Why i don't beach hunt.

I've no bother detecting land for items lost hundreds of years ago as the owners are dead and gone, but i feel weird about the idea of hunting beaches for mostly modern coins and jewellery maybe only lost the day before, and I'd kinda feel like im stealing lol
Say you were detecting a busy beach, you find an expensive ring worth thousands and a woman comes upto you and says she lost it the day before and it was an heirloom etc what do you say/do?
If im hunting say a private estate and find anything jewellery related i always as the land owner if it's family history related etc and offer it to them.
Is it just me being odd?

no its a very good point you have there. I found a 1926 class graduation ring. I felt obligated to try to return it until I realized that the person was probably dead or at least 107 years old. I don't think it is odd.

I think it just show cases the different personality types of people.

The thrill of finding and returning things are worth more to me than than if I were to keep them and sell them. But some people are all about themselves and couldn't care less about others.

It is a lot like fishing to me. I love to fish and seldom do I keep anything I catch. I particularly love crappie fishing and my bucketlist fish is a 3+ pound crappie. If I ever catch her, a lot of anglers would be tempted to keep her and have it mounted on their wall. Not me. I will take a few photo graphs of her, get her measurements really quickly, and then release her back into the wild. The same as I would do with a 10+ pound bass. The thrill of the catch is what is fun. I can show off the catch via photos or a replica fiberglass mount if I wanted one; no need in killing the fish to do that. Just the same with somebody's ring...if I found one and someone came up to me and described it to a T and said they had recently lost it, all I would want is a picture of me giving it back to them with a smile on their face. That would mean more to me than holding onto it like Gollum's "precious". "I's finds it...you's just wants to takes the precious froms us" lol

Guess it depends on the beach...Years ago hunted N.J. beaches where the tide came in and out ...found seated coins and a 1782 Realle...so imagine some of the jewelry could be 100 or so years old...Of course same could be said for local parks where I returned graduation rings from High School and Colleges.....

I would ask Her do describe the ring and if it She does then I would give it back. Having said that I don't beach hunt as hate heat and sand. Not really crazy about sunny days period. I know I'm weird.

I don't do it because of getting sand in all the nooks and Crannies, Nothing worse than sand in ya Cranny

John.

Anyone the describes a ring I have gets it back. Nobody looks in my pouch. I show no one what I have found. If asked to look for something I will. I do not try to return rings.

I've lost count of the rings & things that I've found for people.
Lost jewelry recoveries for me was a way to Test new detectors and new coils so I always jumped at the chance to locate lost items on people's property.
I've often been asked to hunt for something on the beach the same time someone lost something. I'm sure many on here has had a frantic woman run up to them asking if you would help find their ring?
But the question was: what if an item was lost the day before?
Of course I'd try to get a jewelry item back to an owner.
What I do is i first advise a lifeguard of the find and ask if anyone has asked about a lost item?
Not all beaches have lifeguard huts.
I'd then take it to a police station and hand it in and obtain a receipt.
If it's not claimed in a year and a day then it's mine.
At the same time the police have custody I place adverts in the local papers.
You'd be surprised by the amount of times I've gone back to the station and the item is still there unclaimed.

On the other side of the issue, if I'm hunting a beach in the middle of winter then anything found is mine by default.
But, if the item has identifiable marks such as names, dates then I go down the road of newspaper adverts.
If not then it's scrap value and will be sold to finance my gas tank, batteries, food & drink and my next detector or next accessory.

Last year I had half a dozen scrap rings melted and had a replica Roman ring made.
It cost more than the scrap value of the rings but it's now a fairly unique ring of substance.
And I'd do that again if an opportunity presents.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2016 07:12PM by Des D.

Daniel, you need to fish Proctor Lake in Texas in February. 3+ lb Crappie is normal.

HH
Mike

I wasnt going to respond to this....... but the more i read it the more i felt we were having to justify why we werent thieves. If you dont want to beach hunt dont. Ive done about every type of detecting there is over the years and love the heck out of beach hunting. To me nothing like finding a shinny piece of gold over the few wheat pennies i used to be so proud of. We now have sites like find your stuff and ring finders to help return lost items. Most of us put in a lot of hours out there and are very visible to help people during our hunts. we watch CL for lost items and contact them to see if we can help. I do not go out of my way to post every thing i find......... but still return an awfully lot of items a year and hardly feel like a thief for those i keep. We are much more visible than most dirt hunters so we try very very hard to represent our hobby in a good light. Goodmore....... we are on the same sheet of music buddy. Just curious ..... how close are you to a beach? Maybe you dont understand what we get out of it....... but please dont knock it for those of us who do.


Dew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2016 12:06AM by dewcon4414.

I beach hunt exclusively. I shouldn't say exclusively, I also hunt in the water. I provide dive recovery services for folks and MD on the beach and in the water as a hobby. If I find a class ring, I put an ad on Craigslist in the area of the find, no pictures obviously, if the item is described to a T, I return it otherwise I live by the law of finderum keeperum. If I find something of significant value, such as a Rolex or high end rings etc I watch the ads in the local paper of the find for a few weeks and then it's mine. It just happens to be the way life is, we lose some and gain some. I'm not stealing, I just search and recover and return when possible and practicable. I started MD on the beach in the late 70's and have been hooked ever since. Someday maybe I'll find Blackbeard's stash

Well,,,it would depend on how many bikinis,,whoops then I wouldn't be metal detecting.

Horses for courses.

No real beaches close to me.

