How Long Did It Take To Find Treasure

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Full Member
Feb 25, 2008
195
198
Jackson Purchase area of western Kentucky.
Detector(s) used
Minelab Vanquish 540. Fisher CZ-21; Bounty Hunter SS II; Garrett Carrot.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I am hunting low tide, I have hunted high tide, Dry sand, Wet sand, shallow water and Just started hunting in the water. I have hunted fast, slow and in between.I am hunting in heavy populated places on the beach. I hunt first thing in the morning. I hunt in the last daylight hours of the day. I try to hunt 3 days a week about five hours at the time. I have seen some only a few other detectors out hunting.(maybe that is a clue) Not enough to kill any area. Man I am hitting it hard.

Seems like with that much effort you should have at least found one lost wedding band. I hope some of the experienced detectorists can give you some hints. GL & HH
 

DrJoePrime

Bronze Member
Sep 9, 2007
1,535
948
Long Beach, California
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, White's Surfmaster Dual Field, Tesoro Sand Shark, Garrett ATX
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Finding "my" treasure is very, very easy for me. I just pack up my stuff in the car...drive 2 or 3 miles depending on which beach tickles my fancy..and start detecting!

It's the DETECTING on the beach that's the TREASURE! (and once in a while I find gold or silver too...CAN'T beat it!)
 

Fletch88

Silver Member
Mar 7, 2013
4,841
2,367
Valdosta, GA
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATPro- 8.5x11, 5x8, CORS Fotune 5.5x9.5
Tesoro Silver microMax- 8 donut, 8x11 RSD, 3x18 Cleansweep
Minelab Excalibur ll- 10" Tornado
Minelab CTX 3030
Minelab Xterra 305
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
It can take hours to a real years! Location, location location and being able to read the beach conditions are key to success. If conditions are wrong you can hunt for months and only possibly find a freshly dropped piece of jewelry. If they are right and you are in a good location it can literally take 5 mins!
 

OP
OP
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BeachCrazy

Jr. Member
Aug 1, 2016
34
46
South West Florida
Detector(s) used
Excalibur 2
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Just an update sorry to say no gold yet I'm getting out a couple times a week but only for an hour or two at a time. but this will change. I am headed out in the morning and will be hunting as long as I can stand it. Wish me luck.
 

FLORIDA KEYS PIRATE

Sr. Member
Mar 29, 2016
388
558
Inverness FL.
Detector(s) used
Excal II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Take a small bottle of GatorAid or water and stick it in your pouch. If you stay hydrated out there you'll be able to hunt longer without needing to head to the car for a break. Good Luck !
 

NC Digger

Bronze Member
Oct 16, 2015
1,379
2,096
Gaston County, NC
Detector(s) used
Safari, Excal2, CTX, Nox 900
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've learned in my short time MD'n is that if your coil is not swinging over that good object your wanting to find, you will never find it. I have learned quite a bit from here and other places including reading materials. I had just bought a Excal 2 before our trip up north. I lucked out and found a 59 rosie, crusty silver ring and a wheatie and memorial penny, green as green could be! I believe those that do well do the research and can read the beach conditions very well. Its all a learning thing, pay attention and those treasures will appear in your scoop!

On a side note, I found the excal to be very heavy swinging on the dry sand but, it was a feather when in the water fully submerged. I will probably get a straight shaft one of these days!
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,466
54,916
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just curious how long to to for any of you to find your first peices of treasure at the beach... I'm getting a little discouraged and just need some encouragement. I'm still pretty new to the Hobbie so all hope is not lost.

I found my first diamond ring on my 3rd week of hunting the beaches but there isn't a scale to go off of. Do you study the beach to see which zones the beach goers are concentrating at? Do you look for low spots at the beach where heavier objects tend to collect? Do you look larger objects, rocks, shells on the surface?

When do you hunt, low tide, high tide. I prefer to hunt at least 3-4 hours before low tide to 1-2 hours after low tide. Remember mean low tide only lasts 1 minute. I have talked to new hunters who told me they always went to the beach at low tide not before, so they were actually hunting the beach on incoming tide not low tide.

Remember sensitivity will change constantly, I reset my sensitivity multiple times during a hunt especially on beaches where I am walking long distances in front of rows of hotels. I like to set my sensitivity as hot as I can with out falsing. I will turn it up till I find point where it just starts to be unstable then set it just a hair below that point. There is never a set point where you always set the sensitivity.
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,466
54,916
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Took me 3 months to find my first Gold.. 7 1/2 years ago, with a blue 800 Excalibur, since then I'm over 400 gold rings. I've learned a lot and still learning. And the best advice is Location, location, location....along with what all the others have posted before me.. . Something that inspired me several years ago was meeting a old hunter who shared his Bay treasures. I knew if he found all this, I could do the same. So I retired and it's happening......but with a lot of hard work....:skullflag:




Very impressive Joe....
 

A2coins

Gold Member
Dec 20, 2015
33,807
42,606
Ann Arbor
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
This hobby requires lots of patience and good timing treasures will come!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to tnet
 

Hauptmann aD

Greenie
Jul 9, 2014
14
16
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Luck, patience and the technical part.
Luck: You need to swing over the item you wish to find.
Patience: Who is searching a lot, will find something good finally.
Technical: The machine must deliver a signal, if you swing over the potential find, and you must find the signal worthy to dig.

