What mistakes have you made while detecting?

[mastereagle22]

How about detecting in 28 degree weather with SLEET coming down hard!!!

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Yeah, I think a lot of us have detected with the Sunray in probe mode. Couldn't figure out why my Explorer kept falsing so much. Had to go back and rescan 1/2 hour worth of area.

I remember my mother always getting on my father about wearing his good clothes when he'd be out working in the garage. Well, I must be following in my fathers footsteps, cause I get to hear it from my wife now when she sees me come home with a collared shirt on and all dirty.

 

[Shortstack]

Putting a toy car full of ants in my pocket!!!!!

Whoooo Hoooo!!!! Bet you didn't do that more than once.

A couple of my mistakes were,
--Searching the surf near Keesler AFB, MS with a new White's Coinmaster, leaned it on my thigh while checking out a find and letting it fall onto the water. It only bounced once, but that let in one stinking drop of water to short the board. And that target wasn't a "keeper" either.

--When I found that big lump of gold with 10 diamonds ( a pendant ) I didn't think to look for the chain. I was so excited that I automatically repaired the plugged grass; then strolled over to show the find to my hunting buddies. When they asked if I'd found the chain I had to say "no". I could not find the original spot so finding the chain was a lost opportunity.

 

[willie d]

Not watching where I knelt down and realizing I was on top of a fire ant hill.

Leaving my dump pouch at home and not realizing it until I was half way to my hunting spot.

 

[Detectingfreak]

Detecting at an old ghost town field and school and finding a target but it always turns out to be inside of an Ant hill!

 

[kane23]

I dug an outhouse in a ghost town, found coins,tokens,bottles,old marbles and a neat old powder flask. When I returned the next time I saw that it was actually a two seater and someone else had dug the other half,who knows what I missed out on? HH Kane 23

 

[txkickergirl]

none of these are in any kind of order since I see others with a similar mistakes its good to know a lot of these are common.

forgetting to charge battery
forgetting digging tool
having brand new detector fry after an hour with no back up and an hour kayak trip back to truck
wearing shoes the detector sounds off on
wearing rings and thinking it was a target
taking waterproof pinpointer in water because its waterproof---note to others they float out of holder and float off

 

[bomber]

trusting

 

[pookie-princess of rust]

hmmm.
cutting myself with my digger
checking the batteries and then putting them back in backwards
having the cord come detached from the unit and noticing it, and thinking i was missing somethng, only to realize i was looking at the wrong side of the machine

 

[MD Dog]

Mistakes, while detecting, me ? Never, not a single one.

Now mistakes while digging recovering handling escaping etc.... That'd be a different thread.

 

[The Hunter]

Wearing steel toe shoes check
forgetting my goodies pouch check
trying to detect in severe rain and wind check
accidentally turning off my detector check
Forgetting replacement batteries check
cutting my hand with my own digger check
scratching the hell of nice find check
wasting ten minutes only to recover a stupid pop can 6 inches deep check
digging enough pull tabs to build a battleship check

Well let's hope they were not in the same day.........

 

[N.J.THer]

Here are a few with some repeats of ones already mentioned...

1. Left the digger home.
2. Left the pinpointer home.
3. Left the digger at the site (I never found it)
4. Left the pinpointer at a site. (found)
5. Broke the headphone plug while placing the detector in my truck.
6. Trying to break a root and covering myself in dirt from the hole when it the root breaks.
7. Not flipping the switch on the Sunray pinpointer back to coil after recovering a target - at least once per hunt.
8. I've worn steel toe shoes before while detecting.
9. Missed opportunities is the one that I get mad at myself about...I see a site I think would be great to hunt then I don't get around to it fast enough and it is lost to a building or pavement.
10. Beach detecting during a wind storm with shorts on....talk about sand blasting.
11. Forgeting to put on sun block or bug spray depending on the hunting.

I guess that is enough for now.

NJ

 

[txkickergirl]

10. Beach detecting during a wind storm with shorts on....talk about sand blasting.
11. Forgeting to put on sun block or bug spray depending on the hunting.

OUCH! OUCH!
I have done number 11 both with sunscreen and bug spray.

 

[pookie-princess of rust]

oh yes... missed opportunities...

 

[tulecanyon]

three dead..someone made a mistake.

Dead Tucson ranch gunman sought 'loot'



Friday, September 26, 2008

TUCSON (AP) -- Investigators are sure that a 26-year-old gunman found dead at a rundown ranch outside Tucson with two older men he is believed to have killed was there looking for "loot," a Pima County sheriff's official said Thursday.

"We're convinced now that the 26-year-old was where he intended to be," said Sheriff's Bureau Chief Rick Kastigar. Detectives found handwritten directions to the ranch and an aerial Internet picture of the location in the gunman's possession, he said.

Also on the dead man's body was a "to-do" list that mentioned going to a location "with the loot and getting cash for it," Kastigar said.

