Targets most beach hunters are ignoring

[TheSleeper]

We all know gold makes our hearts burst forth from our chest as it sits there gleaming back at us from the bottom of our scoop. But what about those times when u dig a signal and opps nothing is in your scoop upon washing it out?
Did you miss it?
Did it disappear?

Or perhaps it was one of the hardest objects to find on a beach or in the water, Diamond stud earrings.

I have seen and heard many th's state, well it fell though the scoop twice, I'm not going to waste my time looking for it ( ty you just left it there for me ).

Do you understand a quality stud earring could be higher valued than a 14k or 16k gold ring?

Yet your scoop has 1/2" holes and you do not want to look for a possible ghost.

I know a scoop with 1/4" holes is harder to wash out and collects more debris, but guess what it stands a better change at trapping those stud earrings.

There are a couple scoop manufactures addressing this, but hardly anyone buys those models. Personally I would like a scoop with 1/8" holes in it, to guarantee catching those studs.

In the water, I have scooped a ghost two or three times, only to come up empty. Then I started walking out of the water with the ghost in my scoop, spreading the contents out on the hard pack and after careful screening, there she is glistening at me.

On the dry sand it's easier, I utilize a kitchen utensil, a long wooden handled wire mesh strainer used in deep fat frying. Any target that falls though my dry sand scoop, I relocate it and grab my strainer to find it. This has given me several nice stud earrings.

So if you hunt the dry sand grab you one of those kitchen strainers from your local dept store. If you work the wet and encounter a ghost, don't sift it in the water come out to the hard pack and then spread your scoop, it might surprise you what the ghost turned into.

Just a lil tidbit, hope it helps in your finds.

 

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[lookindown]

Ive got 1/4" screen in the back of my Stealth and my RTG.

 

[RustyGold]

Thanks for the great tip T.S.
My Stealth scoop has 1/4" holes in the back bottom panel.
The screen is a good tip as well, Lookindown!

 

[Rodbuster209]

When water hunting in the summer I usually have my 10 year old grandson with me to find the targets that fall through the scoop, it works out great, he is always ready for an adventure with papa!

 

[CASPER-2]

I wear a mask 95% of the time =anything falls thru I will drop down and lightly fan
youre right - many hunters lose studs
Ive been to hunted out spots and have walked away with only a stud or 2
usually I'll look down and see 4-5 scoop marks - guy gave up = will drop and sometimes they are just sitting on the surface
most are silver with cz but now and then you get lucky and get a diamond or other precious stone

 

[meMiner]

Most of these mystery targets for me are pull tabs that swim out of the scoop. That said, I once did a night hunt and my wife went for a snorkel early the next morning and she eyeballed more gold in an hour (little box chains) than I got in 4.

 

[TheSleeper]

PLacer, that's the nature of the beast, chains especially the ones with small links or clasp elude most of us detecting. Don't quote me on this but I think even the PI guys have a hard time hearing them. I read somewhere long time ago that the reason being, is that most new detectors do not see the entire chain, but only one link of the chain(hence larger links easier to hit). The old BFO detectors were the chain killers, they could sniff out chains like the newer detectors sniff out coins.

 

[OBN]

I'm very guilty of passing the short quick chirps with the Blue Viper in PP/Am and cherry picken. specially when fresh drop season is Hot on. I can say this, I more then likely missed one of the Biggest golds rings of all times last summer by cherry picken, 103Grams... 14k... High tone with a CZ21, which would have been a high tone with the Blue Viper.. CZ hunter came behind me and got it, A friend. So hard to say how many small targets I have missed worth something. After he showed me the ring, I change to digging high tones..But to late. Next summer I will go back to skipping the Highs and the chrips again....

 

[TheSleeper]

OBN, heck I think we all are guilty of cherry picking. First thing in the morning we're fresh and tend to dig most everything that sounds possible. But as the day wears on, we start nit picking, or second guessing ourselves to death, does that sound worth digging or not? Maybe if I pass it I will hit a sweet target, this one doesn't sound that great and the next target could be that diamond ring I have wanted for so long, its human nature, but a nature we must fight to hit the targets.

Years ago, well quite a few years ago, there were hardly any hunters working the beaches and fewer still working the water, but as competition has increased so must we as hunters increase the targets we dig.
Back in the early 70's I never saw another hunter on the beaches and I lived on them, hunting most nights till dawn, getting a few hours sleep and hitting it again, wow those were the days.

