Seeing very large decrease in Metal Detecting Clubs

[Hunter1805]

I see in my area the support for a detecting members has been dropping for the past years.. We went from high of 125 in 1987 to 10 people now. So what gives ? I am wondering what is happening in other clubs in other areas of the country. If membership was dropping what did you guys do to turn it around... curious !!

 

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[pepperj]

I see in my area the support for a detecting members has been dropping for the past years.. We went from high of 125 in 1987 to 10 people now. So what gives ? I am wondering what is happening in other clubs in other areas of the country. If membership was dropping what did you guys do to turn it around... curious !!

That's a huge drop in membership.
New generation is more tech oriented. FB, Reddit, Instagram ones like that, where they get an instant dopamine hit of likes.
It seems like another decade folks won't interact unless it's through the phone/tablets.

 

[smokeythecat]

The younger crowd is more interested in staying inside twiddling their thumbs it seems. I wouldn't be surprised at the loss in clubs. You can't even find a metal detector dealer with a real shop anymore.

 

[Kormak]

In general young crowd doesn't want to spend hours doing pretty much anything. In terms of how you could turn it around - well you can't really. Maybe if some sort of content blows up on social that could give you temporary boost, but doubt.

 

[Mackaydon]

Try finding a coin club where the average age is less than 50.
Try finding a local stamp club.
Said best by Bob Dylan: "The times they are a'changin'"
Don.....

 

[ARC]

Too many Chiefs... not enough Indians... in everything these days.
The younger dont want to be part of it... they want to... be it.
The older are just that... older... these things tend to fall to the wayside over time in ones life...
mostly due to health or the lack thereof.

The Bridge Club is still... but barely... alive and well at an old folks home... not so much in the neighborhood homes.

Kids today dont wanna listen to anyone else... they know it all already... dontcha know.

 

[releventchair]

Never knew of any local club near me.
Have seen at least one club "on the hunt".

Detecting can be a fad. Something gets promoted or the right eyecatcher "ooo look treasure , treasure everywhere!" show comes on and another surge. Followed by used detectors for sale the following year.

Retention of club members? Clubs (and well beyond detecting alone) get 10% or less members doing the actual grunt work. In exchange for liability. And complaints. Like there's a penalty for getting too involved.
Seeded hunts can appeal to some members (and guests).
Potlucks or social get togethers before or after hunts got curbed a lot during covid.
But activities , guest speakers ect. might reduce humdrum meetings. IF members attend meetings.
Detecting solo might be easier than herding cats.

Met a couple detectorists outdoors recently and being a member of a forum is enough for the one. And not one to just post much, it's a quite limited involvement.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Metal detecting is a solitary hobby. That's why I like it. You don't need anyone to do it. Joining a club would be out of the question for me. Too many people lying about what they found and blowhards bragging about their 2k metal detector that's better than anyone else's detector. Add to that the guys who want you to take them to your honey holes so they can come back the next day with a few friends to wipe it clean. No thanks...

 

[mjb Mike]

Yes most of the younger kids dont do much of anything outside.I am a mechanic full time but have been doing taxidermy part time for 30 years.Back in the 90's some years i took in over a hundred deer heads to mount.Now very few.I stopped doing it couple years ago.witch is not a bad thing.Now I spend my time metal detecting. When i was a kid everone hunted now almost no kids do.Im with freebirdtim I dont wont to part of a club.

 

[trainer]

I want to join a club that does something.... not having a cake sale or what did you find hour
Freebird your spot on

 

[Sand-duner]

I live in a fairly rural area in the PNW. In the 10 years we've lived here, I think I've seen 'maybe' 3 other people detecting. Granted my entire county only has about 75k people, and the next county over has about 50k. Washington has some, not strict but off-putting, regulations regarding metal detecting. Most of which have to do with the antiquities act, which itself is a whole other discussion, but a lot of county parks are off limits as well as the national park obviously, and while some state parks allow it, they only allow it in certain "certified" areas, which puts a bad taste in peoples mouth. That all being said, I actually enjoy hunting alone. It's not really a "social" hobby, it's not like you're gabbing about last nights hockey/baseball/football game while you've got your headphones on and swinging the detector around.

 

[smokeythecat]

I simply cannot remember the last time I saw anyone under 12 outside actually playing.

