Is it a HOBBY or is it a WAY OF LIFE

I personally metal detect as a WAY OF LIFE for me...

Its all I know to do at this point.. and If I dont do it I feel as if somethign is missing in my life..

Also I look at detecting for rewards other than the finds....Oh dont get me wrong I love a good find and it gets you stoked up and rejuvinates you ...But all the same I get the rewards from LEARNING a machine ...I become so focused on the unlocking of the unit that the finds are a by product ....I want to make a find in a site after figuring a machine out as well as I can to prove to myself that I can beat a dead site....and agian a stellar or not so stellar find at times coming to light reassures me that im accomplishing task at hand...

So in other words as much as I love history the real drving force for me to hunt is to challenge myself and a site and learn all I can about machine in hand....

Thats when it becomes a way fo life...its not a hobby for me ..I have hobbies...detecting is not one of them...

What drives you to detect???

I think I know what most will say but lets see how true my thoughts are!!

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Way of life here
finds are only icing on the cake more or less

Certainly a way of life for the last 20 plus years...unfortunately family, health, job etc. can change your way of life....as it has for me the last year...basically have become an armchair detectorist but life goes on...and well I guess there is always tomorrow theoretically unless one ends up under the green grass instead of on top....

I wanted something that would get me out and about and it needed to be a switch on hobby.
Then I went and found a coin.

In a moment of utter impulse, I bought an Excalibur II, all weather all terrain was my goal.
Then I went fishing for coins at the beach,... on a cold sunny winters day I found a Gold ring.

Interrested in my Excalibur and how to get the best out of it, I found detecting forums.
Then I asked a farmer for permission and found a 17-th century silver coin,... never imagined coins could sound like that!

My name is Johnb Scoop and I'm addicted to curiosity and finding stuff,... metal detectors are my drug!!

HH
Johnb

I detect before work,at lunch across the road and after work and on the weekends when family things allow. "Hi,my name is Kevin and I am an addict". So what,sue me. In this life of misery and strife all around if not within,to find an activity that pits you against an unknown and possibly non-existent quarry is an escape. Watching TV is an escape,along with whatever else people do for entertainment. It's ME and MY talents and MY equipment that are put together as a finely tuned unit(yes,I said "unit") to go hunt what I hunt....old coins. I'm not going to purposely dig clad because I can't find an old coin. That's like blowing Bambi's head off because there wasn't a buck available. I am NOT an "old coin snob",I'm an old coin HUNTER. I don't go hunting Morels and come back with asparagus for cripes sake!
I'm also with you Keith about learning all there is to learn about what I have and what I do. It does seem that a lot of things I do revolve around detecting. To be passionate about something is what life is about,a lot of us here have been lucky enough to find this what we call..."hobby". I like to think of it as a "calling".

Kevin

Hate me, but its a hobby for me. In my defense, I tend to Really master my hobbies to the best of my abilities tho + stick with them for decades.
Hockey is what defines me.

It keeps the kid alive in me keeps me sane is a way to escape a weeks worth of work..so it a part on me in my soul and heart

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Im not as into the technical aspects of a machine as you are Keith, but I fully understand it being more than a hobby. I have been slammed with work, and siding my house, then couple weeks ago my wife injured herself, and has been basically bedridden. Well, just got home from work, wife is getting better, so told her I gotta head down to the river for some nuggetshooting.
For me, its just another extension of the outdoors...I hate being indoors. I work outside, I fish, hike, when the wife gets mad, I sleep outside, lol.And I love the adventure I get to share with my soon to be 20 yr old son, hiking in the mountains snd canyons, finding long forgotten gold rush era sites, seeing wildlife, trying to avoid the dope growers.

Lawrenzo Wrote:
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> It keeps the kid alive in me keeps me sane is a
> way to escape a weeks worth of work..so it a part
> on me in my soul and heart

"It keeps the kid alive in me..." EXCELLENT!!! The thrill of adventure and the discovery contained within...

I love the small, modulated, tight little signals that you can call the target before you even dig it.......sweet little life style!

Edit to include::: You know you are a lifer when you drive in old neighborhoods looking at the style of the house and guessing the age by looking at the various styles of cut stone or rock foundations. Even on vacation I do this, always with a detector in the back of the car, just in case.......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2015 10:50PM by Hombre.

