Off-season detecting

[Brackish]

I went to the most popular beach in my area today. It was about 40 with 30mph winds. I figured nobody would be there and I'd have the place to myself.
I had the place to myself.. but there was almost nothing on the entire beach. It struck me as odd - I covered the entire beach (no shallows/water) and found two pennies, 3/4 of a can of A&W (god that stank), 2 beer bottle caps, and a few scraps of iron.

Does off season beach detecting have lower chances of hits than during the summer? The only thing that I can think of is that other detectorists came in before me, so I guess maybe it's cleared out by the time off season rolls around? I wasn't aware that there were any other detectorists in my area, though, so I'm not sure.

 

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[txkickergirl]

off seasons means no one is there to replinish it for you; however at certain times the sand shifts and brings up items that may have been covered for many years. Try hitting it after a northeastner blows through.

 

[Sandman]

Txkickergirl is right. During the off season the beaches are hard hit by about anyone wanting a easy hunt. Some arrive with Tesoro's with the Clean Sweep coils and clean up on the shallow stuff down to about seven inches. It is hard to find much while following behind one of these hunters. However deep stuff is still there and you just need to over lap enough to nail it. Remember if you are using a concentric coil the field at the bottom is only about two inches round. That is a lot of over lapping and keeping the coil level.

 

[Seajay]

Hey Brackish,

Another thought as well. Since there are alot of beachfront property/condos down here in NC, state and county officials will make certain that there is enough sand in place on the beach to support dunes, sea oats, tourists, etc. Consequently, after a storm, there will be dredging operations headed up by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers or private firm working to replace sand washed away during a storm. That sand comes from off shore and often holds valuables/artifacts that you can recover.

Seajay

 

[Brackish]

Txkickergirl is right. During the off season the beaches are hard hit by about anyone wanting a easy hunt. Some arrive with Tesoro's with the Clean Sweep coils and clean up on the shallow stuff down to about seven inches. It is hard to find much while following behind one of these hunters. However deep stuff is still there and you just need to over lap enough to nail it. Remember if you are using a concentric coil the field at the bottom is only about two inches round. That is a lot of over lapping and keeping the coil level.

Yeah, almost everything I found was either right at the top or several inches down (the can was about a foot and a half down).
I'm pretty sure I overlapped relatively well. I did three steps over when I reached the water and 3 steps when I reached a marker (I think I used the trash cans near the picnic tables, about 2/3 of the way to the road, right where people would be sitting around). I think somebody must've been there the day before or so. I also wondered if they had some sort of sifter that they ran through to get the trash out, but there didn't seem to be any evidence of that.

I didn't think about the replenishing of sand with things in it. I don't think they do that around here (we're small time and relatively unimportant), but I'm sure they do in Ocean City. I think I'll wait for summer for that though. Who can resist hundreds of women in bikinis?

I guess I should get used to it being a spectator sport though- there were people that stopped in the road and watched me for hours. It kinda made me nervous, but I just convinced myself they were checkin' me out

I do enjoy this hobby, I'm glad I started.

 

[Seajay]

Brackish,

I have been a coint hunter for years and thoroughly enjoy it. Occasionally, I would hit the local beaches and at times was rewarded with a ring; like once every few years. Earlier this summer I began to venture out into the surf about thigh deep max. It is hard work, but rewarding. I found my first ring in the surf in June and I was hooked! The water temp has cooled quite a bit in the past two weeks and I think my surf days are on hold until next May. So, I will coin hunt in the meantime, but my heart is in this shallow water hunting facet of TH'ing!
Since you are a new member, I thought you might get a kick out of an earlier posting. Several people contributed to this and it is funny! Water hunting humor.

Tired of those pesky people when your water hunting? My Shirt.
Posted Jun 28, 2008, 05:10:55 PM

Seajay

 

[TheSleeper]

Not knowing which machine you use but one statement stood out:
"I covered the entire beach"
Now i don`t know how large a beach this was but to me it sounded like you skimmed it, skimming is speed hunting, great for summer fresh drop hunting, but late season or off season hunting is time to drop down into granny gear and hunt for those faint deep targets.
I have spent an entire week working one beach of less then 100 yards long.
You can work one small section of a beach, come back the next day and hear a target you missed the day before.

