Pull tabs, Insanity, and You

[Pistol_Pete]

My wife and I spent the day at the park and the lake with our detectors in hand. Our first stop was to a swimming beach at the local lake. For 2 hours Aimee and I pulled nothing but pull tabs and bottle caps out of the sand. We soon grew tired of this madness and headed for the local park expecting less trash. Were we ever wrong, in two hours we pulled two pennies and 50 pull tabs and bottle caps. I am always reading that beginners should dig every signal, because you might miss jewelry. My question is how do you stay sane and keep those impatient types (my wife) interested in digging up party artifacts?

 

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[TheDetectorist]

My question is how do you stay sane and keep those impatient types (my wife) interested in digging for party artifacts?

I think all those caps and tabs ARE the party artifacts. The incidences of losing coins or jewelry is pretty low. So any inland beach will only see about 1/100 of what the ocean beaches have in lost items. But they also seem to be alot higher in the trash category. Personally, I love hunting inland lakes. Lots of trash, but the digging is so much easier.

TD

 

[Farmercal]

I know by the numbers pretty much what is in the ground at times and have dug to prove my suspicions. On one of my detectors an 18 equals a square pull tab, 12 is either a pulltab or nickel, 10 is usually half a pull tab. I can also tell some other junk by the hollow sound they make when I swing over them.

 

[seas1to2]

1 thing to think about if it was to easy, everybody would be doing it an you would find nothing, the pull tabs I like at the beach, people get tired of digging them an then just go after the coins an leaves the rings for me to find.This hobby has to be some what difficult to weed out the ones that do it just for the money an not the hobby.

 

[silverswede]

Here's a possibility when hunting inland lakes swimming areas. Usually by the time you got on the sand and in the water you were in your bathing suit. "no coins or valuables on you. Changing "rooms" were up behind a tree or in car so hunt the parking area or behind the tree. It's worked for me.

 

[Iskuli]

I LOVE the local lake in Texas! Just found a gold ring the other day. I like to survey the area.....grid out an area that looks like it was both under water at some point AND was dry land/sand. I dig EVERYTHING for the first hour. If I am still feeling good about the hunt...I keep digging everything. If I am feeling a little down-hearted, I go into discriminate, find clad (sometimes silver rings), then finish the grid in no discrimination. In a new area I will hunt in discimination to give me an idea how much clad is around. If there are lots of quarters...woo-hoo! I usually find rings and jewelsry.

The thing is....it should be fun! This shouldn't feel like work with its got-to's, have-to's ect. Have FUN! Part of the fun is finding the silver coins and jewelry....part of it is being outdoors with someone you care about sharing the day.

 

[Mirage]

THe old advice to "dig everything" is just to the point of knowing what your detector is telling you. Once you have dug about 5 tabs I would think you would know what one sounds/ID's as and would avoid it....unless of coarse you are really trying for rings. Then you must dig pull tabs. I rarely dig a pull tab but then again I don't dig a lot of rings either - gold ones that is. I usually don't dig zinc pennies either. I can acurately ID both of those buggers down to about 6 inches.

Mirage

 

[U.K. Brian]

I dig everything above small ferrous and often dig that as well. Hundreds of pull tabs mean hundreds of people have been there, many dropping wanted items. If you don't take the rubbish out then you won't have much depth and target masking will be throwing target I.D. out. Eventually the lakeside and park will become a solid sheet of metallic rubbish just below the surface.
I keep pull tabs for the charities that collect alloy so each hole dug is not really wasted. Doesn't help with your wife getting bored unfortunately.

 

[Sandman]

Being able to disc. out the pull tabs will cut short the prospects of finding gold rings. At parks there is bound to be a lot of party junk in the ground and fewer gold rings, but they are there. Beaches on the other hand the digging is easy and the chance of a gold ring is lots better due to shrunk fingers, suntan oil on hands, etc. Swimmers usually don't take the pop or beer can out into the water to lose the pull tab, but they still are found. When you are learning the sounds of the new detector, you should dig everything to learn the sounds. Using the new detectors helps.

There are some beaches where the word is they are barren due to the silence hunters face when detecting. So the hunters soon tire and move on to a different location where they hear sounds. This is caused by a few hunters that are there almost every day removing all the goodies that would keep the less dedicated interested.

