What are your biggest regrets in the hobby?

[BigWaveDave]

The house I grew up in, Plymouth Ma, was built in 1852.... Big back yard. I remember jumping out of a tree, finding a shield nickel on the ground. I would play with army guys in the dirt, and find Mercury dimes. My Mom and Dad were planting tomatoes in the garden, found a large cent....
So Dad buys me the $20 Radio Shack orange detector, but doesn't let me use it in the yard, didn't want me digging holes and making a mess.."beach only"....I was like 10 yrs old.
Soon thereafter, folks split up, house got sold.
First thing the new buyers did was remove all the trees, scrape the yard flat, and paved it for a big parking lot.
To this day, I toss and turn at night, thinking about what could have been....

 

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[tamrock]

One big regret that haunts me at times was taking my dad's advise on not buying this 1970 Plymouth Super Bird with a 440 six pack in 1974 for $1200. He made me think on the fact I may not be able to afford the gas that thing would eat up and everyone was getting rid of the gas guzzlers and buying the new Japanese rice burners.

 

[coinman123]

I regret bad cleaning habits.I destroyed some pretty descent coins and relics.

I broke my first colonial buckle (knee buckle) in half by trying to rub the dirt off lol. I know the pain.

 

[ARC]

Regret #1.

Not returning to the Keys to take Mel Fisher up on his job offer to help in locating Atocha.

1 year after my planned date to return to The Keys... My mother frantically called me inside from the dock... There was Mel on T.V.... Atocha had finally been found.

 

[coinman123]

One big regret that haunts me at times was taking my dad's advise on not buying this 1970 Plymouth Super Bird with a 440 six pack in 1974 for $1200. He made me think on the fact I may not be able to afford the gas that thing would eat up and everyone was getting rid of the gas guzzlers and buying the new Japanese rice burners.

Ouch. That is a super nice car, too bad you never got a chance to drive in one,

 

[tamrock]

I regret bad cleaning habits.I destroyed some pretty descent coins and relics.

Me too. My regret was taking an older Colt Woodsman to the gunsmith and having him buff and re-blue it all for 20 bucks. He took down much of the factory turn marks on the muzzle. When I went to sell it the buyer made a big point about having it spiffed up and that's when I learned it wasn't so good of a thing to do... I myself had shined up some old coins left to me by my grandma with a Dremel tool when I was young. They sure cleaned up nice and shiny, but it wasn't long after it was unannounced to me that's a big no-no in the field of collecting.

 

[tamrock]

Ouch. That is a super nice car, too bad you never got a chance to drive in one,

I did take it for a test drive, as it was my friends older brother who was selling it. He said take it up to a 100 on I-35 in Iowa, so I did. We got to that and he then said step on it some more. I watched the Speedo go a bit over 120 and said that's enough thinking a cop could be around. I knew then it had a lot more to go. I'd a probably got killed in it if I ever did get to own it, so maybe it was best I took my dad's advise.

 

[tamrock]

I regret living in a town, run by liberals, that has 90 parks and bans MD'ing.

I know. That's sad and I'm seeing more signs posting No Detecting in parks all over now.

 

[tamrock]

Regret #1.

Not returning to the Keys to take Mel Fisher up on his job offer to help in locating Atocha.

1 year after my planned date to return to The Keys... My mother frantically called me inside from the dock... There was Mel on T.V.... Atocha had finally been found.

I regret not investing 10 grand in his venture when he said he was positive he was on the right trail of the Atocha.

 

[against the wind]

I have been in the game since 1970. I didn't start to keep an accurate log of each hunt until 2012. I regret not doing that all along. With the advances made in technology over the years, the documentation of hunts made in the 70's, and 80's, sure would have come in really handy today. My advice to people starting out in the hobby today,, take the time to log each hunt. I include; date, weather, location, start and stop times, machine used, ALL good targets recovered, and any unusual occurrences.

 

[Midwest Murph]

I regret not having a detector while I was stationed in Germany for 2 1/2 years.

 

[Kurios1]

I regret living in a town, run by liberals, that has 90 parks and bans MD'ing.

Politicians are EVIL ! Well, the liberal ones anyway.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I did take it for a test drive, as it was my friends older brother who was selling it. He said take it up to a 100 on I-35 in Iowa, so I did. We got to that and he then said step on it some more. I watched the Speedo go a bit over 120 and said that's enough thinking a cop could be around. I knew then it had a lot more to go. I'd a probably got killed in it if I ever did get to own it, so maybe it was best I took my dad's advise.

