Copperhead
Bronze Member
I recently found this site and have spent many hours since reading all your stories. I did a little md'ing back in the early 80's with a white's 1/db...I never spent much time with it but here's a story you might enjoy.
Back around 1982 or so there was a hurricane on the east coast. I'm sure TonyInCT can remember better than I can. Being from CT, and about 2 miles from hammonasset state beach, I planned to head there the morning after the hurricane. I got up about 5 AM and headed out. Trees were down all over but I was able to get to the park. It was closed (obviously) and there was one car parked outside the entrance. I hiked in, probably about 1/4 mile? to get to the beach. The park had trees down all over and when I reached the beach, the whole boardwalk was washed away. I saw a person md'ing already and went over to him. I can't remember what he looked like but I'll never forget the cloth bag he had, like he just picked up the sack from a bank. He was really "busy" so we didn't talk long. I headed down toward the water, picking up some mercury dimes sitting up on little mounds of sand right on the surface! Having little experience, I did the best a could. The old pilings from an older boardwalk closer to the beach were exposed, so detected in between them. Needless to say, I spent hours at the beach collecting aprox. 160 coins about 90% being silver, I found 1 walker and 2 Ben halves, 1 V nickel and many, many Merc's.
I never saw my fellow hunter again, or anyone else for that matter the rest of the time I was there, the beach I believe is over a mile long. I finally left due to the fact, my battery gave out.
When I reached the park entrance I was surprised to to see cars lining the road coming in. Many people were gathered around the gate along with a state trooper, quite a few with metal detectors.
The trooper approached me and said "you can't be in the park because it's closed for safety reasons." I said sorry, I didn't know, and headed straight for my car with my goodies packed in my coat.
I went to the store and bought a battery, then headed to old summer cabin rental place owned by a friend of my father near the park. I parked my car and headed into a wooded, boggy area of the park. I hiked about 1/2 mile before I found my bearings and got to the beach again. A short time later, the park opened and the place was swarming with md'ers. I found about another 50 coins, the best being another Ben half. Talked to a few fellow hunters for awhile telling my tale and then left.
I'll never know what or how much I could have found had I had more experience or at least another battery. I still have packed away somewhere a baggie filled with my treasures from that day. Other commitments took me away from this hobby. But after finding this site I'm ready to jump back in and hope soon to purchase a new detector. By the way, I pulled out the old whites (from the back of the closet) lol yesterday. The ground is pretty frozen around here, but I fired her up and went into the basement of the place I rent. It's from the early 1900's with a partial dirt floor I got a 1959 penny and some scrap of old copper pipe. The feeling was good. Thanks for reading and hope to post finds in the future.
Back around 1982 or so there was a hurricane on the east coast. I'm sure TonyInCT can remember better than I can. Being from CT, and about 2 miles from hammonasset state beach, I planned to head there the morning after the hurricane. I got up about 5 AM and headed out. Trees were down all over but I was able to get to the park. It was closed (obviously) and there was one car parked outside the entrance. I hiked in, probably about 1/4 mile? to get to the beach. The park had trees down all over and when I reached the beach, the whole boardwalk was washed away. I saw a person md'ing already and went over to him. I can't remember what he looked like but I'll never forget the cloth bag he had, like he just picked up the sack from a bank. He was really "busy" so we didn't talk long. I headed down toward the water, picking up some mercury dimes sitting up on little mounds of sand right on the surface! Having little experience, I did the best a could. The old pilings from an older boardwalk closer to the beach were exposed, so detected in between them. Needless to say, I spent hours at the beach collecting aprox. 160 coins about 90% being silver, I found 1 walker and 2 Ben halves, 1 V nickel and many, many Merc's.
I never saw my fellow hunter again, or anyone else for that matter the rest of the time I was there, the beach I believe is over a mile long. I finally left due to the fact, my battery gave out.
When I reached the park entrance I was surprised to to see cars lining the road coming in. Many people were gathered around the gate along with a state trooper, quite a few with metal detectors.
The trooper approached me and said "you can't be in the park because it's closed for safety reasons." I said sorry, I didn't know, and headed straight for my car with my goodies packed in my coat.
I went to the store and bought a battery, then headed to old summer cabin rental place owned by a friend of my father near the park. I parked my car and headed into a wooded, boggy area of the park. I hiked about 1/2 mile before I found my bearings and got to the beach again. A short time later, the park opened and the place was swarming with md'ers. I found about another 50 coins, the best being another Ben half. Talked to a few fellow hunters for awhile telling my tale and then left.
I'll never know what or how much I could have found had I had more experience or at least another battery. I still have packed away somewhere a baggie filled with my treasures from that day. Other commitments took me away from this hobby. But after finding this site I'm ready to jump back in and hope soon to purchase a new detector. By the way, I pulled out the old whites (from the back of the closet) lol yesterday. The ground is pretty frozen around here, but I fired her up and went into the basement of the place I rent. It's from the early 1900's with a partial dirt floor I got a 1959 penny and some scrap of old copper pipe. The feeling was good. Thanks for reading and hope to post finds in the future.
Looking forward to reading some more of your posts.Happy Hunting and good luck. 
Looking forward to seeing more of your posts.
