My Thoughts on JD's Hunt

[bazinga]

It was good to meet those of that I did get the chance to talk to.

The day was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better day than the one we were given. Too bad the concrete (err, ground) was so difficult to dig in. I got quite a few signals that I would normally dig if the soil wasn't so hard, but they were all like 10" deep, so I wasn't going to spend 30min chasing an old square nail.

I finished the day with 5 fired musket balls, 1 unfired musket ball, a fired 3-ringer, some misc melted lead, and an Eagle I button. Almost all of it came in the first 2 hours while hunting in the woods. I probably should have stayed there the whole day, but after hearing about those two half dimes being found in the field I wanted a chance at finding one. I also won a silver round in the raffle.

Now here is the part that might earn me some bad thoughts, haha, but it needs to be said. I would say 3 out of 4 people out there hunting did not know how to swing their detector. Everywhere I looked people were taking 2 steps between each swing and swinging in a big Z pattern and missing half of the ground that they were walking over. Then most were also swinging their detectors high off the ground at each end of their swing like a golf club.

SLOW DOWN! I don't necessarily mean slow your swing down, but slow your walk down.

KEEP YOUR COIL ON THE GROUND! Don't ever lift it off the ground until you are placing it in your vehicle at the end of the day. Don't be afraid of scratching it or getting it dirty.

[99Brown]

Good post, and when are we going to see those finds?? I know what you mean. I worked it slow in the afternoon, and found all my lead then. It is truly amazing when you slow down what you can hear.

Sorry I missed you there. I always enjoy your post. Wish I could have sat down and talked to you. Sorry about that.

Lets see those finds, and please check out my mug shot and post in this catagory. Thanks Brian

Bobby

[bazinga]

Good post, and when are we going to see those finds?? I know what you mean. I worked it slow in the afternoon, and found all my lead then. It is truly amazing when you slow down what you can hear.

Sorry I missed you there. I always enjoy your post. Wish I could have sat down and talked to you. Sorry about that.

Lets see those finds, and please check out my mug shot and post in this catagory. Thanks Brian

Bobby

I will try to get some pictures. Everything is still packed up with the finds I got while driving back to Indiana on Sunday. I got 2 more Indian Head cents and a wheat penny and some other misc. junk.

[Burdie]

Funny thing I know exactly what you mean about swinging and walking. I found myself in the afternoon so tired that I was afraid I would get a signal and have to dig. Yet I could not stand the thought of not being out there.
I to wished I could have visited more with you guys. Hope to see your finds later.

Burdie

[bazinga]

Funny thing I know exactly what you mean about swinging and walking. I found myself in the afternoon so tired that I was afraid I would get a signal and have to dig. Yet I could not stand the thought of not being out there.
I to wished I could have visited more with you guys. Hope to see your finds later.

Burdie

Haha, yeah, sometimes I had to swing my knife by my coil to see if my machine was still working. Going 30min without hearing a signal makes one worry, haha. My day ended at about 4 and I just sat around talking to people and enjoying the great food!

[roswellborn]

Funny thing I know exactly what you mean about swinging and walking. I found myself in the afternoon so tired that I was afraid I would get a signal and have to dig. Yet I could not stand the thought of not being out there.
I to wished I could have visited more with you guys. Hope to see your finds later.

Burdie

Exactly, Burdie! I was beat, even after a midday break - but I was gonna miss somethin' good if I didn't get back out there!

[Gribnitz]

Which section of the woods were you working ? I tried a little bit around the woods near the pond without much luck.

[oberkill]

The morning I was really good and spent most of my time in a small area. But by the afternoon I was just going on random mode. lol I did spend some time going over the area near the woods taking my time but after a few more finds I was done. I just ran out of gas. Had a great time and had some finds so I was happy, I actually gave the detector to my wife who had never detected before in her life and sat down for the last hour or so.

Alan

[hollowpointred]

The morning I was really good and spent most of my time in a small area. But by the afternoon I was just going on random mode. lol I did spend some time going over the area near the woods taking my time but after a few more finds I was done. I just ran out of gas. Had a great time and had some finds so I was happy, I actually gave the detector to my wife who had never detected before in her life and sat down for the last hour or so.

Alan

did she find anything?

[oberkill]

I think she found some iron but she really had no idea what she was doing and my detector was acting funny so she did better than I expected! She had allot of fun as well so thats all that really matters.

Alan

[Nana40]

I agree with the speed thing...I thought maybe I was doing something really wrong when I saw some going very fast down through there...and I was moving like a turtle! I am very guilty of doodling around like a betsy bug! Sorry to say that I don't think I got to meet you Saturday. Your finds are awesome as usual! Congrats!!!

