Big Boys Hobbies

Things only understood by organized hunt veterans

K

kamogawa

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Messages
385
Things best experienced in The Twilight Zone world of Organized Treasure Hunts are:

The sound of an air horn at the start of an organized hunt.

The smell of bacon and coffee before the first hunt of the morning.

Knowing that the best part is not the hunts, but the in-between times talking with detecting buddies and their spouses.

Seeing the biggest assortment of detectors outside of Kellyco’s warehouse.

Competition hunters that knock down the grass quicker than a John Deer.

Painted competition pennies in the hunt field.

The excitement of having four hunt field prize tokens in your pocket.

Hunting for a solid hour in 95 degree sun during the Big Money hunt.

The quietness after 4 p.m. when everyone is totally exhausted after a day of multiple hunts and everyone goes back to their respective spots to stretch out and rest.

RV Camper detector dealer booth wheeling and dealing on a new detector.

Prize and competition award announcements via a bullhorn.

Folding lawn chair Sunday Service on the last day of the hunt.
 
Sorry, I don't get it. I realize to each his own, but if I'm not hunting true, real lost bits of history I am not interested. It kinda of reminds me of guided hunts on a game farm where your success is almost guaranteed. No seeded hunts for me. Yea I get the camaraderie thing and do meet up once in a while with other Mdr's, but what you describe sounds more like a social event. Again, to each his own. Enjoy
 
markinswpa said:
Sorry, I don't get it. I realize to each his own, but if I'm not hunting true, real lost bits of history I am not interested. It kinda of reminds me of guided hunts on a game farm where your success is almost guaranteed. No seeded hunts for me. Yea I get the camaraderie thing and do meet up once in a while with other Mdr's, but what you describe sounds more like a social event. Again, to each his own. Enjoy
Click to expand...

That reminds me of a hunt I almost signed up for. The big DIGSTOCK hunt in NY/NC where there are thousands of acres of historic property to search. In one YouTube video of the event, a guy found a plastic skeleton hand with a metal ring on it. It had a message a message that said something like "Please remember to fill all holes." It was way out in a super remote part of the field and the guy who found it looked taken aback when he found it. That was way too weird seeing that kind of thing buried, but I guess they are trying to set themselves apart. In that instance, you have to about give an arm in entry fees. I will skip that one.
 
kamogawa said:
That reminds me of a hunt I almost signed up for. The big DIGSTOCK hunt in NY/NC where there are thousands of acres of historic property to search. In one YouTube video of the event, a guy found a plastic skeleton hand with a metal ring on it. It had a message a message that said something like "Please remember to fill all holes." It was way out in a super remote part of the field and the guy who found it looked taken aback when he found it. That was way too weird seeing that kind of thing buried, but I guess they are trying to set themselves apart. In that instance, you have to about give an arm in entry fees. I will skip that one.
Click to expand...

kamogawa, let me pay my respects for you being in the hobby much longer than myself. We all dream of finding treasure, whether it be gold at the beach or unearthing old historical relics or coins. But with the commercialization of the hobby brings the !!!!!!!'s with it, as I'm sure if you read some of the posts, its quite apparent. People who buy the latest and greatest and think they will go to the head of the line because they did. And then ask for tips on how to use the machines which they have no clue because they didn't start out with basic machines and suffer the learning curve that all dedicated md'rs have. Hopefully they will go back to gaming or whatever it was they did before they came here. And its not that I'm not a fan of clubs but I am a loner with a low tolerance for B.S Good luck and good hunting. Mark
 
I think there are two kinds of detectorist.

those who join clubs and organized hunts and then there are those like myself that prefer solitary hunts with the exception hunting with a TRUSTED partner.
 
maxxkatt said:
I think there are two kinds of detectorist.

those who join clubs and organized hunts ...
Click to expand...

MaxxKatt, you may be the type who prefers to hunt with a single hunt friend. And you may be the type that doesn't care for group event hunts (whether planted "tame" or non-planted "wild") .

But don't fool yourself into thinking that you don't join md'ing clubs. No, you're not a lone-ranger in that respect. You have indeed joined a "club". It's called social media. Aka forums, FB, or whatever. Like this forum that you have over 3000 posts on.

The reality is, that 'puters and social media have merely taken the place of the "clubs" of yesteryear. You/we socialize, meet, show & tell, Q&A, all from the comfort of our lazy boy recliners these days. THIS has become the "clubs". And is the reason that the brick & mortar clubs declined.

So you've merely switched from one type club to another. But rest assured, you're in a "club" :cool:
 
The Topper rises yet again

I don't think the thread means those who attend organized hunts do so 364 days out of the years except for Christmas. I am talking about one or two organized hunts a year and the rest of the year with solitary detecting. It is funny to hear people chime in with "I wouldn't waste my time because I only do real detecting where under the surly rabid sun of the Foothills, my rough and rutted man hands laid upon a button that once pressed upon the the breast of a sweat laden lad of the 26th Regiment."
 
ManInTheWaLL said:
But... the great thing about "social media is' you can click on ignore!

A lot of the people at the clubs are old lonely people who want to be "cling-ons", moody, etc.

