Anyone ever drive off and leave a piece of equipment behind

[History Hound 1]

Last year I finished detecting a vacant school lot. I went to my car, set my detector along side it. I put my pouch away in the bag, took off my wireless headphones which I usually place in the carrying case in the back seat. For some reason I put the case back in the box and placed it on top of the car. I put the detector in the backseat and drove off. I get home, reach for my bag and say this feels awful light. I look inside, no headphones. Swear words!! I race back, no where to be seen. A 150 dollar mistake hope never happens again.

 

[bottlecap4u]

Oh god yes…shovel, brushes, even rode away with my finds box on the side of the truck luckily retrieved the old coins in the dirt road, this year, left my cell phone in the hood as I drove away, damn….thinking I must be getting dementia…

 

[OBN]

Yep, set of head phones .. with a cube go pro setup mounted. Doing some testing with the Manticore, Excal and the Fisher AQ on the beach.... Was using the Cam to record the compare.. Went back about 2 hours later, gone. Left on the drysand. Had video of where I left them from the other setup I was using. Gather several things but some reason they were left in the rush to get out of the park by 9am..No detecting allow after. No big loss for the Go Pro was old, the head phones I made.. figure it was about a 100 bucks loss.. I was more upset about losing the video footage for it had most of the testing .
Conclusion... a Old Age error...

 

[History Hound 1]

At least you were able to find the coins

 

[Eastender]

That's one reason why I use the XP large backpack to haul all of my gear and supplies to and from detecting sites. It's like a ritual for me. Everything has a place and sequence. My small Predator shovel has its own straps and it finishes the process off. The only thing I've nearly lost in the woods is my pin pointer. But that can never happen anymore as I tether it to my belt finds pouch with a coiled lanyard.

 

[old-raven]

I'm extremely organized in the field and in life in general. I wear a utility belt at all times with all my tools and needful things kept tightly organized and if anyone borrows anything from it they must return it, no questions about the matter. No bumming! As a result I basically don't lose anything, like ever. My packs, my backpacks, are all maintained such that certain pieces of gear are always present in them in the same place, I have separate packs for separate activities. A place for everything and everything in its place and God save you if you use a piece of that equipment and don't at least hand it right back. I do stay on top of it.
My relic hunting gear is always tightly organized, I literally have a checklist and I even use the MOLLE webbing to mount tools and additional pouches, each with a specific purpose. The gear is static, that's how we roll. When I'm really geared up we're talking anywhere from 30-50 pounds all told, no it's not too much for me to carry, my body is used to it. Is that anal enough for ya?
I once lost a 1960s penny I dug up, it was a tragedy, I couldn't believe it. That's never going to happen again.
So the short answer is: oh hell no. Trust me, if something is missing my internal scale lets me know immediately.
Sorry you lost your headset, you should consider traveling with me, I have your back, you'll never misplace anything out there again

 

[diggin4clad]

About 10 years ago I had finished detecting a site and packed my stuff into the car and drove 15 miles to my next site, I start detecting and get a strong signal, put the digger in the ground and "hey ! Where's my pinpointer? I went back to the car thinking it fell out of the pouch into the floor but that wasn't it. I then drove another 15 miles back to where I had been detecting and luckily for me, there' it was....right on the ground where I left it.

 

[MasonDixonMding]

I haven’t left anything detecting yet. But many years ago I was black powder deer hunting and had a problem! For some reason I was down in the dumps? It was an evening hunt. I didn’t see anything and walked to my truck. It was cold weather and my hands were cold I couldn’t get the cap off of my gun. When this happens I use my keys to pop it off. But my keys are in my pocket under many layers of close. So to get to my key I need to put the gun down. But with the cap on the gun that means it’s loaded. If I would sit the gun on or in my truck that would be illegal and if caught they can take the gun and my truck. So not having a tree near to set it against I laid in some leafs. I took all my gear off packed up and started home. I almost got to the hard road when I look in the seat beside me were my gun should be sitting and it’s not there! Now I am devastated not because I left my gun. Because I know that I just ran over my gun with my truck!
I almost didn’t want to go back. To make thing worse it my favorite gun. I drove back get out and walk over to where I laid my gun. I thinking bent, broken in half. As I walk up to it in the head lights of my truck I can hardly see it. The ground in this spot had not frozen yet and it was soft ground. The gun just was pushed in the ground and I road over it. It wasn’t broke, bent or even a scratch. Not even muddy because of the leaves. It was a bad day for me, but it could have been much worse!

 

[jimther]

Yup... sure did, TWICE.

The first was a pair of Gray Ghost headphones. Don't even know where I lost them, but they weren't with my gear when I went out the next time (Replaced them with "Killer Bee" headphones)

The second time was a Lesche, T-handle digging spade. Must have left it behind on a club member-only hunt. Went back to that farm and it was nowhere to be found . Replaced it with a Root Slayer, which I actually like better. Several models available.

