Is Metal Detecting a Dying Hobby

Not right this minute - but fewer and fewer coins are used and the ones that are used are not worth much. Modern relics are plastic. I guess jewelry (nice jewlery) will remain metal. Just seems like we will have very little to find in the future.

Seems like on equipment we are still on the up slope - but for targets I think we have peaked and are on the down hill slope.

So what is the future of this Hobby?

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

According to Tom there remains MORE masked coins than what has been recovered. At least there is hope.

There may come a day when our coins will be plastic and a detectorist will dream of one day finding a zinc cent.

Kenny
[www.youtube.com]

not in europe where ancient hoards abound in the ground ,1000s more lay undisturbed

So - as detectors improve the number of detectable targets will increase - so technology could keep us hunting for a long time to come - good!

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

It's just getting harder to find areas to hunt or areas that have been hunted out are harder to hunt...but some of the hardcore hunters find locations get permission and find histroy...

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

This topic has been coming up over the last 20, or 30, years with the same question. I think with the improvement in detectors, and with proper research, there are plenty of quality finds for us all. Hitting the same old places hoping for a different outcome is akin to insanity ("Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein).

In order to reap the kinds of finds we all want to make requires more work than it used to, but is definitely doable. I'm continually amazed at all of the great finds that are being made today by those willing to put forth the effort. Remember, this hobby has been around for over 50 years. There are bound to be places that won't produce as they did in the past. Just some thoughts from an old man that's been doing this for awhile...

Its a BIG world and exhausting lost treasures is like reaching infinity to some degree. Easy may die, but I think there will always be overlooked finds to recover. Certainly for my life time there will be lots to find. Tech should continue to improve and reopen 'worked out' areas, too.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

If this hobby dies off it will likely be because of the mouth breathers who run around digging holes and not bothering to cover up them up - in then end this will result in more and more public and private land being declared off limits to metal detecting. The problem for our hobby really started when those asinine detecting tv shows hit the air waves.

If you believe what you hear on the internet... Metal Detecting has been a dying hobby for at least the past twenty years.
As a result of it's slow death there are MORE people metal detecting now than ever before.

DonM Wrote:
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> If this hobby dies off it will likely be because
> of the mouth breathers who run around digging
> holes and not bothering to cover up them up - in
> then end this will result in more and more public
> and private land being declared off limits to
> metal detecting. The problem for our hobby really
> started when those asinine detecting tv shows hit
> the air waves.


I agree completely with DonM,,I lost two places due to the stupid "Diggers" TV show on Natl. Geo. channel, the Garrett brothers, Ringy Dingy and King Dufus are a detriment to the hobby with their dumb antics. I don't act like that when I make a terrific find and do not roll around on the ground like they do. Garrett metal detectors should be ashamed of themselves for supporting such shows, we should all boycott the Garrett co.,,,hit them where it hurts, loss of sales should do it!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2015 10:14PM by Hombre.

When I read that title my first thought was I kind of hope so. Not the hobby but the TV watching yahoos who decide to do the hobby without caring to learn how to do the hobby. Is that mean?

every year I find a spot that gives up at lease 10 old coins, 1850 or before, there is still a lot of virgin spots left, you just got to find them, research is the key and talk people into being on their land, and talk to older people, they are a wealth of knowledge, I just wish we could weed out the morons

Ok - I saw Diggers at least I think that was the show I saw - they say words like "I found Roundness" and other goofy stuff. I do remember they always asked permission and in all the shows I saw what they found was given to the care takers of the location.

The one I thought was bad was the one where there was a huge guy - ex pro wrestler or something like that - they asked permission but used back hoes and really made a mess of the places they hunted - they also way over exaggerated the value of the things they found. It was all hype - and made up for the most part - but I am sure those that are into history preservation flipped if they saw this show and ran straight to the there legislators - please place all people that use metal detectors in jail for life.

From what I have read - England has very progressive and intelligent laws regarding artifact discovery. We need some intelligent national laws not based on reactions to stupid TV shows but on real world common sense. It has always amazed me how some people would rather let history rust away in the ground then recover it so others can learn from it.

