I think metal detecting is becoming a dying hobby ....

[JimmyCT]

When I started detecting in 2006, parks and schoolyards were loaded with quarters.
My thoughts were at the older schools, once silver coin finds decreased, folks moved on or quit, then all the clad built up years afterwards.
My buddy digs quite a few zinc penny signals along with low numbers which could be a gold ring and he has found 9 class rings over the years, but in the 20 years I have been detecting with him, I think he has only found two class rings and I have only found one.
We both have found other gold rings, but not very often…..it takes much more patience when detecting inland.
Using the 800 a couple years ago, I dug all nickel signals that year and found 423 nickels and not one piece of gold.
Like you, I am concerned with Lyme disease along with other diseases you can catch from ticks, so I only venture into the woods when it is cold.
Have you ever thought of trying some rivers up your way that have alot of activity during the summer?
I decided to try one down my way a couple years ago and have done quite well there finding over 200 quarters and even an old 1700’s large cent.
It has gotten to the point that I look for areas where others have overlooked or figure nothing is there in public places and have done quite well at times.
While you are out scouting for places to detect, keep an eye out for gravel parking lots…..I found one down my way a few years ago and it was loaded with coins and mostly quarters surprisingly….some were just laying on top of the gravel, but not easy to see.

Mostly quarters huh?
Maybe you adjust your detector to only pick up quarters

 

[fwcrawford]

Mostly quarters huh?
Maybe you adjust your detector to only pick up quarters

Maybe…..

 

[Ism]

I don't think detecting is close to dead, but it may depend on the individual detectorist site preference. Public sites are on life support IMO as replenishment is almost non-existent.
Price of precious metals has reduced the losses at beaches and sports fields to a trickle. Most of new drops turn out to be costume jewelry or metals like titanium or tungsten carbide.
Private property is rife with opportunities, but that takes research and face to face contact which I've found to be the best way to get approval. But the potential for gold jewelry or coin find is rare.
City tear outs (like sidewalks and roads) also require constant research as the window of opportunity are small. I have only hunted a couple of those opportunities and haven't been very lucky.
That's my perspective on the subject.

 

[Coin Rescue Inc]

So, a Question.

How many of you walk around with coins in your pocket now?
I thought about it and I woulds say very rarely for myself.
I have $ 50.00's in my wallet but I don't seem to spend them.
My wallet now is my foldable cell phone case.
It carries paper money, credit cards, insurance card and driver's license. Oh and my cell phone.

 

[fwcrawford]

So, a Question.

How many of you walk around with coins in your pocket now?
I thought about it and I woulds say very rarely for myself.
I have $ 50.00's in my wallet but I don't seem to spend them.
My wallet now is my foldable cell phone case.
It carries paper money, credit cards, insurance card and driver's license. Oh and my cell phone.

I still carry change and deal mostly with cash, but I realize not many carry either anymore.
I still check each Coinstar machine I pass by too.

 

[JimmyCT]

I still carry change and deal mostly with cash, but I realize not many carry either anymore.
I still check each Coinstar machine I pass by too.

But do you carry and spend your quarters?

 

[fwcrawford]

But do you carry and spend your quarters?

Oh heck no…. I cash them
In for Franklins!!!

 

[JimmyCT]

Oh heck no…. I cash them
In for Franklins!!!

 

[WyattSloan]

It's so ironic as we have some great machines right now and the good old days are in the rearview mirror!!
I'm sure most beach detectorist will agree gold finds are waaay down. Coins are on the vast decline. Plastic and cell phones rule financial transactions.
Here a 'wedding ring' I eyeballed.
Years ago we thought stainless steel and titanium was going to be the end. Now we have have silicone....
Many years ago i found a local carnival. Morning after was like fishing in a barrel. I had to go back and empty my pouch, it was so heavy. My favorite spot was the ride, The Zipper It flung the kids and the spot was loaded with coins.
yesterday it was pretty pitiful. Just a handful of bright shiny coins. The field is a shared baseball & soccer park thus the brown coins. I remember way back when I had over 75 quarters. i never counted anything but quarters. That was my barometer. At least I found a silver necklace. Times they are a changing

I do not think the hobby itself is dying, but the easy modern finds probably are.


People simply carry less cash now, so there are fewer fresh coins being dropped every year. Add in silicone rings, cards and phones replacing a lot of the stuff people used to have in their pockets and it makes sense that busy parks and beaches are not producing like they did twenty years ago.


The funny part is that the detectors themselves have never been better. We can find targets today that older machines probably walked straight over, but we are also hunting places that have already been searched for decades.


For me that just changes what makes a good day. Seventy five quarters would have been nice, but I would take that silver necklace over a pocket full of modern change any day.

 

[Donna(NJ]

I do not think the hobby itself is dying, but the easy modern finds probably are.


People simply carry less cash now, so there are fewer fresh coins being dropped every year. Add in silicone rings, cards and phones replacing a lot of the stuff people used to have in their pockets and it makes sense that busy parks and beaches are not producing like they did twenty years ago.


The funny part is that the detectors themselves have never been better. We can find targets today that older machines probably walked straight over, but we are also hunting places that have already been searched for decades.


For me that just changes what makes a good day. Seventy five quarters would have been nice, but I would take that silver necklace over a pocket full of modern change any day.

I fully agree but those silver necklaces are also disappearing along with all the modern coins !!! Like one previous post stated TATOO's have replaced jewelry !!! And thanks to China, at least 95% of the jewelry we find is costume crap. Even finding silver today, is like find gold,,,,very rare. Im sure it was great fun back in the 70's when detector first start coming out. I cant imagine digging all those silver coins. But most of them are also probably gone unless you were lucky enough to stumble upon some virgin turf somewhere.
Yes, the machines are much better now, than many years ago, The problem is 'many years ago'. Most public places schools & parks have been pound by now. Yes, you'll find the occasional silver that was missed. Spending 4-6 hours looking for 1 silver coin ???? Dont get me wrong, Im as addicted as anyone on this forum but the pull to go out, just isnt there like it use to be.

