Beach hunting 101 tips from the pros?

[jmb2email]

I am approximately 48 hours from my first chance to MD on a beach. As most of you know I am fairly green still to the hobby but have my mxt pro, homemade sandscoop, DD 10, 12 inch and 5.3 inch coils at hand. I will be carrying a light backpack with a kitchen scoop, pinpointer, gloves and a few light items.

What I am hoping to get are some pointers/opinions/ideas on beach hunting. I will be hitting an east coast florida beach and am assuming optimal seek times of evening and early AM.

What else should I know?

Thx in advance all!

JMB

 

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[firemac]

good luck jmb! i like a long handled quality beach scoop, a decent pair of old tennis shoes to wear in the surf, a finds pouch you can wear in the water, and check on the low tide times for your area, and besure to not get the controlls of the mxt wet, HAVE FUN

 

[Terry Soloman]

I am approximately 48 hours from my first chance to MD on a beach. As most of you know I am fairly green still to the hobby but have my mxt pro, homemade sandscoop, DD 10, 12 inch and 5.3 inch coils at hand. I will be carrying a light backpack with a kitchen scoop, pinpointer, gloves and a few light items.

What I am hoping to get are some pointers/opinions/ideas on beach hunting. I will be hitting an east coast florida beach and am assuming optimal seek times of evening and early AM.

What else should I know?

Thx in advance all!

JMB

Stay out of the wet sand (your machine is not made for wet saltwater sand and will false like crazy). GRID the dry sand from the high water mark, inland 30-feet. Put on your big coil. Forget about your pinpointer, get a better sandscoop. Good luck

 

[Can Slaw]

Ditch all of the gear you plan on carrying. The dry sand beaches in Florida are already hot. The MXT will only work in the dry sand, so a long handle sand scoop would be all of the gear that would be needed. Travel lite and hunt cool.

 

[jmb2email]

Sounds good on leaving behind a few things. Feel a bit confident in my homemade scoop. See pic. Handle is adjustable length, thin but sturdy stainless steel.

 

[bigscoop]

Stay on the upper beach, as Terry suggested, and not just because of the wet sand & falsing but also because we have "a fresh" deep covering of new sand on the lower beach that is making finds extremely tough on the lower half even with the deepest and best beach machines.

 

[cntrydncr1]

fill your holes and take all trash with you. carry water on florida beaches in the summer

 

[jmb2email]

fill your holes and take all trash with you. carry water on florida beaches in the summer

I always leave places better than i found em. Good sound advice! Otherwise our "secret" hobby becomes a thing of the past.

Keep em coming!
JMB

 

[chili501]

I am approximately 48 hours from my first chance to MD on a beach. As most of you know I am fairly green still to the hobby but have my mxt pro, homemade sandscoop, DD 10, 12 inch and 5.3 inch coils at hand. I will be carrying a light backpack with a kitchen scoop, pinpointer, gloves and a few light items.

What I am hoping to get are some pointers/opinions/ideas on beach hunting. I will be hitting an east coast florida beach and am assuming optimal seek times of evening and early AM.

What else should I know?

Thx in advance all!

JMB

Can you show a picture of your scoop?

 

[jmb2email]

Can you show a picture of your scoop?

Had a pic above. Will take another here...

I bought a $10 charcoil "grill", popped the rivits on the inside piece and moved it to the back and added some 1/4 inch mesh. All that is kept in place with 2 combined clamps. I then picked up a "mariner" stick in the walm@rt fishing area that i ran through the grill holes, removed the 2 screws from the grill handle, and cut the end off the mariner stick. I used 2 kayak "washers" to make it fit tight.

Last i used contact cement all over to elliminate sharp mesh endings, secure everything and to seal the stick.

I have tested many times in my sand pit and it works great. Also used in some sand/soil mixes.
GL
JMB

View attachment 800117

 

[Samuelljackson]

Depending on the conditions of the sand, if its damp or if there are bits of shell in it, the scoop you made might need some modification.

Typically there are holes (just smaller than a dime) drilled into the scoop to allow sand to pass through. You may be digging up solid clumps of sand up. For that reason, I'd bring your pinpointer with you on your first outing.

