New member and brand new to metal detecting.

[OutrageousBob]

Hi Folks,

Bob from NH. My son bought me a Vanquish 540 Pr Pack for father's day and I got profind 35 pin-pointer. I live on a few acres with stone walls adjacent to an 8 acre field. I even have a stone dump where they piled excess field stones when clearing the land in colonial days. Anyway, I went out this morning and detected for about a hour and found a square nail, a pellet from my son’s old pellet gun, stainless car trim pieces and two very old oxen shoe halves. The oxen shoes were 8-10” deep. Not a bad start to my new hobby! My wife told me not to dig up the entire damn yard😂! Can’t wait to get back out there!

 

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[KSDirtfisher77]

Hi Folks,

Bob from NH. My son bought me a Vanquish 540 Pr Pack for father's day and I got profind 35 pin-pointer. I live on a few acres with stone walls adjacent to an 8 acre field. I even have a stone dump where they piled excess field stones when clearing the land in colonial days. Anyway, I went out this morning and detected for about a hour and found a square nail, a pellet from my son’s old pellet gun, stainless car trim pieces and two very old oxen shoe halves. The oxen shoes were 8-10” deep. Not a bad start to my new hobby! My wife told me not to dig up the entire damn yard😂! Can’t wait to get back out there!

Congrats on the new piece of equipment. You will love this hobby. Cause you never know what you might uncover! Enjoy.

 

[pepperj]

Hi Folks,

Bob from NH. My son bought me a Vanquish 540 Pr Pack for father's day and I got profind 35 pin-pointer. I live on a few acres with stone walls adjacent to an 8 acre field. I even have a stone dump where they piled excess field stones when clearing the land in colonial days. Anyway, I went out this morning and detected for about a hour and found a square nail, a pellet from my son’s old pellet gun, stainless car trim pieces and two very old oxen shoe halves. The oxen shoes were 8-10” deep. Not a bad start to my new hobby! My wife told me not to dig up the entire damn yard😂! Can’t wait to get back out there!

Welcome to the forum and to a positive addiction.

You're in the era of great history.
Congrats

 

[Bucket Lister]

Hi Folks,

Bob from NH. My son bought me a Vanquish 540 Pr Pack for father's day and I got profind 35 pin-pointer. I live on a few acres with stone walls adjacent to an 8 acre field. I even have a stone dump where they piled excess field stones when clearing the land in colonial days. Anyway, I went out this morning and detected for about a hour and found a square nail, a pellet from my son’s old pellet gun, stainless car trim pieces and two very old oxen shoe halves. The oxen shoes were 8-10” deep. Not a bad start to my new hobby! My wife told me not to dig up the entire damn yard😂! Can’t wait to get back out there!

Hi Bob,

I'm only a half year ahead of you; my Missus got me a detector for Festivus, and I'm loving it.

[Waxing philosophical] It's not (about) the things you think or hope you might find; it's about the things you didn't expect to find!

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Yup, VERY addicting hobby...!
Takes you into even researching the items/fragments/relics of old days passed.
Just wonder who touched it last , and the circumstances of the drop....

 

[pulltabfelix]

Hi Bob,

I'm only a half year ahead of you; my Missus got me a detector for Festivus, and I'm loving it.

[Waxing philosophical] It's not (about) the things you think or hope you might find; it's about the things you didn't expect to find!

Keep your eye on the forum sponsors for big Festivus discounts.

 

[mike44]

If you mow it, you can dig it up!

Welcome to the hobby!

HH
Mike

 

[ArfieBoy]

Welcome to the hobby and congratulations on the new detector! I look forward to your posts of new finds. Cool finds of the ox shoes!

 

[bigscoop]

Tell your wife that yards can be regroomed!

 

[Bucket Lister]

My wife told me not to dig up the entire damn yard😂! Can’t wait to get back out there!

If you learn to do it right--cutting plugs & replacing them afterward--she'll never know you were there.

The owners of my permission were a little apprehensive about my digging up their yard, so I invited them to watch, and if there was anything they didn't like or were unhappy about, I would do whatever it took to make them happy, including cease & desist. That still goes.

I'm still digging there, and they're almost as excited about every find as I am.

 

[TORRERO]

My wife told me not to dig up the entire damn yard😂!

Tell your wife that it's cheaper than paying someone to aerate your lawn... hahaha 🤣

 

[TORRERO]

and the circumstances of the drop....

