When I was a kid, I tended to lose them a lot more often, even though I had access to much larger fields. I just liked to see how high they could go, and sometimes they never came back.
I got back into rocketry just about 1 year ago when I bought my nephew an RTF Estes Riptide launch set. We were going to be launching on a small field so I got some smaller B6-4 motors, plus a pack of C6-5 in case conditions were calm enough. The first day launching had a little breeze, so we used the Bs, but he kept pushing to use a larger motor against my recommendation. Finally, I let him, and sure enough it drifted out of the park into power lines. The power company recovered it for me, so it was not actually lost. But that was a close call for the first day launching.
We had a few more launch days without much incident and very good conditions, so we were able to use the C motors a few times. Then we had another breezy day, and I insisted he use Bs instead. He kept pushing for the Cs until I finally told him, "It's your rocket. You decide. But I'm telling you I think it is going to float away if you use a C motor." He put a C6-5 in it, and it drifted into neighborhood, never to be found.
Eventually, I got him another rocket, but this time not an RTF. I figured if he had to put in some sweat equity to build it, he might be more cautious about losing it. Nope. He still always wants to put a big motor in it and risk it drifting away. Or he asks to put one of the long-delay upper-stage motors in it and risk a crash.
Krusty sent me a sticker that says, "Fly 'em like you don't want 'em back!" My nephew says that is his rocket motto. He is just at an age where caution and reason do not mean much to him.
But actually, now that I review the year, we have only really truly lost the one Riptide rocket. We've had other close calls and plenty of damage.
Two smaller rockets that were very old and had weak shock cords separated, and the nose cones and parachutes were lost, but the airframes were recovered.
My Silver Comet landed on top of a school and spent a week up there in light rain. I had been experimenting with paint, so it had many, many coats, and I had also experimented with coating the inside of the body tube in CA. With all that stuff on it, it actually survived the rain very well and I think it will be flyable after a little work.
My old Army Hawk had a lot of hard landings and busted fins, but I just keep gluing them back together. Now the engine hook has come lose insitde the mount, so it might be time to retire it.
My Big Daddy drifted into a backyard, but I got it back.
And my Maxi Alpha III did a cruise missile trick and tore its chute completely lose before crashing. It can be repaired.
