What Is The Recipe For a Trash-Riddled Beach?

Lifes A Garden...Dig IT · Aug 28, 2011

How goes it fellow TH'ers? I have this puzzling question about a particular beach. For instance, Treasure Island Beach on the gulf coast of Florida is a wonderful beach, but for us treasure hunters it seems to have 10 times more old and new style pull tabs and bottle caps than any other beach I've ever hunted? :help:

Now, this is not just on one occasion that I speak of as me and my wife have hunted this beach repeatedly and did our fair share of picking up hundreds of the damn pull tabs and bottle caps. The thing that puzzles me is that no other area beaches have this exact kind of beach litter or at this magnitude I should say as Treasure Island does. It is the widest of the Pinellas County beaches as well and it seems to have a different variety of dirt like textured sands mixed with very light gravel in the upper broad part of the beach which I wonder where does this sand/dirt-like mixture get pumped from and could that be a factor as why all the oddly familiar small beach litter (old & new pull tabs, bottle caps) is so prominent here? :dontknow:

Not a biggy but somewhat puzzled why this beach vs so many others we've hunted. There's gotta be a reason. Any suggestions or info would be interesting.

Sandman · Aug 28, 2011

Since you have many pull tabs at that beach I would say there can't be much hunting going on there or the hunters are tossing all the trash back on the sand with no thought of them finding them again. Or the hunters are these silly ones that use so much disc to block out those pull tabs and gold rings. :icon_scratch:

diggummup · Aug 28, 2011

We have a beach over here like that (Dania Beach). I think this one is like that because of the "type" of crowd that hangs out at this particular beach and the particular law enforcement (or lack thereof) that goes on there. I've found full beers and half bottles of liquor before lying on the sand. I've spotted homeless people sleeping on the lifeguard shacks and people passed out or sleeping in their cars at sunrise. The number of beer tabs and bottle caps is overwhelming at this beach. However just north of this beach is a state park, very clean (non-trashy) sand and to the south is Hollywood beach, also pretty clean. I know they only use a chain drag at Dania versus an actual beach cleaner in Hollywood, that may play a part also.

willie d · Aug 28, 2011

Treasure Island was renourished a year ago. That might have something to do with it. :dontknow:

Can Slaw · Aug 28, 2011

My count is 500 pull tabs for one gold. Every time I dig a pull tab I know I am closer to finding a gold. If there are that many pull tabs you do not have anybody hunting in front of you that will find the gold. If they have discriminated out the pull tabs, they have discriminated out the gold.

detectahead · Aug 28, 2011

My wedding band bangs in as a pulltab and one of the largest rings i ever found came in as a tab. I would be out there digging. That is probably what has discouraged others. Go for it!!

ivan salis · Aug 28, 2011

drunk folks are sloppy and lose stuff -- they get drunk and have fights --throwing their wedding rings at one another -- well here you s o b --I'm thru with you -- fling of the ring.-- while trashy it can be productive at times to hunt such places.

Lifes A Garden...Dig IT · Aug 28, 2011

Thanks guys you've turned a frown

upside down

. LOL What appeared to be a persistent aggrevation sounds like it could very well be a positive characterisitic of a gold producing beach. This sum bitch is so wide the dry sand would have to be pounded heavier than Clearwater Beach to even be considered over hunted, as that term never made since to me anyway since people come and people go everyday producing new finds daily not including weather, wind, and surf activity.

:icon_sunny:

Thanks again for keeping the enthusiasm flowing for us even when pull tabs and bottle caps tend to produce some odd nightmares for me and my wife ::)

Bobby & Charlene

diggummup · Aug 28, 2011

Lifes A Garden...Dig IT said:
Thanks guys you've turned a frown upside down . LOL What appeared to be a persistent aggrevation sounds like it could very well be a positive characterisitic of a gold producing beach. This sum bitch is so wide the dry sand would have to be pounded heavier than Clearwater Beach to even be considered over hunted, as that term never made since to me anyway since people come and people go everyday producing new finds daily not including weather, wind, and surf activity.

Thanks again for keeping the enthusiasm flowing for us even when pull tabs and bottle caps tend to produce some odd nightmares for me and my wife

Bobby & Charlene

No matter how trashy a beach, a good long handled scoop is a must. I dig literally hundreds of targets an hour when I detect Dania.

FLauthor · Aug 29, 2011

Ask Pinellas County and see if they run a beach cleaner on that beach. Holmes Beach in Manatee County is sifted every morning removes a lot of the surface junk but suprisingly it doesn't get the coins or rings. I think the fingers that sift the sand gets the junk but leave coins and some tabs behind. Also always fine out where they dump the stuff if possible.
Outside of that, you dig a lot of trash. :coffee2: