I wonder what all I missed now that I am better at detecting?

[ringding]

I have been metal detecting since 1995. I bought my first machine at Radio shack. It had knobs for ground balance, sensitivity, discriminate, all metal, pull tab reject, but when I read the manual I didn't understand it so I just turned it on and went out metal detecting. I dug a lot of trash! Well over the years I started to understand how to work the machine and became much better at the art. I have found a lot of coins and some pretty cool stuff. I have since upgraded the machine and am finding more good stuff than ever. What I am wondering is what I would have found at those early sites if I would have known what I was doing? How much cool stuff did I miss because I didn't know how to work the settings on my machine? I live hundreds of miles away now so I doubt I will ever get to go back. When I have visited there wasn't any time for metal detecting. Too busy visiting with relatives.

 

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[OutBack Duo]

ringding, your experience sounds a lot like mine. I also started detecting in 1995 but my first machine was an inexpensive Bounty Hunter. I am positive I missed a lot because I too didn't know what I was doing. It has taken me the last 12 years to learn enough about metal detecting to know what I am doing. I have a DFX now and in the past year have done very well. Its rare that I walk more than 20 or 30 feet without makeing an adjustment. My advice to anyone that is new out there is to read the instructions and everything else you can for every control on your machine. don't be afraid to adjust them and see what they do. I also recomend either finding a metal detecting buddy or join a club so you have someone to talk to about your detector, its adjustments and the proper way to detect. For me half the fun of detecting is sharring with others what I find and listening to their detecting stories.

 

[rvbvetter]

Yep That seems to be the normal progression of this hobby. Like you, I'm 600 miles from the area where I first started detecting and wish I could rehunt the places I hunted then. But by now, I'm sure my foot steps have been retraced by many detectorist with much more sophisticated equipment than was available then. HH

 

[Mighty AP]

I often wonder how many expensive rings & nice jewelry I have passed up because I was too tired or frustrated to dig that damn pulltab signal! I bet there are quite a few nice items I hesitated on, then walked on by to the next signal! At this point I dont think I would want to know..................

 

[Detectingfreak]

I also have experiences like urs you guys. Well i got my Tracker IV in December of 2005 and have been using it every weekend i get to. I have finally learned how to discriminate nails and what is the best mode to pick up coins. But in my case i live near the spots where i took it when i was first learning. I got so much more coins out of it. But also pull tabs. Have fun detecting!!!

 

[Farmercal]

I recently retired from the Air Force and started detecting when I was stationed in Presideo of Monterey. I have detected all over this country and there is no way I could afford to re-visit all those places I used to detect. Heck, some of them aren't even there today. I do have fond memories of detecting the camp sites in the black hills of South Dakota though and wish I could go back and hit a few more camp sites (in the summer of course).