Boy did I get lucky!

[bottlecap]

Got my new AT Pro in the mail today as promised by Wayne of Metal Detecting Stuff and could not wait to use it.....well, actually I did have to wait to use it. Got it this afternoon and had a half hour to assemble it before it was off to the races to get my son from daycare, run errands, blah blah blah. I had basically resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to go until Thursday when I had a break in my schedule. The sun set, frogs started chirping, loons started waling and night fell, I was restless, I needed to get outside and try this baby out! I looked out the apartment window and noticed there was PROBABLY just enough light from a parking lot street light to be able to kind of see what I was doing. I said hell with it, I'm going in the dark....good way to learn right? 10 o'clock at night I headed down, digger on my belt, headphones around my neck, there was a nice cool breeze coming off the lake which I thoroughly enjoyed, after all, in a month the mosquitoes will come, and the winds will be so hot they feel like they are blowing straight from the fires of hell, this was a great night. Got down to my spot in the nearly pitch black and popped my machine on. I took about 4 steps and two slow swings and BEEEEP, I heard it, the angelic cry of an 80 something tone. I am brand new to this but know I clean high pitched tone is one desired by many, I swept the coil softly over the tips of the grass and hit the pin point button, it screamed, I pin pointed by using different angles and slowly dragging the coil off the spot until all was silent, I picked the spot in the patchy grass and whipped my digger off my belt like a fricking ninja, I carefully cut a plug and started my mini-excavation, I carefully removed the moist black dirt and waved each clump in front of my coil, silence, silence, sile-BEEP! I had it...whatever it was. At this point I was on all fours squinting trying to utilize every available drop of light from the orange glow above me, I cupped the treasure dirt in my left hand as I poked around with my right index finger, finally a saw it, a beautifully grungy black dirt stained quarter, my first target ever dug. My intention when walking down there was just to try to get one signal then call it quits but I was immediately hooked. One more, oh I'll do one more, ok last one. When it was all said and done I ended up digging 3 quarters, 2 dimes, a cent, an entire beer can, and some really sharp piece of crap I cut my hand on. Here are my treasure's.

 

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[bottlecap]

On a side note one of the dimes and the cent were buried together, they were literally stuck to each other when I pulled them out. Can't wait to see how much fun it is when I can see my screen and see the hole I'm digging! Thank all of you that have helped me make an informed purchase and all that have answered my over asked new guy questions!

 

[redcobra8u]

Love my AT Pro. Dig everything and enjoy! I've scored some nice finds with it. Good luck.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrat on your finds.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Congrats on finds and being a night hunter!
My screen is not back lit so I converted one of those led head lamps to a wrist lamp with a 2" wide elastic band the light aimed at my screen, I can also aim it in the hole to see what I found. I don't like having the lamp on my head cause the light goes where your looking.

 

[DDancer]

HAHH! I am surprised at your near super human patience to not have run out the door as soon as you assembled it!
Good finds and good on ya
Luck to ya.

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

Way to go, Jon! You are 86 cents closer towards your pin pointer! Thanks again for your purchase!

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[cudamark]

I count $.96 but I'm anal that way! Be more careful reaching into a hole. If you hunt enough parks, schools, or beaches, you'll find some dangerous stuff that can hurt you. You REALLY don't want to stick yourself with a hypodermic needle, do you? Even glass and corroded shards of metal can do a number on you.

 

[bottlecap]

Thank you all for the replies!
Cudamark-I realize it was really stupid not wearing gloves and I will be picking up a pair tomorrow before my first day hunt. Should be nice being able to see the display!
Wayne-Set a White's aside for me, should only be a couple weeks until I call to order...I hope! This detector rocks, thanks for all your help!
DDancer-Although I am superhuman, if I could have I would have been out the door the second I got the last thing tightened, unfortunately I had all sorts of other things interfering with detecting time yesterday, I have a good chunk to go tomorrow though.
Msbeepbeep-Sounds like you are handy! Very cool idea, may have to rig a wrist light up myself!
Perses-I think my frustration is on the way. Had a tinge of frustration last night, I had two targets very near each other and had trouble isolating them to get them pin pointed.
CarolinaTom-Thanks buddy!
Redcobra8u-I plan on digging until my fingers fall off. I have a lot to learn but digging some garbage may be a good way to learn.

 

[bottlecap]

Gonna try a couple beaches tomorrow before it gets warm enough people are actually swimming. Should be fun and easy digging. Gonna unleash tomorrow, I will leave no stone unturned.

