My hobbies

I briefly touched on one of my hobbies a few posts ago but I'll go a little more in depth now.

I enjoy going to the beach and metal detecting. Some may call it treasure hunting and that sort of fits the description as one man's trash is another man's treasure. I do most of my "hunting" at the beach mostly because there is a higher chance of finding goodies. I've done a little "dirt digging" but thats been limited to my parent's property.

I have quite a bit of money invested in the hobby and there is always that chance that I could find some gold jewelry or lost spanish treasure that will pay my investment back. Thats not why I do it though. I do it to relax, relieve stress, and get a little exercise.

Metal detecting requires money up front to get started in the hobby and you can stay at under $500 for a detector and other accessories but it can quickly get into the thousands with upgrades and multiple machines for different types of "hunting". I personally have about $3000 in just metal detectors, not including any of the accessories. All total, I would say somewhere around the $4000 mark and I plan on getting another detector for use in the water pretty soon.

Once you have the equipment to go metal detecting, the cost to participate in the hobby is minimal with batteries and gas to get to your hunting location. Like I said though, it can pay you back.

My other hobby is guns/target shooting.

For me, going to my parent's property or a shooting range and firing off a couple hundred rounds from one of my pistols, rifle, or shotguns is a quick way to relieve stress. I love to shoot but don't care much for hunting. I'm not some tree-hugging animal rights activist or anything like that, I just like to shoot and when you hunt, you can spend an entire day out in the woods without firing a shot. I'll let my step dad do the hunting and I'll gladly eat the kill but I'll stick with target shooting.

The down side to shooting is it requires a hefty cost up front and a hefty cost every time you want to shoot, bullets ain't cheap anymore. Shooting helps hone your skills though and keeps you current on your skills. If you're a gun owner whether it's for target shooting or hunting, it is a good idea to keep up on your knowledge and use of firearms. Even if you only bought 1 gun for home defense, you should go to a range several times a year to stay proficient with the weapon. Hopefully you'll never have to use it in self defense but if it ever comes down to it, you better know how to use it.

That's my thoughts for the day. Vacation is over and I didn't win the lottery so it's back to work tonight.