I remember when I used to live in Spain so many years ago, and we would be in the middle of a plowed field and find a large Roman coin, and to hold it in your hand and ask this question was just mind blowing...
Nothing in the field indicated that there was ever anything there... no ruins only bricks and pottery shards...
It tells you the truth about life and time and the reality that we are here only fleetingly...

 

[OutrageousBob]

If you learn to do it right--cutting plugs & replacing them afterward--she'll never know you were there.

The owners of my permission were a little apprehensive about my digging up their yard, so I invited them to watch, and if there was anything they didn't like or were unhappy about, I would do whatever it took to make them happy, including cease & desist. That still goes.

I'm still digging there, and they're almost as excited about every find as I am.

Yep I’ve watched a bunch of excellent YouTube videos. I need to purchase a better shovel for removing plugs like the ones they use. My spade shovel is a little too big.

 

[TORRERO]

My spade shovel is a little too big.

I've never understood how someone uses a shovel in a park and doesn't get arrested...
We have ALWAYS used a hand trowel, designed for metal detecting....

 

[OutrageousBob]

I've never understood how someone uses a shovel in a park and doesn't get arrested...
We have ALWAYS used a hand trowel, designed for metal detecting....

Well I’ve only been in my yard so I used what I had. I have a garden trowel as well. But I think I want one of those short serrated shovels that make it easy to remove a clean plug. My brother owns 86 acres just up the road and just past him is a friends 200 acre farm so I don’t see myself in a park anytime soon. Bonus they both have old cellar holes and barn sites!

 

[Bucket Lister]

I've never understood how someone uses a shovel in a park and doesn't get arrested...
We have ALWAYS used a hand trowel, designed for metal detecting....

Well, first, I don't detect/dig in parks where it's illegal/not allowed. There are always other places to detect/dig.

From things I've seen, a trowel can make just as big a mess as a shovel, and a shovel can be as unobtrusive as a trowel.

IMO, it's more about the detectorist and their conscientiousness.

 

[Ism]

Well, first, I don't detect/dig in parks where it's illegal/not allowed. There are always other places to detect/dig.

From things I've seen, a trowel can make just as big a mess as a shovel, and a shovel can be as unobtrusive as a trowel.

IMO, it's more about the detectorist and their conscientiousness.

While a relic shovel can dig a decent plug, you must consider other park goers and how they perceive you walking around with a 3ft relic shovel digging in the park. They can use the specific ordinance that is in virtually every municipality that prohibits digging in the park to ban detecting. They aren't inclined so much to worry about someone with a little hand trowel. I've never been given a second look working parks in SE Michigan and rarely in a sports field when using a Lesche digger.

Lastly, you have to bend down to use you PP and retrieve the target so why not use a hand trowel.

It only takes one Karen to get park detecting banned.

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

I remember when I used to live in Spain so many years ago, and we would be in the middle of a plowed field and find a large Roman coin, and to hold it in your hand and ask this question was just mind blowing...
Nothing in the field indicated that there was ever anything there... no ruins only bricks and pottery shards...
It tells you the truth about life and time and the reality that we are here only fleetingly...

...and, I'm afraid that we'll be leaving more than a couple of shards and bricks behind, when we are gone....!

 

[Bucket Lister]

While a relic shovel can dig a decent plug, you must consider other park goers and how they perceive you walking around with a 3ft relic shovel digging in the park. They can use the specific ordinance that is in virtually every municipality that prohibits digging in the park to ban detecting. They aren't inclined so much to worry about someone with a little hand trowel. I've never been given a second look working parks in SE Michigan and rarely in a sports field when using a Lesche digger.

Lastly, you have to bend down to use you PP and retrieve the target so why not use a hand trowel.

It only takes one Karen to get park detecting banned.

The MD club I belong to has held all of their monthly hunts and club picnic (which included a seeded hunt) this year at public parks. They make arrangements ahead of time, follow park rules and the club code of ethics, and AFAIK, they have always been welcomed back.

The people we have encountered have been friendly, curious, and appreciative of the efforts we make to replace plugs and leave things as--or better than--we found them.

While we all should be ambassadors for our hobby, there are/will always be a few jerks.

 

[OutrageousBob]

Well done for the weekend, found a bunch of junk, nails and bottle caps etc. I also found another Oxen shoe and what I think are draft horse shoes. A few fired bullets and one unfired rifle bullet. I’m thinking a farrier was near by in the old days! Even though nothing of value, it was super fun! And that’s the real pay off!