Well, here we are, at the beach, detector in hand, sand scoop, sunglasses, sun screen, hat, coin pouch, plenty of fresh water and looking at a stretch of sand that goes for miles and miles. Acres and acres of sand just full of goodies waiting to be found. At the end of the day, your finds pouch will be full or empty depending on your technique and skill. The first, technique, is learned. The second, skill, is developed over time. Both are essential to a good return on your time.
First, skill. For every target you dig, your skill level will increase. Every sound from a target sounds ever so slightly different from another in most metal detectors. Your brain will interpret those sounds and remember them even if you don't try to do it consciously. Those whispers of a coin at depth will come back to the forefront of your thoughts each time you hear it. As time goes on and you dig more and more, those sound "lessons" will be refined to the point that you can almost predict what you will see in your scoop. But then, there is always the surprise like a gold ring in place of what you thought was a nickel or a pull tab. Don't despair. Just love the gold ring and move on. But keep in mind that just the digging and revelation of your target will always increase your skill level. So get out there and dig, dig, dig for the sake of future digging.
Technique is more complicated. Some like to find the coin line on the beach. Others like to find the coin line in the surf's edge. How do you locate it? Two schools of thought exist on this. Looking for the blanket marks and the footprint activity is one way and a good one. Don't forget to look from those points to the nearest concession stand area where kids are sent on their mission to get cold drinks and food. They are notoriously good at losing their change on the way back. Both the blanket line and the paths to and from are excellent coin rich areas.
Some like to zig-zag from the water's edge to the crest of the dry sand and a bit beyond. When they locate a segment of the beach that is the most productive, they switch to following that newly derived coin line, staying parallel to the waterfront.
Beginners at beach hunting should try both techniques or even alternate between them just for fun.
The next thing to learn as far as technique goes is patience. No matter how your machine works, motion or non-motion, VLF/TR or Pulse Induction, the key to finding treasure at the beach is slow, low swings and patience to hear the deeper signals. Sand shifts around on beaches grain by grain and an area that was completely dead a week ago could have been uncovered today to reveal coins that have been there for 100 years. The beach is often seen as a renewable resource with new stuff being dropped every weekend but the really savvy detector users know that the occasional beach erosion of a windy day will often reveal more than a Monday morning trip to the beach.
On the beach, it is all right to be distracted. Moving along in your coin line and finding a target at the edge of it is reason enough to leap off of your defined path and dig the target. You can always look to your own footprints in the sand to get back into your search pattern but there's never a guarantee that you will locate a target if you give it a miss believing you will see it again on the way back. So, go ahead and get distracted and dig. If it happens to be a good target instead of trash, the next technique is critical.
Dig a good target? That means something was dropped there of value. If so, you have an increased chance of digging more goodies from the immediate area so the next thing to do is begin a grid search around that keeper. Start from the same hole going slowly in ever increasing circles around the target you just dug. Quite often you will find that coins are spilled in a bunch, not just one by one. An engagement ring taken off and placed on a blanket could have been accompanied by a wedding band and both might have been shaken from the blanket together. Searching in an area around a significant find might result in a big haul from a very small area.
The most unusual targets can be treasure. A partially empty cigarette package is often used as a "beach wallet" by smokers. They put cash into the box and their coin change. More than one lost package of smokes has revealed a lighter and money in it. The foil wrapper makes it a great target and some treasure hunters see the package and toss it without ever looking inside.
I could go on and on about beach hunting because I do love to get out on the sand or in the water for a snorkel with my Sea Hunter but others will come along and add their tips in this topic. One last hint here. Keep all of your trash until you are done hunting. This allows you to answer the inevitable "What are you looking for?" questions. You can show them the trash and give them the realistic idea that you are a good person, cleaning their beach while enjoying your hobby. Showing them sparkler wires, bottle caps, pull tabs and tent pegs might even convince them to wear foot protection even on what looks like clean beach sand. Never show them jewelry but a few coins displayed is all right. If you show someone jewelry, the next thing you will hear is "Hey, that's mine!"
And that's my very small collection of random thoughts on beach hunting. The beach is an all season treasure location. Get out there and have a great day.
Linkback: You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login
http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,9419.msg59577.html#msg59577
|
« Last Edit: November 24, 2009, 02:03:30 pm by GoldDigger1950 »
|
Logged
|
It's all about that moment when metal that hasn't seen the light of day for generations frees itself from the soil and presents itself to me.
Let's Talk Treasure!
|
