Getting my butt kicked so far

[jeepGold]

I have about 50 hrs on my new to me Excalibur 1000. I've been hitting the beaches of Southern So Cal with another excal 1000 owner who has about 200 hrs. Although he finds a bit more than I do at this point I'm pretty much getting squat other than clad. I have done my homework and he told me how he's set up. I mimic him since he does rather well hunting in PP with a slightly audible threshold. Volume full tilt. Sensitivity less than 1/2 way.
I don't know if it's just the off season since so cal really hasn't been hit w/any storms but one and the beaches aren't as crowded. I went out by myself yesterday for a number of hrs & started talking w/another guy detecting on the beach w/an Excal II. He said that from Early/mid August til late Oct. he scored SIXTY rings of various metals/values. From then on he is hardly getting anything. Now either he's pulling my leg & using a fib to try to deter me away or it's down time for jewelry at the beach. We've been hitting low tides and going thigh deep as well. I run zig zags from the moist sand to thigh deep and back. Lots of beer twist tops/ aluminum can heads and penny's but no gold for me yet. My buddy has pulled 5 decent rings thus far( 3 were clipped together). SIGH. This Sunday we are stepping it up. Getting the wet suits out and going chest deep. Figure the majority of beach guys go about knee deep at best. Wish me luck. Any of you excal guys have helpful advice?

 

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[The Urban Prospector]

Okay, here is my two zincolns...

First and most important, you need to go where the targets are. The beach is so vast to expect the wave action to move said ring 200-300 yards and deposit it in a certain spot is a stretch. I am not saying to not read the beach. But no matter how well one reads the beach, if few people go to that spot there will be few if any targets. Go where the highest concentration of people congregate.
Secondly, as mentioned previously. Begin your grid from the dry sand thru the towel line on into the water as deep as you can go. You can do parallel section too but make sure you don't go too far as to not be able to complete the area, also it is more difficult to keep track of where you are as far as being square to the beach while you are in the water. Reason is is you don't know when the person that lost the item came to the beach to go swimming. Some go swimming at high tide, some at low tide and many come in between tides at all levels. When you pick up a good heavy target ie, quarter, nickel, fishing weight, ring, etc start a spiral search pattern and go very slow.
Thirdly, put in the time and enjoy the view and fresh air.

 

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[TheSleeper]

Jeep,

This sport/hobby is individually centered, let me explain.

Please understand this is not meant to insult anyone, its informative for a new hunter.

You have three basic types of hunters, meaning the speed at which they search.
On one hand you have the skimmers, they are fast, covering perhaps five-ten times as much beach as others do. They are searching for the fresh/ shallow drops which traveling fast they can find very easily, its a mindset of the more ground one covers the better chance at finding targets/cherries.
This type of hunter has the advantage of covering more ground, and is best suited for the summer/warm weather when there are more depositors on the beach dropping fresh targets.
Their disadvantage is because of their speed they sometimes miss the deeper fainter sounding targets.

On the other hand you have the pokey joes, they cover a smaller area of ground looking for those deep faint targets others miss.
Their advantage is finding/hearing those faint deep targets and is best suited for the off season when fresh drops are rare and the cherries have been picked leaving only the deep faint targets.
Their disadvantage is they could be in a barren area where targets are buried well out of detector range and spend all day in it wasting valuable time fruitlessly.

The final type is a hybrid hunter, he hunts fast to cover ground finding the fresh drops, but upon seeing certain signs slows to a snails pace to work the area before moving along, ie: trace black sand, a cut, pebbled or shells collected in a certain area etc. This type of hunter also upon finding certain types of drops slows to a snails pace to make sure no other targets are near, ie:Nickels, anytime I find a nickel I immediately slow down and thoroughly hunt that area, gridding it.
The advantage of this type of hunter is, he covers more ground then the pokey joe, but not as much as the skimmer.
The disadvantage is he doesn't hear as many of the deeper fainter targets as the pokey joe, but more then the skimmer.