Yep My Mom made me pass up what would have been my coffin.Don't remember what year it was but it was a Lotus espirit.Man oh man that car was fast.But I was a teenager with a lead foot and a lot of life yet to live So am glad she made me pass it up.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

My biggest regret was not quitting my job in 1982 to 1983 . I was 21-ish, in Jr. College & 1st job. I should have pursued detecting full-time that year. Some big storms hit CA coast that winter (that lasted for several months). But my employer kept saying "no" when I'd ask for days off. So I could only hit weekends or after work or whatever (not exactly coinciding with the right tide times).

The year that followed, stories began to trickle in of guys with astounding 100 silver coin days, 12 gold rings in a day, etc... But I was a numb-nuts young with with a machine not well suited for wet-salt at the time. The few times I *did* end up at the beach on good days that year, were crazy thick. I could only imagine that .... if I knew what I know today, I could have made a killing .

 

[coinman123]

Not a regret, but a kinda of sadness. My best site by far, many relic hunters dream site, is finally pretty much completely drained of targets. If I am willing to go deep in the river I can still manage to pull out a button or two still, but I don't know how much longer that will be though. I would go almost every day, before it got dark for half and hour to an hour and a half. I remember during my peak in around July 2014 pulling out sometimes 8 flat buttons, a King George Copper and a shoe buckle fragment in just an hour and a half. In one area of the site, after going there for the first time in three weeks, I saw some recent holes (not from me or my partner). I am pretty sure they probably saw me go to those woods over the course of three years, and decided to check it out. It's weird because two years or so ago, after finding half of my colonial silver shoe buckle I had a dream of someone metal detecting near where I saw those holes and finding the other half of it. I never really understood that site. I found evidence of one structure right at the site of where many of my finds are from, a large amount of bricks and iron, and a large pit filled with water around 8 feet by 8 feet wide and 10 feet deep (probably a cellar hole). Tons of pottery, and clay pipe stems and bowls in the river where the structure was right next to. The town meeting house was elsewhere, and nothing is even shown on the map from the late 1700's, even though most of my finds date from between 1730 and 1810. No cellar hole I have ever been to has produced more than ten buttons and a copper or two during the whole time I hunt it. This site probably has produced seventy or more buttons and around 20 coppers. It is right in the center of the town, surrounded by colonial architecture, there could have been an undocumented church, meeting house or store there in the 18th century. The site was bought by the town in the late 20th century to build the school, making it completely public. Too bad that site is finally coming to an end, I have been doing non-stop research to try and find more public woods in the center of a colonial town, so far these sites have either been completely trashed with cans or don't have anything. I have one promising looking site about 45 minutes away, it may not only be fifteen minutes away like my last one, but if it is good I won't care. If I find another site like my old one, I will be set for the next three years. The new site is a ball field with with probably 3 square miles of woods behind it, very similar to the site the produced so many relics. I am going to try and hit it up soon, I will try to post how it goes.

 

[foiled_again]

1) Not getting into detecting around 1980 when I lived in Kansas. There was a one-room schoolhouse in a certain small town in eastern Kansas that still haunts me.

2) Selling my XLT in 1997...still thinking about getting another one

3) Buying a PI machine after I hated the first one I had so much

4) Not being a better detectorist now when the house sites I currently hunt should, but don't, yield any silver coins

 

[Wudnut]

Regret not doing it till now age 51, spent years fishing and hunting and always thought of getting into it, got some time to make up LOL

 

[Junkironkid]

Wish I had started younger. But instead I had chasing girls on my mind and cars. If I had started detecting back in the early 70s. I would have had a nice little collection.

 

[cajamk]

My ONLY regret with detecting is not starting this earlier in life. Starting in my early 60's but at least I have started!!

 

[Rustic]

I have been in the game since 1970. I didn't start to keep an accurate log of each hunt until 2012. I regret no doing that all along. With the advances made in technology over the years, the documentation of hunts made in the 70's, and 80's, sure would have come in really handy today. My advice to people starting out in the hobby today,, take the time to log each hunt. I include; date, weather, location, start and start times, machine used, ALL good targets recovered, and any unusual occurrences.

Thanks, that's a super idea! I'm going to start doing that next hunt.