frustrated to no end-quiting

[BobPA]

Look at, RECENT TREASURES FOUND BY OUR MEMBERS, banner and it will give you not one, but eight good reasons to stick with it.
Bob

 

[artemis moon]

I'm new to this hobby and have the same machine that you do. To date, I've mostly found twisted bits of rusted iron, gotten lots of mosquito bites and have seen some pretty interesting bugs and wildlife. The day I pulled my first and only silver dime ('44 Merc.) I'll remember forever. My hands were shaking as I brushed the dirt of that tiny gleaming disk. There's no other feeling in the world like finding treasure. I take that back. The "treasure" may not be worth much, but the journey that you take to find it is priceless!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

. . . I have to say that it is the most frustrating thing that I have ever attempted t do.

I can give you lists of things I had to work hard at to achieve mediocrity: fly-fishing, fly-tying, flying R/C aircraft, typing, etc.

And, remarkably, they share one thing. The need to practice and develop skills. Detecting is easiest if you set yourself up where there is a good chance of success. Make a little patch of soil into a test garden with coins and other objects buried at known depths. Practice different settings and sweep speeds on that spot.

From there move out to places where folks reach into their pockets. Concession stands, fair grounds, playgrounds, etc. At the ballfield stay off the playing surface. No one counts their change during a game . . . even in far right field. Hit the sidelines, under the bleechers, edges of parking lots, etc.

 

[Stormtrooper154]

. . . I have to say that it is the most frustrating thing that I have ever attempted t do.

At the ballfield stay off the playing surface. No one counts their change during a game . . . even in far right field.

No, They dont count there change...But the do seem to drop a lot of jewerly while palying the games! I can recall tons of posts that people have found real nice gold and silver finds from the playing fields. Just be careful while digging for your signal and treat it like it was your front yard! (For some of you, that doesn't mean parking your car on it ).

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

. . . I have to say that it is the most frustrating thing that I have ever attempted t do.

At the ballfield stay off the playing surface. No one counts their change during a game . . . even in far right field.

No, They dont count there change...But the do seem to drop a lot of jewerly while palying the games! I can recall tons of posts that people have found real nice gold and silver finds from the playing fields. Just be careful while digging for your signal and treat it like it was your front yard! (For some of you, that doesn't mean parking your car on it ).

Some baseball field by me look worse then the play areas...and storm is right..I found a nice silver ring in spring in left field at a park. And Charlie is right too! How you say....well there are a few suburban parks where I hit only the sideline areas...because their fields are perfect and if i dug in them I know they would say >>>bye >>>bye!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Good diplomatic solution. I asked permission at two of the town parks I hunt which have baseball diamonds/soccer fields and the only "rule" is that I can't dig on the playing surface. I've skimmed for jewelry and found some nice rings.

 

[Kas]

I think too many people go into this hobby with thoughts of grandious finds.

You must enjoy the hobby, whatever you find. The thrill of the hunt, being out in the fresh air, excerise.

Research is a big key to success. Go to the library and get the old sanborn maps out. Look for places that used to have schools, parks, churches, houses, that are empty lots now. Listen to old timers stories.

Above all, patience. All good thing come to those who wait.

If you are really done for good, that just leaves more for the rest of us.

 

[racing33]

I am sorry to tell all of you that after reading your replies that I have decided to stick with it. So you will all just have to realize that you will be finding just that much less because I fully intend on finding my share of the "good stuff".
I am suprised that so many who have no clue who or what I am would take the time out of their busy days just to encourge me to continue with this hobby. That just goes to show the character of the people who are on this forum. I feel good to be associated with this hobby if even half the people I meet are as decent as the people on this forum.
Bruce jr

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

I am sorry to tell all of you that after reading your replies that I have decided to stick with it. So you will all just have to realize that you will be finding just that much less because I fully intend on finding my share of the "good stuff".
I am suprised that so many who have no clue who or what I am would take the time out of their busy days just to encourge me to continue with this hobby. That just goes to show the character of the people who are on this forum. I feel good to be associated with this hobby if even half the people I meet are as decent as the people on this forum.
Bruce jr

Bruce I am not sure what type of areas you are hunting....but for quick easy finds (not necessarily a lot) but pinpointing skills not really required when you start>woodchips and sand (tot lots, beaches). My most frustrating areas are>>>forest preserves...here they are heavily littered with pulltabs, bottle tops and beer cans...<<<maybe stay away until you fully understand your detector...My dfx is accurate to the point I almost always know what I am digging...but a day in the forest preserve can even make me want to fling my detector sometimes!

