Night detecting

[mercury1]

Hi all. Driving by my local park today I see they are having some kind of event there. Tents set up and lots of people hopefully losing stuff. I'm getting off work at ten tonight and I'm going to see if I can find anything over there. I've got a headlamp to use. Anyone else do this type of hunting? Seems like the headlamp should make it doable.

 

[Old Dude]

The mister bought us headlamps at Costco and I love mine. I'm thinking this Summer it might be nice to go hunt in the early evening when its cooler and if we get caught by darkness no problem.

That's awesome, CG. Now you can see the bears stalking you, lol.

 

[BC1969]

I've been night hunting since I started out, multitudes of reasons, nobody asking if I found anything good, don't mind, but still distracting.
Plus for some reason my detector always seems to work better in the dark, who knows maybe interference from the sun. Most importantly I suffer from severe paranoia, so less feelings of being watched, no light needed, though I modified a pair of my headphones to make it only cover one ear, always a good idea to be able to hear if somebody is approaching.

Mike

 

[dirtdigginfool]

I have hit plenty of places after festivals etc. As for me I wouldn't bother to go out at night for the few coins they will lose. I hunted a place that had a carnival with sideshows and probably 50 vendors with tents etc. The event lasted 5 days and I hunted the area which is about 5 acres within hours of the last trailer leaving. I found a total of $8.60 and I found $3.50 of it next to swing set that is probably 40 years old.

I am all for cherry picking but prefer a rarely hunted park or some other place that is rarely hunted. My new favorite place have been soccer fields.

Ahh..the soccer field..Normsel you have the right idea, but here we have a county-wide ban on metal detecting in city parks...so our coin-laden soccer/baseball fields go untouched. BUT...I have an interesting story about that. Recently I get a call from a frantic friend.."do you have your detector with you!?" ...duhh of course-never leave home without it, why, I ask. Well, my friend's soccer coach lost a platinum and gold wedding ring while practicing with the team, and even though BOTH teams looked for it..alas, no ring. I show up 20 minutes before dark and looked until 20 minutes after dark..no luck. The amount of coins in the ground was staggering!! Every swing was blip blip zip zip zip... Please note that no digging was done as I was basically looking for a surface find. So I collect the coach's contact information and promise him I will be out there first thing in the morning, even though I did sense his disappointment for leaving without it. O-by the way, I have full rights to detect the field from the parks director to find this ring, so look out! While detecting the first night, the amount of targets in the ground was simply AMAZING..years and tears of people dropping stuff and with the ban in effect, it just piled up. I explain to parks director that some of these signals have to be "eliminated"...tee hee..to locate our primary target. So now, armed with a belly full of Tim Hortons Dark Roast, I hit the fields with vengeance and with full permission of the parks director. I got so bored digging dimes and nickel signals that I stuck to solid 84-85 hits and dug over ten dollars worth of quarters in 40 minutes..all the while looking for the ring and/or any other hidden jewelry. An hour in, a Parks and Recreation truck pulls up, I explain and they're like: cool man good luck!..30 minutes later another truck rolls up, a fellow walks up and informs me of the detecting ban in city parks,nicely i might add..and man it was SO COOL to toss his boss's name out there! so good luck again.. I initially, intentionally avoided the primary area so I could enjoy some fruitful hunting, but after a couple hours, my pouch was so heavy from change that I had to tighten the strap to keep it from falling down! So I eventually wander to the field the ring was lost in, and BOOM! there it is in all it's glory, somehow it ended up twenty feet out past the goaltender's box, when they informed me that it initially flew back BEHIND the goal. A beautiful gold and platinum wedding band...very nice, very expensive ring. I make contact with the owner, who lives an hour away and he is ecstatic!!..and leaving work immediately to meet us. I had found a cheap tin kid's toe ring in the field and almost presented it to him as a joke, but I thought better of it, I didn't want to break his heart,,,especially after he hands us 3 Max n Erma gift cards!! woot woot! A win/win day for everybody! and had a great time hunting,..now to see if I can get full park rights after my good deed...thx for looking...ddf

 

[Tom_in_CA]

dirt-diggin-fool: I know a fellow, similar to your story, who answered a lost-ring ad on craigslist. HOWEVER, turns out the ring was on a stretch of federal beach here that ..... if rumor is to believed, dis-allows detecting. So at first he struggled with how he was going to go about it. Ie.: does he alert someone ahead of time for "permission" to look for the ring? Or just go? etc....

He decided just to go look. He printed out the lost ad, and the email exchanges, and figured that would be "good enough" if any busy-bodies questioned him. And just like you, he made a WIDE berth of the area where he was told the ring most likely was (ie.: the beach blanket spot, or the place they were playing ball, etc...). Because, doh, afterall, "maybe the person was slightly off in their coordinates", eh? Or "maybe the ring flew with the frolicking motion for some distance away", eh? In other words, he took his sweet time looking for the ring. And yes, found lots of other targets too.

Oddly, the whole time, despite being there in broad-daylight, with nothing to hide, no one ever said a thing to him. He was totally ignored, never got "carded", etc..

So do tell: in your case of a supposedly off-limits park there, were you questioned during your search, such that you needed to "cite" your permission ?