The gunman, who wore a bulletproof vest, had several weapons with him when he was found dead on Monday. They included an assault rifle with several hundred rounds of ammunition, a shotgun and a pistol. Four homemade pipe bombs wrapped with shrapnel were found in his rental vehicle, Kastigar said.

"This guy was honestly armed to the teeth," he said. "He intended to be where he was, and he had anticipated" that he would be encountering someone, the chief said.

Items found in the rented vehicle that the gunman had driven from California while towing a trailer included a rope ladder and a portable winch, he said.

The gunman's identity was not released, but investigators were in his hometown of Fountain Valley, Calif. on Thursday trying to learn more about why the man had come to Arizona, Kastigar said. Fountain Valley is southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County.

"We are dealing with the family of the 26-year-old," he said. "We have a clearer picture now as to what took place."

There was no sign that the gunman was shot, and an autopsy revealed that there was no physical trauma, he added. Authorities are waiting for toxicology results to determine what caused the man's death.

But a rifle found near the body of one of the other two men who had been shot may have been fired, Kastigar said.

A pistol also lay near that man, identified as George McCumber, 60, a night watchman at the ranch. There was no indication that the third man, identified as ranch owner William Blankinship, 72, had any weapons, Kastigar said.

But detectives remained stumped over what the gunman may have been looking for.

"That's the puzzle, because knowing the two victims that were shot, they lived a meager means, and there wasn't anything of value out there other than parts of vehicles" strewn among other junk around the five-acre property, Kastigar said.

The sheriff's official said Blankinship had reported to the sheriff's department "a number of threats."

 

[allmtl2008]

Hi I have mostly been posting in the Massachusetts board but couldn't resist this one. Here is my worst goof SO FAR!!!
Having my earphones in and using the plastic digger & pinpointer then switching to a metal scoop. Suddenly my pinpointer is going nuts and my detector is going nuts and I think OMG what have I got? Then I realize what a dumb A** I am. Or when I am using my pinpointer and I have the detector buzzing away in my ears but nothing on the pinpointer once again duuhhh don't put your pinpointer near the detector!!! My excuse for these is that I am still learning but what do I use when I have been at it a while?

Take care,

Allmtl

 

[pookie-princess of rust]

ha. me too.

Hi I have mostly been posting in the Massachusetts board but couldn't resist this one. Here is my worst goof SO FAR!!!
Having my earphones in and using the plastic digger & pinpointer then switching to a metal scoop. Suddenly my pinpointer is going nuts and my detector is going nuts and I think OMG what have I got? Then I realize what a dumb A** I am. Or when I am using my pinpointer and I have the detector buzzing away in my ears but nothing on the pinpointer once again duuhhh don't put your pinpointer near the detector!!! My excuse for these is that I am still learning but what do I use when I have been at it a while?

Take care,

Allmtl

 

[BuckleBoy]

Well, let's see...


1. Not paying attention to where yellow jackets were landing and taking off from on the forest floor.

2. Not paying attention to which plants had three dangerous leaves...

3. Not marking a waypoint on the GPS unit for the car before I got a mile deep in the woods (that one Sucked!)

4. Not noticing that there was a 400-foot elevation change on Google Earth between where I parked and where the site was (Ohhh, my aching calves!)

5. Not making sure the coordinates were in the right format before entering them in the GPS unit (DD MM.mm versus DD.dddd versus DD MM SS.ss ) :P

6A. Not writing EVERYTHING down that every old timer has told me.

6B. (Expecting my memory to be flawless after a decade and a half of digging, and 1000 sites )

7. Not taking the adequate amount of gear on a long detecting trip.

8. Extra batteries? Who needs those??

9. Shovel? Who needs that?

10. Relying on permission that was granted a long time ago to gain access to a site that I had no idea had since been sold.

11. Not checking in with the property owner to let them know each and every time I detect on their land. (It builds a good relationship based on respect for them and their property. It also avoids HAIRY situations--as I only had to find out once... ) The secret to not pestering the heck out of them is to have enough good sites going at all times that you don't have to hunt in one spot four days in a row. (Also a good thing, since some owners will start to wonder what you're doing there all the time--and wonder if you're finding riches beyond measure ).

12. Stepping in dog poo, stepping on a snake, almost stepping down a well, allowing an electric fence to slip when I was holding it down with my shovel in order to step across it (WHILE I had one foot on either side of it!).

13. Finding my first IH when I was 13 and too excited to recheck the hole--then later noticed the shape of a Dime outlined against the IH where there was no tarnish. Could've been 10 pre-1900 coins in that hole, and I was only thinking about my first IH. Different owner for the property now--and no permission to rehunt it.


All Lessons Learned.






16 years of learning--and every time I try a new type of hunting, more learning. And still I forget to do something sometimes.


-Buck

 

[Cr4zyH0rs3]

forgot the T-Paper and had to use my brand new underwear. sorry TMI

LMMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



mines was while detecting near the shore a wave killed my Mxt.

 

[Jazdo]

I remember using my hand as the digging tool one time, only to find a sharp piece of metal "gouging" under my fingernail!