Hobby dying

[DizzyDigger]

Unfortunately it’s much harder to fix from the outside, needs to be a father, or at most a grandfather thing... Rare exceptions to mentor from the outside...

I wanted a metal detector so bad when I was about eight that my father built me a Heathkit metal detector. That was the extent of my being mentored..15 years after that I just wanted go detecting, so I found a shop that sold decent gear, and taught myself how to use it.

There were no metal detecting TV shows, or videos when I started detecting, but today any youngster can call up hundreds of "How to metal detect" type videos right from their phone.

Mentors are great, but what's most important, IMHO, is that younger people at least need to be exposed to people detecting. It doesn't take much to encourage a young person when they are interested in the subject.

Problem I see today is that too many young people are way too caught up in their phones, video games and their social networking.

 

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[Winchester416]

I wanted a metal detector so bad when I was about eight that my father built me a Heathkit metal detector. That was the extent of my being mentored..15 years after that I just wanted go detecting, so I found a shop that sold decent gear, and taught myself how to use it.

There were no metal detecting TV shows, or videos when I started detecting, but today any youngster can call up hundreds of "How to metal detect" type videos right from their phone.

Mentors are great, but what's most important, IMHO, is that younger people at least need to be exposed to people detecting. It doesn't take much to encourage a young person when they are interested in the subject.

Problem I see today is that too many young people are way too caught up in their phones, video games and their social networking.

What a great story! I remember building various kits from them with my dad! So fun, such treasured memories...

Sounds like you had a treasured father whom supported your dreams, and did what he could to help you with them...

That’s what is lacking, that’s the root of the problem, becoming worse with each generation!

I’m not saying all Baby boomers had great fathers, but the percentage was much higher in that generation then the next... Looking back the baby boomers became the first collective Me or Metoo generation, and we are dealing with the fallout currently! Again not all of them, it’s just a percentage shift from the former to the latter...

When you bring this you, you get the well this generation just has no work ethic, yada yada yada... If you think yuppies are terrible dealing with from a boomer perspective, try being surrounded by them all through school and beyond...

 

[Winchester416]

Yeah and it was the great great great grand Millenniums that started all this with the Industrial Revolution, it’s all there fault. Really it’s the fault of all generations who are greedy looking to have everything which includes the most recent spawn. How’s your new iPhone running LOL

It is each generations responsibility to their children. The shift to current thinking started with the baby boomers (again not all of them) one generation loose sight of this and it ripples with devastating results through following generations until a correction is made to right the path... I believe we are at a correction and it is being done mainly by late genx early geny people...

 

[DizzyDigger]

It is each generations responsibility to their children. The shift to current thinking started with the baby boomers (again not all of them) one generation loose sight of this and it ripples with devastating results through following generations until a correction is made to right the path.

I remember a very popular author back then (1960's) was Dr. Spock, and his book about raising kids was all the rage. I think we should pin this on him..

 

[ARC]

I wanted a metal detector so bad when I was about eight that my father built me a Heathkit metal detector. That was the extent of my being mentored..15 years after that I just wanted go detecting, so I found a shop that sold decent gear, and taught myself how to use it.

There were no metal detecting TV shows, or videos when I started detecting, but today any youngster can call up hundreds of "How to metal detect" type videos right from their phone.

Mentors are great, but what's most important, IMHO, is that younger people at least need to be exposed to people detecting. It doesn't take much to encourage a young person when they are interested in the subject.

Problem I see today is that too many young people are way too caught up in their phones, video games and their social networking.

Me too...
And i got one on Christmas Morning... and i knew what i was getting and couldn't wait...
I knew because i could feel through the wrapping paper what it was.
They tried to disguise it...

But there is no mistaking the shape of a stick with a magnet taped to the end of it.

 

[Kj Upton]

I remember a very popular author back then (1960's) was Dr. Spock, and his book about raising kids was all the rage. I think we should pin this on him.. View attachment 2102393

Wasnt he the one who said to eat your children that would have solved all the problems

 

[DownEast_Detecting]

