A bit of a Humbling / Depressing experience

[BeardedRelicHunter]

I'll admit I use to laugh at people who claimed it was too hot outside to go enjoy a hobby and always said I'm never letting heat and humidity stop me ,well as I grow older and closer to my final days living with heart failure I've been put in my place by my inoperable, unfixable condition here in 2024 ..... I'm sorry I ever laughed at others not knowing what it was they were dealing with as it seems the last few years since 2017 have taught me some humbling lessons for sure . Its very depressing for me that I haven't been out detecting this time of year like I was fall of 23 and early 24 and watching the guys on YT from dig that beep in Georgia use to help get me through but here lately i'm falling into a serious funk due to weather, work schedule, keeping me from getting Roof AC installed into my van home , which in turn has my health going downhill due to heat and humidity . Tired of wasting $ on hotel rooms i should be spending on gas going all over to detect .

 

[GroundSweeper]

I have found that to be true, as I get older, I have a lot less toleration for heat. I still get out and detect when it's 93 degrees, but it's a heck of a lot harder to tolerate, and a lot shorter too. Plus I bring a lot of water with me and end up actually drinking it now. I tend to go earlier or later to beat the heat now. Finding time to detect is super hard too.

Hope you get you get your van home chilling soon and get back out and about. Fall and winter will bring some relief, but here that has it's own issues.... hang in there!

 

[Sorthious]

Yep....I have trouble getting the motivation to go out now. I have the time, but when I think about how much I'll be sweating bullets, and, then, have to get on my knees(hurts a bit) to fish out what is likely going to be trash from a hole, I put it off till a cooler day comes. I have back issues, and when I'm done for the day I'm sore all over. This is especially discouraging if I spend 3+ hours hunting and find nothing interesting. We had rain the last few days and the temps dropped to the upper 70's, but right after the rain stopped, it went right back to the low 90's. Hopefully cooler weather will be coming soon, and it isn't only a week before it gets too cold to detect. That's the other issue....I can handle the cold too for the most part, but my fingers start to get numb, even with gloves on and I can't stay more than a couple hours out in it. Anyway, you're not alone. Hope things turn around for you soon!

 

[MasonDixonMding]

I find my self hugging the shaded areas where I am hunting. I usually wait to late evening and try for and hour or so. I work in the heat for my full time job and work on a farm part time. The heat has gotten to me this year also. It has put me in a funk that I haven’t been in before and I don’t like it. Hoping for cooler weather for everyone.

Maybe when you get back out there you will find something really good!

 

[Cherry Picker]

My temperature tolerance gets smaller every season. It seems in the 70s is my comfort zone. My medical issue, COPD, doesn't like the cold or the hot. Nothing more scary than to standup from a recovery only to find out you can't get any air. I feel so foolish standing there trying not to look conspicuous, so I swing my coil around like I'm checking a target until I can breath again LOL. It is a hard adjustment to make after so many years thinking I could spend my final years doing nothing but metal detecting.

I case you wonder about my wife, we have been together 35 years so she know what metal detecting means to me. She would be happy to go along with me, but she has her own disability called Anthropophobia, The fear of being around people. She has a hard time leaving the house without anxiety causing panic attacks.

 

[Ken Clad]

I was never a heat & humidity person. I always wanted to live in ski country... Utah specifically. As I got older, and realized I had worn out my knees from marathon distance running, a retirement of snow and skiing was NOT gonna happen. So here I am in S. Carolina at the beach. Quite frankly, I love it here, hurricanes and all. When I was young, and had hair, I thought hats were for people with ugly heads. Now, I can't go out without one, or I'll have a sunburnt head. Age sure has changed the perspective.

Sometimes ya just gotta think outside the box and prove age provides wisdom. Like this: When I was nearing the end of my FD career, the young bucks thought it was fun to bust my chops and "encourage" me to retire. (Remember, I was in marathon shape) One day we're going to a drill in an old house. I bet my crew (I was the chauffeur on a ladder company) that I could open a hole in a roof or floor faster with an axe, than they could do it with a chain saw. I won of course. Dinner that night tasted especially good. Then I told them what I did, and why.

Prior to leaving the station, I flooded the chain saw... so it wouldn't start. I knew they hadn't checked their tools at the start of the shift. They were so caught up in the moment, the idea they were gonna take my money, they didn't bother to think... The point is, us old dudes have something to offer... experience.

