What is the weirdest or dumbest thing you've done MD'ng?

Its not the dumbest I've ever done however last Monday was a nice day to out hunting, so I got all my gear on and headed out. Put on my headphone and was hunting in a field I thought everything was a little quite, to quite after about 45 minutes I decided to sit down and take a break, reached down to turn the detector off and found out the reason that it so quite was because I hadn't turned it on yet. Ever happen to u? I could also add to this, "The scarest thing"

On the way home from work I had noticed this rock area that looked manmade by an old long abandoned RR track so I pulled over climbed a 30 ft almost cliff and turned the machine on. Every step I took the thing sounded off but when i tried pinpointing there was nothing. About twenty minutes of this and I was getting quite disgusted, Then I looked down and realized that I was wearing my steel toed boots.

These are classic. You can only laugh at yourself and give yourself a break. You may have read already I had my worst today. Drove at least 45 minutes and opened the trunk to find I had forgotten my detector.

Well, I spent about a half an hour playing with my DFX trying to get it to load up and it would just begin flickering the screen. I tried pulling the battery pack with it on and all. No deal. I drove home and got the MXT, drove back and detected. Later after returning home I realized the trigger was forward on the DFX and that was what was stopping the load up of the programs. Lesson learned there! I have also have done the steel toed boot thing too. Lessons learned.

Rich

I was in a hurry to go detecting and I wore my steel toed boots also. Got weird signals and realized what I did. Dont feel bad,it was funny later after you got home. I also took a pea in the woods and a couple came up to me to ask what I was finding. I almost didnt get my zipper back up!! Hey sometimes you think nobody is around. I try to be careful from now on.

How about forgetting to take your ring off while waving clumps of dirt under the coil?

On a very cold day had hiked up to about 8300'. Dug up what may or may not be a lead ball from the Hawkins rifle, circa 1860, and was enjoying the scenery. Spotted 24 mule deer in a column, just like the cavalry, and many coyote, bobcat, and cougar tracks. Many of the pine trees had been felled and
blackened by lightning, so I searched the sky for dark clouds. Just then I realized that it would be dark in about 1 hour, but the car was 2 hours away. I decided to abandon the deer trails and run down the slope instead. Got back to the car about 15 minutes after sunset and shook the rocks and stickers from my boots. Later, while going over the day's events at home, it occurred to me that running triggers a most unwanted response in predators, and for a while I was lunch on wheels (and slow ones at that).
Nowadays, I walk out, no matter how late it is.

so far just the steel toe boots

Pushing down on an electric fence with a rotten tree limb, putting one leg over the fence and ....
I think you can figure out the rest.

i guess a new poll could be how many people have detected their boots

well when I got my current machine I went right to the beach and took my "Metal" sand scoop with me. I flipped on the detector and kept getting signals but no object found. Then I realized that the detector was so powerful, that it was picking up the scoop at over 2 feet from ground. This was never an issue with my last two top-of-the-line detectors and it was at that point I realized that this detector was gonna kick some butt!

Last year a road was blocked and prevented my normal path to a fav. spot. Using another approach, I came upon a creek about 30 feet wide. So i picked out a safe looking point and started to cross. At about the center of this fast moving creek some of the boulders were covered with??? Yep that green slimy stuff that loves to grow in fresh water. It was quite slippery and I almost landed in the creek along with my expensive MD. I had kept my shoes "ON", and they probably saved me from a very
embarrassing story.

 I wouldn't say this is Dumb. and I guess Not Realy Weird for me, BUT, the only thing that comes to mind is, One day While doing a Drained Lake, My Sister-in-law & my Nephew stopped by to say Hi & see how I was Doing. I was standing talking to them, and my detector was on. My nephew was kicking the dirt as we were standing there, and all of a sudden My Detector went off. I looked down and saw a Ladies ring & picked it up to see a Nice Diamond. My Sis-in-Law took a look at it & said, it looked like a fifth of a carat (She Knows Her Diamonds). The next thing she says is "If You Decide To Sell It, Let me know first". I told her she could have it. It isn't that It bothers me I gave it to her, It Bothers Me, I didn't at least Look it over alot better. Any-way, I told my Nephew he can follow me & kick dirt any time he wants now.?

The stupidest thing I've seen was my buddy detecting along and he gets a signal. He digs it up and goes over the hole, no signal. Goes over the dirt pile still on his shovel and he gets a huge signal. It took him almost 2 minutes to realize that he put the target back in the hole and he was detecting his shovel the whole time.Another time I forgot to stop and get batteries and got my gear and drinks for the day out on the beach only to find my detector is a dead horse. At least I was only 15 minutes from the store.