I beach hunt a lot. Return several rings a year, whenever possible. Good deeds are always rewarded with good finds down the road. Karma has a way of working everything out right in the end. I also keep many gold and silver trinkets with no possible way to return. I do not feel in the least guilty for enjoying water hunting. Great way to spend a day at the beach and you get plenty of exercise...Stuart

We aren't stealing anything,... mostly we are cleaning up after them.
Because if you want to get the good stuff, you dig an awfull lot of trash.

Early in the morning on the dry or during the evenings in the wet, some quality Me-time.

HH
Johnb

dewcon4414 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wasnt going to respond to this....... but the
> more i read it the more i felt we were having to
> justify why we werent thieves. If you dont want
> to beach hunt dont. Ive done about every type of
> detecting there is over the years and love the
> heck out of beach hunting. To me nothing like
> finding a shinny piece of gold over the few wheat
> pennies i used to be so proud of. We now have
> sites like find your stuff and ring finders to
> help return lost items. Most of us put in a lot
> of hours out there and are very visible to help
> people during our hunts. we watch CL for lost
> items and contact them to see if we can help. I
> do not go out of my way to post every thing i
> find......... but still return an awfully lot of
> items a year and hardly feel like a thief for
> those i keep. We are much more visible than most
> dirt hunters so we try very very hard to represent
> our hobby in a good light. Goodmore....... we are
> on the same sheet of music buddy. Just curious
> ..... how close are you to a beach? Maybe you
> dont understand what we get out of it....... but
> please dont knock it for those of us who do.
>
>
> Dew

Dew, i didn't say anyone was a thief nor was i knocking beach hunting, i was only saying how i felt personally the few times ive tried it, and being 15mins from the coast i probably should get over it and give it another go.
But its only metal detecting buddy, I'm not trying to grind anyones gears lol

Living only 15 mins from the beach and not giving it a decent go,... you should be thoroughly ashamed of your present conduct my dear Sir!

When you want peace and quiet, just pick a rainy day,... everyone hits the beach for the water and the swimming,... 3 drops of rain and the place is devoid of all habitation.

People,... weird creatures.

HH
Johnb

I can say I sure made it safer for swimmers and kids. You should see what I have in my pouch sometimes. Hooks, stakes, broken bottles, light bulb ends, basically anything that can puncture a foot or hand. I feel like I am employed by the beach patrol sometimes. Over the years with the competition the gold has slacked off. But as I have stated here before ......Being on a beach with a BBS machine when the sun is coming up and a pretty smile walks by is about as close to heaven as I'm going to get.

Hah!!!!!

Just waiting for my car in the shop reading the daily paper and amongst the "ramblings" of my Horoscope is: "Don't hold onto what isn't yours!!"
Timely - Huh????

Des D Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hah!!!!!
>
> Just waiting for my car in the shop reading the
> daily paper and amongst the "ramblings" of my
> Horoscope is: "Don't hold onto what isn't
> yours!!"
> Timely - Huh????

It's a Conspiracy, They have Hacked your Account here,,,, Big Brother is watching you, Lol.

John.

auminesweeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Des D Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hah!!!!!
> >
> > Just waiting for my car in the shop reading the
> > daily paper and amongst the "ramblings" of my
> > Horoscope is: "Don't hold onto what isn't
> > yours!!"
> > Timely - Huh????
>
> It's a Conspiracy, They have Hacked your Account
> here,,,, Big Brother is watching you, Lol.
>
> John.

"Now they won't give me my Lexus back!
They say "You found it...it's not yours!" Lol...

I would beach hunt all the time if i was near one

Me too, I would have to buy another detector, scoop, proper attire to look professional.

Like others have said, if she can describe it sufficiently, I will gladly return it to her for just the cost of a picture. But NObody looks in my pouch unless I decide I have something to show them.

I also gladly hunt for lost items and will drive to do so at my expense- I have experienced the indescribable feeling of returning something dear to someone who was beyond hope. Powerful.
lostmystuff finds #981 and #1726.

At some point I have a feeling that beach and ocean hunting might be some of the only places to detect...

I live 10-15 mins from the beach. I can go to the same spot day after day and find new things. You can't really say this about anywhere else unless there is a population of people continually dropping things. If I didn't beach hunt I am not sure I would even detect. I feel weird asking people for permission to go to their property and the guys out in the woods around me are dealing with poisonous snakes...like a lot of them (bites are common) and tons of bugs and heat that is just terrible. At the beach I can just jump in if Im hot and there are no snakes on the beach...although we get the occasional croc on the beach haha and if you go in the water there are sharks...one of my friends was attacked by a shark...

_________________________________

Nox600, CTX, CZ21, Excal II and White's DF with 920i stealthscoop...I live and hunt at the beach in Wilm NC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2016 11:50AM by adamBomb.

Moving to N. Little River SC (Horry Co.) and closing on my house there on the 15th of Sept. I enjoy beach hunting the most. A hunt with a view. Lots of old stuff in the area so I'm sure to do some inland hunting during the winter. I have given things back but mostly at the time the owner has asked me to look for it. I like low tide and look for the cuts. Hunt the towel line at sunset which is my favorite time to be there. Can't take the sun like I used to. Right now I'm living in my 5th wheel camper and loving no responsibilities. Hunting the campgrounds around the Charlotte Motor Speedway and loading up on the clad. A few rings but no gold yet. The trash is as thick as it gets in the fields. Hunt the beaches and if you find something let you conscious be your guide.. JR