 

[Iggyks]

I was finding clad dimes every foot or so at a fairground having fun, detected a little longer after the dimes petered out, drove 40 miles back home and discovered my Carrot was missing. Went back the next day but it was gone for good.

 

[KOB]

My idiot move was on a casino run. Ex-wife and I get in the car and start to drive off from our house. Within about a minute a couple people pass us in the opposite direction honking & pointing at me. Said to the wife "Wth is wrong with people this morning". As I make a left turn onto the major highway , I look in my side mirror , then the rear view. All I see is this poof of cash , cards , paper. Immediately realized it was my checkbook wallet that I left on the roof of our car. Pulled over , we both get out and scramble picking everything up. Had a couple grand in there along with everything else. Didn't lose anything. The casino was OK, we won a few hundred. But I sure felt like a fool that day.

 

[Diga]

I've left behind my pinpointer twice, and my expensive trowel once. While I got the pinpointers back, the trowel is gone forever. It took a total of three times for my procrastinating ass to finally tether them to me with coiled lanyards.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

I lost a set of wireless headphones at Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park. Was detecting one day and took them off and set them down on a picnic table and forgot to pick them back up. I was hoping they would be there the next day but they weren't. Hasn't happened since. More careful now

 

[GroundSweeper]

I lost a Lesche hand digger, it must have fallen out while detecting the local river - went back and no where. I've bolted a pet ID tag with my info to the replacement

I also lost a garrett carrot at Sunset State Beach, since then the replacement is tethered to my finds pouch.....

Lessons learned.

I have driven off with my coffee tumbler on the top of the car a couple times now.

Just gotta slow down sometimes, ain't easy.

 

[C-COD]

Last week I left my long handle scoop leaning against the side of the car.I was ready to drive off when a oyster farmer came driving by blowing his horn..I got out and there the scoop was.I thanked him and was on my way.Now I do a complete walk around befor leaving.

 

[hoser]

Yep. I made a stainless scoop that I really liked. Done hunting one day, I leaned it against the car on the passenger side, loaded the rest of my gear, got in the car and drove off. Drove the three miles home and realized my scoop was gone. Raced back to where I was last and NO SCOOP! Message to self, when loading your gear make sure you don't put anything on the passenger side of your vehicle. Even though I wasn't out any money, it still cranked me off that I was stupid to not pay attention.

 

[Iggyks]

If I set anything down to free my hands getting into my car etc., I put it on the hood in front of the driver's seat so I see it before I drive off.

 

[Bear stalker]

About 6 months ago... I almost lost my hand digger. I was out hunting for about 3 hrs in a tall grassy field and after digging the initial hole with my Excalibur Sir Kay, I went to use my hand digger. That's when I realized I left it behind somewhere in this 50 acre field. After backtracking I eventually found it after 30 minutes of searching. I still haven't tethered it yet like I told myself to do when I got home. I know it's just a matter of time before I leave something behind somewhere even though I'm usually pretty good of keeping track of my stuff.

Last year.... I had overlanded in my Truck for a few days while out photographing critters in the mountains. I used my Jetboil system to make my coffee each morning and would set it on the ground to let it cool off before I packed it up and put it in the truck. The last evening I went to make my dinner using the Jetboil and I'll be damn it was gone! I immediately drove back to where I had woke-up and had coffee that morning but it was long gone.

About 35 years ago.... I had been out bow hunting all morning. I got back to my 4Runner and took off all my gear then hopped in the truck to go home. I drove down a hill and turned left, drove about 300 yards and turned right to pull out onto the main hwy.
I get up to speed (45mph) and suddenly hear this weird noise through the roof of my truck then it suddenly stopped.
I looked in my rearview mirror to the horror of seeing my $600 Hoyt bow bouncing down the road behind me. Slammed the breaks on and ran back to grab it and toss it in the truck. After getting home and inspecting it, I was surprised that it wasn't completely destroyed. I just had to replace both cams and string. All the other scratches dings and dents simply gave it more "character".

They say misery loves company. So thanks to all who have shared their "not so bright" moments. I don't feel so lonely now.

 

[OBN]

Similar with a Happy ending. Had a beach I was doing good at about 55 minutes away. This hunt I got a small gold and when I got back to my car.. pulled out to look at it and then it went - back into the pouch, drove home.. dumped my pouch out into my sifter on my work bench.. no gold ring.

Drove back to the beach, looked around where I parked.. Na Da. Very upset, its dark now, after hour there and 20 minutes of crawling around on the ground looking for it then 55 minutes back. Pulling back into the garage the head lights reveal something on the ground.

Relief.......

 

[MuddyMo]

A better question would have been who hasn’t…