The dumbest, and probably the scariest thing I've done on land (versus U/W detecting) was during a trip nugget shooting. I was in an area that had a lot of boulders, and a healthy rattlesnake population. I was going past a small group of boulders, and stopped to check out a sig. I'd taken off my phones to give my ears a rest, and heard the telltale rattle. Looking over to my left, there was a rattler. It was one of the first times I'd encountered a rattlesnake in the wild, plus I was young and stupid. ;) I took my coil, meaning to flick it away from me, but somehow it caught on the coil long enough that when I flicked it, it swirled around back towards me and flew right between my legs. I was lucky though, and wasn't tagged.

I bought the drinks that night. ;)

Doc

It was one of my first times relic hunting, I was getting really good at using the detector to scan the dirt as I passed handfulls over it. This method was fine until I got a signal, then  it went away, then it came back. Frustrated I stopped and thought, as I reached my hand towards the detector I saw the problem, my watch. As soon as I removed it no more false readings. This has also happened with metal snaps on my coat sleeves. They don,t call them metal detectors for nothing.

Ed.

buy a bounty hunter before christmas and my better half got me a better onealready!guess which one went back?hers!

     Well fellow treasure hunters, I think I got you all beat! It was a cold winters day back in 1964 and a fellow treasure hunter stopped by my home and told me he just heard from a person he had talked to of a farmer that died and was thought to have buried silver coin on his farm. So we drove to the farm to have a quick look, thinking when the weather warmed up to try and check out the place. We found no one living on the place and a barn by the side of the road, It was all open so we stepped inside to have a quick look. We noticed 2 malk cans under 6" of ice it milk cooler. We looked around some and left.  Only to find out later the person that bought the place found the milk cans full of silver coins. Hid in plain site. We took turns kicking each others butt.

Wow  Monk, that really bites!  At least you guys are probably saving us noobs some pain by posting these little tidbits. 

I pulled up to an old church and stepped out of the car ... I was looking at all the possibilities around the church. Becoming aware of a 'flopping around' underfoot, I looked down to find that I was standing on a rattlesnake! As luck would have it, I was standing on the snake's head. It was a fatal encounter for the snake, and a lesson in awareness for me.

well..Ive done the steel toe boot thing.. the scoop on a string thing..the forgot I was married thing(left hand has wedding band waving dirt under coil)..the forgot to turn on thing..the rebury find thing..and while detecting around some soccer fields with buddies, I kept finding these pull-tabs that the soil had turned to a gold color, thinking I found a ring and almost having a heart-attack each time!(you'd think I'd catch on after the fourth or fifth one!)

ok here is the DUMBEST thing I ever did. I left my detector proped up against my truck & pulled out running over it.

Triped on a log with detector in hand and almost fell on the stem of the detector which would have broken it.

Fortunately caught iit in time not cut it. Headphone cords and knives do NOT work well together, pinpointing and tunnel vision can be expensive.

WENT M.DING WITH STEEL TOES HAHAHA

? ? ? ? ?Not my weirdest or dumbest. Don't think i want to go that far. A week ago hunted till dark. Last coin i dug, as i stood up i dropped it. Took the better part of 10 mins to find again. I could hear it, but too dark to see it and couldn't feel it in the 5in. grass. There on my knees saying things along the lines of,? Heres another fine mess you've gottin into. Only with a little more of an? ?R rating.? Was a 58 wheat, not sure it was worth it.? ?HH

I've done the wedding ring trick while waving the plug over the coil.  Sad thing is, I've done it more than once!

Dudes

About 13 years ago I was detecting around an old church and had a good signal. I turned the disc. up to 10 and still had a signal. As I dug, I hit a root and I pried down trying to break the root the shovel gave way and I conked myself in the head real hard. I layed on the ground for awhile and then got up and left beat and defeated. I still wonder what was in the hole.

 Tripped on my own boots while climbing over a short chain that closes off a soccer field thats only 3ft off the  ground,.......MD in hand and shovel in the other on the damp morining grass,.......ya had to be there to laugh!...my detecting friend laughed his A$$ off.....i did aswell!..

Dudes, what do you think the odds of getting away with telling you're 1/2 that you're going MDing as you pull you're wedd. ring off?

Another dumb thing I did was take some finds to work. I flaunted them a bit and then put them in my shirt pocket. Later on that day I relized that my finds were missing. I forgot to take them out of my shirt and put them in my tool box until I got back home. Someone at the mill must have found them and kept quiet about it. Another thing I did was chop through a nice silver ring trying to bust through the frozen sand with an axe. Swiz

Heck I might as well post the pic well I'm at it. Swiz

My "all-in-one-idiot-for-the-day" came at the beach.  I spent an hour on a section of the beach with narry a tone to be heard, only when I happened to look at the display did I realize my headphones weren't working due to a small grain of sand stuck in the stereo switch.  Cleared that up, found the one lone quarter for the day then headed back to the car.  Emptied my pouch on the trunk, dropped the garbage in the garbage can then pulled off.....with the one loan quarter still on the trunk!  I figured it out about a 1/2 mile down the road, pulled over and surprisingly enough it was still there.