Not safe meeting onliner's in person!
Click to expand...
One thing about making it to old age MITA , we can say "We made it". With your attitude , you have a good chance of not being so lucky.
 
kamogawa said:
I don't think the thread means those who attend organized hunts do so 364 days out of the years except for Christmas. I am talking about one or two organized hunts a year and the rest of the year with solitary detecting. It is funny to hear people chime in with "I wouldn't waste my time because I only do real detecting where under the surly rabid sun of the Foothills, my rough and rutted man hands laid upon a button that once pressed upon the the breast of a sweat laden lad of the 26th Regiment."
Click to expand...

I detect because I enjoy uncovering history, and enjoy the challenge of finding older Artifacts. I don't deliberately target clad nor do I look for modern jewellery ect, although if they turn up as a by product, I don't complain..

If I wanted to make extra money, I would do some over time or get a second job....

I prefer to hunt alone, but accept that hunting with a Club or commercial dig that gives access to "better" land...Most of the club or commercial digs I attend have around 50 people or less...

When the numbers attending start climbing above 50, I will often give the dig a miss.

I have no interest in taking part in the massive rallies which have hundreds and hundreds of detectorists in addendence, and I am certainly not interested in digs with planted prizes ect...
 
Pete e said:
I detect because I enjoy uncovering history, and enjoy the challenge of finding older Artifacts. I don't deliberately target clad nor do I look for modern jewellery ect, although if they turn up as a by product, I don't complain..

If I wanted to make extra money, I would do some over time or get a second job....

I prefer to hunt alone, but accept that hunting with a Club or commercial dig that gives access to "better" land...Most of the club or commercial digs I attend have around 50 people or less...

When the numbers attending start climbing above 50, I will often give the dig a miss.

I have no interest in taking part in the massive rallies which have hundreds and hundreds of detectorists in addendence, and I am certainly not interested in digs with planted prizes ect...
Click to expand...

The days of the genuinely good organized hunts have come and gone anyway. Budgets and metal prices have ended the glory days of inexpensive group hunts.
When a lot of them started to become purely profit oriented events, attendees quickly started losing interest. When they charge $90 per day of the hunt, but the average participant only finds 10 silver dimes per hunt, the allure of organized hunts fades quickly. That is why a hunt that had 800 people in 1980 might be lucky to have 50 today.
 
kamogawa said:
The days of the genuinely good organized hunts have come and gone anyway. Budgets and metal prices have ended the glory days of inexpensive group hunts.
When a lot of them started to become purely profit oriented events, attendees quickly started losing interest. When they charge $90 per day of the hunt, but the average participant only finds 10 silver dimes per hunt, the allure of organized hunts fades quickly. That is why a hunt that had 800 people in 1980 might be lucky to have 50 today.
Click to expand...

You're kidding! They charged to do this!

As some other people said, it seems fake, planting things to find them, Ehhhh


Sounds like it's more profitable to sell MD's and arrange events, vs finding Gold.
 
kamogawa said:
The days of the genuinely good organized hunts have come and gone anyway. Budgets and metal prices have ended the glory days of inexpensive group hunts.
When a lot of them started to become purely profit oriented events, attendees quickly started losing interest. When they charge $90 per day of the hunt, but the average participant only finds 10 silver dimes per hunt, the allure of organized hunts fades quickly. That is why a hunt that had 800 people in 1980 might be lucky to have 50 today.
Click to expand...

I think we are behind the curve with you guys in that respect...Commercial hunts in the UK run about $20 to $40 a day I would say...if it's a Weekender, it costs a bit more as many charge to camp or take a trailor on the ground...if an organiser puts on a number of bad hunts, they soon get a bad reputation, and often disappear, only to reappear under a different business name some time later...
 
kamogawa said:
.... That is why a hunt that had 800 people in 1980 might be lucky to have 50 today.
Click to expand...

I think you are confusing correlation and causation. The timing of each incident might have coincided with the decrease of attendance. But I do not think that one-caused-the-other.

The cause of decrease of club attendance and their associated organized hunts was NOT d/t the "cost of metal" and thus the "cost of admission". Instead, the reason was that no one gets off their duff to go to brick-&-mortar club meetings. No matter the cost and no matter how tantalizing the "show". All of our's social itch is now scratched via 'puter social media.

In the old days, the ONLY way you had to meet fellow hobbyists in-your-area was via a club. The ONLY way you could do show & tell, was a club. The ONLY way you could compare/debate tech pro/cons, was a club. And so forth to-infinity. But today, all those objectives are met via our wonderful forums.

THAT is the reason for the dwindled interest in clubs & hunts.

Trust me: There were those, even then that poo-poo'd planted hunts. Ie.: How boring is it to competition hunt for seeded "tame" objects ? Yet we went along with it, and it had it's own sort of fun. And you got to rub shoulders with your buddies, etc....
 
This thread has gotten way off topic! Don’t be surprised if some posts disappear or the whole mess gets locked!
 
Making friends on forum

ManInTheWaLL said:
But... the great thing about "social media is' you can click on ignore!

A lot of the people at the clubs are old lonely people who want to be "cling-ons", moody, etc.

Not safe meeting onliner's in person!
Click to expand...

I have made many friends all over the country that share similar interest and other things in common , not likely to get together for a hunt due to distance , but more than willing if the chance came up.. I can say i have learned a lot of metal detecting knowledge from those that have been doing this for many more years since joining the forum . Same way, always willing to pass on anything i can to newer members. Always fun to hear about others finds , adventures' and explore new ideas. Got some great tips on equipment , detector setting , detecting equipment over the years.
 
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