Experience?

[Gadget]

While I started detecting as a kid in the mid 70s, and a little bit in the early 90s, I haven't spend more than a few months searching at best. Some of you out there have 20+ years of experience. What exactly is it that you've learned in the 20+ years that makes you a better treasure hunter? Are you better at researching & permissions? Or is it instinctual discrimination?

 

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[Michigan Badger]

After nearly 40 years of THing I'd say the most important thing I've learned is to relax and enjoy the hobby. Read my saying at the bottom of all my posts.

Zeb

 

[ZumbroKid]

Only five years for me. So i can not answer.

 

[Nana40]

Well.....I'm up to eight months of experience and I like Zeb's answer!

Nana

 

[stoney56]

I think Zeb sums it up pretty much. When I started, it was like-get out and hit every place possible but as time went by, it seems like getting more selective as to where to hunt. ?Don't get me wrong, I still like finding clad every so often, but the ability to research and just look for an especially out of the way place that hasn't been hunted before is even more rewarding. Even if it has been hunted, some just jump in and cover a whole yard in 10-15 min and say they've got it all and go. A good example is a house a few blocks away that the owner gave me permission. He said someone had already hunted it, said there wasn't much there and left. Went in, saw they pretty well cleaned up but found a Kennedy half and qtr together about a foot away from the walkway. They also left a nice platinum eternity band that my wife latched onto real quick like. So---it's whatever you feel comfortable doing.

 

[Leon]

I have only been hunting for about a year and a half, so not much experience here, but one piece of advice I can give ya is, if you want to find what most other detectorist through the years have passed by, hunt slow, and if you get a signal that won't ID as a good target and it bugs ya, just dig it,,, what else ya going to do while your out there hunting?
Good luck & Happy hunting~

P.S.> Zeb, and the others have the right idea...

 

[U.K. Brian]

I learnt not to trade in an an old favourite on a new model. Run the two together for a few months and then decide what suits you, your sites and style of hunting best. Then decide.

 

[Monty]

I don't think you have to be at it for 20 years to learn something. I learn something nearly every day and I've been at it just about a year! Never ask what kind of detector to buy on a forum! Everyone has their own favorite and most are radically loyal to their preferred brand. Some will even tell you that all other brands are junk! Choose and pick your sites, do research and dig everything! To be successful you have to be at least as smart as your detector. Listen to it and learn what it is telling you before you decide it's the detector's fault. Go metal detecting every chance you get even it's just the old hunted out park down the street. It keeps you sharp and you can learn something nearly every trip out, just like practice does for an athlete. When seeking advice, listen but don't take every grain of it as absolute . Some people don't know what the hell they're talking about! It becomes obvious who they are after you have been on the forum for a while. If you have any kind of operational detector at all, anyone can find some kind of "treasure". It's about 90% the operator and 10% the detector that finds treasure. Don't listen to me! That's what I know about treasure hunting. Monty

 

[jeff of pa]

I learned to Expect The Unexpected.

? And Don't Rule anything out.


OH, And MOST IMPORTANT.

IF someone Tells you.

"You'r not going to find anything, The Place has been Hunted Hundreds of times"

GET IN THERE AS SOON AS POSSABLE, & Work it Slowly