saying "Those Kentucky Folk sure didn't lose anything--not even a suspender clip."

This is why I hunt the way I do. This is why I learn as much as I can. And this is why I will do my best to make every find that I can make. The responsibility bears on me every time I hunt. Everytime I drive way out in the middle of nowhere. Every time I ride on an ATV two miles deep in the woods to a site.

-BuckleBoy

rmptr · Jan 14, 2009

Good points Buckleboy!

I'm thinking, by the time I get to my third term I can make a big difference.

Montana Jim · Jan 14, 2009

Keeping in mind that Buckles is single, no kids, no honey-dos, has the summers off and doesn't always drive his own rig - I do agree with him!

I love ya Will.

Anyone who takes your advice can only improve the experience...

mlhudson · Jan 15, 2009

I AGREE WITH BUCKLES, IT'S NOT TO BE GREEDY, TO DIG EVERYTHING IN THE
GROUND. CHANCES ARE THAT WE WILL NOT EVERYTHING FROM A SITE,
BECAUSE AS TIME GOES BY, THE GROUND MOVES TURNING OVER NEW STUFF WITH EROSAION, PLOWED FIELDS, RIVER AND CREEKS TURN OTHER WAYS,
LEAVEING BEHIND VIRGIN EARTH. IN TWENTY YEARS THE THAT FALLOW BEHIND WILL HAVE PLACES TO HUNT, WITH RESEARCH AND PATIENCE,
AND A LOVE OF THE HOBBY..".NO BETTER TIME THAN THE PRESANT"

M L HUDSON

Siegfried Schlagrule · Jan 15, 2009

If you believe what you say you do you should not be afraid to list the exact address of some of those sites that you have "worked out". Anyone who is caught there without permission is obviously breaking the law. Personally I've never hunted a property that is "worked out" no matter how many people have been there before me. Agreed your old sites are no longer "virgin" territory. I'm not in your area and wouldn't go visit no matter what you had found there. I also do not pass out my old hunt sites wholesale. That is not because I'm embarrased to leave things behind. It is because I may someday want to rehunt there myself. siegfried schlagrule

EDDE · Jan 15, 2009

plowed fields are always getting new things turned up
went over a spot me and gates tore up the year before
to the point we were digging tiny items rivets, metals frags
large items were still popping up after the plant harvest and plowing

aa battery · Jan 15, 2009

very good post and i agree but i HOPE you arent talking about me :wink:

nova treasure · Jan 15, 2009

Thanks Will,
Always Glad to see the helpful info you bring to Treasurenet.
I try to hunt in the same manner everywhere I go,just for example i have hunted quite a few parks in my day with my Uncle and have found quite abit of Great finds. One day,He come to me while at a park and ask me if i wanted to hunt along with him,because he had found quite a bit of clad and he figured he was lucky that day and figured a ring would be next.He than ask me if I found anything and I would show him a handful of trash and so forth,he laughed and told me Good luck and he went on looking for his lucky ring or whatever might pass under his coil while walking aimlessly around the grounds.What he didn't know was that i had seen a pic of the area i was hunting from many years before and knew that there had been alot of activity in that area than,but it wasn't used much these days.
I searched most of the day and never moved out of the area that i believed was in the pic,and at the end of the day my uncle came back and showed me all the clad he found and a few pieces of what's it.The question came and he said ok did you ever find anything? I poured all of my Junk out on the ground and he laughed and said that he was sorry and he wished that i walked with him.I started laughing and told him that i wasn't done yet.So in my little keepers pocket i pulled out 7 wheat pennies,2 Indian heads,a silver quarter and several old tokens. He got all tore up,he told me that he had walked through that area before and never got a good signal.I told him if he would have focused more on the history of the park and kept gridding a location that he may had found some old stuff.
I explained to him that i see metal detecting a old park or any old site as a history book,you have to focus on the oldest story but slowly dig through the latest happenings until you find the last chapter.

Didn't mean to rattle on, but I find your info very helpful as We seem to Thank alot alike and hope Everyone understands your efforts to help as my Uncle did through me and now he has alot of older stuff to show and more of a understanding of the History that presented with it.