I just went home and sat in the corner with a pointy hat for the rest of the night!

Stoney,

Probably wouldn't go over too well to take it off, just have to remember which hand to scan over the coil with.  Wouldn't that be a trip if I did take it off while at a site and lost it!  Talk about irony!!

Dudes

 ? I "LMAO" reading all the posts. This is a great subject. I have to admit I've done the wedding ring thing more than once. The steel toed boot trick was an almost for me too. These are great, hope everyone keeps posting.

I guess my "duh" was to drive off and leave my $$ digger standing upright in the end of the field I had just hunted.? ? Farmer sure must have wondered about that crop potential.....ha!

[Now I Will Hit That 2012 Silver]

                            I was detecting on the grass next to the beach........Guys were fishing......Seagulls were swarming all around ......Some Gulls were getting into guys minnow buckets and other gulls (hundreds ) were being a nucance.....I got a little frustrated at a couple gulls that were buggin me ....
                                 So I threw a rock at one...........Hit that sucker between the eyes and killed it...........Every one stopped and stared at me........One fisherman said........."You know it's Illegal to kill Seagulls "   .........I got outta there quik !!

OK....Here's probably my dumbest thing I have done so far. (Now yall keep in mind that I have only been doin this for a couple of months.)  ;)
I have recently bought a house with a little property in the country. Been going out and exploring and having a great time, there are some big rocks and some have little "caves" under them...So I'm running the MD along, hop up on one of those big rocks and start swinging under there....beeps and more beeps.....my heart starts racing! I jump off the rock, try to get a peek at whats under there, can't see anything so I get back up and start stuffing the coil in the crevice....nothing...hmmm....so I get back on top of the rock for a better angle and BEEP, there it is again! Well it took me about 5 minutes to figure it out....yep......you guessed it..... it's my boots! 

Nana

I also backed up over my detector

I have to post this.  I was out MDing with my partner on top of Allegheny Street hill in my home town of Bellefonte, PA.  There are two cemetaries there, I was hunting in front of the entrance to the old Quaker Cemetary.  Frustrated because I was only digging up junk, the ground was hard and I only brought a gardening spade to dig.  I was digging a hole, trying to get to something that had my Garrett 250 running haywire.  I mentioned out loud that I could really use a larger shovel, and what do you know.  In that very spot, I dug one up! 

I got a chance to hunt a nice old house and adjoining park in Amarillo when I was living in Lubbock, Texas.  Very excited, I set off at 8:00 in the morning, drove over 2 hours! to get there, hopped out of the truck, and set off to get to work.  Aww, crap, the detector won't power on.  Look inside, there's no battery!  Where did the battery go, you might ask?  Sitting on the charger, at home, 145 miles away.   

dont realy think this relates but it is the funniest. had to go # 2 real bad in the woods. Partner found it on the bottom of his boot. still funny years later.

With the lake frozen earlier this winter...before the heavy snows...The girls and I decided to walk across to an island that I had been wanting to detect...I had heard that a log cabin had burned in the forties and that there had been a large iron lock that had been on the door of the cabin....so thats what I was after.......there were alot of ice fishing shacks and the guys were fishing  at the base of the island...its like a high hill that just rises out of the lake...there is a sand embankment that goes up about 50 ft and then flattens out...The girls are like little mountain goats  and had no problem shimming up that hill...but mama, carrying her detector and back pack  ,was a bit slow....probally because I was a little more self-conscious of exposing my backside to the world as I climbed.....I had almost reached the top when the sand shifted and I flipped onto my bottom and with arms over my head ,holding the detector like a banner I  proceeded to slide all the way back down!!!! When I reached the bottom, there were about 15 icefishermen just staring....and laughing....I stood up, extremely embarrassed, dusted my aching bottom off and did the only thing I could....I took a sweeping bow .......with shouts of encore!, encore! ringing in my ears , I made it to the top the second try......hahaha hahahaha
PS  I didn't find the lock yet either....wah

How about forgetting to take your ring off while waving clumps of dirt under the coil?

Did that my first day md'ing (last month). After about 20 minutes of turning up empty clumps of dirt thinking there was powdered metal in there, I realized I was wearing my wedding band. I'm such a noob!

Left my battery pack at home

Jumped across the creek with my metal detector, didn't make it. You know those pictures of soldiers wading through the water with their rifles over their heads?  ;) ;)

We need to all co-write a book...Metal Detecting for Dummies.....I would buy it ;)

Is the price higher for co-authors?