LOL are you confused yet?
If your not then this will totally confuse you.
Mother nature adds in another variable, since a beach is ever changing, she evens out the equation between the speed a hunter hunts at. The fresh drops if not found soon, become those deep faint targets the pokey joe hears, or she may uncover deep targets in time for the skimmer to pass his coil over them, and this can happen over the course of a few hours to as fast as a few minutes.
There is no one correct answer.

The speed a hunter hunts at is a matter of taste but also one of build/statue/endurance. I have seen hunters who could swing a platter size coil all day and not break a sweat nor feel sore the next day, then again I have seen hunters who couldn't swing a small 8" coil for a couple hours without having to take a break. So its more a personnel taste or speed which any hunter must adapt to for his own physical needs. Also it is like any other sport/hobby the more one does it the more one builds their endurance up to perform that sport/hobby longer, faster.

There are items one can utilize to assist them, as you said you chest mount. That relieves the weight from your arm shoulder, allowing you to swing more.
A straight shaft, allows a hunter to tailor the detector to himself, balancing it to suit him/her.
A straight shaft combined with a chest mount works the best for some, where as others can swing all day with just a straight shaft with the controls mounted behind the elbow.
Its individual, suited to the hunter.

 

[jeepGold]

What is this talk about a bungee part of the harness? I just have a harness where the detector screws to and the rod/coil is held w/o anything other than my arm. I have a rods by plugger chest mount.

 

[TheSleeper]

A bungee, attaches/loops over your shoulder and has a bungee cord that extends down and is attached to the shaft. It relieves the weight from your arm/shoulder, your arm then basically just guides the shaft/coil over the ground.

Another thing you might check on, there are straight hand grips and then there are curved hand grips, the mount that mounts to the shaft, mine is curved (bicycle shop) it allows me to not have to grip the handle. I merely curl my fingers, naturally around it without gripping and can guide the shaft/coil effortlessly, this might help since you have corpal tunnel.

 

[jeepGold]

I just googled it.. I'm gonna have to try rigging up a bungee set up. Thanks for the advice guys. Still dialing things in....

 

[jeepGold]

found a gold hoop earring today. Low tide certainly wasn't very low today and the beach was blasted with cobble stones but I managed to squeak my 1st so -so find. Great day at the beach. About 63 degrees, raining, crazy waves, no people, gray skies and a VERY warm wetsuit....

 

[lost items recovery]

If not hitting so good try a bigger coil like the WOT, that'll pull you up something. Surprised TH didn't mention it.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If not hitting so good try a bigger coil like the WOT, that'll pull you up something. Surprised TH didn't mention it.

He is new with the excal and still learning, I would not recommend the WOT till someone is familiar the excal and with the stock coil first..... Depth isn't his issue in my opinion....



Posted From My $50 Tablet....

 

[lost items recovery]

Oh I see, must have missed it. Valid point TH

 

[bigscoop]

TH is correct. A harness with bungee cord is the ultimate stress saver. I even use one with my small coils now. Even in strong currents I can hunt all day without too much stress on limbs and muscles. Just takes a few hours of hunting to get the feel for it. In fact I use a harness on all of my machines now. I should have taken TH's advice a lot sooner then I did. Can't stand to hunt without a harness now.

 

[ACduCE]

Hunting here in Mallorca is the same-nada!!!! The problem is----YOU CAN'T FIND WHAT IS NOT THERE- Last high season the playas were swarmed with scavengers desperate to find anything they could sell/barter/trade to keep themselves in Mallorca (and not have to go back to Krakow or some similiar sh.....hole of a place) while in the water were certain individuals with good gear (Excals) hunting 24/7. Anything new dropped or lost immediately got bagged and with the good gear all the residual items also got bagged so....the larder is bare. I did less than 2 oz. of gold and none high quality, 1 small gold chain with medallion which for me is totally insignificant considering how much I hunt. Mallorca has very limited beach area so it doesn't take long for it to be worked over, I went to Porto Portals Monday and found zilch in the water (which was really cold with a 2' swell running) except a few coins and pull-tabs.

