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Makin a livin
- Thread starter jspoon
- Start date
Gulf Hunter
Active member
LOL, making a living treasure hunting, you GOTTA be kidding? The average street person probably makes a better living, than a water hunter mate!
Gulf Hunter
Active member
Not trying to be synical mate, but real. I guess if you are the vagrant type and willing to travel and VERY creative about locations and become a student of the sport then MAYBE you can survive, but expect hard and lean times, better have something in reserve for survival and be able to sell finds to Midwest, allowing time to have them shipped and refined. Of course the market has to be high too, what if gold goes back down to $400-$500 and inflation is rampant, due to all those $'s printed by the govt? Naaa, that will probably drive the price of gold up, maybe I'll just hunt for a living too, sounds bettern werkin' fer a livin'! Best of luck to ye mate!
[size=medium]I suppose you could give it a try. If that don't work you can always collect soda cans. I hear that some of those homeless folks make $600-$800 a week collecting cans, and it's all tax free because I'm sure they don't file a return. That's better money than a lot of people make with a full time job these days.
Well look at this way. You should be able to get a job making $10 somewhere. So based on that, it gives you $400 for a 40 hour week. Take out taxes (if you are on the table) and you end up with about $290. So $290 divided by 5 days is $58 or by 7 days is $42 (52 weeks a year). Thats what you would need to find on a consistent level to live at those means. Other things to consider: health insurance, weather, gas prices and what you will get for your finds. That and the fact that if your van breaks down you need to have a reserve ready to keep it moving as it is a neccesity, add it it all up.
I am a true believer that if you love your job you will never work a day in your life but take this also into consideration. One of my other hobbies is photography, I love to get out and shoot sports and nature. I had people start wanting to hire me to take photos for them for money. A hobby I love quickly became "not as fun" when the pressure of having to do it was part of the mix. Adding the deadline factors changed everything. I think that's what makes a hobby so great, if you wake up and just want to veg for the day you can, no pressure. Once that pressure factor comes with it the fun can disappear..... especially with treasure.
There is 100's of flavor of ice cream for a reason, different strokes for different folk, and if you choose to do it good luck, but it is a huge decision and make it wisely. If you really want to still give it a go plan out a month, 2 or 3 month span and give it a shot, just have an exit plan in place if it does not work out.
Good luck!!!
I am a true believer that if you love your job you will never work a day in your life but take this also into consideration. One of my other hobbies is photography, I love to get out and shoot sports and nature. I had people start wanting to hire me to take photos for them for money. A hobby I love quickly became "not as fun" when the pressure of having to do it was part of the mix. Adding the deadline factors changed everything. I think that's what makes a hobby so great, if you wake up and just want to veg for the day you can, no pressure. Once that pressure factor comes with it the fun can disappear..... especially with treasure.
There is 100's of flavor of ice cream for a reason, different strokes for different folk, and if you choose to do it good luck, but it is a huge decision and make it wisely. If you really want to still give it a go plan out a month, 2 or 3 month span and give it a shot, just have an exit plan in place if it does not work out.
Good luck!!!
Steve from Ohio
New member
I pay for all my gasoline and some food with my finds. I get very creative and also do a lot of research on where I hunt. I also am able to purchase a few US silver Eagles with my finds. I do spend a lot of time detecting and it does pay but not always well. But some days....Whooo Hoooo!!!!!!
Wherever I hunt, I usually never see another detector user there so I am somewhat sure that I am in a virgin area. Clads make up a lot of my finds but I do often hit a few silver coins every once in a while. The clads add up and they can get to be over $350 to $400 a month on a good month. Not really a lot of money but a lot of clads. And a lot of digging.
You could offer your services to find lost items for a fee. You could also cold call older homes asking to detect their property. You could hit the right of way strips by the sidewalks in older neighborhoods. You could hit soccer, baseball and football fields. Also a great place to hunt is the town center park. And you could hit older abandoned homes in the cities where people have lost their homes. OLD is the key. To make any money at it, you've got to find old silver and gold coins, gold, silver and platinum rings on a regular basis.
It is possible, but you may be better off detecting for gold nuggets instead of old coins. With gold at $950, and I agree with Gulf Hunter, it will probably not be going down but going up with the government now buying its own debt.
Wherever I hunt, I usually never see another detector user there so I am somewhat sure that I am in a virgin area. Clads make up a lot of my finds but I do often hit a few silver coins every once in a while. The clads add up and they can get to be over $350 to $400 a month on a good month. Not really a lot of money but a lot of clads. And a lot of digging.
You could offer your services to find lost items for a fee. You could also cold call older homes asking to detect their property. You could hit the right of way strips by the sidewalks in older neighborhoods. You could hit soccer, baseball and football fields. Also a great place to hunt is the town center park. And you could hit older abandoned homes in the cities where people have lost their homes. OLD is the key. To make any money at it, you've got to find old silver and gold coins, gold, silver and platinum rings on a regular basis.
It is possible, but you may be better off detecting for gold nuggets instead of old coins. With gold at $950, and I agree with Gulf Hunter, it will probably not be going down but going up with the government now buying its own debt.
Wow I did not expect to get so many interesting and creative replies! I was just daydreaming, you know being landlocked in CO makes me dream of the surf. I have an M6 for dry land and would bet a BH or something for the surf and that is where I would do most of my hunting as the weekend warriors are in the sand. I would have a side gig as I sell satellite tv and I have a website doing wedding photography which gets me about 15 weddings a year which I would have given up. OK back to reality living in the van sucks, I prefer my big bed and the comforts of home...oh well it was nice dreaming a little...thanks all ..I think I'll go look for some clad now!
John
John
If you are in CO then look for nuggets......you will be a lot luckier than hunting the surf. Do the ski slopes in the summer......jewelery gets lost there too. Wedding Photography......if you are really creative there is a good market out there from word of mouth. I used to own a flower shop and would recommend the best photographers that I knew. Limo service and photographers are usually last on a bride's list of "to do". Get busy and do your hunting on the week days......it's the best time.
I managed to make the majority of my living, detecting for nearly 2yrs
. I did 14 hour shifts, and worked my guts out. The jewelery can only be sold for a fraction of their real worth which makes it frustrating
. When the finds decreased I had to go back working for 2 1/2 days a week. I still get nearly all of my petrol money from my finds though, so that is a bonus. I could survive quite comfortably on my detecting finds even today if I was a single man. However the reality is (and I'm glad) I have a wife and 2 kid's to house, and feed
. So off to work I go! for 2 1/2 days anyway. HH regards Nugget.
. I did 14 hour shifts, and worked my guts out. The jewelery can only be sold for a fraction of their real worth which makes it frustrating. When the finds decreased I had to go back working for 2 1/2 days a week. I still get nearly all of my petrol money from my finds though, so that is a bonus. I could survive quite comfortably on my detecting finds even today if I was a single man. However the reality is (and I'm glad) I have a wife and 2 kid's to house, and feed. So off to work I go! for 2 1/2 days anyway. HH regards Nugget.utahshovelhead
Active member
Not to be pesimistic but there are tons of ways to make a living without ruining you favorite addiciton. A steady income or at least a close one with certian income is much better than going day to day hoping for a pay out. Stable income also makes it much easyer to enjoy everthing else in life as well. Im sure you know all that and have been thinking it through. Best of luck to you but your always better off minimizing the gamble and keeping the income of metal detecting as a boost to your steady paycheck. Kick butt and dig the snott out of it.