Is the price higher for co-authors?

Only if your articles include self photos ;)

Darn ;) ;) ;) ;)     

Darn ;) ;) ;) ;)    

I went to the beach to do some detecting. When I was done I sat my beach scoop by the truck so I could unlock the truck. I put my detector in then jumped in. When I got home I couldn't find my scoop. I went the 15 miles back to the lake to get my scoop. I got to the beach only to find I had ran over it in leaving. All that was left was a flat steel pancake.

The scariest thing that happened to me is still a very vivid memory.

I was detecting out behind an old farm that also had horse stables. There was a small lake behind it and grassy picnicing areas surrounding the lake. This place boarded horses so there was no one around back where I was. Perfect for detecting. I found a lot of silver there. Anyway, I was searching under some trees, finding coins, wearing headphones of course and I heard some loud noises above me. Before I could react or even look, a large tree branch, over one foot in diameter crashed down through the tree and landed just in back of me. One of the large secondary branches broke away from it when it crashed, and I do mean crashed, it was loud, to the ground and slapped me in the back and knocked me about ten feet forward and onto my face. It was a totally calm and sunny day, so this wasn't something that was ever expected.

Somehow, I tossed my detecter to the side as I was being flung forward and it didn't get broken. I was brused and shaken up (and about @$%& my pants) but nothing broken. I sat for a half hour or so right there just staring at the size of the branches that had just missed me realizing that if I had been another two feet back, I would have been bug-splat. No one knew where I was and I probably wouldn't have been found for days. All for a couple silver dimes and wheatbacks. huh.

I guess I was blessed on that day (and on many days since) and was thankful the way things worked out for me.

Smiles!
BDoo

   The dumbest thing iv ever done MD was in my yard.  In about 5 minutes i got a strong signal only 2 inches deep and i began to dig.  I pulled up the grass and put it off to the side and began to dig deeper.  I checked the hole and the grass pile again and got a signal on the pile, all i saw was a crushed soda can, so i kept digging, and digging until i realized the can was setting the MD off!

   I feel like such an idiot.

   -CC

[YOU]

So YOU were the one who reached 60 feet?  ;)

   No, that wasnt me lol.  Im not that stupid. ;)

I posted this before under a similar topic, but here goes anyway:  I was MDing around a park public facility and found a nickel dated in the war years.  I slipped it into my pocket and in about a minute I found another one identical to the first one. After about half an hour I had found at least 10 or 12 nickels all identical and I  thought I had found a cache or someone's lost collection.  My shirt pocket had a hole in it and I was finding the same coin over and over and over and............!  Monty

Its not the dumbest I've ever done however last Monday was a nice day to out hunting, so I got all my gear on and headed out. Put on my headphone and was hunting in a field I thought everything was a little quite, to quite after about 45 minutes I decided to sit down and take a break, reached down to turn the detector off and found out the reason that it so quite was because I hadn't turned it on yet. Ever happen to u? I could also add to this, "The scarest thing"

LMAO....3 hours attempting to dig a large target, on a well known treasure beach, at the water line, at night, with a very nasty storm coming in (it made it too), using a plywood coffer dam. Believe it or not, we were all sober. PS: A few days later our "hit" was uncovered by Mother Nature. The storm and a very low tide showed it to be a 350 Chevy engine block. Good thing too, we had plans underway to get a Backhoe onto the beach (again at night) and dig the "chest of "pieces of eight" that we were sure we had found.
Deepsix

I posted this before under a similar topic, but here goes anyway:  I was MDing around a park public facility and found a nickel dated in the war years.  I slipped it into my pocket and in about a minute I found another one identical to the first one. After about half an hour I had found at least 10 or 12 nickels all identical and I  thought I had found a cache or someone's lost collection.  My shirt pocket had a hole in it and I was finding the same coin over and over and over and............!  Monty

I think I peed myself while reading this Monty.
Off to the shower I go.

You crack me up man.

Smiles!
BDoo

I posted this before under a similar topic, but here goes anyway:  I was MDing around a park public facility and found a nickel dated in the war years.  I slipped it into my pocket and in about a minute I found another one identical to the first one. After about half an hour I had found at least 10 or 12 nickels all identical and I  thought I had found a cache or someone's lost collection.  My shirt pocket had a hole in it and I was finding the same coin over and over and over and............!  Monty

I think I peed myself while reading this Monty.
Off to the shower I go.

You crack me up man.