Here what I've learned over the years::
You will find a bunch of junk.
You will find nothing.
People will talk to you.
Kids will watch you and ask questions and will likely follow you around for a bit.
No matter how tempting, say your best finds have been coins.
In the unlikely event you find something of value, be discrete, and have a hidden place to pocket it.
Objects tend to group together on the beach, if your in an area and you find something comb the area well and from multiple.
In the dry sand objects will tend to be concentrated near the "towel line".

 

[dewcon4414]

Determine quickly what a bottle cap sounds like..... then dig everything but a bottle cap and iron. Learn to know what a shallow targets sound like so you can just kick the sand and keep moving. PP is a waste of time dump your scoop, determine if the target is there.... then kick the sand where it is scattering it...you should find your target easier and much faster. If you hunt the wet salt sand.... you will have to GB the MXT it doenst transition well being a single freq machine and even that its going to be chattery. Water and sun tan lotion.... and dont wear saddles tops of your feet will burn.... try dive shoes. Sun glasses and hat. You want to cover as much beach as you can ..... hit the populated areas first like Terry said gird.

Dew

 

[Digger2]

I tried the link to the picture of the scoop, but got an invalid link. I like homemade stuff, wish I could have accessed the pic

Roy

 

[Sandman]

Follow others instructions. If you find a nice ring don't stare at it but stick it away like it was trash. People are watching you.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080202045558/http://thegoldenolde.com/

 

[dennco2000]

Use head phones, dark glasses, and a ball cap or hoodie. People won't talk to you as much if you look like the unabomber. Also "speaking for myself" I am a fast digger and would probably snap that scoop right away but on the other hand it looks alot lighter than than that chunk of steel I haul around. Dont forget to drag your scoop behind you so you don't scan the same ground twice.

Good luck
Dennis.

 

[jmb2email]

All great info. Once the picture posting is fixed I'll repost pics of my scoop.
Details:
$10 charcoal grill: Academy - Outdoor Gourmet Charcoal Chimney Starter
$8 boat hook: Seasense Fixed Boat Hook: Fishing & Marine : Walmart.com
$2.59 @ w@lmart kayak rings(like rubber washers): Werner Drip Rings - Pair at REI.com
$3 cement glue
$5 1/4 inch mesh (lots left over) local hardware
$1.49 x 2 large clamps
Total: ~$31
Build time: 20 min.
I took the grill handle off, popped the rivets holding the coal plate inside off, took the plate and put it on the end of the grill, covered with 1/4 mesh, ran the boat hook throught the large holes (used the rubber kayak rings as washers), cut the hook off the end of the hook, put cement all over any areas that i wanted to reinforce. The coal plate is very sturdy on the outside/bottome of the scoop, and the 1/4 mesh covers all the large holes. I drilled a few 1/5 inch holes on the bottom as extra drain, but I will see how it works w/o excess holes for now. If I enjoy using it, and it works well i may trim the top off and make it look more like a scoop. It is amazingly sturdy, and amazingly light at exactly 3pds. The handle will extend out if I ever need to extend it, and the grip was already there. I can also add a wrist cord to it as the handle has a loop for that too.

Does anyone have any ideas for a harness for the MD? I have a couple mountain climber clips I could use to attach/detach.
Does anyone have suggestions on how/what to use to protect my MD from sand when sitting it down to dig/inspect items?

JMB

 

[matrix master DBA]

Follow others instructions. If you find a nice ring don't stare at it but stick it away like it was trash. People are watching you.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080202045558/http://thegoldenolde.com/

Thanks for link to norms info. This guy was a legend....

 

[jmb2email]

thegoldnolde

Follow others instructions. If you find a nice ring don't stare at it but stick it away like it was trash. People are watching you.

The Golden Olde

Bump!

Thanks for this. Already copied and pasted into WORD for my long term use. Too bad some of the links are now gone and some of the images are gone. Don't know who this guy was, but from reading around the forums he's a legend.

Thanks,
JMB

 

[Native Floridian]

Dark sun glasses. To protect yourself from that bright Florida sun and for checking out the beautiful scenery.

 

[Native Floridian]

Less is more. Machine, scoop, finds bag, bottle of water, wallet or money clip. That's it. carry no more.

Most of us wear scuba boots or similar. On dry sand i've found that hiking shoes or boots work well. Wear socks so the sand doesn't cause blisters.