How Old Is Everyone Here Anyways?:shrug:

[John-Edmonton]

I have always wondered the age of the people on this forum. What drives you to this type of hobby? History? Extra cash? Health?

I started detecting about 20 years ago, rewarding myself with a metal detector as a reward for quitting smoking. I will be turning 61 next year, and now do it for health reasons and to help pay for my next car with my cash and gold. How about you?

 

[8720roger]

I started metal detecting a little over three years ago after knee surgery,the doctor said I should walk a lot, I have Ben walking ever since whit a detector in my hand,since I have had two shoulder replacement and two back operations and at 73 I'm detecting two to three times a week.i don't know what it is about this hobby once you start you don't never want to stop.god knows it's not for money or fame.

 

[jim tn]

75 years old. Started detecting in 1972, but my detecting time was limited with three boys growing up until about 1990. Then, started my swinging 3-4 mornings and evenings a week. Retired in 2006 and began a daily routine of hunting every week day early mornings for 4-5 hours.....and have followed that routine ever since. Currently, my health is good. HH jim tn

 

[Grubstake]

66, started detecting in 65, when I built my first kit detector as a high school shop project. Grubstake

 

[Flanaganj25]

41 and been at it for 3 yrs. I'm fascinated with history and I'm a firm believer that if u truly love this hobby, then u gotta love history. I finally picked up a detector after many yrs of wanting one and haven't looked back! Mostly weekends, a couple hrs a pop and summer times it's a twice a week thing for sure. And at least twice a yr I burn a week of vacation to dig all day long!

 

[Davethejunky]

I started metal detecting a little over three years ago after knee surgery,the doctor said I should walk a lot, I have Ben walking ever since whit a detector in my hand,since I have had two shoulder replacement and two back operations and at 73 I'm detecting two to three times a week.i don't know what it is about this hobby once you start you don't never want to stop.god knows it's not for money or fame.

2 shoulder replacements and 2 back operations? You must swing a Minelab. I'm 51 started detecting in 1980 and been a detecting junky ever since.

 

[razerback408]

ia'm 53 win i get up in the mornin i feel 83 win i talk to the young kids today i feel 103 win i go metal detecting i feel 23

 

[Eric in RI]

34 now, I got into this great hobby when I was just turning 21. Back in 2002 I hung around my local coin shop when I worked in Charlotte, NC. I would go there after work almost every day and pick up some bullion and some silver coins to add to my albums. Silver was dirt cheap back then, I think $6.00 an ounce if memory serves me correctly. I remember buying common-date Mercury dimes for $0.40 each and $2.00 for Franklin and Walking Liberty halves. I remember a gentleman came into the shop while I was going thru the bargain bins and he inquired about a coin he had. I don't remember the date, but it was a seated dime in really nice condition and it had a 45 degree rotated reverse. The shop owner offered him $500 for the coin. I asked the gentleman where he got it from and he said he dug it out of the ground. I took a step back and said, you mean you found that in the ground with a metal detector? He said yes, I was hunting an old slave site in Georgia with a group hunt and this was one of the things found. After chatting with him for a few minutes I asked the coin shop owner if he knew of a hobby shop close by. I raced over to the hobby shop and picked out a Whites IDX Pro as my first machine. After a month of using it, I decided to upgrade to the Whites XLT. Used that machine for about 8 - 9 years and then picked up the AT Pro as the XLT had seen "better days". I must admit, after using the AT Pro and finding a gold ring in a pounded ball field the 2nd time out with it, I never picked up the XLT again. True story I have a passion for history and things long forgotten. My mother and father always said when I was a little kid that I would look down at the ground and said that I always liked finding things, especially money. I never would have imagined that metal detecting would bring so much joy in my life. Nothing puts a smile on my face like digging a 100-200 year old coin out of the ground. I even found an ancient coin almost 2000 years old in Massachusetts at a town commons.