 

[vmc1161]

Prior to leaving the station, I flooded the chain saw... so it wouldn't start. I knew they hadn't checked their tools at the start of the shift. They were so caught up in the moment, the idea they were gonna take my money, they didn't bother to think... The point is, us old dudes have something to offer... experience.

About twenty years ago a young guy said he could out run me. So a friendly wager was placed. When the guy doing the count down started to say go I pushed the other guy and he stumbled. I won the race and get this ... he said I cheated I told him I'm old and just using the tools at my disposal Young and dumb ... so sad. I gave him a break and said we are all even. He wanted to race again, I declined saying I did not want to embarrass him twice.

I'm a little lucky I think. I can still go out for hours in the heat if I hydrate properly. I'm more selective now and don't go to low chance areas in the high heat or low cold. I'm 73 but act 13.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I've only been out metal detecting once in the last two months. Tired of the heat, humidity and endless rain. Ticks and mosquitos are everywhere as well. Took 11 years, but I think I have metal detecting burnout. Tired of trying to locate new spots that actually produce something good. Don't enjoy tot lots, ballfields or schools any more. Not worth the effort for two bucks in clad...

 

[John Madill]

Love a Lake Michigan beach. Too hot? Search in the water.

 

[Diga]

11 years, but I think I have metal detecting burnout. Tired of trying to locate new spots that actually produce something good. Don't enjoy tot lots, ballfields or schools any more. Not worth the effort for two bucks in clad...

"Not worth the effort".

I found myself saying that more and more after every hunt in the sites you mentioned. It got to the point that I just gave up. A few hours of digging holes and damaging my body, to get some clad and maybe a silver worth a buck or two just wasn't worth it...and that was with cherry picking higher conductors. The negative effects were even worse when looking for jewelry and having to dig all the aluminum trash.

I ended up giving up on that type of hunting and started water hunting. No hard digging and no constant up and down wrecking my knees. With water hunting, I also find very little trash and a heck of a lot of jewelry. Too bad most of that jewelry is "junk" jewelry. In contrast to that, when I started detecting back in the 80's most of the jewelry I found was either silver or gold. Sign of the times I guess. I'm not about to give up water hunting, but I can see the day coming when even water hunting isn't worth the effort for me.

The only thing that could ever get me excited about metal detecting again, is a detector that can identify gold or identify aluminum. Anything less than that is a big yawn to me.

 

[OBN]

I got out a few times in June, it was beautiful. Than July heat set in.. many days in the mid to high 90's Wasted time inside.... Mid Aug..
looking better finally starting to settle into the 80s which is fine with me. And water was ruff from debbie so kind excited to get back out.

 

[Cherry Picker]

I've only been out metal detecting once in the last two months. Tired of the heat, humidity and endless rain. Ticks and mosquitos are everywhere as well. Took 11 years, but I think I have metal detecting burnout. Tired of trying to locate new spots that actually produce something good. Don't enjoy tot lots, ballfields or schools any more. Not worth the effort for two bucks in clad...

I know the feeling. After 50 years I find myself often wondering if I'm not wasting my time. I hunted maybe 3 times in the last month, and each hunt only lasted roughly 45 minutes. But I have tuned my detector and hunting locations so that I always find something. We're coming up on my best hunting of the season so I will plan on doing my best once again.

 

[diggin4clad]

I haven't been out since the middle of May. If it hits 80 degrees I'm no longer out there like I used to be. At age 78, I'm still in good shape health wise but I'm not going to torture myself in heat and humidity for some clad which nowadays isn't all that plentiful. Come September I'll start going out again if lower temps and humidity make for comfortable conditions. This is my 42nd year of detecting and it will be my least productive. I'm even thinking of selling a couple of my four detectors.

 

[Yell-X]

Sorry to hear about your health issues. I can understand the funk you are feeling. I have had a lot of health issues in the last few years that have slowed me down. It is easy for me to get depressed thinking about where I was health/energy wise a few years ago compared to today.

We only have a few more months of it being stupid hot. Hopefully when it cools off a bit you be able to get out and do some detecting. Between now and then try not to dwell on the negative and be thankful for your blessings. Just think about how good it is going to feel when the first cold front blows in.

 

[Xxray]

Mid 50's, I like it hot, but of course that is subject to change. I don't broil for hours on end, and am usually in the water this time of year. Dirt digging I tend to save for when it is indeed cooler and the water is too cold to forage in. Everyones got their own tolerances and issues, best to acknowledge and respect them.