In 10 years detecting I found 6 gold rings total, (3 on field, 4 on beaches/swimming areas - one of those being a recovery search, 2 others returned to their owners too), 1 platinum ring on the beach and this year also my first gold coin - in a very poor area with basically no other finds.
 

cntrydncr1

Gold Member
Feb 23, 2007
7,806
777
Bradenton, Fl
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250, Minelab Excal II, ETrac, Infiniuim
Beach crazy...a couple of things. Right now, with the red tide in, not as many people are in the water and less on the beaches than normal. Learning to read the beach is key so that you put yourself in a better position to find gold. I'm having my best year ever...but hunting an average of 4 days a week. And don't let anyone tell you that deeper water is better. I have a friend who only hunts in water that is waist deep or more shallow and she has amazing finds! Most of my best finds have come in more shallow water. In the water you must dig EVERYTHING!!! Even if you think you know your machine well enough to believe you have a bottle cap...dig it! sometimes you get surprised....or the bottle cap may be masking another signal. Good luck!
 

flgliderpilot

Bronze Member
Apr 28, 2015
1,504
1,427
Saint Augustine, FL
Detector(s) used
CZ-21, Minelab Equinox, Garrett AT Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Just curious how long to to for any of you to find your first peices of treasure at the beach... I'm getting a little discouraged and just need some encouragement. I'm still pretty new to the Hobbie so all hope is not lost.

About 6 months for my first gold band. And then another year for Gold ring #2. I've still never found a ring with real diamonds. It takes a long time and and a lot of different conditions until you learn WHERE to search... and where is everything. I could do better if I hit some better beaches but the drive makes it extremely inconvenient with my work schedule so I'm content with getting 10-20 rings a year for now. I like that I can eeek out some gold from a beach nobody else seems to have any luck at.

I would pick one good busy beach, and hunt it hard for a year until you learn everything about it (how to tell when it's bad conditions and how to tell when it's good conditions). The conditions also depend on people traffic. You need to know when you are looking for recent drops (tough game but addicting), and when you are looking for old stuff. Which you are looking for is important because timing is important but in different ways. For recent drops you are looking for traffic and swim/towel lines ... for old stuff you are looking for hard ground and storms. Typically it's more rewarding to hunt for the old targets, but it's exciting finding a recent drop.

Then, when you start visiting other beaches you can apply what you've learned. Of course hunt other beaches too, but focus on one which you can get to easily.
 

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perdidogringo

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2011
411
927
El Dorado
Detector(s) used
Equinox 900, Fisher CZ-21, Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've been out a few times with my CZ-21 mostly in the Caribbean and have had lousy luck so far. I've come to realize that that there is a learning curve to being a good beach/salt water hunter and I have a long way to go. Especially in the water trying to pinpoint something takes a certain degree of skill that I have not mastered yet.

I'm much better on land with my AT Pro since I have way more practice using it.
 

JustKeepDigging

Sr. Member
May 2, 2013
390
405
Jupiter, FL
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
PRL-1 Whites, Tesoro Sand Shark, Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Knowledge is power! I didn't find my first gold ring until I really started to do my research and had a good amount of time on the sand. When I originally started, I would go to any local beach and just detect. Now, I'll go to a beach look at the sand and know whether it's worth the time.
 

cyberdan

Silver Member
Dec 12, 2006
4,596
2,220
Very Northern Left Coast
Detector(s) used
XLT & Bigfoot
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Try family run estate and yard sales for quick results.
You are so right. At one yardsale I asked about old coins and this lady said she had pirate coins. I said could I see but I knew I was less than 10 miles from disneyland and their pirates.

She rushed into her house and came out with a box about 20 x 30 She pulled out a picture frame and in the frame were six coins glued to a printed poster. I asked how much she wanted and she said $5.00, she couldn't hear my heart double pumping. I gave her the five and drove a little bit then really checked out my treasure. Every coin had a certificate of authenticity. The first coin was about the size of a silver dollar and from the Atocha ;) The others were from other Florida ship wrecks.
 

Rogue Relic Hunter

Hero Member
Oct 3, 2016
746
592
Virginia Colony
Detector(s) used
DETECTORS: XP Deus WS-4, Garrett AT Pro and Pro-Pointer, Fisher CZ-5
TOOLS: Piranha shovel & R85 Military digger, both by Predator Tools
ATTIRE: Red Head brand Knee-High Waterproof Snake Boots
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Knowledge is power! I didn't find my first gold ring until I really started to do my research and had a good amount of time on the sand. When I originally started, I would go to any local beach and just detect. Now, I'll go to a beach look at the sand and know whether it's worth the time.

tell me the secret. i am not a sand digger so i dont know. how can u tell by the sand?
 

Rogue Relic Hunter

Hero Member
Oct 3, 2016
746
592
Virginia Colony
Detector(s) used
DETECTORS: XP Deus WS-4, Garrett AT Pro and Pro-Pointer, Fisher CZ-5
TOOLS: Piranha shovel & R85 Military digger, both by Predator Tools
ATTIRE: Red Head brand Knee-High Waterproof Snake Boots
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
This hobby requires lots of patience and good timing treasures will come!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to tnet

agreed. in relic hunting, it requires a lot of research also. of course, one can get lucky and stumble on a civil war camp by accident. :laughing7:
 

JustKeepDigging

Sr. Member
May 2, 2013
390
405
Jupiter, FL
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
PRL-1 Whites, Tesoro Sand Shark, Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
tell me the secret. i am not a sand digger so i dont know. how can u tell by the sand?

When I arrive at the beach the first thing I do is go down to the wet sand if I can't get into the water. I look for an area with shells and rocks, that's a good indication that there may be jewelry or coins due to the weight. These are typically low areas on the beach. Same goes if you are able to get into the water.
 

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