Discover the Truth: Metal Detecting Through a Kid’s Eyes with 8-Year-Old Emily Copeland

 

It’s tempting to say Emily Copeland is not like other 8-year-olds, but the truth is she’s a curious, inquisitive little girl like any other.

She just has the right tools to indulge her curiosity.

On this episode of Discover the Truth by Garrett Metal Detectors, host Shelby Skrhak sat down with young metal detectorist Emily Copeland to discuss how she got into detecting and how she’s encouraging others to try out the sport.

Emily began metal detecting with her dad, Shannon Copeland, when she was 4 years old.

“My dad said, ‘Here try this,'” Copeland said. While her dad held the top of the metal detector and she held the bottom, she made her first discovery.

“I swung it and found my first pull tab. I didn’t really care if it was trash or not. I was so excited, I felt my face was going to blow up,” she said.

She began documenting her finds on social media and her own YouTube channel, Little Dirt Diggers, where she’s posted 150 videos that have more than 25,000 views, and she’s garnered more than 600 subscribers, young and old.

Copeland takes her Garrett AT Pro everywhere, from her parents’ and grandparents’ rural properties to historic Civil War sites and the beach in Florida. She was hunting a Civil War encampment in the woods near Adairsville, Georgia when she found a U.S. box plate, or soldier belt buckle.

Another time, she found something more personal than she could have imagined — a brass, hammered bracelet belonging to her great great great grandmother and engraved with her initials.

The beach was less fruitful for her, but she takes disappointment in stride.

“It’s not that frustrating to me, just a little tiny bit,” Copeland said. She encourages newcomers to the sport to stick with it and have fun, whether you find anything or not.

“You have to find the trash to find the good stuff,” Copeland said. “That’s what I always say.”

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Sports & Entertainment Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Higher Education
From Measuring Memory to Measuring Thinking: How Simulation-Based Learning Could Reshape Higher Education
June 15, 2026

As artificial intelligence continues reshaping the workforce, higher education faces growing pressure to demonstrate its value beyond content mastery. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change or become outdated by 2030, while 69% identify analytical thinking as the most essential workforce skill. As…

Read More
safer HVAC chemicals
The Future of the Trades Depends on Mentorship and Industry Veterans Passing Down the Craft
June 15, 2026

Across the United States, industries are grappling with a skilled labor shortage. According to industry research, millions of trade jobs are expected to go unfilled in the coming years as experienced workers retire faster than new ones enter the field. At the same time, trade school enrollment has steadily increased. The conversation around skilled trades—once…

Read More
outlet
From Power Shopping to Place-Making: Tanger’s Stephen Yalof on the New Outlet Experience
June 15, 2026

For decades, the outlet trip had a familiar rhythm: get in the car, drive beyond the city, hunt for deals and come home with bags full of discounted finds. But that old model is giving way to something more layered. As retailers reinvest in store experiences to give consumers more reasons to visit, outlet…

Read More
career
How Relationships Build a Career, Deepen Service and Define Purpose
June 10, 2026

In a workplace still shaped by hybrid schedules, remote communication and shifting expectations around professional growth, relationships have become more than a soft skill — they are a career advantage. Gallup’s latest workplace reporting shows that global employee engagement has fallen to 20%, reflecting a broader challenge for organizations trying to keep people connected,…

Read More