New to detecting, Any advice?

BountyHunter76 · Jan 3, 2013

i'm new to the hobby and I hope to retrieve some neat finds! Ok, I have a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV detector. Is it a good detector? Good for beginners? Where would be the best place to detect with a device like this? ANY advice for me would be helpful. I know i wont be out for a few more months with the snow in PA.

Thanks!

rogerconley · Jan 3, 2013

I'm not an 'old' detectorist, but I'm not that new either. I started out with a Bounty Hunter, and very quickly found out that it was just a toy. Although, it will teach you good techniques and you will find some things. You should start out in your own yard, front and back, around the drive way, in the drive way if it's not cement. You will be surprised as to what you will find. Probably that ring the wife lost on the way to the car! Check around your mail box. I've found several coins over a hundred years old around mail boxes. Remember when people used to have put money in the box for stamps? I do.... maybe you're not as old as me. lol Anyways, have fun and then look on line for an upgrade. The Garrett is an excellent choice! Not too pricey has a few really good bells and whistles. Read... read... read about your metal detectors and others too. Read some history about your town and get permission to hunt some historical areas. It's a good hobby for the whole family! Good hunting! Roger.

seekandfind · Jan 3, 2013

Be happy with your bounty hunter for now, it is a good starting machine and in reality can do all the same things as bigger better detectors you just have to dig every signal, and some say that even increases your chances of better finds. I started with a bounty hunter(5 months ago) now I have an ace 350 but i still go back to the bounty hunter every now and then, I also use it as a pinpointer along with the 350 because I just cant nail down the pinpointers use on 350. Anyway good places for beginners is the playground and tot lots, you can still possibly get out now if the playgrounds and tot lots have wood chips in them, its not impossible to dig. Mostly you will find clad (coins lost and discovered), some fake jewelry, possibly some real jewelry one never knows what is going to pop out of the ground, literally like your treasure hunting. Just recently I started digging with a 9 inch flay pry bar to get down past the frozen ground (about 3-4 inches frozen) then its easier, should give it up but this hobby is VERY<VERY ADDICTING!!!!! Before you move up in detectors make sure you enjoy the hobby and after digging please remove any trash you dig up and refill your holes, one so no one trips and two because we dont need people thinking we are out tearing up their lawns yards etc.. For my first three months I would not dig outside the woodchip fillid playgrounds, had to learn how to properly go about digging a hole in grass (yes there is a procedure) but I dont want to lecture. If you like this hobby you will spend time on this site and learn from videos ,asking questions or just reading captions about found items. Welcome aboard and I wish you much success, happy hunting. HH

Stormrider51 · Jan 3, 2013

The others have given good advice. I'm not a BH fan either but it will get you started. Keep in mind that there are more coins lost every day than we can hope to find. It's all in knowing where to look and learning what your detector is telling you. Be patient. Go slow. Search places where people have been with their minds on something else. Look for solid repeatable signals. I'm currently scanning areas in front of the fire works stands that were open for New Years. It's almost all modern clad but it's money. I like working church yards, especially older ones. I offer to split my finds with the church to get permission to hunt there. See if you can get permission to hunt private yards. Any house built in the 1960's or before is good. Wherever you hunt, be prepared to dig a lot of trash. Take it with you and dispose of properly. Why dig trash? Because a pull tab will "read" the same as many small gold rings and even nickles. If in doubt, dig it! And please, as someone else mentioned, fill all holes. Try to leave the area so that nobody can tell you have been there. Our hobby has seen far too many places closed to detecting because of thoughtless people with detectors. I don't know how many times I've come across a hole with a pull tab or other metallic trash laying on the ground beside it. And most of all....Have Fun!

Storm

BountyHunter76 · Jan 4, 2013

Thanks everybody! i'm planning on using it in my yard i have alot of room in my yard just to see what i can find! I have a camp up in Potter County,PA and it has alot of history there. theres a big field by my camp that the grass is always cut. I hope this hobby is interesting. I will keep in touch as i am new to this i will learn from my own mistakes. And i plan to keep all trash and fill all holes. I gotta teach my dog to fill in her own holes too!! When is the best time to start (season wise) When is the ground unthawed enough to start?

Stormrider51 · Jan 4, 2013

Best of luck to you. I think you will find it interesting about the time you dig an old coin and extremely interesting after you dig your first gold ring. It's the only hobby I ever had that paid for itself. Oh, and I can't help you much on seasons. I pretty much hunt year round here in Texas.

