question on detecting methods

[rust in peace]

If you went to your local spot of choice, whether it be beach, field, park etc., do you try to cover each area just once, or if you find something good, do you go over and over that area many times from different directions, with different coils etc? Which method do you find to be more profitable as far as how much you find? I generally try to just go over each area once figuring that I probably didnt miss too much and that my odds are better by moving on to other areas that I haven't searched yet. Maybe this is a bad idea??

 

[Sandman]

Basically to each his own method of what is fun. Some guys find it boring to grid off an area an hunt that way and other enjoy swinging the coil like a grass whip till they hear a beep. I even seen one guy at a beach dragging the coil behind him as he walked and when he got a beep, he'd stop and check it out. If his machine didn't say coin, he walked on. A lot depends on how you approach the hobby. For me I don't think about making a profit out of it and just want to have some fun, though it wasn't like that when I first started many years ago when the detectors were first used for the hobby. My main fun comes from learning the new detectors operations. Different tools for different jobs.

 

[sniffer]

it all depends on the area I'm searching, if it's an old area with not much people traffic, I dig everything, if it's a heavily used area, I'm more selective when it comes to pull tabs/nickles.
it's up to you and what you want to get from this hobby

Sniffer

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

When I'm hunting high dollar hotels and condos at the beach, many times I will grid the area if I find several targets right away.

Real hard to grid when you waist deep in the water, we usually hunt the "people lines" then.

I also usually use 15 inch DD coils or larger when I hunt which makes it easier to cover wide area................

 

[rust in peace]

It's possible that I gave the wrong impression with my post by saying "profitable". I haven't sold anything I've found and certainly don't ever care or expect to make money at this hobby. Still, everyone likes to find the good stuff and I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do that. Learning other peoples successful hunting methods is always a good idea in my opinion. Suppose you are at a 5 acre park and you find an old indian head penny. Would you continue on to other spots figuring odds are you haven't missed much and you have another 4.99 acres to detect or would you run a grid the other direction in this same area, possibly trying other coils and other types of detectors?

 

[MEinWV]

I have never considered any place I have swung a detector to be "hunted out". I have found goodies in spots I have already covered more than once, and wonder how I could have missed it.

More of my focus now, when returning to spots I hunt is to work the fringe areas and tight places and brushy spots. I do better in those areas because they have not seen the same pressure as the obvious grounds around them.

And, I have also found over time that covering a large area quickly just isn't productive. Going slow in the puckerbrush can give you some rewards for time spent. Back years ago I could go out and find a good amount of "nice" coins. These days I am happy to find one silver coin for a days worth of hunting. But you know, it is no less fun for me now than it was back then. It is still the "thrill of the hunt".

I don't do any of that coil swapping stuff , but you should use them if you have them and maybe find a combination that works best for that spot.

Good luck! HH

 

[troutpw]

my wife and i hunt in a straight line one behind the other figuring we have a different swing. then after about 30 feet we turn and walk the same line back that way we hit it twice double and we usually get a new signal on the double back

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

Everyone has his/her own method of searching a site.

I have found that in most local parks, the areas that get hit the most is the tot lots. The other areas are bypassed. This was determined by finding nothing in the tot lot ( someone beat me to the tot lot) and finding numerous coins in other areas, such as grass parking areas, around picnic tables or on the flat grassy areas in the near by vicinity.

At the beach, a lot of folks will look for the towel line and hunt there. The towel line or the beach chair line can be very productive, but a lot of people spend their time on other areas of the beach. I depends on how much time you want to spend searching.

We all know that to find the good stuff, keep your discrimination low and dig everything, but in the real world that does not happen often.

HH

Ray S

 

[Gary66]

Hmm

If I'm in a spot and it doesn't have pressure from other detectorists and I pick up a good coin...I first run over it kinda quick and remove every bit of trash I can dig. Then I go back..hitting it slow and cover every bit from different angles. Depending on how big it is...may be an ongoing thing that I do between trips to the tot lots.

If I believe that I'm on a one time permission spot I try and dig only hits that I can judge to be deeper...now I know I'm missing things like this cause I've found large cents sitting on top of the ground that have been clipped with the lawn mower but I'll play the odds and just dig the deeper signals.

I can't offer any advice on beaches....only that I couldn't stand it....Feels to me like a land war in china....it never ends

HH

 

[Tank69]

I close my eyes an let the force an the beeps giude me

 

[Cherokee]

I took up MDing as a hobby. I enjoy being outdoors and cannot sit still for long in a chair while at a park, beach area, etc.. I usually spend only up to about 2 hrs at a time when MDing and I have always found coins - all new in age, though. I usually will dig up anything that I get a reading of 22 or higher. I then use the pinpoint function on the target (I have a Fisher Edge II). I may start digging all reads since gold is in the lower numbered readings. The pinpoint function has been very accurate for me on my finds. The excitement for me is sort of like winning the New York Lottery, "Hey, you never know".