 

[asiandigger]

Asiandigger here...going to turn 40 in December. When I was a kid, there was an older gentleman whom always metal detect the park where I was at. As a kid, I would follow him around and sometimes hide a coin here and there to see if he can find it. Back in the mid 80's I don't remember him with a pinpointer. He had a screwdriver which he poke the ground with. Always wanted a detector, but never thought much about it till I got laid off from my job. I thought with EDD and my medical expense paid for by my employer for a whole year, why not go out and buy a detector. Well that was 7/28/13...since then got another job and still detecting...sometimes 1 hour a day just to get the itch out. Always had the AT PRO from the get go and proud off it.

 

[BLOODHOUND1970]

45 and been at it about 25 years. Lots of good finds and friends in the hobby over the years.

 

[SixBits]

68 and active only about 2 hrs.

 

[WaterWalker]

68 but I feel like 28 after 4 hours of being pounded by the surf.
Waking up the next morning I fell like I am 88 with a strong desire to get back into the water and do it over again.

Something about this hobby that has a very powerful driving force behind it.
I'm think it must be the friends, the fun of the hunt and of course a good cup of coffee on the way home.

 

[Dancer]

Turning 67 come February. Do to this & that, didn't start tecting till late 2002. Right now if I miss 2days in a row- automatic 3 pound gain.

 

[tarajudy]

Started when I was 20. NOW 71 AND GOING STRONG. GARRETT BFO WAS MY FIRST DETECTOR.

 

[Roscue2]

21, been at it since 2007, so I was 13 back then. My dad had been metal detecting with off and on interest since the late 80s. I have a lot of memories of him taking me and my sister to the park back in the mid to late 1990s while he spent a few hours metal detecting. Usually he would forget to bring anything for us to drink though. lol You can imagine how he attempted to solve that problem. Been at it almost 8 yrs, although nowadays I have found that I am not as interested in finding things as I used to be. Now I am more interested in just traveling to places to learn about their history.

 

[Southwind]

59 creeping up on 60. I started when I was a pup.

Here is one of my early pictures that was used in Found magazine back in the 80's.

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

57 now. Started when I was a kid buying and reading True Treasure and Lost Treasure magazines at the grocery store was probably 10 11 12 or 13 years old always interested in coins because of my Dad pointing out old things also cars and such. Saw a few different older guys at the local High School detecting from time to time when we went there to play tennis and I would shadow them to see what they found. Saved up and went to Radio Shack and bought a kit you put together by soldering to make a metal detector a BFO Beat Frequency Oscellator kind for $35. Got my mom to drop me at the local large town park and wasn't a few feet into it wham I heard that detector sound rise way up and then fall off so I dug and it was an Indian Head nickel I was hooked. Had many different brands of detectors all these years and now have a small arsenal of different ones to use for different detecting now.

 

[fongu]

I'll be 62 in December and started this hobby in 2007. I used to see old guys in the 1980's in PCB, Fl detecting during the winter and just thought it was something old guys did before they died or something. Completely ignorant and did an internet search in 2007 for metal detectors to find a lost gun and got into this hobby. Love this hobby and when I can get out and detect I feel great, even tho it takes 3-4 days to physically recover from 1-2 hours detecting on land and prefer the water myself. Hope to hit the water for the first time since August this weekend. I'd like to find something historic or even valuable, but get the most value from just getting out and dirt fishing.

 

[Blink]

I started 20 years ago and am now 76 and I enjoy every day I can get out. I enjoy relic hunting and water hunting most but will dig anything with a good signal.

 

[RSB]

83 and started in 1983 with a Garrett ADS III. Most of the time, I hunt two or three times a week for about two to three hours each session. The ground is not frozen here in Salt Lake City yet but I do have the AT Pro winterized much like John recommends. I have to protect a Bluetooth transmitter from the cold that transmits to my hearing aids. The Bluetooth receiver is inside my coat so it is not a problem. This morning I started when the temperature was 34 degrees F and found 28 coins, a combination knife-screwdriver tool, and junk ring in two and a half hours. I had fun.