I have been, by turns, a deer hunter, relic hunter, bass fisherman, fly fisher for trout, salt water fisherman, deer hunter (again), and relic hunter (again). I am so passionate about what I do for fun that I have a hard time doing more than one thing at a time.
A couple years ago when I was 66, I was deer hunting and turkey hunting, and started thinking about how much I had enjoyed metal detecting. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to get back into it. I reasoned that at my age, I could handle carrying a detector around a whole lot better than lugging a deer out of the woods. It was 30 some years between detecting hitches, and I certainly enjoyed my other pursuits, but there is something really special about looking at old buildings and large open fields through the eyes of a relic hunter. Detecting is something I can continue to do as long as I can still walk, stoop, and get back up again. It gets me out of the house and provides good exercise and fresh air. It embodies so much more that pleasure and relaxation which are words that come up most when referring to a hobby. Its physical demands and required mindset remind me more of cycling and hiking. And those activities are more like lifestyles. So, in my mind, metal detecting is also a lifestyle. It colors the way I look at life and how I see the world around me.

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

Definitely a hobby for me. I love to find things hidden...I guess it's the kid in me...like looking for Easter eggs! Plus the health and wealth benefits. It's a win win situation all around. HH.

Charles

Definitely a way of life. Always been an explorer, wondering what's on the other side of the mountain. Some folks think I'm crazy lol, but they always want to see what I've found. Love history and finding a piece of it. Txquest

It is a way of life for me. For the last 48+ years it has been a part of me. It is who I am.I am extremely blessed to have some excellent memories and finds of the many trips I and my hunting partner took. Jeff

I'll say it's a hobby for me, a hobby with added benefits, long before I started detecting I was a history buff.
I've been able to merge my love of history with metal detecting. There's nothing like digging a piece of history and holding it in you hand.
Plus I've found it's kind of a therapy for your mind, life's troubles seem to fade away when your out detecting and concentrating on finding things.

A hobby. Sure I feel like a kid when detecting. I have found more of my share of gold while beach hunting early 1980s.

I have also learned a lot about history, one of the best benefits of this hobby.

Nothing more than a hobby for me. I have other more important things that are considered a way of life to me. Slowly but surely, metal detecting is becoming more of a relic in my own life. There are times the thought of it never crosses my mind for months. There was a time though when I would dream about it.

I would call it a passion as I still get that tingly feeling when I see a glint of silver or an old coin come out of a hole. I will take a pile of Quarters also lookin' for a ring be it gold or silver. That is why I get so upset when I loose a favorite old coin spot to carless people who don't have the same passion as to them it is just another hobby and that really bothers me. People say I point fingers,But until it happens to you then you will never understand.

Not sure what it is for me. I do like the challenge. I actually like hunting sites that are supposed "hunted out". It is hard for me to stay dedicated at it year round-----weather, and I also like to deer hunt, squirrel hunt, turkey hunt. But when the time is right I'll be out there detecting.

I used to be a heavy duty dart and pool player. Give that up when I retired. Don't miss it much---eyesight not as good.

I do look forward to getting out this winter with my ATX.

I would say intriguing ad relaxing for me.

I've for over 50 yrs been a hunter. Be it hunting deer, turkeys, fish, hogs, gators, snakes, anything that has the element of not knowing and having to hunt for something is what makes me happy. Detecting fit that bill and took over all my other hunting ventures except some summertime fly fishing the river when it's too hot to dig. I'd die if I did not have something to consume my mind time I think. It's an obsession for me. The thought of not knowing what or when something will happen. The foreplay/puzzle is the most fun, then the work begins.

Guess would be a equal share of hobby and way of life, pretty well enjoy what the others have posted.
I have slowed down a bit because life always gives us challenges, but in the earlier years I could hunt forever. hh

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Certainly a way of life for the last 20 plus
> years...unfortunately family, health, job etc. can
> change your way of life....as it has for me the
> last year...basically have become an armchair
> detectorist but life goes on...and well I guess
> there is always tomorrow theoretically unless one
> ends up under the green grass instead of on
> top....

the phsycological "rush" i get when finding silver,and knowing i am
still on the 'correct" side of the grass keeps me "humpin'"

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Hombre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I love the small, modulated, tight little signals
> that you can call the target before you even dig
> it.......sweet little life style!
>
> Edit to include::: You know you are a lifer when
> you drive in old neighborhoods looking at the
> style of the house and guessing the age by looking
> at the various styles of cut stone or rock
> foundations. Even on vacation I do this, always
> with a detector in the back of the car, just in
> case.......

always looking for "old sidewalk easements" to hit as i drive in down town
neighborhoods.

(h.h.!)
j.t.

It is a hobby for me, I have some friends that it would probably be a way of life for.... Not in a good way though.

Some of them, if they don't find something good every trip, they are miserable and God forbid if you out hunt them......lol

Quote
Keith Southern
I personally metal detect as a WAY OF LIFE for me...