Storm

BountyHunter76 · Jan 5, 2013

Thanks storm, i'm hoping to get some interesting old finds that will pay for the hobby.

diggerdick · Jan 5, 2013

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diggerdick · Jan 5, 2013

BountyHunter76 said:
Thanks storm, i'm hoping to get some interesting old finds that will pay for the hobby.

A frend of mine has a bounty hunter in his fierst two years found $569.00 in clad and got a whites M6 don't get fusstrated and have fun

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G.I.B. · Jan 5, 2013

BountyHunter76 said:
that will pay for the hobby.

Jeeze, when you figure out how to part with the neat finds without crying or going through withdrawals, let the rest of us here know... I don't seem to be able to part with enough gold or old coins to buy new batteries, much less pay for the detectors...

boris · Jan 5, 2013

I started with radio shacks in 70s then bounty hunters later and one thing you cannot do is use them in the rain. Also go very slow with coil flat and don't discriminate because you will miss gold and 5 cent pieces if you do. 38 years later I prefer the sand and live on an Island. Parks are very good too where tents have been used. Beachs and baseball fields will produce but go very slow and think tesoro when you want to move up. Check Lost Treasure online's field test and consider relics too. Don't throw away anything until you clean and check with a loop. olive oil and old toothbrushes are handy to use. HH Boris :4leafclover:

PS careful not to scratch old silver and gold coins as it could lower the value. You live in a good area to hunt old farms or gardens?

Papaw55 · Jan 5, 2013

Good advice from all who posted. New to this also. Just got thru detecting old house site I found on archeologist map (online) and found a lot of scrap, axe head ect.. No coins, so don't get disgruntled when this happens. Patience patience, that is the key... Oh, warning...it's addictive. Good luck

kayden · Jan 5, 2013

My advice would be ...Read 10 threads a day ...say 10 hail Mary's & get ready to spend money on new equipment every year....Do this & Im sure you will be one of us in no time!

TerryC · Jan 6, 2013

kayden said:
My advice would be ...Read 10 threads a day ...say 10 hail Mary's & get ready to spend money on new equipment every year....Do this & Im sure you will be one of us in no time!

Hey Kayden... I can see where prayer would help.... reading threads.... and buying LOTS of equipment would make him one of us. But....how will doing this stuff help him find things?? ( tisk tisk). Just pulling your leg, Kayden. My short piece of advice will just be.... look WHEREVER PEOPLE GATHER/GATHERED. That will cover most of it. TTC

TerryC · Jan 6, 2013

BountyHunter76 said:
Thanks storm, i'm hoping to get some interesting old finds that will pay for the hobby.

Yes, very possible it can pay for the hobby... and it often does(!).... but like the medical ads say, " These results should not be expected in all cases". TTC

Rawhide · Jan 6, 2013

Papaw55 said:
Good advice from all who posted. New to this also. Just got thru detecting old house site I found on archeologist map (online) and found a lot of scrap, axe head ect.. No coins, so don't get disgruntled when this happens. Patience patience, that is the key... Oh, warning...it's addictive. Good luck

Now thats irony.

63bkpkr · Jan 6, 2013

BountyHunter76,

You've been given the word about the detector and where ever people congregate but I would ask you why do people congregate? You've been given some of those as well but in more general terms think of what things cause people to congregate: picnics/parties, shade(trees, the older bigger the tree more shade and longer being there), sunshine(open places for playing sports), water (fishing, swimming and where to enter the water and where to change clothing), fixed trails, the best place to get away from the rain, the best snow covered hill to go down on a sled and any other natural thing for quite a few humans to do frequently.

Continue to learn your machine, the better you know it the better you will be with it and the more likely you will be to find truly good finds. A note here: the moment the detector sounds off you know there is something down there, now you need to locate it exactly. I started by using a brass probe (brass is soft and is less likely to scratch a coin). To be effective with the probe one must be good at pinpointing the target using the detector then one needs to know where the center of the target location is. If your coil is hollow in the center then once the machine is centered to the target you can simply stick a pointed stick through the coil hole into the ground. With a solid coil I would hold the stick over the center of the coil, move the coil over and go down with the stick. This gave me a better chance of hitting/locating the target with the probe. Electronic probes work very well and save sooooo much locating time, I've been told that even the harbor freight unit is worth having.

Best of success with the new hobby...........63bkpkr