 

[dirtdigginfool]

dirt-diggin-fool: I know a fellow, similar to your story, who answered a lost-ring ad on craigslist. HOWEVER, turns out the ring was on a stretch of federal beach here that ..... if rumor is to believed, dis-allows detecting. So at first he struggled with how he was going to go about it. Ie.: does he alert someone ahead of time for "permission" to look for the ring? Or just go? etc....

He decided just to go look. He printed out the lost ad, and the email exchanges, and figured that would be "good enough" if any busy-bodies questioned him. And just like you, he made a WIDE berth of the area where he was told the ring most likely was (ie.: the beach blanket spot, or the place they were playing ball, etc...). Because, doh, afterall, "maybe the person was slightly off in their coordinates", eh? Or "maybe the ring flew with the frolicking motion for some distance away", eh? In other words, he took his sweet time looking for the ring. And yes, found lots of other targets too.

Oddly, the whole time, despite being there in broad-daylight, with nothing to hide, no one ever said a thing to him. He was totally ignored, never got "carded", etc..

So do tell: in your case of a supposedly off-limits park there, were you questioned during your search, such that you needed to "cite" your permission ?

Tom, oh yes, the first group of park workers I approached, informing them of my intentions, and all was ok.."good luck!" they said, but the second city truck arrived and the employee made a bee-line to me, informing me of the parks ban, and it was then that I explained the situation and that I had permission from his boss, which I named. He said "great-good luck! as long as you have permission" . He did VERY NICELY asked me not to leave holes or "divots" for the young kids to trip or fall over, as to which I explained the "plug" method and no holes would be left, or exposed. I am currently in the process of trying to get full hunting rights to this park, as it contains about a dozen or so soccer fields, along with a lot of parking area. I am really hoping to gain access and show these people that not only am I NOT damaging or defacing the property, I am toting out a large amount of trash: cans, sharp objects etc..thx for asking, hope it was of some help...ddf

 

[DDancer]

I enjoy a stroll in the dark from time to time. Its about as productive as a day hunt and I've always figured if others could get over the "creep" factor I might enjoy a bit of company. Much of my work is in the night shift so when I get the urge its hard to not go swinging.
My best times at night were not coin shooting but prospecting. Full moons were the best but its such a reward to pop a gold nugget at night

 

[Hot zone]

If you must use a light it should be red... Doesn't carry far or destroy night vision!and keep it pointed at the ground...

 

[Hot zone]

It occurred to me that setting up a telescope before dark, sure to be noticed by busy bodies, would be a great cover for night tecting...it explains the use of red light... Anyone approaching with a white light, holler, "kill the light man, we are star gazing!" Meanwhile you search that otherwise undetectable ground... If caught, you just lost something and it was hard to find in the dark, and then you remembered the detector was in the trunk...

 

[CladGrabber]

My local park is always very busy during daylight hours. I have caught it a few times early morning I was able to hunt with very good results. I've been considering night hunting but dunno how you guys find anything in the plug in the dark? LoL

 

[Alchemist]

Ahh..the soccer field..Normsel you have the right idea, but here we have a county-wide ban on metal detecting in city parks...so our coin-laden soccer/baseball fields go untouched. BUT...I have an interesting story about that. Recently I get a call from a frantic friend.."do you have your detector with you!?" ...duhh of course-never leave home without it, why, I ask. Well, my friend's soccer coach lost a platinum and gold wedding ring while practicing with the team, and even though BOTH teams looked for it..alas, no ring. I show up 20 minutes before dark and looked until 20 minutes after dark..no luck. The amount of coins in the ground was staggering!! Every swing was blip blip zip zip zip... Please note that no digging was done as I was basically looking for a surface find. So I collect the coach's contact information and promise him I will be out there first thing in the morning, even though I did sense his disappointment for leaving without it. O-by the way, I have full rights to detect the field from the parks director to find this ring, so look out! While detecting the first night, the amount of targets in the ground was simply AMAZING..years and tears of people dropping stuff and with the ban in effect, it just piled up. I explain to parks director that some of these signals have to be "eliminated"...tee hee..to locate our primary target. So now, armed with a belly full of Tim Hortons Dark Roast, I hit the fields with vengeance and with full permission of the parks director. I got so bored digging dimes and nickel signals that I stuck to solid 84-85 hits and dug over ten dollars worth of quarters in 40 minutes..all the while looking for the ring and/or any other hidden jewelry. An hour in, a Parks and Recreation truck pulls up, I explain and they're like: cool man good luck!..30 minutes later another truck rolls up, a fellow walks up and informs me of the detecting ban in city parks,nicely i might add..and man it was SO COOL to toss his boss's name out there! so good luck again.. I initially, intentionally avoided the primary area so I could enjoy some fruitful hunting, but after a couple hours, my pouch was so heavy from change that I had to tighten the strap to keep it from falling down! So I eventually wander to the field the ring was lost in, and BOOM! there it is in all it's glory, somehow it ended up twenty feet out past the goaltender's box, when they informed me that it initially flew back BEHIND the goal. A beautiful gold and platinum wedding band...very nice, very expensive ring. I make contact with the owner, who lives an hour away and he is ecstatic!!..and leaving work immediately to meet us. I had found a cheap tin kid's toe ring in the field and almost presented it to him as a joke, but I thought better of it, I didn't want to break his heart,,,especially after he hands us 3 Max n Erma gift cards!! woot woot! A win/win day for everybody! and had a great time hunting,..now to see if I can get full park rights after my good deed...thx for looking...ddf

Aw, dude, great story!