Ah yes.. the infamous PULL TAB. The bane of all metal detectorists everywhere. It's rare that you DON'T find a pull tab whenever you pull out the detector and hunt. I've decided that with all the little mismatched earings, ring, charms and other bits of silver and gold I've found over the past few years.. which isn't a whole lot really.. will become an inside joke. I want to melt down the precious metals and have me a couple of solid gold or solid silver pull tabs made to wear on a chain around my neck. ONLY another metal detectorist would understand the significance you see, other people would only see silly pull tabs. <laughing>
The bane to our hobby, yes they are. Those pull tabs are every where, indeed, but if you don't dig them up or ignore their signals, you WILL MISS good stuff. You'd be surprised how many rings, and coins only return a faint or decidedly "pull tab" like signal to your detector. I was told repeatedly by the old timers.. or at least "long timers" here on TNet, that you have to "DIG EVERYTHING" to find the good stuff. Well my friend, that advice is GOLDEN. It does work. If you dig every one of those pull tab signals, you find that they aren't always pull tabs.
Oh and one other thing. Or two actually. There are always one or half a dozen charities asking for "saved" pull tabs to raise money for this cause or that cause. So save all those pull tabs in a bag, or later a can.. or like me.. a BUCKET to make someone's day when you finally give them to someone collecting them. As for "Two".. well.. if no one is collecting them, there's always the recycling center and the scrap price on aluminum is pretty good most of the time. <smile>
So, it's okay to curse the bane of humanity..or at least metal detectorist, but dig them up all the same. Sometimes the rewards will surprise you, and you will be a better detectorist for it... the practice anyway. <grin>
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
p.s. As for detecting around the volley ball courts. Yeah the sand in the courts themselves will give up some treasures.. but searching around the outsides of them may turn up even more coins and goodies than in the playing areas. I mean everyone takes off their shoes and sometimes other bits of clothing, purses, coolers, picnic baskets, gym bags etc and they want them close by.. so always search the perimeters of the courts as well. Good Luck!