I am not going to knock the Ace because I know people are out there finding stuff with it. They might even have some great detecting skills because a lot of the time i feel like it is to easy with the dfx. So what I would do is the following...

I would like you to visit findmall.com and go into the Garrett forum and see what a mad house the ace 250 has caused in there! Register and talk with them!

Get advice and get out and dig. The main thing is target identification and pinpointing...as long as your Ace can get 5-6 inches you should get some nice finds! Listen you have to decide what you want to do...dig everything...or be selective some or most of the time! I am a cherry picker some days, others I dig everything if the area is not completely covered in trash. Learning the difference in the signals is the key!
Gregg

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Well I went out to a local ballfield today. This ballfield has been in this area for 36 years(at least) as that is how old my wife is and she used to play there when she was a little bitty girl.

If you want to find silver coins, you need to find a place that you know for sure is a little older.

 

[racing33]

Well actually this ballfield has been around since at least 1902. I know this to be fact due to the research that I have done. All the old historic maps that I have been able to get a hold of show this ballfield on them. So I figure that 105 years old is plenty old enough to find silver. It may be that someone else has beat me to it. This forum has taught me that even though someone else may have hunted there that there is still stuff that they have missed. I have only seen one other detectorist within a 20 mile radius of me, and I have NEVER seen another detectorist in my immediate area. I just have a gut feeling that there is some good stuff in this ballfield but it needs to have at least the surface trash cleared out of the way. I do not think that the good stuff is going to be on or near the surface, only the trash is. Plus I can hone my skills at digging the plugs in the grass field because the grass is already in poor shape so I cant hurt it to much further
Bruce jr

 

[coolcash2004]

I too have an ACE 250.


Here are a couple of tips:


1. A dime burried under 2 or 3 inches will NOT come up as a dime on the computer screen. it will go bong bong bong bong beep beep bong bong.... It sounds like shallow trash but it may not be. Try to dig the deeper signals.

2. If you get a very stron ghit in the half dollar to dollar range and you keep digging and its not there.... then it means you have found a large item burried very deep. Found a 1916 CT liscense plate burried 1.5 feet down. The signal was a constant beep beep beep dollar.

3. CLAD = SILVER. My first year with the ACE led me to NO SILVER. BUT, I did find $60 worth of clad... which I used to purchase 10 Mercury dimes, 2 barber dimes, 5 silver washingtons, 5 Standing Liberties, 2 walkers, and a morgan dollar. Pretty good for just clad!


HH!

-CC

 

[Murph]

I think I have come up with the best advice so far given your set of interest.

A vacation to Daytona in the early part of February. You can hunt the beachs with your ace and trust me, at the vary least you will find a pocket full of clad. If you can set your detector down long enough on Sunday I beleive they have some kind of race they run there that you might be interested in.

 

[Rob66]

You'll live longer!!!!!

 

[mark43]

i too bought an ace 250 back in march of this year......first thing i did was get all types of metal, rings, coins of different type....silver, nickel...etc.....nails, screws, pulltabs...and placed them on the ground and noted what each was for a signal on my machine. once i got comfortable with that, i detected my yard...mostly junk....and then i found a modern penny...patted myself on my back and continued on.....then i cut down a big oak tree that was playing havok on my septic system...as i read tips on here and elsewhere on the web i decided to try around where the stump was from that tree....thinking it was pretty old and someone must have sat under it to get some shade sometime years ago......to my amazement i found a silver plated soup spoon.....that beat the penny i found for sure....so i continued on another day and then found a toy gun about six inches down......what all this did was build confidence and now have no second thoughts about going anyplace to detect.....now my wife comes with me and i will detect and dig and she sifts through plug or hole with my hand held pinpointer....we make it a day together....alot more fun sometimes with a partner...good thing about my wife, she carries all the heavy stuff......lol...j/k....anyway good luck and have fun. cause thats whats it all about to me....my 2 cents worth...mark43

 

[SouthJerseyRyan]

Your story sounds a little bit like mine. I got my metal detector when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I swung it around a few times and didn't understand any of the dials or buttons and thus didn't find anything. I put it in the garage and intended to sell it but every time a yard sale rolled around I stuck on to it for some reason thinking that I would eventually enjoy it. I just started seriously using it this past June (and I'm a senior in college LOL). I found an 1820 Matron Head Large Cent in only my 2ND month of detecting which has to be some kind of record lol. It also made me very very happy that I didn't sell that detector that was gathering dust in the garage. Even if you think you'll never detect again (which from your posts sounds like you've come to senses) you should always keep the detector around.