For me, to be sure, it has been a "way of life" for over five decades. While the 'hobby' of metal detecting was really how I got started, building a detector from a kit in March of '65, there was really more to it than just going out to find stuff. I had hobbies, especially hunting and shooting and occasionally fishing, and that was tied in with my love of being outdoors, and so was metal detecting from the 'hobby' side of going out to search for what might be out there.

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Keith Southern
Its all I know to do at this point.. and If I dont do it I feel as if somethign is missing in my life..

There are folks who "go fishing," and there are the one who 'learn how and where to fish, and learn about the equipment' and a good example of the difference might be those who master the skills and talents, even though they do a 'catch-and-release' and go home with nothing to show others of what they have learned or the enjoyment they experienced.

I have enjoyed firearms and shooting from early times with bb and pellet guns as I was able to 'learn' more about the equipment as well as more about me an my understanding of how to improve my skills. It involved 'plinking' to target shooting to more skillful drills and handling techniques with different challenges other than simply using the equipment, such as when hunting, shooting in competition, or as a firearms instructor both when in law enforcement and after.

Quote
Keith Southern
Also I look at detecting for rewards other than the finds....Oh dont get me wrong I love a good find and it gets you stoked up and rejuvinates you ...But all the same I get the rewards from LEARNING a machine ...I become so focused on the unlocking of the unit that the finds are a by product ....I want to make a find in a site after figuring a machine out as well as I can to prove to myself that I can beat a dead site....and agian a stellar or not so stellar find at times coming to light reassures me that im accomplishing task at hand...

Using a metal detector was, at first, an extension of my interest in US history and very quickly I had questions to be answered as I used those very basic early metal/mineral locators. Questions like "How does it work, and why?" "How can I get a different level or performance out of it?" As metal detector design progressed, so did I as I made it a point to sort through what product literature said and what really occurred.

I had a metal detector with me in my travels to work, to the store, to church, to go hunting or fishing, to see a friend, to look for interesting and different places to search. I always carried a metal detector, and from about 1971 I generally had two or three (or more) with me. It was all part of MY learning experience as thoughts were always on my mind like "Which detector design works better?" Which search coil might be better?" "How does one detector design compare with another?" And as time progressed, so did I as knowledge and skills led me to know better what they could do, how they could do it, and what combination of search coils and detector circuitry design could best fulfill my needs and desires.

Quote
Keith Southern
So in other words as much as I love history the real drving force for me to hunt is to challenge myself and a site and learn all I can about machine in hand....

That was, and still is, exactly why metal detectors and metal detecting have been and are an enjoyable part of my life. I had to work, naturally, but while at work my mind was on metal detectors and metal detecting. When I was not at work, the bulk of my time has been, and still is, consumed by metal detecting and things associated with it. Learning, that is a key word in what you have said, Keith, because if man stops trying to learn they become lazy, complacent, and lose a reason for improving their knowledge and skills and enjoyment. Yes, it is a 'hobby field,' but an avid detectorist goes beyond the beginner or hobby-level of interest. They 'learn' and continue trying to learn.

I have enjoyed working with manufacturers reviewing prototype detectors for several since 1974. I have, and have had, the enjoyment of working with newcomers to this outdoor sport from involving myself in research groups since '69, in metal detecting clubs since '72, selling metal detectors since '77, and hosting metal detector seminars since '81. I enjoyed the early days when I was younger and healthier and when lost coins were plentiful and discarded trash seems to be minimal. I experienced the fun I had with my older brother, Ed, when we would use our first factory-produced detector from the summer of '68 to May of '69 and, each armed with a rounded-off screwdriver, we worked together to keep that one White's BFO with 6" wooden search coil working away as we popped coin after coin from parks and schools. As a team of three, two young men and one detector, we averaged filling a pint jar of coins in 2½ to 3 hours.

Doing so I learned more about metal detectors and skill of metal detecting, and I also learned the enjoyment of spending time with my brother. This evolved through time to the enjoyment of spending time with good friends who enjoyed the hobby. Those have mostly been good folks who are both 'hunting buddies' as well as people who also have an interest in learning more about their detectors, how they work, what the strengths and weaknesses are ... and conversing with me about what they and I have learned and are learning. They share a similar interest, and the time spent out detecting together, or just discussing the merits of how detectors, coils, other related gear and techniques work for us via telephone discussions or e-mail as well as in direct conversation, is all part of what make this a "way of life" and not just some sort of hobby.

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Keith Southern
Thats when it becomes a way fo life...its not a hobby for me ..I have hobbies...detecting is not one of them...

