Why do you Detect?

[newtector]

Hey everybody,

I'm curious what makes you want to keep on keepin' on? What drives you to detect even after getting skunked over and over again.

I'm currently in the process of writing a book that involves detecting. I'm not sure yet if it will be a series directed at youth or a novel. I would like any and all input. The storyline is as follows.

A brother and sister are in the car with their parents on their way to visit grandma and grandpa who live on Cape Cod. They encounter a violent storm and the parents die in a car crash. The kids go to live with the grandparents and the young boy is presented with a metal detector. While in the hospital library the boy stumbles upon a book about treasure myths along the east coast of the US and is attracted to a myth of treasure off the shore of cape Cod Bay.

 

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[worldtalker]

Being retired I gotta do something.


GOD Bless

Chris

 

[G.A.P.metal]

I just retired Jan.1st. 2015 and to much snow to get Relic hunting.....so right now i`m not doing what i want !
And i`m ticked off !
Gary

 

[Professor of Engineering]

I enjoy the calmness of walking and listening to the tones-very relaxing! Also a bit of the unknown, you never know what you will find!

 

[John Winter]

I think that you have a great idea. It's important to keep busy and the old grey matter turning over, but I question the rather strange and morbid way the boy is introduced to detecting. I'd give that some serious thought if I were you!

 

[pepperj]

Once you grow up looking down at the earth looking for things to collect, it's really hard to look up again. It's in the blood and most on here get it but if a person doesn't have the passion or the lure of treasure well it just boils down to a monitory subject to them and the value put on the item, then they equate it to something else. The quest to dig something up, that one find, that will rock a person to the core is there every time I dig in the soil to retrieve a target. It might not even have a value really it might be a piece of something that links a piece of history and what value can somebody put on that?

Here's an example of such a find a simple brass thimble, corroded not worth anything to the average person but it the story that went behind finding this thimble makes it special to me and a little treasure on its own. A fellow was telling me of this story of this little girl that got sick with something like the yellow fever close to a 100 years or so ago and she had lived in a tent on the property, sort of a quarantine at the time. His grandfather was the Dr. at the time and he would visit the girl, feed her, tend to her needs everyday. Woman from around the area would sit up on the hill and talk to the little girl and keep her company while they sewed and did other things throughout the day. Well it was up on the hill is where I found the thimble in the bush line. So things like this keep me digging, as it doesn't have to be worth a lot even to keep the passion running deep in the veins.

 

[slink]

The thrill of the hunt. The being outdoors is just a bonus.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I'm a coin shooter so that's a pretty limited facet of TH'ing. I do it for time to reflect. Fresh air. Hurts nothing but the occasional worm. The challenge of finding older coins. The anticipation of a good tone and what the ground eventually produces; sometimes that "bonus" piece of jewelry. And finally the detective work of trying to figure out the odd relics and bits of objects that do turn up.

 

[coinman123]

Once you grow up looking down at the earth looking for things to collect, it's really hard to look up again. It's in the blood and most on here get it but if a person doesn't have the passion or the lure of treasure well it just boils down to a monitory subject to them and the value put on the item, then they equate it to something else. The quest to dig something up, that one find, that will rock a person to the core is there every time I dig in the soil to retrieve a target. It might not even have a value really it might be a piece of something that links a piece of history and what value can somebody put on that?

Here's an example of such a find a simple brass thimble, corroded not worth anything to the average person but it the story that went behind finding this thimble makes it special to me and a little treasure on its own. A fellow was telling me of this story of this little girl that got sick with something like the yellow fever close to a 100 years or so ago and she had lived in a tent on the property, sort of a quarantine at the time. His grandfather was the Dr. at the time and he would visit the girl, feed her, tend to her needs everyday. Woman from around the area would sit up on the hill and talk to the little girl and keep her company while they sewed and did other things throughout the day. Well it was up on the hill is where I found the thimble in the bush line. So things like this keep me digging, as it doesn't have to be worth a lot even to keep the passion running deep in the veins.

Same for me too. I agree with what you said, "It might not even have a value really it might be a piece of something that links a piece of history and what value can somebody put on that?"

A gold ring I found may be worth quite a bit of money and is a thrill to find but it is not nearly as interesting to me as a find such as a corroded brass colonial shoe buckle worth $10, what has more history, that ring or that buckle? I do not like the people who do it solely for money, there are some exceptions though, jewelry hunting is a part of the hobby primary based on finding money but that is NOT what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about are the american digger types who do not care about the history of an item but just wants the money in their pocket.