 

[Brackish]

Not knowing which machine you use but one statement stood out:
"I covered the entire beach"
Now i don`t know how large a beach this was but to me it sounded like you skimmed it, skimming is speed hunting, great for summer fresh drop hunting, but late season or off season hunting is time to drop down into granny gear and hunt for those faint deep targets.
I have spent an entire week working one beach of less then 100 yards long.
You can work one small section of a beach, come back the next day and hear a target you missed the day before.

It was a relatively small beach. I guess the 'entire beach' is misleading, though. I did the boat ramp and the netted-in part (jellyfish) There were two other pieces of beach, one near the camp ground and one that runs along the road. The total area was probably less than 150 yards (including what I did not cover). As for an idea about the speed I was going at, when at a normal walking pace it would take about 15 seconds to get to the water, it normally took me about a minute and a half. That might be fast, not sure how fast you guys do it.

I think I might try another beach here this week if it doesn't rain. It was the early or mid century equivalent to Coney Island for Maryland.

Also, I use the Tesoro Silver Umax.

 

[TheSleeper]

I think I might try another beach here this week if it doesn't rain. It was the early or mid century equivalent to Coney Island for Maryland.

New Bay Shore?? I thought that was a sludge dumping station now??

 

[Brackish]

I think I might try another beach here this week if it doesn't rain. It was the early or mid century equivalent to Coney Island for Maryland.

New Bay Shore?? I thought that was a sludge dumping station now??

Chesapeake Beach.
http://www.chesapeake-beach.md.us/ourtown_history.htm

It used to have a long pier with rides and all that good stuff. In the pictures there you can see a huge roller coaster built in 1900. Also, that picture in the middle is a hotel.. it's HUGE. It must've really been something in it's day. Not as built up as most people think of Coney, but it was pretty major.

None of that exists anymore and some of it has been turned into private beaches. A good thing, though, is that not many people know about the history of it.


Oh, and if any of you guys like old photos, http://www.calvert.lib.md.us/history/
Although some are labeled incorrectly (beach name.. some north/chesapeake beach mix ups).

 

[TheSleeper]

Ahh ok, i have heard Ches beach is on a comeback, hope so.
I have a list of 20-30 old resorts/beaches around the balt/wash area i plan to be working early next year. Travel up there hit one beach, camp, either hit it again or travel to the next so forth and so on.
That area was littered with resorts/beaches back in the 1800-early to mid 1900`s.
I`ll be mainly working in the water on most of them as i fiquire the beach`s have been hit hard over the years.

 

[Brackish]

Ahh ok, i have heard Ches beach is on a comeback, hope so.
I have a list of 20-30 old resorts/beaches around the balt/wash area i plan to be working early next year. Travel up there hit one beach, camp, either hit it again or travel to the next so forth and so on.
That area was littered with resorts/beaches back in the 1800-early to mid 1900`s.
I`ll be mainly working in the water on most of them as i fiquire the beach`s have been hit hard over the years.

Yeah. C.B is kind of odd- it's a mix of old run-down shops and newly built condos. I actually thought it had all been turned to private until I stumbled upon it.
The only real beach desination in Maryland left is Ocean City (developed right after all the other resorts suddenly died). It kind of sucks, though, because it's illegal to MD in any Maryland parks, except for on the beach.
I didn't get to go out because it rained like a monster, plus I had to go get a coat and ended up going to the movies.

By the way, if you're into pirate treasure.. they spectulate that one of the places Blackbeard buried his treasure is along the Virginia Chesapeake Bay shore.

 

[TheSleeper]

By the way, if you're into pirate treasure.. they spectulate that one of the places Blackbeard buried his treasure is along the Virginia Chesapeake Bay shore.

Well not only blackbeard, but also kidd and also severial other lessor known local pirates. But realistically the chances of hitting on one of there caches is more hopefull then realistic.

 

[Brackish]

By the way, if you're into pirate treasure.. they spectulate that one of the places Blackbeard buried his treasure is along the Virginia Chesapeake Bay shore.

Well not only blackbeard, but also kidd and also severial other lessor known local pirates. But realistically the chances of hitting on one of there caches is more hopefull then realistic.

Kind of off topic, but I doubt pirate treasure exists anyway. Pirates weren't interested in stashing their loot and coming back to get it later. They lived for the moment. The lifespan back then wasn't that long, and it was even less for a pirate. It wouldn't make sense for them to bury their loot. I wouldn't doubt a few buried pirate caches, though.