Anybody Else Not Enjoy Hunting Alone As Much Anymore & Would Rather Wait To Hunt With Friends?

[Critterhunter]

It's weird but back in the day it didn't really matter to me if I was hunting alone or not. Over the years I've developed some close friendships with other guys I detect with. These days I can't seem to muster much enthusiasm to go hunting on my own. Oh sure, I still do here and there...But for the most part I'd rather wait until I'm able to hunt with a friend or two. Seems to make the experience so much more enjoyable, even if I don't find anything. I get almost as much excitement watching a friend dig what he suspects is going to be a silver coin as I do digging it myself. Nothing like sharing war stories, comparing signals with our machines before digging, and helping recover a target badly hidden under a big root and such. It's not so much about what we find anymore, but about sharing the great outdoors with some good company. Anybody else feel that way?

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Hunt with friends when the schedule corresponds.
Being retired I go out alone most of the time.
When out with other person nice to compare finds and stories.

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi Critterhunter, Absolutely, do I agree with you and feel that realization is one of the best things could happen to us older diggers, or anyone for that matter.Our enjoyment of the hobby becomes much greater because of our time spent with our friends. Those times become much more important than anything we could ever dig and are Priceless! For years when starting out, there were hardly any others to hunt with and I enjoyed the time alone, but feel it would have been better to have had a diggin Buddy or two.Another thing about being older and yes, slower, it just makes good sense to have some digging Buddies. Looking out for one another and sharing your sites and finds just simply makes good sense, and increases the good times greatly, and that really is all detecting should be about! HH, Charlie

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I only have one or two people who come hunting with me very occasionally. A third person as it turned out, was (and still may be) going to my spots without my knowledge. He has no respect for proper target recovery and re-filling holes, as I had discovered on return trips. Very sorry that he became interested in the hobby. I'll stick with the one or two that I know won't do that. Otherwise I go alone 99% of the time.

 

[matthias]

Critter hey! I agree with you 100% but Ive only hunted a real hunt with one other person once since I began detecting three seasons ago. Ive hunted with my brother in his little suburban backyard but thats not the same. This person Ive hunted with has just retired his full-time career job so I hope to get out with him again soon. For now Im happy to take my 10 year old puppy, Ashley, with me. BTW Ive been meeting some really great people lately while detecting. Peace and HH. Matt

 

[Critterhunter]

Any of you guys who don't have 2 or 3 detecting friends that you frequently hunt with need to try meeting some people like I did years ago on one of the detecting websites. I think (?) Findmall has a forum like this as well, where people can try to locate close by hunting partners to team up with. That's how I met 3 people I hunt with now, and that then put me in touch with any few guys that I've hunted with in the past. It's mostly boiled down to 2 or 3 guys from them all that I hunt on a regular bases with, as we seemed to get along the best and have shared values in terms of repairing our plugs as best as possible, sharing sites with each other, and all that. Nothing turns me off more to hunting with somebody then if they do a bad job digging and repairing plugs. I've hunted with one or two guys like that over the years and needless to say that was the end of that for me. Don't want to be around them hunting in case the police show up and see those lousy plugs.

The two or three strong friendships I've built by detecting now turn out to be some of my closest friends, and now we don't just do detecting together. Sharing homemade wine, getting drunk and staying the night at parties, (Hey, that's TWO drinking things...Maybe I better change the list so I don't sound like such a drunk. ). One of my good detecting friends happens to be a goldsmith who repairs jewelry and such for jewelry stores.

Great story...We were out hunting one day and I spotted BY EYE gold sticking out of the dirt on the side of a small hill where the rain had eroded way some soil. I called my friend up to watch me pull the ring from the dirt. We instantly saw a HUGE diamond on top and he said don't get your hopes up. That stone is just too big. Well, it started to rain so we headed back to his shop. I wasn't expected the diamond to be real because I've been fooled before, but he put it on the diamond tester and said HOLY ^&%$! Long story short it was an old ring with a miner's cut on the diamond and of very good quality. Got $80 for the gold (heavy man's ring) and he sold my diamond for $3800 wholesale to a jewelry, who in turn sold the stone for $10,000! I didn't care. It was found money, and jewelers can inventory diamonds without paying for them until they sell so I felt lucky to get that much from one for the stone. Anyway, if it wasn't for my good goldsmith detecting friend I probably would have got hardly anything for that ring. He really went to bat for me on that one.

 

[Critterhunter]

But anyway guys, if you don't have at least two or three GOOD detecting friends then do yourself a favor and post on the forums looking for a local hunting partner. You can sift through the bad ones over time who dig lousy plugs or go to your secret spots without you and widdle it down to a good 2 or 3 hunting friends. Believe me, it enhances the hobby SO much. For one thing, on those days you are getting skunked if a friend digs a silver it encourages you to try harder. Nice to see silver pop out of a spot you don't know if silver exists at, so it's better to have a friend or two with you for the effort to pop that first one to give you confidence.

I can't imagine not having these 3 good friends in my life now. Detecting with them is just icing on the cake.

 

[matthias]

Agreed Critter! HH. Matt

 

[TheOtherLeggoHead]

A large part of other detectorists that I have met are jackasses, or emotional.