But its not just the increase in the # of hunters, people have gotten smarter. I see less and less bling being worn on the beaches, esp once gold cracked the 1k barrier. Now people are more careful about their jewelry. Combine that with beach replenishment and beach sweeping, heck we're lucky to find anything, so each target is a blessing or I guess a gift.

Old abandoned beaches, or beaches from the roaring 20's have been great to me, hard to locate, harder to get to, but so worth the trouble.

 

[Sandman]

Sleeper, have a Merry Christmas

 

[CASPER-2]

SOME EXAMPLES - most of these fell thru at least once

 

[TheSleeper]

Sandman, Great to hear from you, I hope you have a very merry Christmas.

Casper, that's exactly what I am referring to, I really want a scoop with 1/8 dia holes on the bottom, back and halfway up the sides to trap those studs. Or perhaps a scoop without holes at all, but with 1/8" x 1" slots, that would still allow easy filtering of the sand but trap those studs. Hint HINT any scoop manufactors listening.

 

[penzfan]

Ive got 1/4" screen in the back of my Stealth and my RTG.

Installed 1/4" Hardware Cloth in the RTG yesterday. Had very little effect in drainage this morning at the beach. Thanks for the tip.

 

[fongu]

I used to miss those myself and probably still miss a few. Everytime I go dirt fishing in the water my time is limited and I know with all the trash I dig when something keeps falling out or the pull tab keeps floating away, I get disgusted and move on. I did put 1/4 inch hardware in my scoop after seeing a post by another person on another forum and it has resulted in quiet a few stud ear rings, but nothing as pretty as Casper posted. Just the same, it's another tool. When I get into a spot with lots of mud instead of sand, I dump it into my home made sifter and work it thru instead of taking the hardware cloth out.

 

[OBN]

CAsper
SOME EXAMPLES - most of these fell thru at least once

Impressive but here is my question and why I pass these, the stones are just about worthless being less then 1 carat and if they are real Diamonds, then with the stones pulled there maybe about .3 grams of gold in each, If one has the time and there is no competition on the beach I can see the reason, but when hunting in highly competitive areas, seems passing these small treasures and going for the Higher Dollar targets would be the Logical thing to do...Casper how much is the value on all that you have pictured...? And the time period, one year?..Change my reasoning....

Now where I might dig the small chirps would be a richer area, like Fort Lauderdale to South Beach then maybe Hawaii where the chances are higher one may hit the jack pot.

 

[wecandigit]

I put quarter inch hardware cloth in my scoop. Started picking up earrings and studs the next time I used it. Must have missed lots of good stuff before that.

 

[meMiner]

I am heading out to a beach today to water detect in my dry suit. I am really hoping that it is not frozen over. I have been there before is found it loaded with those darn split shot fishing weights. Talk about something that sounds like gold and easily falls out of the scoop.

Back to the topic at hand, years ago I was shown a collection of rings found by a fellow on vacation. He had just acquired a CZ20 and his approach was to hunt all metal and dig everything. He got in two weeks more than I was getting in a year. At the time, I was only really digging the gold/foil tone. 3 of his rings were stamped 18kt, that were high tone (silver/coin) on the CZ. it was a real eye opener to me. With the CZ, I can find shallow earrings and thin chains, but they have to be awfully shallow (probably less than an inch) to notice.

 

[TheSleeper]

Impressive but here is my question and why I pass these, the stones are just about worthless being less then 1 carat and if they are real Diamonds, then with the stones pulled there maybe about .3 grams of gold in each, If one has the time and there is no competition on the beach I can see the reason, but when hunting in highly competitive areas, seems passing these small treasures and going for the Higher Dollar targets would be the Logical thing to do...Casper how much is the value on all that you have pictured...? And the time period, one year?..Change my reasoning....

Now where I might dig the small chirps would be a richer area, like Fort Lauderdale to South Beach then maybe Hawaii where the chances are higher one may hit the jack pot.

OBN I agree, 35- 40 years ago, heck even 20 years ago I never thought much about them. But in this day and age with the increase in hunters, the decrease in people wearing as much jewelry as they used to, (because of the gold value now versus a decade or two ago), the beach sweeping machines, and our worst enemy beach replenishment. We need to hit, locate and be able to retrieve any good target that we find, to ignore one particular type of target in hopes of finding another higher value target, can lead to days spent scooping pennies.
Actually, the small studs are like pennies, by themselves pretty much worthless in value, but 20-30 over a years time combined with your other finds, well that could amount to a lil extra cash.

Anyway that's just my humble opinion.