Here is what I think the reason why I metal detect

I do it for many reasons but here are the biggest reasons. The feeling of knowing that the signal on my metal detector could be treasure, the thrill of the hunt, even though 90% of the time it is a pull tab of an old beer can or a shotgun shell from some hunter. Even when all I find is junk that does not stop me, I continue on because the next thing I find could be treasure. Even when I find nothing it is not a "bad" trip metal detecting, I got to be in the woods, outdoors, since when could you call that a bad trip? Treasure for me is not something specific. For me just an interesting relic that I can research on and find out it's history is treasure, anything from corroded large cents to an old button. As pepperj said, value does not make a find treasure, historical significance does in many cases. I think the big thing that keeps me going is knowing that there could be something great to be found, from a colonial coin to a beautiful buckle. I started metal detecting looking for bigger treasures such as gold and silver and quickly on discovered that treasure could be the smallest of items. Stuff that most people think of junk could be treasure to me. A tiny little piece of brass that is turns out to be a piece of a late 1800's pocket watch, looks like junk at first glance but the more research you do the more interesting it becomes. Those are the kinds of finds that keep me in the hobby. The best thing about this hobby is the feeling of holding a piece of history that has never been seen in centuries, a piece of physical history, not a page out of a textbook or a photo in a book. There are many other factors but I think that the biggest factors have been listed above.

That is what I think coming from the point of view as a relic/old coin hunter, Coinman123

 

[Msbeepbeep]

I'm aware of what's out there waiting to be found, and I can have my own treasure hunt every time I go detecting. The thrill is in the hunt. Just take a look at the Banner bar for the "dreams do come true" part!

Edward Rowe Snow actually found what some of us seek, a pirate's treasure chest.
I am inspired by our founding cache, coin, & relic hunting forefathers (& mothers).

The playing field is equal across the board for everybody, we can all find things.

 

[Escape]

Helps me to maintain a semblance of sanity,

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Escape I stopped trying maintain any semblance of sanity, my family thinks I'm the family nut for MD'ing, why shatter their illusions.

 

[Gold Maven]

Skunked time after time?

I might not find much at times, but I always find something interesting.

 

[pkb]

I enjoy the calmness of walking and listening to the tones-very relaxing! Also a bit of the unknown, you never know what you will find!

exactly

 

[G.I.B.]

I love the unknown. That next signal could be another piece of junk, or that treasure you have been searching all along for.

... and the stuff I find makes great holiday gifts!

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Same reason I fish, hunt, and no longer gamble. Some say it's relaxing, some enjoy the scenery, others like being outdoors, some do it for exercise. Let's be real, it's the thrill of the hunt. It's innate in all of us. It's not knowing(or knowing) what's in the next hole, how big a buck or turkey will step out into that field, how big a fish will nail that next lure, the flop of an ace when you're holding 2 in your hand. And no matter how much research, studying, money you spend on equipment, you can't guarantee success. Another reason I detect, because I can. Mike

 

[AugustMoose87]

exactly... same reason I hunt, fish and rock hound... that through of the find of a lifetime being just over the next hill keeps me going when I'm getting skunked.

 

[pescadore]

I got my first detector in the early 70's because my dad collected coins and he bought me an old Whites TR to find some old coins for him. I have been detecting off and on ever since. I guess I inherited my father's love for old coins even though I don't have a large collection. I don't buy coins so only the ones I find are added to my meager collection.

 

[Pointman]

For me it is getting to know people and discovering things that I would never have thought of finding. Last time I went out I found a 1976 bicentennial tie tack. It never came to my mind to even think about this. I also feel connected in a way to the inhabitants and I better understand them by what I find. I am also personally challenged and I don't think of the worries while I am digging.

Two weeks ago, I was detecting my grandmother's old property. I found a half of a metal outer space ray gun. I recognized it as something I had back in the late 70s. I probably lost it around 1978-1980. I remember taking it apart and there was a spring loaded wheel inside it that sparked when you pumped the trigger and sparks emitted from the end of the barrel. It surprised me that we had toys like that even back then. I was instantly dwelling on this toy that I hadn't thought about for decades.

 

[McKinney_5900]

"

Being retired I gotta do something.

GOD Bless

Chris "

That's me too!​