So how many shows have there been on metal detecting? Are there still shows on tv or have most gone off the air?

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

I think the government taking control of every aspect of our lives will put an end to detecting long before finds runout.

Not sure if it is the government or the people who pay big bucks to get their person in office. Either way by the people and for the people is loosing some of its luster. But I hope they do not get to stupid too soon. Just let me have my hobby for another 20 years or so. Please!

I have an adage I live by - Things are never as bad as they seem and are never as good as they seem. Reality lies somewhere in the middle.

deathray Wrote:
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> I think the government taking control of every
> aspect of our lives will put an end to detecting
> long before finds runout.

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Well out west here,the forest circus has been shutting down access to OUR lands at an alarming rate. Some AMRA members where recently sluicing on an AMRA claim,and where harassed by f.s. law enforcement. One guy was even threatened with a tazer fornot showing ID. Blm rangers have been harassing people too...one ranger keeps trying to follow around a buddy of mine...haha,good luck with that. Stuff gets my blood boiling!

Public land is not public anymore those who have the most money and influance are the ones that write the laws .And example I hunt out west Idaho don't hunt on state land I hunt on federal land ( yea federal land is own by me and you ) right that's why instead of 20 dollars for a elk tag it cost me 600 dollars for a tag . I'm not hunting on state land I'm hunting on federal land but pay a tax of 580 dollars more than someone that lives in the state . It's just a joke . sube

As more people come to believe their 'rights' are dispensed/granted by the government (rather than innate to all people everywhere), it will eventually happen that for the declared security and safety of the then ignorant/low-information/gullible populace detecting will be forbidden everywhere (except for those who pay a substantial fee for a permit given only to 'friends' of the government). Fascism is coming.

Johnnyanglo Wrote:
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> As more people come to believe their 'rights' are
> dispensed/granted by the government (rather than
> innate to all people everywhere), it will
> eventually happen that for the declared security
> and safety of the then
> ignorant/low-information/gullible populace
> detecting will be forbidden everywhere (except for
> those who pay a substantial fee for a permit given
> only to 'friends' of the government). Fascism is
> coming.
If that's the case, metal detecting will be the least of my worries!!!

As more people come to believe their 'rights' are dispensed/granted by the government (rather than innate to all people everywhere), it will eventually happen that for the declared security and safety of the then ignorant/low-information/gullible populace detecting will be forbidden everywhere (except for those who pay a substantial fee for a permit given only to 'friends' of the government). Fascism is coming
Could not agree with you more . sube

I guess when I started this thread I was more thinking about fewer and fewer good targets - not so much Armageddon. It does worry thought that access to places to hunt will be limited. Hope it does not happen to much and we can all still go out and hunt and forget about polotics.

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Well,sorry if I sent this on a tangent. Im not trying to be partisan...but I have seen alot of places I used to fish,four wheel and detect put off limits. Theres a piece of public land near me that everyone has prospected for years...actuslly about 160 years. Its hands n pans only now...theres a sign with a picture even,no metal detectors. Do you think I obey it,lol. Look what happened to dredging in the "golden" state.

deathray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well,sorry if I sent this on a tangent. Im not
> trying to be partisan...but I have seen alot of
> places I used to fish,four wheel and detect put
> off limits. Theres a piece of public land near me
> that everyone has prospected for years...actuslly
> about 160 years. Its hands n pans only
> now...theres a sign with a picture even,no metal
> detectors. Do you think I obey it,lol. Look what
> happened to dredging in the "golden" state.

I don't think you sent it on a tangent Ray. You simply simply mentioned the truth. When people simply put blinders on and roll over everytime the Government post a new sign, the Government will keep on taking. I really wish society as a whole would use their heads for something other than a hat rack. Educate themselves and maybe stand up once in awhile, write letters to their representatives, before it's all gone. Small disclaimer...I write lots of letters to our 3 bimbos here in CA....get the same auto reply from each of them....but I still write them. BTW...what happened to dredging here???? hehehe..

