Why Did You Quit Metal Detecting?

In the UK what makes most people give up detecting is bans by local authorities and the archaeology lobby. It's very hard to get permission to detect on public land like parks - and if you try detecting without permission, someone is bound to come along and tell you to stop (though there may be kids kicking a football around 20 feet away causing much more damage to the turf!) Archaeologists round my way have been calling on farmers and asking them not to let detectorists onto their land. Unfortunately to many archaeologists England is just one big archaeological sites, and detectorists are just vandals out to ruin it...

I haven't given up detecting permanently, but haven't been out this year. I've spent a lot of my free time caring for my elderly mother who's had a stroke - and sadly the metal detector club I belonged to has recently closed as all the committee wanted to give up and nobody else wanted to take it on. There is another club in a nearby town that I plan to join when I get the time.

Don't give up as you never know your luck,

I quit metal detecting because I used to live in Dallas Texas and Texas is "new country," very metropolitan, not much chance to explore old schoolhouse grounds and/or hitching posts (where the cowboys would hitch their horses). Now though I live in Virginia, fairly rural part, I should buy a metal detector. Oh wait, I am already working 60 hours a week!

Best Regards,

George

I just find that the walk and freshair is as good as a nice find......
I detect with my 8yr old lad, we have about 6000acres to detect on in Southern UK, when we go out we have several goals/targets to achieve, or not and it makes it more fun and less upsetting for us both if we do not find.
1. get a signal (non ferrous)
2. find something not junk such as a button/buckle/coin
3. find something for the collection box at home
4. find a coin for the display case
5. find Roman coin
6. find a hammered silver coin (medieval)
7. find Roman artefact
8. find gold
9. find a hoard
we always have this on a piece of paper and see how far we can get up the list..(you can jump straight past the lower numbers if you strike lucky!)
Last week we found a buckle, two coins from 1700's, 2 Roman coins and a gold ring!! in an afternoon...
isn't usually that good, but thats where the list comes in. Just nice to be out with my lad and trying to beat him to the find before he grabs it out of the hole.

Yeh for me a day with my lad in the fresh air is worth any coin, any day!!

Most medieval coins are hammered silver and usually in very nice condition compared to the usual crusty Roman coins, unless of course its a silver Roman, in which case it can climb on up the list to an unofficial 7 and a half......

I started with a cheaper detector used that for about a year and then bought a better machine. Even the cheaper machines are good I witnessed a friend with the same $160 detector find a diamond ring on the beach and it paid for his detector. HH

I bought my detector early this Spring when I was laid off and not working. I had lots of time on my hands and spent many hours at a couple of local parks. Actually though, my best finds were in my own backyard. That is where I found my first silver coin (a Mercury dime).
I did get called back to work in July and have not had much time since to detect. My days off are either spent catching up on household chores or much needed rest. Also, Michigan at this time of year is not a pleasant time to detect in.
Hopefully I can budget my time better when the good weather comes back next year and go out a couple times a month. Even when I don't find anything of interest I enjoy the time outdoors and the relaxation of detecting.