 

[brianc053]

In my area of New Jersey I feel like detecting is very...competitive. Competitive for sites/permissions, is what I really mean. NJ is a densely populated state, and up here in the northern part of the state we are without a lot of remaining open space. Personally I can't imagine trying to start - or join - a club where a bunch of us talk about where we detect. Instead we all try to keep it somewhat secret.
I agree with the original premise of the post - fewer clubs - but I don't think that means there are fewer detectorists. I think the opposite is true; I think there are a lot more people buying detectors (because they see those Youtube videos that make it seem easy to find stuff), and they're flooding the land - at least here in northern NJ.
My final comment will be about an adjacent space: gold prospecting clubs. My son and I were members of the Delaware Valley GPAA club for many years, and we actively participated in the monthly events we held in Eastern Pennsylvania. That club is, sadly, dead. So I can agree with Hunter that these sorts of clubs are going away, but I think they're being replaced by a lot of individuals looking for fame on YouTube and Tic Tok.
-

 

[pepperj]

Metal detecting is a solitary hobby. That's why I like it. You don't need anyone to do it. Joining a club would be out of the question for me. Too many people lying about what they found and blowhards bragging about their 2k metal detector that's better than anyone else's detector. Add to that the guys who want you to take them to your honey holes so they can come back the next day with a few friends to wipe it clean. No thanks...

I actually joined a club 15 yrs ago for a short period of time. There was no bragging about the top end machines as it seemed most were swinging top end machines. Oh there was the civil conversations on what worked where and depths.
Though the funnest thing was they had a finds board for the different categories a prize, and certificate for the best and it was voted on by ballet.
I always went detecting on the day of the meet up, just put the single or a few keepers down.
Always was asked where did I find it, and I'd tell them.
Buddy would drive by the next day, and sure enough there would be the 6 pack of members working their butts off trying for a keeper.
Nope lone wolf here, not going to change.

 

[Blewfur]

Metal detecting is a solitary hobby. That's why I like it. You don't need anyone to do it. Joining a club would be out of the question for me. Too many people lying about what they found and blowhards bragging about their 2k metal detector that's better than anyone else's detector. Add to that the guys who want you to take them to your honey holes so they can come back the next day with a few friends to wipe it clean. No thanks...

I also like to detect alone. I deal with people having a bad day for a living (I’m an ER nurse - nobody comes in and says “I’m having the best day of my life and just wanted to spend a few hours with you”).

I use the time to purposely disconnect from people. There are times, where it would be nice to be out there with someone else though. My grandson is 4, and he likes to play with the detectors, but he has the attention span of a 4 year old. LOL. If we don’t find a coin or metal car in 5-10 minutes, he’s out of there.

 

[nagant]

I'm sure there's more detectorists now the TV shows brought on a flurry of them but it's ebbing some now. I have documented sightings🙂. I don't think i met another till minelab came out with the Sovereign in the early 90's. They cleaned up silver on the beaches but didn't like digging nickels. i followed 2 guy's and dug 30 nickels and a gold ring and gold cross necklace with a compass detector i borrowed.

 

[JohnWhite]

I actually joined a club 15 yrs ago for a short period of time. There was no bragging about the top end machines as it seemed most were swinging top end machines. Oh there was the civil conversations on what worked where and depths.
Though the funnest thing was they had a finds board for the different categories a prize, and certificate for the best and it was voted on by ballet.
I always went detecting on the day of the meet up, just put the single or a few keepers down.
Always was asked where did I find it, and I'd tell them.
Buddy would drive by the next day, and sure enough there would be the 6 pack of members working their butts off trying for a keeper.
Nope lone wolf here, not going to change.

I dropped some directions of a little place in Mexico where Hemimorphite can be found on another thread several days ago…I wonder IF any brave souls made the trip South to check it outThe thread is still up IF anyone is interested…
I wonder if the small mine has any left…It has been quite some time since I visited it…

I don’t think I’d ever join any clubs…They are not for everyone…

Ed T

 

[Tnmountains]

I have seen the open holes of those that came before me but only once ran into another detector. Hunting artifacts is a different story. We had a club here years ago but they were the most unfriendly grumpy guys ever! I never went back and started digging into researching stuff myself.
it is sad you cant trust others about sites.

 

[Kormak]

When i was a kid everone hunted now almost no kids do.Im with freebirdtim I dont wont to part of a club.

Hunting is still really popular over here(Tx) but it definitely older folks now compared to even 10-15 years ago... Still some youth, but not even close to what I've used to see.

 

[Bola Dejamon]

I see in my area the support for a detecting members has been dropping for the past years.. We went from high of 125 in 1987 to 10 people now. So what gives ? I am wondering what is happening in other clubs in other areas of the country. If membership was dropping what did you guys do to turn it around... curious !!

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