so how much competition do we really have?

[Mell0w Sl0w]

it was fun and informative reading all the replies to my OP, thanks to all. Gives me a better picture of what it is like for everyone in their particular areas.

it comes down to this though, for me, even if their are quite a few people detecting in your area, there are just soooo many places to go if you use your imagination, even if lots of them require permission and you get denied more than you get accepted, its still pretty good odds. I drive around all day running a service route for work, and I see old vacant homes and home sites all the time, even if I could secure permission for a fraction of them, that is still quite a lot of hunting. The earth is large and people have been dropping stuff for a very long time......I think, even if we wish there was even less competition than there is, that with a little due diligence and proper planning, the odds are ever in our favor.

good luck everyone

 

[mlayers]

I have seen around 5 others out detecting around my small town. I have met one that love to hunt as much as I do and we get out every weekend right now because I been working 12 hours a day but the weekends is free for me. I know he gets out at least every day for a few hours. We have so many places to detect we will not get to them all this year. So we don't worry about others detecting the same place that we detect. Accept in the summer when we detect the beaches around us. Then we hear there was others that was just here a week or so ago. But still I have found around 20 rings this year. So a site is never hunted out.

 

[dirtscratcher]

I like to stop and talk to anybody I see detecting. One day in Williston I see a guy swinging a detector and stop, so I start walking towards him from about 50 yards and he literally ran to his truck and sped away. That wasn't you was it Keppy?

 

[greatwun]

I went to Daytona beach two Sunday's ago and by 10am there were at least 5 detecting there. Cocoa beach I see one to two in the mornings. I thought there would be many in Orlando but I've been to some local parks with many coins in the ground in the 2"-4" depth range.

 

[Jeff(or)]

I notice when I drive through town, I see guys detecting certain areas over and over. Not a lot of hunters, but one here, one there, etc. I have stopped and talked to a few,and they all seem content on pounding the same old dirt that has been hunted for years and years. I can't do that (I have tried), I look forward to detecting places that have not seen a coil. It's like Christmas when you turn that detector on to search and you know you are the first one there to hunt it. There are thousands upon thousands of these sites all over the US and they are very easy to find. I know a few of my friends across the US hunt the same way I do, and it shows in their finds. So with my style of hunting and where I hunt, I have no competition. I use research to find these places to hunt, but it is not all "just reading". Think about it.

 

[TheHunterGT]

There are literally millions if not billions of coins/rings/relics laying out there for people to find...all within the 6-8 inch range. While I have only seen one other guy detecting near me - I would not care if I saw 10. The simple fact of the matter is that there are so many places to detect and so many objects hidden that nobody will ever run out of places to dig.

Absolutely a certain spot may get hunted to death so that the finds dissipate, but the Earth is a big place and precious items are dropped by the thousands daily. If one place gets stale...move on. People that only hunt certain areas figuring past success will lead to future success are just building their own frustration.

There are so many old farms, parks, swimming holes, dance barns, sports fields, schools, churches, homesteads, private properties, backwoods whatevers that the "all the finds are running out" stuff is just hype or paranoia or whatever you want to call it.

I personally welcome new MDers as I know there is plenty for everybody. A look in the Todays Finds section here on TN or a quick visit to some of the popular Youtube channels is all it takes to see there are amazing finds being found...daily.

 

[wmpwi]

There are literally millions if not billions of coins/rings/relics laying out there for people to find...all within the 6-8 inch range. <snip> Youtube channels is all it takes to see there are amazing finds being found...daily.

Well stated. I know my biggest barrier is my own lack of imagination (cold weather notwithstanding).

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[Keppy]

I like to stop and talk to anybody I see detecting. One day in Williston I see a guy swinging a detector and stop, so I start walking towards him from about 50 yards and he literally ran to his truck and sped away. That wasn't you was it Keppy?

No not me i talk to people if i see them but were i hunt you do not see many people.. Like i said parks & school grounds are not were i hunt..

 

[dirtscratcher]

No not me i talk to people if i see them but were i hunt you do not see many people.. Like i said parks & school grounds are not were i hunt..

I was just playing with you

 

[fmrUSMC_0844]

Im in Salt Lake City and I have seen a bunch of people detecting. It wasnt uncommon for me to knock on a door, and have the homeowner tell me it has been hunted. When I ask what they looked like, I get the same response. So I know there is at least 1 guy out there that is actively hunting a lot. He may be retired, or just jobless. I just wish I would have gotten there first.

Then we have the guys that are in the clubs, and they seem to like to hijack peoples spots when they are on them. For instance, one club member shows up to see said individual detecting a vacant lot. He says good luck and leaves. 30 minutes later, 5 people from the club show up and start hunting next to you. Now I dont mind bringing people along for a hunt, but when they dont return the favor and say things like "I found this in my secret spot" Ill be damned if I am going to take anyone from the clubs to my spots. I got off on a tangent there sorry. And that is why I dont go to club meetings! They are all so clicky its sick.

As for people here detecting? I think there are a lit more of them than I think. I cant so much as find a wheat in the parks. Even the oldest ones out there. And every tot lot and volleyball court are silent on the machine. I cant even get my machine to null out on iron.

 

[goldkey]

Beware of the Ninja Hunters.....you won't see them....or hear them. Some people say they don't exist.
I had the experience of having one sneak up behind me on the beach one day. I thought I was all alone.
All I heard was.......Get out of my way...I'm running a grid pattern! When I turned to reply.....He was gone.
I did see traces of where he had been......dug up beer cans he left by the hole.

 

[George (MN)]

I remember back in the '70s there was a dealer in SLC that was very actively detecting the parks there & was finding 1800's coins like Liberty Seated dimes. I saw Liberty Park on a 1891 map. It looked pretty fancy with those curvy roads through it, I think it has been pretty popular from the start.

I see Detech has a new detector that they say detects a 1" diameter piece of brass to 20" w/9" coil & 24" if you choose the 12" coil. But imagine the penalties for digging that deep on a manicured lawn!

The trouble with parks in larger cities is the parks departments are well-funded. For detectorists, many renovations mean ruination for detecting, like taking off the top 1-2 feet of dirt & taking it elsewhere (a present for archaeologist?), then put on 1-2' of new dirt with no coins in it.

If there are some park areas where this hasn't been done, an occasional old coin might be possible. Same for some new parks that are built where an old house was located. There may be a small area where ground wasn't bulldozed, like around a tree.

Sometimes, a 95% new suburb will have a small park left from small town era. In some places, schoolyards are not as detected, especially near the building. Best wishes, George (MN)