Dry Spells & Doubt in Metal Detecting — Why You Should Keep Swinging

David

So I almost didn't go out that day. There was rain in the forecast. I had been in a rut, no good finds, nothing but pull tabs and junk and disappointment. But I went anyway. And that's the kind of story I want to talk about today. What happens when you show up during the dry spells?

Welcome to Straight From the Coil, Beyond the Beeps. And this is episode two, Dry Spells and Doubt, and Why You Should Keep Swinging. Let's jump into it. So before I get going, let me take a quick sip of coffee here.

And we'll get right into it. First of all, if you're new to the podcast, I'd like to welcome you aboard and thank you for tuning in. My name is David and I'm your host.

So let's get into the topic of this podcast, Dry Spells and Doubt and why you should keep digging. You know, every detectorist, including myself, hits a point when there's to find, or it seems there's nothing to find. There's nothing coming up. No coins, no relics, not even some of the weird stuff we find, you know? And those stretches can really mess with your head when it comes to detecting.

And you start wondering, your mind starts to race. Okay. You wonder if you lost your touch. Is there something wrong with my machine? Do I need a better machine? Or if I just plain suck at it and I'm no good at the hobby, you know, but don't get into that rut. Sometimes we kind of go that direction, but try not to go there.

And I've had weeks like that and months even where I go through dry spells and it happens. So try to keep that in mind when you're, when you're out there detecting that dry spells will come, but it's going to take patience and persistence to stick with it. Okay. So let me get into a quick story here and I'll tell you about a time where.

n old home site. was an early: 1900

David (: 03:03

a shack on this property that no longer exists, but I know where the foundation of that was. So I went to this home site just

knowing I was going to find something good. you know, I was, I was hunting this site and you know, everything should have been good. There was history there or should have been history. There's old trees in the yard. you know, you know, that feeling it's full of promise, right? And I found nothing for three straight hunts. I found nothing of significance. I'll put it that way. I won't say I found nothing. I found plenty of other things.

the junk and the trash and the pull tabs, right? And bottle caps, my gosh. This place was loaded with bottle caps. But after three straight hunts...

David (: 04:00

finding nothing. I did notice one thing and the more I showed up, the less I really cared about or the less I really cared so much about the results of the hunt because I have a different mindset when it comes to metal detecting, think. you know, just being out there for me is a learning process and I'm no expert in this field. I'm constantly learning.

So, you know, in the, the prior hunts where I was finding nothing at all, I was still learning. I was still growing on that site and starting to be able to read that side a lot better. You know, I figured out the soil. I started hearing the subtle differences in the signals and I got better even, even if my pouch stayed empty, but

you know, empty of good fines, I'll say. And you know, I'd like to talk a little bit about, does this doubt creep in on us? I think it really, what really gets us during the dry spells, it isn't the lack of fines. It's just, it's that doubt that's in your mind. And because detecting is not

like other hobbies, you don't just level up every time you play, right? If you're a gamer, you're striving for leveling up. you can do everything right in metal detecting and not find anything good. So that's not necessarily a leveling up game. you do in a sense level up by growth and that kind of uncertainty.

David (: 06:05

the doubt that creeps in, it gets into your head and it really makes you think. And in the world of where we're used to instant results, know, likes, updates, fast shipping, know, swinging that coil in silence sometimes feels broken, but it's not broken, it's just slow.

And slow does not mean wasted. It's a growth stage in the hobby for you. So I'd like to talk a little bit about that same home site again and how that dry spell broke for me. And it, the day that it broke for me, it wasn't even a silver coin or anything spectacular like that. And it was an old aluminum token.

which I didn't realize was an aluminum token at the time. I kind of guessed it was, but it was very corroded. And if you've ever dug aluminum tokens or anything aluminum other than pull tabs right out of the ground, the tokens and things like that seem to corrode very easily and they don't come out of the ground in good condition. So.

I dug this, it was nothing crazy. I could see there's some writing on it, you know, and it was in pretty bad shape. But once I got home, I was able to clean it up a little bit more. And as the words on the token became more clear, I got more and more excited about it because as it turns out, it was a depression era tax token. It was a one mil luxury tax token.

from the Alabama tax commission. And mind you, I'm in South Carolina. So as I clean this token up even more, that's when my mind really, really started to wander. You know, here I am in South Carolina and I dug this tax token from Alabama. What's it doing here? How did it get here? You know, was that just a, a souvenir that somebody kept from way back in the, in the depression era?

David (: 08:31

So, and you know, was it a keepsake? Who dropped it? Right. those kinds of things go through my mind and, but you know, it's, the point is, I guess that there's a story behind that find. And sometimes that really excites me even more than, a silver dime. And granted silver dimes have stories behind them too.

but something like a token or a suspender clip or a buckle or a button, those things have stories behind it, you know, for real. Or for me, it's a different kind of story, you know, other than a coin. But, you know, that fine may not have meant anything to somebody else, but for me, it was a payoff after a dry spell. And...

It wasn't just a token, but it was a story. It was the persistence, the hours of nothing that led me to something small, but real, you know? And I just, found a lot of excitement in that token, but it broke my dry spell. I pushed through all the doubt.

push through the hours of not finding anything and it broke that spell. And after that in subsequent hunts, I started to find some other things that were really cool. So it worked out. If you're in that place right now, digging junk, swinging through the silence, just know that it's still part of the process. Every dry spell is going to teach you something. Every swing is muscle memory. Every hole is proof.

that you're still showing up and showing up is the hardest part. So if you've ever gone through a detecting dry spell, I'd love to hear about it. There'll be a link in the description of this video on podcast on YouTube and also a link in the podcast descriptions of the other platforms for the say hey form. It's say hey to DCM detects and you can go to that form.

David (: 10:58

You can tell me a story, you can send me a find, or you can just say hi, and I'd love to hear from you. And there's also a block on the form that's a yes no answer. I just simply ask you whether or not you're okay with me sharing your story or your find on a video or a live stream. And if you don't want me to share the story or the find, that's fine. You can.

just simply answer no and I'll keep it private. So if this episode helped you out and you're watching on YouTube or listening on YouTube, be sure to subscribe. This is the kind of space that I wanna build that's quiet, that's real, and it's worth swinging through. So if something here resonated with you and it hit home and you enjoyed the episode, be sure to tune in for the next one. Episode three is gonna be.

what I wish I knew when I started. And I'd love to see you there. Thanks for listening.