First off I would say just like real estate it’s all about location location location. In my county I have found over 150 old home sites, just from looking at lidar and old topo maps. And they are all within a 30 minute drive. Of course many are on private property and I will need permission. but I just found a colonial cellar hole that has never been detected 5 minutes down the road. These sites are still out there, you may have to be more creative and work harder to find them.
The cell phone is a tool and like any other it depends on the person and how they use it. It has become the most valuable tool in my arsenal, besides my metal detector. There would be no way to navigate my way to a potential cellar hole on lidar, without my cell phone. There would be no way for me to keep track of my finds and there dug locations without my cell phone. I wouldn’t be able to take pictures of my finds so easily in the field and link them to gps locations without my phone. You can be out for a Sunday drive, have an old topo map up on your phone. You look over to realize where there was once a road with several houses on it, there is now just woods. All these things are now possible with my cell phone.
I think the bigger problem on YouTube isn’t the babes digging nothing. It’s the other people who are obviously planting finds. Ever hunt they go on is full of multiple amazing finds. Anyone with experience knows sometimes you will just dig squat. These people aren’t in it to promote the sport. They are in it to have as many views as possible per video. Which transfers into money for them from ads and affiliate links. You can’t trust these people who are producing YouTube videos for money. It’s just like any reality show, it’s just that a show that is scripted.
I think the secret to success is being into history. If you think you are going to find gold jewelry and pirate treasure all the time good luck to you. It can still be done, but you have to live on the beaches and big parks. And as the op said, most of those have been hit hard. It’s also where all the newbies are going to go first. If you enjoy history and think it’s pretty cool when you pull something out of the ground that’s been there 3-4 hundred years. I believe you will get way more enjoyment out of this sport. And there are valuable things and coins at historic sites too. You just have to put in the work. That’s the bigger problem, everybody wants a shortcut. They want to find “treasure” without putting in the work. That’s why I assume most people who buy machines probably sell them within a month or 2. Because they just take them to random spots without doing the research. 4 years ago I realized I would probably enjoy metal detecting. Did I go out and buy one. No, I spent the next year scouring this site and many others. What kind of machines are there? Different technologies? What’s an entry level machine, but still considered good? I didn’t want to go out and buy the most expensive one, to realize I didn’t enjoy it. But I also didn’t want to buy a 50 dollar toy and not find anything. I went with the At pro and after one season was hooked, but wanted the option to hunt salt water so upgraded to the ctx 3030. But also in that first year of research, I went looking for potential sites. Learned a lot more about my local area’s history. So when I finally did get my first detector I was ready and successful.
I think the bigger problem is with people outside the sport. There are to many who have no idea what some of us do. Their only exposure to metal detecting is that time at the beach when they saw a guy looking for other peoples lost jewelry. You know they are thinking what a scum bag. If they only knew about relic hunters trying to preserve artifacts that would be turned to rust dust in the ground if it wasn’t for them. Or to the real hero’s of our sport who actually try to return lost jewelry or items if it has a name inscribed. When I talk to people about permissions or run into people in the wild. They have no idea about this side of the hobby. I think that’s why so many permissions go south before you even knock on the door. Because of their preconceived notions about metal detectorist.
If only State or federal programs and archaeologists would work with us or at least not try to actively block us. It was so neat to see that website that was put together by the British museum on finds that they say many are recovered by metal detecting. That is so cool, seems like they have accepted it and have a why not work with them attitude. My experience with local archaeologists has been the complete opposite. They seem to hate us, they would rather leave stuff in the ground. Which makes zero sense to be. First off if we didn’t find it, it will probably be gone forever to the earth from rust. And the majority of everything we find with metal detectors is something someone lost or threw away no more than a foot down. How is that going to tell you anything about that group of people besides they lost that item here. It’s not like when archaeologists do a big cross section dig many feet down, and see different layers of stuff in situ. I think it’s just them getting mad that they won’t be able to find that item themselves now.
Also if everybody would just follow those metal detecting commandments or rules I have seen at the beginning of many a book and I’m sure is on this site. It would be so much easier for the ones that follow. Those are the real people ruining this amazing hobby. The ones that trespass on private property and don’t fill in their holes. Why would anyone want to give a permission to the same group of people who snuck on their property and left a huge mess.

I’m sorry, I realized I am starting to rant. I will shut up now.

 

[Slowtaknow]

Coins will dry up with current currency trends, but jewelry should stay the same. That sorta thing comes and goes with style and vanity. The easy relics have mostly been picked but still a ton out there, and same goes for gold. I'll be in this hobby till death most likely unless it gets banned completely.

 

[ARC]

Coins will dry up with current currency trends, but jewelry should stay the same. That sorta thing comes and goes with style and vanity. The easy relics have mostly been picked but still a ton out there, and same goes for gold. I'll be in this hobby till death most likely unless it gets banned completely.

I never thought pull tabs would ever dry up.
But good news... I cleared 99 % of them off beaches... :P

No matter what... There will always be an opportunity to dust off your detector.
SO...
Always keep a detector or 2 laying around... you never know when that great opportunity will arise.

I will always keep at least one detector... no matter... always...
And when you bury this treasure (me)... you can throw em in the hole with me.
Cuz if there is an afterlife...
I might want to detect in it.
:P

 

[dougachim]

I never see anyone detecting around here.