Smiles!
BDoo

LMAO!!!! That's a great one!!!!
Deepsix

Well, I think I've outdone myself!  Last week I was hunting a house demolition site and after digging a clad penny on a lot I left my SunRay probe turned on and made two passes without getting a hit except some weird noises.  I thought my imaging feature had gone south and after playing with the controls, reprogramming and checking for loose connections, overhead wires, batteries etc, discovered what I had done!Yeah boy, I got this metal detecting down to a fine art......not!  Monty

dumbest thing I ever did detecting: Said to myself: That ground bee's nest is far enough away, they won't bother me.  Wrong.

Well, I'm no dummy but this is the DUMEST thing
i have done since i have started this hobby.
2 weeks ago i just bought a new Whites DFX,
and like a kid with a new toy i wanted to play with it,
right now, so i did... 3 days i took it to my
mothers to show my grandpa, 88 and still loves to MD
we took it out in the front yard and tried it out for about
10 Min's, so now the MD now about 30 minutes on
the new DFX... When i was ready to leave i picked up
my backpack and MD went to the truck and leaned the MD
up against truck and put my pack in the back seat truck and got in and
backed up  when i heard a thump sound.
I paid no attention to it BUT when i turned around to put the truck
in drive........"OMG NO WAY" came to mind, there it was my new DFX, laing on the
ground, i said a few choice words and put head down on the
steering wheel, and got a SICK feeling in my belly,y'all know the one
that I'm talking about....anyway i pulled back to it in my truck
and low & behold it was not hurt....and then the BIG sigh of relief
so when i got out to get it i looked it over good before picking it up.
It was fine so i kissed it and told my self to never tell ANYONE about
what had happen, but since I'm not the only one to do something
this DUMB, i can laugh at it now
HH Ray

I posted this before under a similar topic, but here goes anyway:  I was MDing around a park public facility and found a nickel dated in the war years.  I slipped it into my pocket and in about a minute I found another one identical to the first one. After about half an hour I had found at least 10 or 12 nickels all identical and I  thought I had found a cache or someone's lost collection.  My shirt pocket had a hole in it and I was finding the same coin over and over and over and............!  Monty

I think I peed myself while reading this Monty.
Off to the shower I go.

You crack me up man.

Smiles!
BDoo

LMAO!!!! That's a great one!!!!
Deepsix

OMG....I am laughing so hard I am crying...I can't see this screen....I don't think anyone can top that one!!! Thanks for the laugh, even though it was at your expense...not laughing at you, just your comical nickel adventure

HH...Ann

Okiem I got a sinking feeling in my stomach just reading that.... LOL! Glad everything came out ok.

I posted this before under a similar topic, but here goes anyway:  I was MDing around a park public facility and found a nickel dated in the war years.  I slipped it into my pocket and in about a minute I found another one identical to the first one. After about half an hour I had found at least 10 or 12 nickels all identical and I  thought I had found a cache or someone's lost collection.  My shirt pocket had a hole in it and I was finding the same coin over and over and over and............!  Monty

i did the wedding ring thing at least 2 times today 1 before lunch and 1 after lol


thats funny monty sounds like something id do lol

Many years ago and soon after I began metal detecting I tracked leads that sent me 800 miles from here to a rural area outside lancaster Ohio. One of the great bandit's of the old west had a beloved grandmother who lived there.

I figured what better place to hide the ill gotten loot than at his grandmothers cabin. I made the trip. I found "seldom seen road" I found "snortin ridge" and after a few hours I found what was left of her old cabin.

Searched log and hard around the cabin and found many interesting things..But no loot. I sat down and studied the surround ground looking for something "that didn't fit". Something that may have a tell-tale sign.

Down from the cabin was a small mound of dirt. The ground was hilly but this mound "didn't fit." I might be on to something.

I swung the detector but didn't get a hit. Figuring it might be cash and not coin I dug some into the mound and uncovered an old toy made of clay or china. I swung the detector again and got a beep. I dug more and uncovered some old metal trinkets including a small doll's head made of china with face paint still intact.

I dug deeper, harder and faster. Then I quit digging. I made my way back to the truck and left Ohio never to return. Why?

What I dug up was the remains of a small child that was wrapped in burlap.

Yes. I did restore the grave before I left.

Now that is weird... unsettling, even.  "No telling what you're gonna dig up sometimes" rings true. I came upon a set of human remains one time, out in the desert, not buried. Left them undisturbed and reported it to the authorities. Definately creepy!

The dumbest thing I did was when I was diving off the beach & saw a coquina ledge I wanted to detect, they act like a natural sluice.A so called harmless nurse shark was resting & I touched it with the coil of my Fisher 1280x. It came busting out & knocked the regulator out of my mouth & my dive mask off. I was able to retrive them & clear them,so no harm, but I learned to just make a wave & when the surge gets to them they leave.

