Pirate, Looter, Scavenger Or Just Treasure Hunter

[ColonelDan]

I've sometimes wondered why many in our hobby relate to pirates and use the pirate logo to symbolize their activity.  I've also heard folks use the term "looter" to describe those hunting primarily on beaches. If we consult Webster, neither of those two describe our hobby in my mind:

Pirate:
a person who robs or commits illegal violence at sea or on the shores of the sea.
any plunderer, predator, etc.: confidence men, slumlords, and other pirates.

That's certainly doesn't describe the folks I know in this hobby!

Loot/Looter
anything taken by dishonesty, force, stealth, etc.: a burglar's loot.
to carry off or take (something) as loot: to loot a nation's art treasures.
to despoil by taking loot; plunder or pillage (a city, house, etc.), as in war.
to take loot; plunder

This doesn't fit either does it?  We're not dishonest plunderers.

So neither fits or describes what we do.

Now a word that comes close but not quite is Scavenger

a person who searches through and collects items from discarded material.

But then the items we collect aren't really "discarded" are they?  For the most part, they're lost

So my simple soldier mind says that we are simply....Treasure Hunters
Treasure Hunter:
One who searches for anything of value or that which is highly prized.

Yes, It's cold outside and our beaches aren't filled with depositors so I confess to being somewhat bored and have time on my hands right now but hey....I'm fully retired and therefore authorized to such free time, thoughts and wonderments!  😎

Soldier on....👍

[Ridge Runner]

Our so called hobby has to do with a ugly word that I’ve done for over 50 years called work. We may have been called names for what we do but it’s because they too lazy to get off their fat butts .

 When they see us find something of value they think everything we dig up has value. They don’t see the hours we spent digging up trash. To start with that scrap iron we swing what they don’t know it didn’t come cheap.

 The truth of it all it shouldn’t be called a hobby. We need to start calling it a business. Anytime you have to put out money to buy equipment to find something of value that becomes a Business.

 So this years end when you file your income tax be sure to claim your business expenses. That includes equipment car or truck upkeep. Let’s not forget office space where you keep all your finds .

 If you do file we both may be cutting back on office space called a jail. 

Getting back to what we call a hobby is cheaper than lots of other so call hobbies. Look at the cost of a Bass Boat or Deer Lease. Well don’t look too long you’ll be buying that boat for treasure diving.

 I too am retired and when I did my wife let me know I could work fixing things around the house. I let her know real quick I didn’t retire to work on this house. 

 I’ve had many lives. The first I gave to my wife and the second to my kids . Then maybe a little to my grandkids but what’s left belongs to me .

 If one day you see this old fart that looks like most of the life is gone out of him it’s just me detecting.

 Chuck 

[Steve Herschbach]

The pirate thing comes from people looking for pirate treasure, not from being pirates. But it seems to have morphed into something other than that for some people.

They used to call it coin shooting and nugget shooting. I never was fond of those terms and have never used them. Why did anyone ever decide to go “shoot” for coins? Even treasure hunter has negative connotations and for archeologists it is synonymous with looter.

I am none of the above. I am a detectorist and gold prospector.

[fredmason]

Probably because many detectorists and gold prospectors evolved from hunting and shooting...at least I did!

just the thought of finding stuff offends many people, why?
I haven’t a clue

fred

[geof_junk]

I say we go gold hunting. I suppose that is cruel to the small little critters.😭

[MSC]

To many folks are misinformed, not thinking for themselves, not just about detecting but many things in life, too bad, an open mind is what everyone needs to strive for. metal

[Steve Herschbach]

14 hours ago, fredmason said:

Probably because many detectorists and gold prospectors evolved from hunting and shooting...at least I did!

just the thought of finding stuff offends many people, why?
I haven’t a clue

fred

Me too. But we went moose hunting or duck hunting or caribou hunting. I guess that’s why I go nugget hunting. We never went moose shooting. So nugget shooting still sounds odd to me.

[RickUK]

I would personally describe myself as a semi skilled 'Metal Recycling Operative' 🤣 

[Rivers rat]

Electronic Devices Supported Scavenger thats what i consider myself :)

 

 

RR

[GB_Amateur]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:26 AM, Ridge Runner said:

If one day you see this old fart that looks like most of the life is gone out of him it’s just me detecting.

One day?  Aren't you famous from this?