Like I said was thinking more about deminshing targets but the specter of deminishing access may be more impactful. But I tend to think that there is a natural balance to things and when things are pushed to far one way the will begin to move the other. I just read that at least on Federal Lands the ban on Dredging may be overturned. From reading the article the ban was initiated by an indian tribe who thought the sate was not doing enough to protect there fishing. Everyone has an agenda it appears.

deathray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well,sorry if I sent this on a tangent. Im not
> trying to be partisan...but I have seen alot of
> places I used to fish,four wheel and detect put
> off limits. Theres a piece of public land near me
> that everyone has prospected for years...actuslly
> about 160 years. Its hands n pans only
> now...theres a sign with a picture even,no metal
> detectors. Do you think I obey it,lol. Look what
> happened to dredging in the "golden" state.

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

It may come do to available hunting locations more that disappearance of targets. It might also be restrictied in a way where you have to pay a good deal for a license. Most things that the public frown on are often taxed to death..... peopel dont mind if it doesnt affect them and it give the government another tax revenew. We might also see the more or inforced laws that are already on the books.

Dew

Bryannagirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I just read that at least on Federal Lands
> the ban on Dredging may be overturned. From
> reading the article the ban was initiated by an
> indian tribe who thought the sate was not doing
> enough to protect there fishing. Everyone has an
> agenda it appears.
>

Not to push this any further from your original intent...but...here is a link to more info on the dredging ban. [westernminingalliance.org] If you dig into any topic you will find a common player/theme. There is a huge power play in motion now in the Sierras (it's not just the Sierras). If it's not the Indians it's the frogs. Millions of acres of public lands are being grabbed and closed. They are even using the frogs to try and take private land.

Kenny

When I first started metalm detecting it was in my area of the country a NORMAL past time...

Everyone had a detector in every household just about..

The weekends were made for detecting as a HOBBY..

I feel the hobby days are about over..Detectors purchasedby the masses are first timers or people testing the waters..

I see no young people in the Hobby any more...

in the local Clubs there's no kids or teenagers or even 20 somethings...used to when I was Teenager hunting we had a group of us same age hunting in the Relic clubs..

No more..

I think it is a dying HOBBY..it's not a dying way of life though for alot of people.....

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

I guess I must be a dying breed. I still hunt "old school style" (for lack of a better term). With the type of equipment I use, how it is set up, the type of targets I am after, and the certain locations I hunt. I do see our hobby slowing up a bit. At least from my standpoint of view. I also realize this hobby is suffering and some targets are getting harder and harder to find. But, you get out of this hobby what you invest into it. I don't hunt for clad coins or jewelry very often (seldom), to me they are a renewable resource and to a certain extent, they will always be there to find. I enjoy looking for silver & gold coins, tokens, and relics. I hunt somewhat obscure places and do well (most of the time). I got into this hobby in early 1967 and can't describe how much fun it has been for me, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Is it getting harder to find the older coins, etc? Well, it isn't like it was in the late 60's, but there is still a vast amount out there. And I realize that in certain areas of this country, good targets are just getting harder to find. To fix that problem, you can do some intensive research, expand your hunting areas, or move somewhere else. I'm tired of typing, gonna go get me a soda. Jeff

Thats funny Keith,cause its a little different here in the hills anyway. My son has been detecting,panning and some bottle digging since he was 7. Back when the Kinzli forum was going strong and we would have group hunts,everyone called him MudRay...he was a grubber,lol. In high school he didnt want anyone to know..gotta be cool. Now hes 19,and has the relic bug
..BAD. And hes let his guard down some,and got a bunch of his buddies interested...many of whom already had a bounty hunter in the closet,but again where worried about apearances. It makes me feel good when he comes home and asks if he can borrow a couple detectors,cause him and some friends want to hit a spot on do n sos land...everyone is ranchers around here. Random thoughts,better get back to work,lol. Ray