Metal Detecting Is More Than Just Finds - Here's Why I Started This

Well, here we are. I didn't plan on starting a podcast, but there's a lot I want to say. And this is going to be more casual than than some of the videos I do. But, you know, in the hobby after digging hundreds of holes, hundreds, dealing with the junk, the silence, the occasional great find, right? Um, I realized that the stuff that kept me going was it was more mental than anything.

It was not so much what I was finding. And uh, that's what this is all about. Not just metal detecting, but everything it teaches us along the way. Welcome to Straight from the Coil, Beyond the Beeps. So, if you've been following my YouTube channel for a while, you know, you you know I love this hobby with a passion, the gear, the research, the digging, the unknown.

And uh but you also know it's frustrating. And what I don't always discuss on the channel, at least not in depth, is how metal detecting can sometimes mess with your head. You start second-guessing the machine, your spots, yourself. And I've been there, and I know a lot of other detectors have too, but we don't talk about it because we're supposed to be out there.

We're supposed to be out there having fun, right? But it's more than fun for some of us. The hobby keeps us grounded. For others, it's the only time you get to breathe. And for me, it is in a sense uh, a therapy. Honestly, it really is. So, having my coffee this morning. So, in a sense, it's a therapy. It's a way for me to decompress, to get out, to to forget about certain things or you know, you know what I mean? You know where I'm going with this.

So, I wanted to create something different, a podcast that's not chasing viral finds and and it's not chasing hot gear drops. It's not out there bashing uh detectors that that update And uh I just I'm I don't get into that. I really don't. So it's just real talk. It's going to be casual real talk from the field from the experiences that I've had and it's from the coil.

So I named this podcast straight from the coil. And you know, I remember one hunt and this has happened in several hunts, but I remember one that that really changed the way I thought about this. And it was a field hunt. It was um very hot, very hot because it was, you see, here where I live, it gets very humid and hot in the summertime.

And those hot temperatures can last all the way up into September, October, uh time frame. And I was in a field and I was out there hot, sweaty, digging, you know, digging trash, getting all these these signals and stuff like that. And I was swinging across this one signal and it sounded decent to me. Well, probably more than decent.

You know, I was like, "Oh, this sounds really good." And um, you know, it was not an amazing target. Not totally garbage. I guess some people think it's garbage, but I dug it and it was shotgun head stamp. And I just kind of sat there and soaked it all up, you know, and and laughed to myself because I didn't sit there and get mad about it. But I realized that I still felt great.

Why? Because even though I was sweaty and tired and empty-handed, or you not not necessarily empty-handed, but you know what I mean. It was the hunt wasn't great, but I was still exactly where I wanted to be out there in that field decompressing and just enjoying the hunt overall. And That's when I figured out for me that this hobby is more than just the fines.

And it's also when I started thinking that maybe I should start talking about this side of detecting more often. And because it is mental, it's a mental game. Uh it's not just about the equipment, the finds and the gear. So here's what you can expect from this podcast from straight from the coil. And starting out it's going to be a lot of solo episodes and it's just casual uh solo talk on the camera.

Now, to mix things up, I'm going to throw in some video over me talking. I know you probably don't want to look at me uh look at my face the whole time, but anyway, just to make it interesting for for the YouTube audience. Um, but the episodes will be solo. Uh there's going to be some stories in there, uh some other lessons I learned and I'll share tips that that I've learned along the way and I wish someone had told me in the beginning.

So you can expect that from the podcast. I'll talk about patience, burnout, uh, comparison trap. And a comparison trap really is just, you know, you watch a ton of videos on YouTube and you you see people pulling out all these amazing things and you start comparing yourself to them and that can be uh that can squash your your motivation. It really can.

Um, just probably talk about gear. You know, there's always that urge to upgrade when you're not finding stuff, and that's not necessarily the best thing to do. And there'll probably be some some ridiculous things I've dug that I'll talk about, but I want to be But I want this to be the kind of podcast that you can, you know, listen to.

You can throw it on while you're driving to your next permission or driving to work if you got a long commute and uh or if you're just swinging in the field alone and you just want to hear someone talk about the hobby. Uh if you're not wearing headphones that is um but that's probably not a good place to listen to be honest.

Maybe if you're taking a break. Okay. You don't want to hear me talking in your ear while you're trying to detect. But, uh, you you get where I'm going with this. It's, uh, the, uh, it's a good way for you just to listen, you know, no hype, no pressure. It's just a calm corner of the hobby that makes a space for the mental side of detecting, you know, the the things that we don't often talk about.

So, that's kind of where I'm at there. And uh I for the for the video audience uh I may show a find every now and then. Uh I love highlighting viewer finds and not just myself. This is not all just about me. It's it's about community, and that's what I want to build here on YouTube is a community of people that are like-minded and uh that they they, you know, kind of see it the same way that I do.

I know there's people out there that do. So, not everyone will, and that's great. I mean, that's fine. You know, each to their own. And if you don't like what I'm saying, that's cool. you know, we can all have our own opinion, thoughts, and um if you don't like what I'm saying, you don't have to listen. So, that's the way I look at that.

But, so to wrap this one up, this episode, uh if you're listening to this and thinking, um I haven't found anything in weeks, or maybe I'm doing something wrong, uh what's wrong with my detector. um you're not doing anything wrong. You're just in the part of the journey uh where it's quiet. And we all we all have those parts where it's quiet.

Whether you're just starting out, you've been detecting five days or you've been detecting 10 years. We all go through those spells where it's just super quiet and you're not finding anything. And but if you don't, there's two ways you can go. You can give up, but the other direction you can go is that you can start learning.

You can learn from those times. And that's where the real growth happens. When you keep swinging even though nothing's speaking back to you, you're not finding anything great, that's when you're going to experience growth. And again, that's what this podcast is for. So, if this episode connected with you, please subscribe and drop a comment below.

And engagement means a lot to me. I love to hear from the viewers if there's something here that resonated with you. and feel free to drop your own your own com your own uh thoughts in, you know, into the comments and your advice if you've been detecting and let's all share it with each other. So, and oh, by the way, too, if you've got a story or a find that you think should be shared, and I don't care how big or small the find is, check the description.

There's going to be a link there where you can submit your finds to me, and I'll feature those in in either my regular videos or my live streams. I do a lot of them in the live streams, so and but be sure to check that out. If you got finds, send them to me and I'd love to hear from you. So, that's going to wrap it up for this one and I'll see you in the next episode of Straight from the Coil. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Sorry. This is uh See, this is a work in progress. It's just going to take me a while to kind of get a rhythm down. But episode two that's coming up is going to be uh it's going to be all about dry spells and doubt and why you should keep swinging. So if that sounds interesting to you, be sure to tune in and I'd love to see you there.