All the EZ gold is gone. So where does that leave me? Have been neck deep as a matter of course so scratch that option. Be like a bum scavenging cigarette buttes on a rainy day (have to get em before they hit the ground)

Am considering moving into bigger game and putting the handheld as the main tool down, anyone interested in making a move please post me privately.

 

[jeepGold]

The past few days I have been able to go for about 5 hrs a session at the beach. I have a chest mount. I attached a bungie cord to just below the hand grip on the straight shaft and the other end to my hip strap for the mount. I also use a wrist brace . Works great. As for which type of hunter I am I do it all. I get out there about 2 hrs before low tide and work the dry sands. Volley courts, towel lines, entry points. Usually clad. Yesterday I found a nice pocket knife, some keys, a money clip with 10 bucks attached to it and several quarters. As soon as the tide recedes a bit I start the water. I work straight lines from the dry to the sea and go about thigh deep. I am a bit more of a skimmer in the dry and as I get closer to the water and into the water I slow down and listen for whispers and slight threshold spikes. I hunt in PP. If it's a faint pp I'll dig it for a few times. (I have a TRex 9.5 scoop). If the target gets louder I'll switch to discrim. If its that annoying aluminum sound I tend to pass unless I'm not getting bombed on by waves and I'm fresh then I'll dig it.
I have bouts of slow down time and times I like to cover more ground. Depends on where I'm at. Today it was a -0.9 low tide so I go to go out a bit farther than usual. I worked the water made troffs and shell lines. This wknd the low tide is supposed to get near -1.7....
I may only be a newb compared to you 20+ yr detectorists but for the number of months that I've been doing it I think I'm getting pretty good at understanding my machines. It seems to be that excalibur is one of the beach combers favorites and have chatted with 3 others so far who have one. All say that the beaches aren't producing right now. That doesn't stop me from getting out there but it does give me some hope that I'm not doing it wrong. In a week I have found 3 sterling silver items, a gold hoop earring, and some other stuff of mediocre value. Summer needs to get here. I need beach goers and longer days. And thanks for all the advice guys.

 

[TheSleeper]

Fantastic jeep

 

[SeabeeRon]

Sounds like you "becoming one with your machine"! That just takes time, which it appears you have been putting in. Also, most of our Golden State is sanded in!! At times our nice weather is a curse!!

 

[jeepGold]

Last weekend I went out to the desert for a 4x event and inhaled to much dust. Come Monday morning San Diego beaches were a NEGATIVE 2 low tide so I HAD to hit the beach. I was exhausted. I along with a friend hunted Coronado and we tracked 8 miles of swinging! I've never gone so far out. it was pretty nuts. There were about 8 other detectorists out there from 3030's to military setups to, (giggle) AT Pros'.. I found 2 silver rings in the dry sand (go figure) and pretty much squat in the wet... Buddy found one dainty gold ring. When we were done we could barely walk, I couldn't lift my left arm from carrying the T-REX scoop and my right swinging arm was equally shot. Worked WAY TO HARD FOR NILL. When I got home I developed a hard unproductive cough. Next day I had full blown Flu. Wednesday I had to call in sick. Thurs I went to Urgent care and they said I had severe flu borderline walking pneumonia. So I got a week off work. Today is Sunday and I'm just now feeling a bit better but still sketchy. Guys, this yr the flu is no joke. Be careful. I NEVER get sick. Havent had a cold probably in 7 yrs. I got hammered! Cali beaches aren't producing much right now so once I'm better I think it's soccer field side-line time.

 

[sponge]

Hey i hear that. No hand shakes just knuckle dabs. Everyone is bringing that flu stuff down here too. Good luck on the next hunt

sent from a sending device.

 

[jeepGold]

 

[TheSleeper]

Jeep, that's what I have been fighting last couple weeks, its nasty and just doesn't want to really let go, most of the coughing is over, but it leaves ya really wrung out. So this is research time.

 

[lost items recovery]

Eat it away, hungry or not.
Fruits and proteins...works for me. Feel better

 

[RustyGold]

I had the flu a week or two ago but it's gone now. The only meds I took for it was 2 beers and that did make me feel better! Lol!
I have to agree, it has been very slim pickins here in SoCal.
Best of luck all!