Dominique is a breath of fresh energy in Metal Detecting and costars with her man Tiger on their YouTube channel: The Silverslingers. Her love of the hobby is an inspiration to both male and female diggers. And being New Englanders, they find some amazing items.

Q1: Why metal detecting?
A: 1. I love history and I love treasure hunting, so metal detecting is the perfect combination of the two! There is nothing like being the first person to touch a coin or a relic after hundreds of years….or to be the first person to hear that bell ring again after decades of silence. 🙂

Q2: How did you get into it?
A: We always wanted to try metal detecting, so in May of last year we decided why not just try it? We knew absolutely nothing about it…drove to a local dealer, bought two machines, been hooked every since!

Q3: What was your first detector?
A: Both of our first detectors were White’s MXT Pro’s (and I still love mine, although usually use the VX3 now).

Q4: What has been your best find?
A: Our best finds are my 1773 Four Reale coin and our two Inaugural George Washington buttons….and many interesting relics like Masonic items, for example.

Q5: What motivates you to keep going?
A: There are many things that motivate us to keep going…the thrill of the hunt, the adventures we have, our love for history, being out in the fresh air all day – the list goes on!

Q6: What other hobbies have you been ignoring?
A: We used to be avid bass fishermen…I sadly haven’t touched my fishing rod ever since I picked up the detector for the first time! I also used to be a roller derby girl, but haven’t been spending much time on my skates lately! It is kind of hard to dig with them! 🙂

Q7: What advice do you have for newbies?
A: My best advice for newbies would be to never get discouraged! You will dig a lot of trash (and we still do), but in between the trash will be the treasures, and they make it all worth it. Pick a machine and learn it well – no matter the make or the price range. It’s important to fully understand your weapon of choice!

Q8. What message do you have for women thinking about getting into detecting?
A: My message for women is simple: If you like history, being outdoors, and getting dirty, go do it! I am lucky to have my significant other love the hobby as much as I do, and we have the best time on our weekend adventures! You will learn more about history than you ever did out of textbooks….you will watch it come back to life before your eyes!

Q9: What do you love most about detecting?
A: My favorite thing about detecting is seeing something come out of the ground that somebody had and treasured a long time ago. It’s like making a connection to someone long gone. I swing my coil and almost go into a dream state of wondering who walked here before me? Who had their initials on this lovely silver thimble? What soldier wore this amazing eagle button on his uniform?

Q10: What do you hate the most about detecting?
A: There’s not much I dislike about detecting. In the summertime the bugs can get pretty bad, especially out in the woods. And in the winter the frozen ground makes it very difficult to go dig – although we managed to detect all through the last one (pick axe and all!)

Q11: If you could go back and start the hobby over, what would you do differently?
A: I don’t think I would do a lot differently if I could start again. We jumped in head first and learned as we went. Joining online communities was very helpful as all you knowledgeable people our there shared your wisdom, which was, and still is, amazing.

Q12: What are the challenges to filming your hunts?
A: The challenges of filming our hunts is the editing! it takes forever, even for a short clip. That’s why we edit out almost all of our non-desirable finds – it simply eats up too much time. We put A TON of research into finding our locations, so once we are there I pretty much film every hole we dig, then edit the footage down afterwards, which means sitting for about 8 hours for a 9 minute video….but I like to think of it as a labor of love 🙂 (except when the computer crashes. Then I am not fun to be around, i was told).

Q13: Explain your choice of GoPro over other types of cameras?
A: I like the gopro because it is so versatile. I can mount it on anything: The hat, the drone we use for overhead footage, tree branches etc. Plus it has an optional waterproof housing, and the camera is very small. We use two cameras, the drone, and carry about ten extra batteries with us, plus a tripod and about 3 different mounts.