 

[BennyV]

Not totally dying. We get people at the same “hot spots” every year. They find some stuff. Mostly modern. That’s not what I want. I’d rather a relic and a story that highlights we in fact were at the center of the war that founded this nation. It’s not what usually comes to mind when people think of NYC and the surrounding areas. It would be nice to get people thinking about local history again instead of what Kanye West is wearing.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

No shortage of people detecting Florida beaches.

 

[ARC]

No shortage of people detecting Florida beached.

Yeah... and your one of em. !
AND you come to MY beaches !
So... as mentioned... From now on,,,, we are now competition ...

:P

 

[ARC]

Yeah... and your one of em. !
AND you come to MY beaches !
So... as mentioned... From now on,,,, we are now competition ...

:P

TreasureHunter even brings a COLONAL with him when he detects ! ! !

So you know he is in it to win it.... sheesh

:P

 

[Keppy]

Yes it is dying out to many people with detecting every place worked out . It is no fun now a days when I started I made good finds every time I went out now every were you look you see some one with a detector. So now when I hunt I just go in to the woods and hunt for old sites no homes there just a old foundations to any people with detectors out there now ruined the hobby

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If the hobby were dying they would not be selling so many detectors. Minelab sells more detectors than the previous year, year after year. You adapt, and improvise.

 

[Keppy]

Detecting was ruined by tv shows you tube and detecting internet sites .

 

[ARC]

Just to be an open book...
The last time i detected was the first week in April... for a couple of hours... wish i could make the time these days to do more.
And even though i do not detect very often any more ... i still have a life long love for detecting and any kind of finding or discovery.
For me its not just me finding things... i also enjoy seeing what others find... hence my presence on this Website.
I have had this interest since i was able to walk... and i don't think it will ever not be of interest to me.
Its historical past that really interests me... but only to a degree... i think the "over study" and things over protected by entities and BS by others that has turned me a bit off / burned me out a little bit on it.
I have grown up my entire life surrounded in old stuff...Antiquities and rare things in general.... and history around it.
But i always love to learn new things about all of it.
Its all just stuff to me anymore... could really care less about a pottery shard or barrel tap or the likes.
SOME Coins interest me if in great shape... buttons bore me... and modern jewelry lacks interest and would scrap almost anything.
Only some isolated rare things float my boat anymore.

But back to as far as me detecting...
I am in a very prohibitive and pounded area... but there does exist that rare time when i meet someone who has an interesting property who allows me to detect it.
As far a "virgin sites"... That doesn't exist here... that's like saying "unicorn"... and when and if they exist they are in areas that are off limits or private.
As far as me hunting beaches for gold and silver drops... lol... heh....... um... been there done that... never really floated my boat that much... I never get googly eyed over gold.. never had gold fever... and could really care less if i find anything along those lines of recent drops at all.
I do my part and clean trash fill my holes and respect other on beaches by staying away from them.
I cannot go to ANY beach without taking a detector... but not just because i want to explore it.
Its also a bit meditative to me to detect... almost a reset button for stress...
I love the smell of the morning salt air.
I love the beach with very little to no other people.
I love finding what the night water washed in.
I love the creatures that dwell in and around it.
I love seeing what has been lost... even if only clad change.
I love....... everything about it.

I think the only thing i dont love about it is digging trash.
BUT...
I do love the fact i throw it out properly...
and leave the beach a bit cleaner then when i walked out on it.

SO......... for me........... detecting will never be dead ... until i am.

 

[gjohn]

It wasnt camo.... i wanted them to see me :P

OH and..... that wasnt a screwdriver in my hand ... :P

lol

Pen-pointer, gotta have some girth.

 

[marjam]

I have been out of the hobby for a couple of years now. I still have my machines and I am not getting rid of them because I know I will get the itch again. But yeah, looking at it from a little different perspective, the same thing that got me interested in the hobby, really interested in it, is the same thing that has led to where it is now, and that's all the videos you can watch on it. With the internet being around for thirty plus years, it has led to the hobby becoming more popular, driving innovation for new machines, making other manufacturers go belly up, getting new people in the hobby, and those same people digging all the low hanging fruit to where you have to work harder now. I have been out of the hobby due to my hunting buddy falling ill and not really wanting to go by myself, but that is the biggest reason. But even two years ago, things were harder to find on a regular basis. Things will always be in the ground so long as people lose things, but people carry less coinage than they used to, and that will eventually hurt coinshooters and sales of those machines. You will see the hobby recede back more, but people that are willing to stick with it will be the same people that don't care to dig 100 pieces of junk before they find something good. Others not willing to do that will be selling their machines.
I speak from where I live in a small town in state with not alot of population, but rich in history. If you live in a more populated area, you may still be able to go out to a sports field or park and dig modern clad and jewelry at a fairly decent rate if you do that type of hunting. Small town folks like me, the easy pickins are gone and have been for awhile now. But I still have the history of my area that will still produce every now and again, when I decide to pick the machine back up.