Hopefully you have some great old locations to hunt. My beaches are smothered in replenishment sand and the fresh drops are little to none.

My only hope is to go back to parks and schools to look for the gold amongst all the trash. Trying to figure that out with my metered machines.

HH
Donna(NJ

 

[Ted S]

I fully agree but those silver necklaces are also disappearing along with all the modern coins !!! Like one previous post stated TATOO's have replaced jewelry !!! And thanks to China, at least 95% of the jewelry we find is costume crap. Even finding silver today, is like find gold,,,,very rare. Im sure it was great fun back in the 70's when detector first start coming out. I cant imagine digging all those silver coins. But most of them are also probably gone unless you were lucky enough to stumble upon some virgin turf somewhere.
Yes, the machines are much better now, than many years ago, The problem is 'many years ago'. Most public places schools & parks have been pound by now. Yes, you'll find the occasional silver that was missed. Spending 4-6 hours looking for 1 silver coin ???? Dont get me wrong, Im as addicted as anyone on this forum but the pull to go out, just isnt there like it use to be.

Hopefully you have some great old locations to hunt. My beaches are smothered in replenishment sand and the fresh drops are little to none.

My only hope is to go back to parks and schools to look for the gold amongst all the trash. Trying to figure that out with my metered machines.

HH
Donna(NJ

I am always on the hunt for a new place to go! I was at a local car cruise last week when I had to use the boys room. There's old time nostalgia newspaper articles on the wall of the bar and in the bathroom. The one that caught my eye was...Town baseball team wins local championship in 1935! That perked me up so after talking to a few fella I have an idea where it is. Also learned where the grocery store was that is now an unkempt lot. Always be on the lookout for stuff like this and you may add a cool coin to your collection! HH! Ted

 

[Odanscoils]

I remember after hurricane Sandy, my state park said NO digging, 'we might dig up a 'car' from the amusement park !!!!' What BS these people come up with for not being able to detect !!

When people ask me if I have found any gold doubloons, I tell them they watch too many movies !!!! Now with all thr AI fakes you'd think we'd digging up giant hunks of gold every time we we go out on a beach !!! If people knew the real story, metal detector companies would be out of business !!

Actually the winter time is better hunting. Go back in the off season. Not many rangers around and they probably could care less.

HH
Donna(NJ

If I was still able to detect.
I'd get a handful of fake gold coins.
And when someone asked me what I've found.
I get all excited and show them the gold.
Then point to a section of beach full of trash.
Maybe sell a few more detectors for my favorite shop.

 

[Odanscoils]

Donna, you always bring up some interesting points. You sure gather up a lot of comments very quickly and I think that is great. This is a farming area and even the farmers have gone from deep plowing to no-till so there is very little disruption to the ground. You cam imagine what this done to our "finds". They are still around just not nearly as plentiful. I think you told me one time years ago but what beach do you live near? I lived near Seaside Heights while stationed a NAS Lakehurst. That was in the middle of the last century. Good Grief!!!

Hey Willy
Happy to see your still kicking the mule.
How ya been doing ?

 

[Odanscoils]

New tech will make it fun again nobody has come out with a new machine that's any better than what we have now come on I am 71 get a new detector out that's different .
Make detecting rewarding again in the places you hunt . sube

A nice high definition ground penetrating radar detector would be nice.
And with today's technology.
I honestly don't understand why the market isn't flooded with them.

I would most certainly give it another try if I had one.
I just can't dig holes all day anymore.

 

[Odanscoils]

My curse was that I started detecting in 1980 and remember how it was. White’s 2DB with max depth of 2-3” and I still found silver almost every hunt, usually multiple silvers, in schoolyards and parks. Then I upped my game in the mid 80s with a 6000D and the finds really started rolling in. Noticed the finds started getting harder in the mid 90s about when I switched to an XLT, but I could still pull silvers, albeit deep. Was out of the hobby then for about 20 years (thanks military). When I returned to the hobby about 10 years ago, I was shocked at how few the finds had become and all the places that had become off limits. I looked at it as more of a technical challenge to find the remaining good stuff, rather than the pocketfuls of coins I used to find (and then usually spend at the dime store or ice cream shop).

Today, health problems limit my detecting to about 30 minutes. Now all I do is swing in my test garden with a detector out of my collection just to have the sounds take me back to better days. Sadly, trying to get out and find much of anything valuable has become an exercise in frustration and a sore back. Glad I was around to partake in the heyday.

Give me an analog detector from the good ol’ days and I can still have fun swinging it around. But it’s now mostly just for nostalgia.

Yup
We're in the same boat.
I throw handfuls on silver and copper in the front yard.
Then scan around and pick em up.

Ahhhh the good ole days.
I started in 74.
How I found my pocket change for comic books and junk food.

All the thousands of silvers and coppers I spent.
I could kick myself self today.

 

[chariot]

Another one bites the dust. The county here just banned all detecting in the large local park because someone with a full sized shovel tore up one of the playing fields and didn't fill the holes apparently. Now we're waiting to see if it's just the one park or all of them. The local club has said to avoid all the parks until that gets clarified.

Maybe it's not dying, it's being slowly killed by frustration. When I was a kid, permissions were easy to get, and finds were plentiful. I came back to the hobby 3 months ago, got the best modern detector I could, and am trapped on my 1/4 acre (minus the house, mind you, so basically a postage stamp) next to the underground city power mains. To quote Charlie Brown, *sigh.