I have never left my MDtr off but i have one time forgot my earphones at home and said the heck with it ill hunt without them and swept it around for about ten minutes with not one peep before i realized that my earphone adapter was still plugged in

How about forgetting to take your ring off while waving clumps of dirt under the coil?

Ditto!

I have never left my MDtr off but i have one time forgot my earphones at home and said the heck with it ill hunt without them and swept it around for about ten minutes with not one peep before i realized that my earphone adapter was still plugged in

I done that today...lol

 The dumbest thing Hmmmm
Well it all started out one day last summer when I got up in the morning and the sky was blue no wind and pefect temp...
you know what that meens.

So I loaded up my MD and headed fpor who knows where.

well I hit couple of playgrounds and found lots of clad then headed for what i heard used to be an old park
well the hunt started off oke found 3 wheats and a merc then some clad and then a buffalo nick,

well i moved over closer to the river bank and decided to detect over thier.
after about ten minutes i got a real good hit reading 84 on my XLT @ 8" Hmmm what could it be
while i was digging i notice some women and there children sitting at a near by picknic table and playing with the children,
 well i knew i was close so i started to dig more careful as not to scratch a nice coin if thats what that was.
soon i see a silver shimmer from the hole but wait its to big for a coin so i dig a bigger hole  and yet a bigger hole again
soon out pops an old rin tin tin cap gun in great shape, I was stoked my first decent toy relic...
 I held it in my hand and felt like the kid from the Christmas story with his new red ryder BB gun.
I pointed it at the kids and I dove to the ground in a roll like starsky and hutch, BANG BANG BANG i yelled
then ran to a near by tree......BANG BANG BANG I yelled again
 I soon noticed all the parrents were grabbing there kids and heading for their cars ...some even pealed out of the drive.

 I was hurt .................. no one wanted to play cowboys and Indians with me.
Gees.................................I was only 41 and 6.3 and 235 lbs............lol

The dumbest thing Hmmmm
Well it all started out one day last summer when I got up in the morning and the sky was blue no wind and pefect temp...
you know what that meens.

So I loaded up my MD and headed fpor who knows where.

well I hit couple of playgrounds and found lots of clad then headed for what i heard used to be an old park
well the hunt started off oke found 3 wheats and a merc then some clad and then a buffalo nick,

well i moved over closer to the river bank and decided to detect over thier.
after about ten minutes i got a real good hit reading 84 on my XLT @ 8" Hmmm what could it be
while i was digging i notice some women and there children sitting at a near by picknic table and playing with the children,
 well i knew i was close so i started to dig more careful as not to scratch a nice coin if thats what that was.
soon i see a silver shimmer from the hole but wait its to big for a coin so i dig a bigger hole  and yet a bigger hole again
soon out pops an old rin tin tin cap gun in great shape, I was stoked my first decent toy relic...
 I held it in my hand and felt like the kid from the Christmas story with his new red ryder BB gun.
I pointed it at the kids and I dove to the ground in a roll like starsky and hutch, BANG BANG BANG i yelled
then ran to a near by tree......BANG BANG BANG I yelled again
 I soon noticed all the parrents were grabbing there kids and heading for their cars ...some even pealed out of the drive.

 I was hurt .................. no one wanted to play cowboys and Indians with me.
Gees.................................I was only 41 and 6.3 and 235 lbs............lol

    no not really the dumbest thing I ever did was i degided to make a day of detecting bright and early.
so I got to the park just as it was light enough to see and started detecting found the commen pull tabs and some clad when i got a weird reading on the MD,
I stuck my pic down and piked around and hit it right of i knew it was big bouth the size of a silver dollar so i stuck my grass knife in to cut my plug and all of a sudden watter came out hitting me everywhere i grabbed my MD and ran scared me to death i thought i hit a water line but the notice i had to dodge other sprinklers as well...lol
if you detect a park early make sure its not irrigated first...lol

ok here is the DUMBEST thing I ever did. I left my detector proped up against my truck & pulled out running over it.

I has similar experience, but different circumstances. Was several years ago, very hot summer. Was hunting on beach in middle of day and the heat was getting to me. Went back to parking lot to leave and had laid the detector down on the ground. Packed up everything else, closed trunk and backed over the coil. Yep, dumbest thing I ever did, but I now do not hunt in the heat of the summer afternoons. Lesson learned.

Ray S

I have never left my MDtr off but i have one time forgot my earphones at home and said the heck with it ill hunt without them and swept it around for about ten minutes with not one peep before i realized that my earphone adapter was still plugged in

Well of course as a newbie I did this but before I figured it out here is what happened....I had my ace for a couple of weeks and was having fun with it. It came with headphones. One day I couldn't get a sound out of it,  without the headphones. So I packed it up and sent it back, mad of course that the stupid thing wasn't working. I got it back with a note that the adapter was plugged in, thus allowing no sound to come out!!! Boy did I feel like an idiot. I had not even realized that the headphones had an adaptor!!!

