newbie with a beach question

[steelerfan87]

Hey there everyone. I am new at metal detecting. It has always intrigued me to get a detector and join in on what I expect will be a great and fun hobby. My wife bought me a Bounty Hunter Land star for Christmas. Yes, I know from reading the forums for the last 7 monthes that not very many of you use a Bounty Hunter, but its a start. We just got home yesterday from spending a week at Topsail island, NC. I went out every day at 6 am and searched until around 10am and then went back out around 7pm until dark every day. I had a blast.

Anyway, here is my question. I was never able to search in the wet sand. I tuned all week long and never was able to get it to keep from going crazy. I was fine in the dry sand. Does anyone know if my detector can be tuned for wet sand? Am I doing something wrong?

I did not take a picture of all my finds but I did keep all the junk until I could get to a trash can so no one else would waste their time digging it up.

Here are my finds for the week:

9 quarters
2 dimes
3 nickels
14 pennies
5 tent anchors
1 2oz. sinker
1 "aa" battery
1 "aaa" battery
7 nails
2 nuts
1 screw
1 bolt
1 hitch pin
8 pull tabs
26 bottle caps
1 truck key
1 key ring with 16 keys attached
1 matchbox car
3 alum. cans
4 caprison juice bags
1 broken belt buckle
0 pieces of jewelry

 

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[Mat in MA]

The easiest answer to your problem is to turn down your sensitivity.

When going from dry to wet sand and even in the water (salty ocean that is), detectors will start to chatter because of mineralization of the salt. Turn down your machine a click or two and see if that makes a difference.

You shouldn't have that problem on fresh water beaches.

 

[HalfSpeed]

Hey fellow newbie! Sounds like your off to a great start in your new lifetime addiction. Never used a BH so can't help you there. I have used the Ace 250 in the wet sand and ankle deep salt water. Seemed to work fine with the sensitivity turned way down. Anyway, nice post and hope to see you online again soon.

 

[mumszie]

I have a BH but don't use it much but I know others that do and with good sucess. Ivan uses one at the beach and he's good. Altho you would do better staying up in the dry sand to do your searches I agree that if you turn the sens down you might do ok in the wet sand. I would be careful trying to go in the water because if water splashes up on the control box.... it's gone! Good luck in your hunts and I hope to see many great finds posted.

 

[Sandman]

Welcome to the forum and hobby. Everyone here started some time and all of us are still learning something.

Your Bounty Hunter may work great in the dry, but the sensitivity turned down might not be enough in the wet sand due to the salt and the black sand. It will vary every few feet too. Many hunt at low tide when some of the wetsand is now dry.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[steelerfan87]

Thanks guys. Now the problem is getting back to the beach as I usually only get to go once a year. I live in West Virginia so for now I guess I will have to stick more with relic hunting. We had alot of war action around here and a lot of old abandoned coal mining towns.

 

[aladdin]

I started hunting beaches with a Landstar (for BOUT 3 yr) never was able to bal in the wet or damp sand /just dry. I finally went to another MD . BUT I found my Ist gold with A U guessed it a Bounty hunter LS . There is no shame in a a BH unit/ just in not using it! Got to start some where! That is a good MD! Hunt the towel line hard !!!!! gottit!!!!!

 

[JoeSWFla]

Hi Steelerfan,Your machine is fine for most hunting.But if you want to get near the salt water or
wet sand you are going to have to get a multi-frequency detector,or a pulse(PI).They are the
only ones that can get into the salt/minerals without falsing like crazy.I went from a single
frequency to a Minelab Soverign in the early days and I thought I had gone to heaven.What
a difference.No chatter,and fantastic depth.It all depends on where you want to hunt most.
Good luck and enjoy whatever you use.Happy Hunting.Joe

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

You can't help but love the Sovereigns.

 

[ivan salis]

as mumsie says -- I showed her that a bounty hunter can hunt beaches ( most folks are shocked by that ) the trick is to back off the sen / power level and in very bad cases very slightly up the disc level --- not an ideal or best thing but for the once in awhile beach visitors --it can make the differance between a usible machine and hunting vs not hunting due to a totally unstable (falsing all the time machine) --- now my current ace 250 I run about 3 to 4 bars of sen -- and it runs smoothly on wet sand -- I stay out of the water due to waves slip / fall hazard --(soak the control panels and the machines shot) -- also showed her how to find her machines discrimation " sweet spot" --the point in your disc --where it will skip most pull tabs but still ring up gold -- a handy trick to know .

 

[steelerfan87]

Once again thanks everyone for your help. As I said earlier I have been reading the forums for about 7 monthes now and the information I get from all of you is priceless. You all have been a huge help in the learning process and giving me the motivation to get out there. Between my regular job and my other activities I just don't have the time to spend like I would like. I am also a middle school basketball and baseball coach so that should explain how very little time I have. Every time I read about someones finds it gets me excited. Keep up the good work everyone. But please leave something for me to find after retirement. LOL