 

[midnightcaller]

When I bought my 1st metal detector, the guy took my money and gave me a 15 min lesson and said here you go have fun I stuck it in the closet for about 3 yrs and then got into it again

my 1st was a fisher and I had a hard time understanding what to do now that I have done it for about 10 yrs I think I could use a fisher again with out any problems

 

[rcawdor57]

I have to agree with everyone here! It is very frustrating to go out and NOT find the silver, gold, rings, etc....but what I DO find is history! Lots of history! I research every place I have been going to and find as much about it before I head out. I currently have permission from the owner to search a race track that was built in 1896 for horse racing. Well, it ain't no race track now! LOL. I have aerial photos of the property and know the parcel back and forth "from the photos". My fiance' and I went there two days ago and spent four hot, bug fighting hours in what looked like the jungles of Vietnam! The "race track" looks nothing like I thought it would. Vegetation is 3 feet at the lowest point and trees loom as high as 80 feet in many parts of the property. There are also two "water pits" on the track now that look evil and foreboding. I wouldn't want to fall into that mess! The "track" is all but gone and the inside portion of the track is now a cornfield. Access to the property really should be by tractor or 4 wheeler but I drove my Saturn VUE through the mess with no problem. My point is we finally made it to our "MD SITE" we had chosen from the aerial photos and started envisioning where all the people where in 1896 when they parked their horse and buggies; got off the trains; or just stood around gambling. We found many, many pieces of rusted iron such as huge nails, spikes, metal bolts, nuts and the lid to a heavy duty pot of some kind in the swampy area about 2 feet down in the muck. I was on my hands and knees digging in this muck pulling out mud and debris as the swamp water filled the hole back in. I wore gloves and they were completely encased in this swamp mud and I couldn't hold my trowel very well. Finally I made it to the "target" and it was the pot lid. Of course it didn't look like a "lid" it looked like the top of a "Treasure Pot"! Finally I got the pot lid out of the muck and tossed it aside to pick up later. My Tiger Shark was covered in mud and slime and it was a good thing I had it instead of the Cortes. Point of the story? Well, we didn't find any gold, silver or lost jewelry but we did discover history and are going back again to search more. We are using GPS's to mark our locations and section off areas to search. If you don't have a GPS consider getting one and using it for MD'ing. It is well worth it and you can plug all your co-ordinates into Google Earth to keep up with all your finds!
Don't give up! Keep trucking!

 

[Arkie John]

I currently us an ace-250 and have paid for it five or six times in the last 6 months.

Go to a well-used beach and you will find stuff that will raise your eyebrows...if you are persistent. Sometimes all you have to be is lucky.

I found out a long time ago that the fastest way to pay for a piece of equipment is to hund the beaches.

That detector is a good little unit! I have owned a bunch of expensive units and plan on buying an excal soon. But, for the money, it has a bunch of bells and whistles and goes reasonably deep.

Learn the machine and do a target profile before you dig. That will eliminate most beer cans. Pull tabs are great because I know I'm operating in the 'gold' area.

Have fun and don't kill yourself with marathon sessions. Get to know machine and what it's tryin' to tell you.

I (again) recommend a busy beach. Detect it in the off times, when people are not around so much. Watch their "use patterns" and hunt consistently. I found an 11-gram 14k band in 3" of water two weeks ago.

This md'ing is the only hobby I have that pays for itself! So, take a deep breath, do some research and get out there and put that coil over the sand and in the water. If you do, I can almost guarantee I will be reading some great posts from you in the future. <><

aj

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Well actually this ballfield has been around since at least 1902. I know this to be fact due to the research that I have done. All the old historic maps that I have been able to get a hold of show this ballfield on them. So I figure that 105 years old is plenty old enough to find silver.

Sounds great. Try to figure out where the bleachers or concessions would be and search there.