Gotta Love it! When a person takes up this Sport, sooner or later, a person will wrestle with this subject...Lots of cool and uncool posts about 'return' attempts....
Each Return Attempt is an experience in your Life you will have never gotten otherwise...Some are worth the effort, some are not, some are very depressing, some are Lifechangers, some are break evens, some are loss leaders and a depressing kick to the pills...
Ya just never know! No Right or Wrong here, no Moral Highroad to rigidly ascribe to....Roll with it on a case by case basis..
So, Now, after the experiences and moral/mental wrestling events...
What I do is, I dwell on it a little...Let my heart and the find speak to me a little bit for a week or more before I take any further action...Hey...I have it in hand, the 'loser' is no more out than they were a week ago, so I have a clear mind to make the 'right decision' in my corner and what happens is only up to only ME...
Yeah..Its all about ME at this point...I bought this gear, put in the time, learned this skill, got up early, burned gas, and 'accidentally' found this lost item...At this point, I am not under any obligation to 'do the right thing' to nobody but myself, and when it comes to this, I am my own worst enemy...
I do like an appreciative 'Lost Item' recipient...one who respects my effort/skills and recompenses accordingly...or at least may 'pay it forward' to some poor but deserving b'tard....
I'ma gonna need some mercy someday from a Stranger! Doubt I will get it, never seems to happen to me...but I sure have given it and am well deserving...'Karma' is wasted on smelly hitchhiker Hippys, so no help to me there....In the end of the matter, for a Free Ranger in a World all alone...
I Probably shoulda just kept the gold and called it quits! ..still..a guy has some intrigue and compassion to figure out a find...just for curiosities sake if nothing else..might make a major difference in somebodies Life.....Ya just never know what the next ping will be....
A nice dirty Q is a better find than a moral wrestling event!..I hate to take on myself! Even though I know my weaknesses, I'm up against a crazy no account who doesnt ascribe to the Marquesse de Queensbury rules! That can take a baseball bat straight to the noggin! Has a left hook!...I generally run away from myself if I can...Ah, the joy in finding peaceful little parking lot pennies..
Melt it!