I was in a hurry one night after work to go MD before it got dark. Would have about an hour to MD. When I got there, I got my Metal detector out of my car all ready to go. Only one thing was missing. I forgot my shovel. Oh well, just one of the many dumb things I have done!!! 

On the way home from work I had noticed this rock area that looked manmade by an old long abandoned RR track so I pulled over climbed a 30 ft almost cliff and turned the machine on. Every step I took the thing sounded off but when i tried pinpointing there was nothing. About twenty minutes of this and I was getting quite disgusted, Then I looked down and realized that I was wearing my steel toed boots.

LOL IVE DONE THE SAME THING also i carry a large knife to clear any briers that may be in my way of digging lol and you guessed it cut my headphone wire in half/also while detecting with buddies i was digging a target and one yelled over they had a bullet i jumped up to run over and check it out and forgot my headphones were still on my head and my detector still on the ground that was pretty funning, darn looks like i do alot of stupid stuff but atleast we can all laugh about it...like just the other day its like 30 degrees outside so im bundled up to keep warm me and 2 others detecting an area thick with briers i try to run ahead to get the best spot some briers jumped up and grabed my leg and down i went i think i layed there for 2 or 3 min. laughing at myself i get up and turn around and one of my buddies is all but laying on ground laughing see those are the moments you remember with your friends

This could go on forever.  Just shows you we all are human.  Great posts.  I saw where another member went out to hunt and it was so cold his detector wouldn't work.  I did the same thing.  I left the detector in m car trunk over night and the temp got well below freezing.  The next day my detector would show it was on but wouldn't make any sounds or signals on the LCD.  After about an hour of letting it sit out in the sun, it started working.  I'm not sure just how it happened, but something froze up?  Monty

Found a piece of a pull tab on top my coil moving between the ridges of my coil with every strock, wasted 30 minutes swinging and digging.

Got in a kayak one time and paddled oh 2 miles or so, jumped out with a buddy to detect this new spot my detector wouldnt turn on yep forgot the dang batteries in the car this happened 2x. Another occasion traveled 3 hours to hunt,walked another 45 minutes when we got to the spot, pulled the detector out of the bag,oops no shovel i said no problem I can use my foot and hands, well then guess what I had taken my detector apart to fit it in the bag and all I had was my upper rod and a coil. I looked like a idiot with a stick tied to my coil and cramed in the upper shaft.

Several times I have forgotten my probe out in the large field next to my house and spent more time looking for it than I did detecting. I eventually got an inline probe......problem solved. 

-Codes

i did the steel toe boots too .  lol

My first & only semi key coin - 1918d....

That 1918-d SL quarter looks kinda like the 1918-s that I found.

That 1918-d SL quarter looks kinda like the 1918-s that I found.

 

Had not been detecting long, so used to carry the detector in one hand, and a big bucket in the other hand. I went to this gold mine property and saw an old building, I thought I would poke my head through the window to see what was inside. While looking inside, I heard a funny noise, when I twisted my head around and looked up there was a wasp nest about 1 foot in diameter about 3 inches above my head..... Those wasps chased me across the field with the metal detctor and bucket in hand 

God bless
Peter

Done the steel toed boots thing - once. I tried to detect a sled hill that had just been rained on and I slipped and slid about 5 feet. Caked with mud from my ankle to my butt. I am always stepping on my head phone wire and then standing up. I feels so stupid when that happens. How about trying to dig a target with a really sharp knife and stabbing my palm?

1: Went camping one summer about 7 yrs back for a week - loaded up the jeep and suv with all of our usual camping gear, kids stuff, clothing/travel bags, tents, cooking stuff, kyaks, wet-suit/water gear, my cz20 for water hunting, etc. etc.

Got to the campsite, set up, etc. then went to go hit the lake for some ring/jewelry hunting and realized I left my scoop at home. That really sucked since I spent the entire week next to a lake I had been wanting to detect for like 5 yrs but coudn't hunt it!