I am with you 100% on this Keith, it is, and has been, a "way of life" for me. Age and health issues have trimmed a lot of my other 'hobby time' and now limits my ability to get into some of the sites of interest I enjoyed for metal detecting, but it hasn't stopped me ... yet ... from my continued interest in metal detectors, how they work, what new offerings come along in design and working to find out if 'new' really brings any improvement or not in the way of results once challenges are presented.

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Keith Southern
What drives you to detect???

What drives me to detect is an interest in history, and interest in the hobby aspect of finding stuff, but mainly an interest in challenging my skill level, learning more, dissecting different metal detector design capabilities, and also spending time with friends. Real friends who share similar interests, enjoy finding stuff, enjoy research, and joy getting off to out-of-the-way locations and challenging themselves as they, too, learn more about mastering their detectors and personal skill sets.

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Keith Southern
I think I know what most will say but lets see how true my thoughts are!!

I'd guess that many who frequent this and other forums on a regular basis tend to be more involved than what I call a "Traditional Coin Hunter." Those are the folks who do this more as a hobby, just for fun and often only on a part-time or occasional basis, never really trying to learn about detectors, detecting, research and how to 'advance.' Thus, you'll read more replies and opinions from folks who I consider to be more "Avid Detectorists" and have progressed/are progressing from the routine 'hobby' stage.

Pardon my lengthy reply. I guess those who know me or who I am would expect it, but that, too, is a sign that this is just "A Way of Life for Monte" and not a flirtatious moment with a 'hobby.'

Monte

The "way of life" is compulsion , one of the objects of that compulsion is detecting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2015 12:42PM by shoveler.

It's become a way of life for me since getting back into it. I tend to get into one hobby and focus intently on it. Went through some trying times about 10 years back. Got consumed with bass fishing. Gravitated towards chasing big fish. Set a goal of catching a Va. Double digit fish. Chased big fish exclusively for a couple seasons with about a half dozen in the 8-9lb range. Gradually learned my waters and how to pattern them, ended up catching two 10's, an 11 04, and a 13lb pre spawn beast one winter/spring. Kept going for a few but it got to where it just wasn't a big deal anymore.

Moved on to weight lifting. It too was a full blown lifestyle commitment. Got to the point where I found myself questioning the point. Between the cost of food (I have to eat ALOT to gain size), time, and wear and tear, not to mention having a wife and 3 kids it just wasn't worth it, (TO THAT extreme)

Rediscovered detecting and haven't looked back. I absolutely love learning the nuances of a machine. Pulling a target out of a hunted spot in the hole w/a nail is just a cool feeling. While not everything, I also like that when you make a find, you do have something tangible to show for youre efforts. I have to proactively control myself, as I could hunt everyday. But that isn't fair to those around me. Currently taking a bit of a break to get housework done, but it's eating me up to get out.

I'm not sure how to classify it in my life. I know I think about it many times a day and if I don't get out, or know I'm getting out, I get grumpy.
I use to fish (salt and fresh), hunt, use to play golf, kayak and canoe..... I'd rather go detecting.

I don't get the urge to conquer a unit in a short time frame...I learn it slowly by using it and letting it sink in and by reading articles by guys like Tom and Keith. No sense hurrying a slow brain, ha ha ha.
Old coins do something for me. When I look at them, a short movie clip plays in my head of the life and times of that era and what it may have been like. I always wonder what the person was doing when they dropped it, what was their life like, etc. I think if I was finding Civil War relics, there would be tears in my eyes half the time.

I like finding relics as we do often when old coin hunting. We have some old flat buttons in the ground here in PA and they are deep.....so I need a deep detector. We also have old coins. I have dug them from the late 1600's on up....what a thrill when you first know it's an oldie.......I stop breathing for a few seconds, lol.

Like most of you, I have to be out with the trees, the dirt, water, insects, animals, sky, clouds, sounds, rocks...there's so much going on out there, if you observe, your mind will be blown every time......love it!!

8 years ago when i lost my pottery hobby, one of my brothers frieda came over and told me about metal detecting , so I see it as a gift from God , to give me something to do and i have learned many things about god doing it . some say its an Idol - I say no as we tend to help and be a device to others as well , it can become strong when we neglect our wife or family and put metal detecting 1st . I also realize the relics are just inanimate objects, they do not love me , they do not care for me . they can not answer my prayer , they did not die on the Cross as Jesus christ did . found objects can not fulfill, only Jesus can do that , but i am most like a dog that likes to fetch a stick . when i hear the beep in the ground its just fun to chase after it . I have made some good finds like the 1879 seated dime and a gold ring feels good to win and most of the time its junk i find but still like digging those beeps

Curantly own a Mirage P.I made by sven , and a silver Umax with ground balance mode, and a Tesoro Tejon