BuckleBoy
Gold Member
Hello All,
I did some thinking recently, and I was looking back on that first year, 15 years ago, when I was a newbie taking my first swings. I was also thinking about some other newbies I've helped along in the past decade. It seems that many of us experienced a gradual increase in the number, value, and age of our finds as we learned our detectors. Then we usually get to a plateau where we're making good finds and hunting often. It seems that frequently what follows is a decline in finds for a while. I think this decline can be due to certain factors, like the "newness" of the hobby fading (if the addiction hasn't taken root), but I think a big factor in this decline is that as newbies we frequently lean on friends, relatives, family, and other vets of the hobby to assist us in finding places to hunt, securing permission, etc. It seems that these opportunities are gradually exhausted over time, unless we relocate, change jobs, etc. At this point, the quality and quantity of our finds could start to decline. This is the point at which we see posts from frustrated detectorists on this website proclaiming that there is "no place to hunt" and "no silver coins left."
I think there are several ways to prevent such frustration and decline. There is a saying "Six degrees of separation." Basically, everyone in the world is somehow linked just six people apart. Each person we meet has friends, family, and relatives too, and they may also have many ideas about potential sites. Sometimes all it takes is a kind word and a good reputation to gain their confidence and willingness to help. Finding lost jewelry for them also helps too
I have a friend who is a bartender, and he is always talking to his customers as time allows. He's learned about and gotten permission to hunt good sites this way.
Another way to find sites is talking to old-timers. These folks won't be around forever, and they love to tell stories. Recently a friend of mine was talking to a kind, 70-year-old man. He mentioned his frustration of finding old broken glass and pottery every time he plowed. When asked what the glass was from, he volunteered the information that his great-grandfather was born in an old house that sat in his fields. He also gave permission to hunt the fields. Old-timers remember the location of community baseball fields in the years before World War II, swimming holes, picnic groves, and house sites that are long gone. If this man hadn't happened to share the information about the house site, it might never have been found or metal detected. Taking good notes--or better yet, a tape recording--of such knowledgeable folks is immensely valuable.
The third way one can prevent the decline in finds is by research. This is my favorite of the three, because it can be a quest in and of itself. I won't go into my methods here, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me. Here is a recent post of mine (originally a PM to another Tnet member) which details how to find virgin Civil War campsites. This is just my method, and it embodies a good many of my procedures for research. Here's the link:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,102059.0.html
Cheers,
Buckleboy
I did some thinking recently, and I was looking back on that first year, 15 years ago, when I was a newbie taking my first swings. I was also thinking about some other newbies I've helped along in the past decade. It seems that many of us experienced a gradual increase in the number, value, and age of our finds as we learned our detectors. Then we usually get to a plateau where we're making good finds and hunting often. It seems that frequently what follows is a decline in finds for a while. I think this decline can be due to certain factors, like the "newness" of the hobby fading (if the addiction hasn't taken root), but I think a big factor in this decline is that as newbies we frequently lean on friends, relatives, family, and other vets of the hobby to assist us in finding places to hunt, securing permission, etc. It seems that these opportunities are gradually exhausted over time, unless we relocate, change jobs, etc. At this point, the quality and quantity of our finds could start to decline. This is the point at which we see posts from frustrated detectorists on this website proclaiming that there is "no place to hunt" and "no silver coins left."
I think there are several ways to prevent such frustration and decline. There is a saying "Six degrees of separation." Basically, everyone in the world is somehow linked just six people apart. Each person we meet has friends, family, and relatives too, and they may also have many ideas about potential sites. Sometimes all it takes is a kind word and a good reputation to gain their confidence and willingness to help. Finding lost jewelry for them also helps too
I have a friend who is a bartender, and he is always talking to his customers as time allows. He's learned about and gotten permission to hunt good sites this way. Another way to find sites is talking to old-timers. These folks won't be around forever, and they love to tell stories. Recently a friend of mine was talking to a kind, 70-year-old man. He mentioned his frustration of finding old broken glass and pottery every time he plowed. When asked what the glass was from, he volunteered the information that his great-grandfather was born in an old house that sat in his fields. He also gave permission to hunt the fields. Old-timers remember the location of community baseball fields in the years before World War II, swimming holes, picnic groves, and house sites that are long gone. If this man hadn't happened to share the information about the house site, it might never have been found or metal detected. Taking good notes--or better yet, a tape recording--of such knowledgeable folks is immensely valuable.
The third way one can prevent the decline in finds is by research. This is my favorite of the three, because it can be a quest in and of itself. I won't go into my methods here, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me. Here is a recent post of mine (originally a PM to another Tnet member) which details how to find virgin Civil War campsites. This is just my method, and it embodies a good many of my procedures for research. Here's the link:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,102059.0.html
Cheers,
Buckleboy