2: Was hunting deep in the woods up north one eve. in the fall about 15 yrs back and it got dark sooner than anticipated (or I lost track of time) and I couldn't find my way out! I spent the entire night in the woods trying to sleep up against a tree with a small campfire for warmth as I was under dressed (it was approx. 60 degrees that day) but more like 35 that night so it was a long cold night in complete darkness except for the campfire, and I couldn't sleep a wink due to the fact that bears roam those woods and that's all I could think about every time I heard a noise! The next day I heard some 4x4 quads in the distance and finally ran into one of the riders who gave me a ride out to the co. road which was only about 4 blocks from where I stopped walking & spent the night 

Back when I was lacking in the pinpointing department, I dug a dime that made its way into the drop cloth without me seeing it. I rechecked the hole and now the solid signal moved to the other side of the hole towards the drop cloth. So i pulled the drop cloth full of dirt back and widened the hole and rechecked. Still on the move! Starting to think I'm tracking a gopher wearing a silver necklace.  I widened the hole 2 or three more times chasing the signal towards myself before I realized it was on the edge of the drop cloth the whole time.  
Then while hunting in the woods this year I got a good signal under some leaves. It was a sweet homemade coin probe, but a bit rusty. I realized it was the one I lost last year.
I thought I was the only one ever dumb enough to do the steel toed boot thing. I feel better reading this post knowing there are others. Only problem was it took much of the day before I figured out there was nothing wrong with my detector.   JJ

I haven't been detecing very long, and I have done the ring thing a few times, infact at least once a trip I do that LOL DUH . 

But This is the funniest thing I was INVOLVED with.. A buddy of mine was hiking one day at Raccoon Creek State Park.  Well someplace along the way he lost his car keys.  Knowing i just got a MD he called me to help him find them.  Well i get there and asked him where all he went.  This was a bad question in some ways, good in others.  So he gave me his route and told me he will show me some of the places he stopped and rested or went off the trail to check something out.  So we started at the passenger door of his car and proceeded to hike close to 10 miles with me swing the MD back and forth looking for the "lost" car keys.  I didn't find much, just some junk that we pciked up and brought back with us, but no keys, not a key one found anywhere.  He was mad, very very mad, and leaned up against his car hard and was sulking when i caught a little glimmer coming from inside.  His car keys were still in the ignition.  I never laughed so hard in my life and wanted to beat the snot of of someone at the same time.  He better be happy my BH was still brand new. LOL

Erin
"VonDigger"

gawd you people are funny!! Only thing I did seeing I am new at this was yesterday while detecting at a totlot I was going around the edges where there was a concrete retainer wall well I got a good signal so started digging after a little bit of digging not finding anything but detector was going off decided oh well and moved on well a couple of feet farther got another hit so started digging. Didn't find anything there either so got up and moved on went a couple of feet farther got another hit but instead of digging I decided to try the concrete so scanned it and yep been detecting the rebar in the concrete.

kept passing a plug under my coil, getting a signal but the plug was empty, had my watch on

guess I better come clean........ I had just purchased my explorer pro and was like most of us with a new toy. A few friends as well as my girlfriend had decided to hit a few old farm houses on this beautiful fall day. Not being familiar with the operations or tones of this wonderful new and "expensive" machine I began slowly working the front yard to this old home. My girlfriend not being a detectorist was following along in wonderment watching her boyfriend strut his stuff. After a while with not many signals I finally got a wierd weak beep and thought what the heck I'll give it a look see. I carefully laid out my towel to collect any loose dirt and cut a perfect C shaped plug. I pulled all the loose dirt out and layed it on the towel and began scanning with my pinpointer. To my surprise in the loose pile of dirt out pops a very large warty toad! Glad I spent 1500 bucks on a toad detector

Slipperyjack47

I was hunting a tot lot with several kids around.  I was wearing a pair of loafers with slick soles.  As I was getting up from sifting some sand my foot slipped and I did a complete backward summer salt!  I got up and pretended I meant to do it and all the while the kids stopped what they were doing and just stared open mouthed!  When they went back to playing I knew my ruse had worked......until I looked over at the parents on a bench who were laughing their butts off. I slinked away and got to my car and drove off feeling like a total idiot.  Monty

I tried to metal detect in a packed junkyard. I didn't find anything, because I kept detecting the junk cars.

My neighbor lost a small watch type gear in the carpet on the floor boards of his car.  He wanted me to find it with my detector.  Eh...what about the metal floor boards?  I found them easy.  Monty

How about forgetting to take your ring off while waving clumps of dirt under the coil?

haha! I put my glove on and started waving handfuls of dirt and every handful i got a  strong signal! then i realised i forgot to take my watch off! very dumb of me

Hello, I am a new member, been lurking and reading for several months. I had to join this subject. Several years ago I was invited to detect a yard near Shiloh battleground. the lady was nice and showed us some relics she picked out of her garden. I was eager to get started, sure enough my first hole produced a .69 three ringer.  The second target was much different, I cut her telephone line in two places.  The rest of the day was spent repairing her phone line.

Scariest thing happened the other day  . I am just digging away at a target and this golden retriever comes up and licks my face before i saw or heard him . I fell over thinking I was going to jhave a heart attack . and the big dummy proceded to give me a bath at the amusment of the owner . The more I laughed the more he was licking.