Nana

[bazinga]

I agree with the speed thing...I thought maybe I was doing something really wrong when I saw some going very fast down through there...and I was moving like a turtle! I am very guilty of doodling around like a betsy bug! Sorry to say that I don't think I got to meet you Saturday. Your finds are awesome as usual! Congrats!!!

Nana

Slow and steady wins the race!

Some people's detecting style actually made me wonder if they had ever been detecting before. They reminded me of guys at the beach who go out with a detector they got for christmas for the first time ever. Seems like they are speed walking.

Yeah, I didn't get to meet too many people, and the people I did meet seemed to be the ones who didn't post too often so I wasn't very familiar with them.

Oh well, I had fun and so did everyone else it seemed!

[Postalrevnant]

Great post Brian. I am still pretty wet between the ears at detecting, but I move like a turtle. Not often do I get to detect with others to see how well this pays off but I am sure it definately pays.

2 Things I am guilty of tho.

1. Getting a BH 505 detector.

2. Refer to #1.

LoL slow and all probably won't make up for a not so deep detector. But I am sure when I get a minelab the difference will be very clear.

Postalrevnant

[stoney56]

Nice finds Bsco! I think that was you I met briefly in the woods swinging the Minelab. I think you had just recovered a musketball along the north bank of the creek and east of the old car. You definitely knew what you were doing. Great post BTW.

[Bavaria Mike]

Nice finds and a real good time! I do find it odd that so many people didn't get to meet each other. HH, Mike

[Monty]

I don't know if I visited with you or not! Sorry if I didn't but I probably didn't recognize you from your avatar since you had your clothes on! I fizzled out about 1:00 with my back acting up and sat around most of the afternoon visiting with the A$$es! I told someone I didn't care if I found a lot but just as long as I found something and I did find lots of rusted barbed wire and a 3 ringer. My detector has 3 iron icons and I had been hunting on all metal. I finally a discriminated out the first two iron icons and stopped getting all that rusty wire and found the 3 ringer almost immediatly. Although I tried to grid off an area and work it methodically, I didn't find as much as many did. I think it was a matter of just being in the right spot at the right time because the area was so big. There were quite a few novice hunters out there that were former A$$es! I did find a very deep, large rusted iron something that was almost a foot deep. I was unable to get it out with my digging tool and still wonder what it was? I guess I should have got someone with a shovel to come and help, but my male ego got in the way and I wore myself out digging with my handheld tool for about an hour! What a dummy! I barely made it back to the A$$ hole and collapsed in my chair! Several of the A$$es were making cracks so I felt right at home. Glad you enjoyed the hunt and I am looking forward to the next one provided it is in my back yard. Then maybe I could do that landscaping my wife keeps nagging me about? Monty

[randall61]

hey nana the slow route is the way to go when relic hunting,,,,,thinking how many buttons they passed up
flying around.sounds like ya"ll had a great time maybe i"ll make the next one. happy huntin

[The Seeker]

Hey Baco.....Glad to see you had a great time and found a few nice items..... Plus I would agree with you 100% on that most people go to fast and like you said swing their coil way to high at the ends of there swing. Drag that coil on the grass or just above the ground....The difference in depth and signal strength closer to the ground is much better. Plus slower is better!!! The coins are not going anywhere and you not running a marathon....Its a little different if your in a park and the coins are a few inches below the surface, then you can go a little faster . But when it comes to relic hunting I have had more success going as slow and always keeping that coil as close to the ground as possible! Great post and glad you all had a great day..........HH

The Seeker

[roswellborn]

Nice finds and a real good time! I do find it odd that so many people didn't get to meet each other. HH, Mike

Mike,
the area was huge, and not everyone got to the dinner on Friday night. For that matter, there were a few folks that got to the hunt site after most all the MDers were already out in the field(s).

Besides, it makes a good excuse to get together again, to catch up on the stuff and the people we missed!

I'm still beat.

HH
Nan

[bazinga]

Nice finds Bsco! I think that was you I met briefly in the woods swinging the Minelab. I think you had just recovered a musketball along the north bank of the creek and east of the old car. You definitely knew what you were doing. Great post BTW.

Yeah, we spoke for a little bit in the woods. Right after talking to you I hit a little hot spot and dug a couple more bullets. I really should have stayed in that area!

Which section of the woods were you working ? I tried a little bit around the woods near the pond without much luck.

If you walked out of the staging area with the pond to your left and just kept going straight all the way to the woods in the back, that's where I was.