Nova Treasure

BuckleBoy · Jan 16, 2009

Siegfried Schlagrule said:
If you believe what you say you do you should not be afraid to list the exact address of some of those sites that you have "worked out". Anyone who is caught there without permission is obviously breaking the law. Personally I've never hunted a property that is "worked out" no matter how many people have been there before me. Agreed your old sites are no longer "virgin" territory. I'm not in your area and wouldn't go visit no matter what you had found there. I also do not pass out my old hunt sites wholesale. That is not because I'm embarrased to leave things behind. It is because I may someday want to rehunt there myself. siegfried schlagrule

I am not afraid to list the GPS coordinates of sites my team and I have worked out. I feel pretty confident that we have recovered almost all of what there is to be found. Subsequent seasons of harvest/planting will do little to change the arrangement of the ground, since where we hunt the land is all no-till farming.

I would however Not list the coordinates because of the respect I have for the property owners--and to safeguard the Good relationship I have with them (of not leaving holes, closing fences, and them thinking highly enough of us to call friends and family, and put my team and I on new sites). But if anyone would like to get a group together for a tour of the IRON Brigade's "worked out" sites, I'm up to it. As I said, I feel a strong conviction to recover everything possible. (Even though the whole time I'd probably be thinking about what I could be digging elsewhere...but it Would put my mind at ease.) Bring your Nautiluses and Minelabs, and we'll have a blast...but I really don't think the finds will be all that great.

Regards,

Buckles

BuckleBoy · Jan 19, 2009

Montana Jim said:
Keeping in mind that Buckles is single, no kids, no honey-dos, has the summers off and doesn't always drive his own rig - I do agree with him!

I love ya Will.

Anyone who takes your advice can only improve the experience...

Thanks MJ. I like to share how I think of MDing with others... and I know that my lifestyle won't continue like this forever. The clock is ticking. But I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Best Wishes,

Buckles

Silver Searcher · Jan 20, 2009

Hi Buckles.... what about the things that are deeper in the ground that todays detector canot find, perhaps the future detectors will go a lot deeper, let's say up to six feet with a readout telling exactly what it is so we don't waste out time digging junk :icon_scratch:

but one thing is for certain if you come over here I'm not follwing you on to fields were you have been

BuckleBoy · Jan 20, 2009

Silver Searcher said:
Hi Buckles.... what about the things that are deeper in the ground that todays detector canot find, perhaps the future detectors will go a lot deeper, let's say up to six feet with a readout telling exactly what it is so we don't waste out time digging junk but one thing is for certain if you come over here I'm not follwing you on to fields were you have been

Perhaps technology will continue to give future detectorists a leg up on me...but what matters to me is putting my mind at ease that I/We are doing the absolute best we can.

Across the pond, your fields are still deep plowed. Here, they are not plowed at all anymore. (No-Till Farming.

) I'm sure if they were plowed here, we could return to them in subsequent seasons for more finds.

-Buckles

Lowbatts · Jan 20, 2009

Amen BB. I always invite others to hit the areas I regularly hit. I feel that I have limits on my ability that are based not on my equipment alone but moreso my hunting style so I know there's items I've missed. Seems too few hit up some of those sites but those who do often come back with a piece of silver or two.

Living in a town with plenty of history and formerly rich hunting grounds, most believe those areas are "hunted out" but it's just a matter of discipline as much as anything else. That and the newer detectors, with superior target separation capabilities should equal good hunts in many areas "hunted out".

As far as research goes, those areas that have large recovery possiblity are fewer and fewer, virtually nil here, but those areas with some recovery potential are many. They are also very overlooked by people who will continue to hunt the former sites and take in a few mediocre finds instead of seeking that one or two very nice digs that make the hunt worthwhile.

I seldom get a bigger thrill than when I'm walking through an area of very quiet ground for an hour or more, knowing it has not been hunted. Because the next signal will reveal a small, usually remote site that returns those nice oldies, be they coin or relic spread over a small area.

BuckleBoy · Jan 20, 2009

Lowbatts said:
As far as research goes, those areas that have large recovery possiblity are fewer and fewer, virtually nil here, but those areas with some recovery potential are many. They are also very overlooked by people who will continue to hunt the former sites and take in a few mediocre finds instead of seeking that one or two very nice digs that make the hunt worthwhile.

So much of what you've said rings True... But this is the most profound part of your reply. It is true--each detectorist must find their niche. I too went after the Big sites for a long time, all the while making mediocre finds. But since then, I found that Virgin sites on a small scale hold limitless possibilities for quality.

Best Wishes,

Buckleboy