First time metal detecting...my first finds!

[miamilatin]

So I decided to hit the beach with my brand new metal detector for about an hour to see what I can find. I know usually we have to hit the beach early before guest arrive but I did it as a "in the moment decision". I had about an hour and a half to kill before coming home to pick up the kids from school. Spent about 15 mins with nothing before I got my first hit....a bottle cap. While I know I will eventually get annoyed with finding trash I will admit when I heard the ding on my metal detector my heart jumped. So went on and found a few more bottle caps and finally hit some clad. I found a quarter and 3 pennies. On my final pass I got a hit and found a sand encrusted metal object. Didnt know what it was. Once i got home I cleaned it off and found it to probably be a missing part of a Dolce & Gabbana wallet or purse.

While not anything out of this world, I will say it was very exciting and look forward to hitting another part of the beach very soon. Please if you have any suggestions, tips, ect. let me know. Also, I want to get into detecting woods, parks ect. but dont know how to begin. The place I bought my scoop from, the man said around my area used to be alot of military forts back in the day. I dont know where to start researching very old history of my town or even county. Thanks again and HH!!!

 

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[arnofarrell]

Congrates and keep at it. Most of start off just finding clad but slowly move up to the nicer silver and copper. Thanks for sharing

 

[Terry Soloman]

Great first time out! The beach is divided into two-sections - The "Dry Sand" or blanket area, and the "Wet Sand" or swimming area. When detecting the dry sand areas, successful beach hunters "grid" individual sections of the beach. Start by choosing an area 50-feet long, by 50-feet wide. First detect from the North to South. When you have detected the entire grid, turn 90-degrees and detect it again East to West.

Moving slowly and methodically, you will be able to pass your coil over every inch of the 50' x 50' area. Coins, watches, rings, bracelets, Ipods, cell phones, car keys - you'll find it all! The phrase to remember is "low and slow." Keeping your coil as low and flat to the sand as you can, while moving slowly enough to assure your sweeps overlap each other is the real key to success.

For dirt hunting, you'll need a Lesche hand digger, gloves, and a light set of kneepads. While I have never used one in 35-years of detecting, many land hunters use a handheld pinpointer to help them locate smaller targets in the hole. Good Luck!

 

[AnnieF]

Save EVERYTHING. Take it OFF the beach if for no other reason than to be a good doobie and help clean up trash, but DO save everything because I've seen stories on this forum repeatedly of people going through their jars & boxes of stuff after they've become more experienced and knowledgable and go "Oh! THAT'S what that is!" and realize that piece of junk may have value!

 

[AnnieF]

Terry is a kind of MD Gawd - a freak of nature at this game, so while it doesn't surprise me he hunts without a pointer, lesser mortals wouldn't dare leave home without one... I didn't find SQUAT until I got one. Seemed like empty hole and ghost targets one after another and then I got the pointer and BOOM. I'm digging all kinds of things! Coins are WICKED hard to find in sand (I think) so I would heartily recommend one

 

[materdigger1]

Congrats on your first digs - always stay encouraged - constantly keep on the look out for new places - It was very frustrating when I first started - would dig a lot of trash - my advide is for you to learn your machine as well as you can and what it is trying to tell you - and go slow and cover ground thouroughly - I have gone many weekends and found nothing but trash and slowly learned - My finds in the last 2 weeks have amazed me - I have found 2 Morgan siver dollars (1883S and 1893) a 1900 Barber quarter - an 1831 large cent and 45 civil war bullets - a civil war cleaning jag for a musket and much other misc stuff - a butt load of clad. In with this stuff I dug my share of trash as well - that's just part of it - but stay encouragfed and learn your machine - you will be fine - Oh and by the way please get a handheld pinpointer - will save you a lot of digging

 

[Happy Harry]

If you are looking for places to hunt start with your library or local historical society. Then there is google earth for locating parks in your area. You may find that you have driven past a park that you never knew was there. Join a metal detecting club in your area. Talk to the people they may not give up their very best places to hunt however, they will direct you to locations that you may never have thought would have anything worth finding. HHHH

 

[oldsalty19]

welcome to the addiction.....keep it up things will get better

 

[miamilatin]

Thank you all for the replies. I called a local park and they stated it was "ok to metal detect" but " not to make large holes". I bought a digger from home depot 9 12 in. Hand Transplanter-1984300 at The Home Depot) but doesnt seem to work very well. I bends and its difficulty to make a good plug with it. Will try to find a Lesche hand digger. I will try the parks and such to see what treasures they hold (hopefully some good ones) thanks again! HH!

 

[Fix]

If you can't afford a Lesche digger you can get one of these. It's what I use. You wont bend this one. I have broke the handle off of a couple of them but I have one I used for a year and a half. I wore the points off so I bought another one. Just don't pry with it.
Amazon.com: Fiskars 7079 Big Grip Garden Knife: Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

[flyinryan2]

Congrats on your first finds, with practice and more time spent you will find better things. For the trash, you will find plenty of it!!!! I filled up 6 five gallon paint buckets this past year.

 

[cti4sw]

My tip for dirt digging for the first time is to go to a playground. Playgrounds usually have both dirt and woodchips, and between that and the soil is usually a layer of vinyl burlap - this is helpful, bc whatever you find will likely be above it. You'll find a lot of clad coins, and this will help you understand how your MD reads them. The woodchips will help you see your finds in the dirt. This is how I started to learn my AT Pro after a year of detecting with a Bounty Hunter.

As for dirt digging... you cut plugs rather than scoop sand, but other than that, there isn't much of a difference. You get a hit, you sort of pinpoint where it is, you dig, and then you sift (unless you have a handheld pinpointer, then you point and off you go). Remember this: there are no such things as ghosts! LOL... my Bounty Hunter has never lied to me. If it beeps, there is SOMETHING in the ground, I just had to find it. Might help to carry around a decent-sized magnet for sifting ferrous fragments, which are notoriously elusive. But always fill in your dirt holes - not so much an issue on the beach.

GL & HH

 

[firemac]

nice finds with the new detector, I set up a special MDing savings acct at the credit union, all of the clad coins go into it, it adds up pretty quick!