Sand

[bigscoop]

It's interesting when I look back to my time in Indiana, those endless thoughts of coming to Florida and hunting its famed beaches. Man, I could hardly wait to get at it. In all of my planning I thought I had covered everything, even going as far as researching the targeted area's history and plotting out my hunting efforts accordingly. I was really dialed in and prepared, extremely focused and motivated and inspired. However, the one thing, and perhaps the most important thing, I had failed to factor in, and that was the sand.
Now that I've been down here a while would I be wrong in saying that the sand is, perhaps, the most controlling factor of it all? Miles upon miles and endless feet of constantly moving sand. Would I be wrong to suggest that every Florida hunter needs to be a student of the sand? I only bring this up due to the significant increase in metal detectors on the beach this past Holiday season, many of them from out of state, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, and even Kansas. What an entirely different world it is down here, the beaches covered up with several inches of fresh new sand. I couldn't help but to wonder if these out of state hunters were even aware of the real challenge before them? It was a good day for a few moments of closely related reflection, to be sure.

 

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[Mainelypulltab]

I have not detected out of state, to the best of my knowledge anyway. If I were to detect a beach in a different area, heck even the ones I do get to from time to time, I ask for advise. I would think a major factor would be the sand. I have limited experience beach detecting and detecting in general but how to read a beach is an art all by itself. In my humble opinion of course.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I would say you are spot-on that the sand is the controlling factor. It's constantly in flux. A few inches wouldn't matter much, but it can move feet and most probably would even notice it. Most of the out-of-towners probably don't know how to read the beach.

 

[SeabeeRon]

Good point bigscoop! At first all that open sand can look inviting and then it can become intimidating. Folks new to the beach have visions of rings and jewelry just there for the picking. A good knowledge of the beaches you hunt, the tides, the currents are a must! We have similar issues out here on the West Coast. Happy New Year and Happy Hunting!

 

[bigscoop]

Originally being from the mid-west, I can tell you that you are constantly subjected to the endless articles and post containing goodies from Florida's beaches. It's only natural that that Florida beaches appear to be the place to hunt, beaches with vast amounts of traffic and endless streams of people, the odds seem so much better. However, after moving here, I can tell you that on more then one occasion I said to myself, "Man, all these people and I was hitting more targets back home on my little lake beaches. What gives?" Sure, the beaches were being heavily hunted, but so where the beaches back home, so why was the hunting so much slower here then back home? It made no sense. None at all. And now, after a couple of years of constant hunting on these beaches, it all makes perfect sense. Yes, a lot of fantastic finds are made here, but it's not quite as easy to come across them as it may seem to those who are not familiar with the sea and sand environment. There is quite a learning curve to be undertaken. At least there was for me.

 

[Jason in Enid]

You have to find the spots where the "flow sand" has been moved out, and there are rocks/shells mixed with the sand. If the sand is soft, the targets are deep.

 

[Terry Soloman]

It's interesting when I look back to my time in Indiana, those endless thoughts of coming to Florida and hunting its famed beaches. Man, I could hardly wait to get at it. In all of my planning I thought I had covered everything, even going as far as researching the targeted area's history and plotting out my hunting efforts accordingly. I was really dialed in and prepared, extremely focused and motivated and inspired. However, the one thing, and perhaps the most important thing, I had failed to factor in, and that was the sand.
Now that I've been down here a while would I be wrong in saying that the sand is, perhaps, the most controlling factor of it all? Miles upon miles and endless feet of constantly moving sand. Would I be wrong to suggest that every Florida hunter needs to be a student of the sand? I only bring this up due to the significant increase in metal detectors on the beach this past Holiday season, many of them from out of state, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, and even Kansas. What an entirely different world it is down here, the beaches covered up with several inches of fresh new sand. I couldn't help but to wonder if these out of state hunters were even aware of the real challenge before them? It was a good day for a few moments of closely related reflection, to be sure.

Great post. Like anything else, experience on the beach is the best teacher. Spending an hour with an experienced beach detector who knows what they are talking about and has hunted the beach you are on, will teach you more about reading a beach than you can learn in weeks of reading books and looking at pictures. Every metal detecting discipline has its secrets and tricks - beach detecting, gold nugget hunting, coinshooting, relic hunting. Time on the headphones and holes dug is the only way to, "Meet the Challenge!"

 

[dewcon4414]

The first thing most learn is ..... my detector falses on the wet sand. Some dont even know people hunt in the water.... ive met a few. Sand is a huge problem for us.... one of the few since we dont have nearly the mineral problems. Maybe its just a learning curve for us Indiana guys..... but you are right i feel like im trying to catch up. Right now like Terry said .... its about spending time out there digging targets.

Dew

 

[bill from lachine]

bigscoop,

I've only beach detected a couple of times so don't really know squat about it....but that said I do follow detectorists that beach hunt and are very successful at it....There's a group of guys from RSA (South Africa) who frequent the International
Forum......whom I've been following for 10 or 12 years..