 

[cudamark]

Gloves may not prevent punctures and cuts but they might lessen the severity. I don't like using them myself but I do in some locations. It tend to use the digger as a scoop and the pin pointer to poke around in the dirt pile. Saves on the fingers.

 

[bottlecap]

Gloves may not prevent punctures and cuts but they might lessen the severity. I don't like using them myself but I do in some locations. It tend to use the digger as a scoop and the pin pointer to poke around in the dirt pile. Saves on the fingers.

Wore gloves today at the beach and I hate it but probably don't have much of a choice. Good thing I did but I don't like having my fingers blind, that's how they feel when I have gloves on. I did find several rust nails so it's definitely a good thing I had the gloves on, bottle caps are pretty sharp too and I found a few of those. Tons of cents today along with a few quarters nickels and dimes. It was kind of miserable....rain all day, everything including me ended up covered in mud. On the bright side I was able to work on my pin pointing skills and towards the end of the day every target was in the plug I had dug. One thing that happened that really pissed me off was I got a really good low 80's signal that wasn't that deep but I couldn't find it, there were tons of roots and for the life of me I couldn't get a bead on it and it remains in the ground tonight. Probably was a quarter. Supposed to be a real soaker tomorrow which is the day I had a FULL day of detecting lined up

 

[cudamark]

At a sandy beach, use a scoop. Add a strong magnet to it to pick up the nails and bobby pins so they don't slip through the holes.

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

If the target shows shallow, and you dig down and it is still down there, sometimes it's a soda or beer can that is deep. Raise the coil 10-12 inches over the target and scan again, if you still get a signal at that height, it's probably a larger target than a coin.

You are a trooper hunting in the muck for your third hunt! And you can rinse your detector off with a hose when you get home!

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[bottlecap]

At a sandy beach, use a scoop. Add a strong magnet to it to pick up the nails and bobby pins so they don't slip through the holes.

Good idea. I like the sand because I just dig with my hands and there is no plug to worry about but using a scoop would be super handy. I will have to look into getting one and attaching a magnet, very good idea, where on the scoop do you mount the magnet? Went to a park today that has a sand volleyball court and a beach...someone beat me to it, it was crazy, I did not get ONE signal in the entire volleyball court or on the beach, not even a crappy half, crackly, jumpy beep, however, around the perimeter of the volleyball court in the grass where people toss their stuff there were lots of coins waiting for me, and not too much trash. Tomorrow weather permitting I am heading to a place a guy I know owns and there use to be an old school house on it, could be my chance at an old coin provided there isn't too much crap masking the treasure. Could be a fun hunt.

 

[bottlecap]

If the target shows shallow, and you dig down and it is still down there, sometimes it's a soda or beer can that is deep. Raise the coil 10-12 inches over the target and scan again, if you still get a signal at that height, it's probably a larger target than a coin.

You are a trooper hunting in the muck for your third hunt! And you can rinse your detector off with a hose when you get home!

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

I washed it off in the lake when I was done, it was soaked anyways! Thanks for the tip on the larger targets and elevating the coil, I will definitely remember that. I had one really tricky find today, it was a quarter that was completely sideways(on end), really goofy signal but the detector still picked it up even though all it could see was the width of the rim. I am beginning to like quarters and beginning to dislike cents, I think if I get to the point I'm confident enough my signal is a penny I will skip them, hard to justify when I am out there in the pouring rain. One other thing is there are good targets out there but with me digging every legitimate signal I usually recover a target, stand up, then in two steps I am squatting down again digging another target, if I were to eliminate some of those I could have a lot more time to find better targets. I had one time today I dug four separate targets within about ten feet, I think once I get more hours in I may cherry pick at times. Lots and lots of rain so the treasure should be ripe for plucking tomorrow!

 

[MackDog]

Enjoy the AT Pro, making some awesome finds with mine. Wait till you run it in the Pro mode Zero full sensitivity. Ant then you start digging you 8 to 10 inch silvers. Good luck and happy hunting
Love that At Pro

 

[cudamark]

Good idea. I like the sand because I just dig with my hands and there is no plug to worry about but using a scoop would be super handy. I will have to look into getting one and attaching a magnet, very good idea, where on the scoop do you mount the magnet?

See if you can find a magnet shaped like a doughnut. If not several small magnets will do as long as they have a hole or something similar to attach them. Zip ties seem to work the best for me. Depending on the scoop design, hole locations, and type of metal, try to mount it in the middle of bottom, either inside or outside. On my hand scoop, I mount it on the outside. My big Stealth 720 has it on the inside as I don't want to step on the magnet with my foot.