And they always rub their hands together when they get a good storm....hoping for beach cuts or layers of sand to be washed away to get at the deeper finds.

Also to help with the off season cabin fever.....I've ordered Gary's latest book....who says you can't teach an old dog
new tricks....lol.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[OBN]

Bigscoop
I couldn't help but to wonder if these out of state hunters were even aware of the real challenge before them?

No challenge because we have your New book of secrets.....

 

[bigscoop]

No challenge because we have your New book of secrets.....

It talks about this very transition, going from generalized beach hunter to sand student. I couldn't cover a lot due to space limitations but it covers the basics and a bit more. Not a detailed "reading the beach" book, but just a basic starter package from someone who actually had to endure the learning curve.

 

[dewcon4414]

So bigscoop.... you write books as well? I had no idea.... cool

Dew

 

[bigscoop]

So bigscoop.... you write books as well? I had no idea.... cool

Dew

Dew, my friend, that is a subject for an entirely different thread, and something I have been considering sharing for those who have dreams and passions and doubts. But for now, let's just say, yes, today I dabble at writing my own little publications, mostly just from the passion of writing and sharing life's little experiences. No big expectations, just for personal enjoyment.

 

[hamiddetecting]

The problem is sand so there is the solution

 

[Crispin]

I grew up in Virginia Beach. My family lived less then half a mile from the Lynnhaven River. After school I was always scouring the waterfront. Not inhabitated waterfront, march through the woods, break trail onto the sand, and follow the shoreline where it took us. We found a washed up old dingy and we were in heaven. Oars would wash up all the time. Once we got that boat our searches expanded expotentially. Learned how to water ski when I was 10. Started life guarding at the oceanfront when I was 16. I would spend 10 hours a day in a lifeguard stand staring at the water. We learned to spot rip tides by water discoloration so we could keep tourists out of them. Watching the sand and its patterns was like learning a language when younger. The gulf coast is different then the atlantic but not tremendously. I think that is one of the reasons I got addicted to metal detecting so fast. I picked up a few tips on TNet and was finding things in no time. The beach is a living organism.

 

[chuckie]

Originally being from the mid-west, I can tell you that you are constantly subjected to the endless articles and post containing goodies from Florida's beaches. It's only natural that that Florida beaches appear to be the place to hunt, beaches with vast amounts of traffic and endless streams of people, the odds seem so much better. However, after moving here, I can tell you that on more then one occasion I said to myself, "Man, all these people and I was hitting more targets back home on my little lake beaches. What gives?" Sure, the beaches were being heavily hunted, but so where the beaches back home, so why was the hunting so much slower here then back home? It made no sense. None at all. And now, after a couple of years of constant hunting on these beaches, it all makes perfect sense. Yes, a lot of fantastic finds are made here, but it's not quite as easy to come across them as it may seem to those who are not familiar with the sea and sand environment. There is quite a learning curve to be undertaken. At least there was for me.

bigscoop I hear you on the difficulty of successful beach hunting. When you think that you'll never find anything, just realize that 1) you're getting excercize; and, most importantly, you're at the beach - one of the greatest places on earth to be. Even days when I'm skunked (one day last summer I found no jewelry and $0.12) but I was happy that I got to spend a few hours by the water.

Good luck, you'll beat the sand!

 

[bill from lachine]

Hamid,

LOL...now you have me confused....not very difficult I might add.

How do you read the sand when hunting at a new beach

Regards + HH

Bill

The problem is sand so there is the solution

 

[bigscoop]

Chuckie,

I hear you on the beach thing.....a bad day at the beach is better then, well, most anything else.

 

[bigscoop]

Crispin,

Today I tell people that the beach has its own life cycle. The tides, the currents, the sand swirls and crawls in and around its environment like a feather in the wind, each tiny grain of sand marching to the rhythm of the sea.

 

[seeker41]

well, as often as we talk and i did not realize our storys were so similar..... replace Indiana with Ohio and my story is exactly the same as yours! detecting in Ohio lakes was a dream/easy compared to east coast Florida hunting!!!! here in east coast Florida we have to fight the waves , hope for a storm, get to a ring before it sinks out of range of our detectors, search and hope for firm supportive sand etc"

i hunted hard last year and during peak hours with tourist packed beaches but walked away thinking how could there be that many people on the beach and still not really find anything!!!!!(the mumbles as max calls it) my normal hunt was a dollar in clad, a couple junk ear rings, and some sunglasses. then, later in the summer i was lucky to find anything other than a penny.

i'm glad i moved here for a lot of different reasons, its probably about 18 degrees right now in Ohio with 8 inches of snow on the ground.

if you are a water detectorist and dream of living in Florida and detecting the east coast i will tell you now, its nothing like you might imagine it to be! gulf coast is much more like detecting a lake in Ohio or Indiana but once again a ring lost falls into sand and if the sand is not supportive the ring may be out of range of the detector in a matter of minutes.

chuck