 

[Willy]

The thing to do (and I ALWAYS do this with a new, to me, detector) is to dig everything and to guess, before you dig it up, what it is. This makes it more of a game than a chore and really helps you to learn what your detector is telling you. When you can mentally ID trash with a good success rate is the time to consider leaving it in the hole or notch it out. ..Willy.

 

[dahut]

Keep in mind that we are there to find stuff LOST by others. And much of the good stuff we seek is lost IN the water, as opposed to on the beach. Now, before someone hollers about it, some items are lost ON the sand/beach itself. Any ONE thing can be any ONE place. But it's the odds of recovery which tip in our favor that we must concern ourselves with first.

Next time you're at the beach, WATCH your fellow frolickers for awhile. "Objective People Watching" is a habit you should cultivate anyway, since that which we seek is deposited where we can find it by others.

At the beach, the good many folks who are there to spend their time on the beach, take pains to secure whatever belongings they might lose BEFORE heading to the waterside. They are more staid and predictable folks, as a rule. My wife is a good example. She is there to sun and relax, with only occasional and cautious forays into the water. Most of her jewelry is in her purse in the car long before she hits the sand.
Many others are just like her, Ive noticed - maybe the maojority, in fact.

Its those reckless spirits who do not take such pains that we are interested in, and there is one primary lure for them: THE WATER. This includes the younger folks (or the young at heart), studly blokes posturing for the ladies and the same hotties, sporting about for those self-same studs. They leap to the water with abandon, run and splash and wrestle, diving and splashing around like otters at play. These are the folks to watch the most. Where do they jostle about the most? Where do they "hang out" the most?. That is where you will soon find yourself, if you are astute.

There are some likely spots ashore, to include volleyball areas, the shallows where kiddies and mommies scamper, changing/shower areas (as already noted) and traffic funnels.
The beach itself, as a whole, offers a proportionally greater chance at potluck, unless you can narrow it down to "Activity Zones."

 

[Sandman]

Next time you're at the beach, WATCH your fellow frolickers for awhile. "Objective People Watching" is a habit you should cultivate anyway, since that which we seek is deposited where we can find it by others.

Notice how the "young spirits" rush out into the water about knee deep and start splashing each other. This is a good place for many rings to come off.

 

[Pistol_Pete]

So the concensus is that saltwater beaches and waist deep water are the hot spots? We have been cruising the shoreline thinking that things dropped are quickly covered up because of loose sand. This coming spring break my wife and I are planning on going to Daytona or Miami beach to clean up after beach goers leave the beaches each night (and party a little). Has anyone else tried this approach,and if so was it successful?

 

[Night Stalker]

Once you dig a few tabs, you should know exactly what TID number they are and what they sound like....don't dig them. I rely 100% on TID when it comes to pull-tabs and screw caps. Everyone else must do this also if that's all you're digging.

HH/NS

 

[dahut]

So the concensus is that saltwater beaches and waist deep water are the hot spots?
Yes...and no. There is a marine beach here in S. Carolina that would be nearly useless, IMHO. it is a National Seashore, has only seen sporadic visits by people and it has ever been so. Probably not a good place to detect, if you are going with the odds. Remember those odds... they're based on a given number of people over a given time, having been at one spot. MOST people DONT lose things, because MOST are careful. Without large numbers, the odds of loss go way down.
While Im no expert, it is said that most good things found in the water are found from chest to knee deep, so youre pretty much dead on with that assessment. However, consider the fresh water beach at Lake Hopealot, not far from home. Small and densely packed in the season, it is ideal because it IS small and desnely packed. Too, things lost there tend to stay where they fall, since there is no tidal action to move things around.

We have been cruising the shoreline thinking that things dropped are quickly covered up because of loose sand.
Not bad logic. Now couple that thinking with the idea of "Activity Zones" and you have hit on something. You are looking for where the most poeple were the most active over the longest period of time. How do find such "Zones?" Ask the locals!

This coming spring break my wife and I are planning on going to Daytona or Miami beach to clean up after beach goers leave the beaches each night (and party a little). Has anyone else tried this approach,and if so was it successful?
I Know of several folks that claim to do this with success- I have never done it myself. They say it's cooler in the evening, which is why they do it. But use caution; sharks do alot of their feeding at night, and not all sharks swim in the water. Some walk upright on two legs.

 

[TreasureTales]

Well, I'll throw a different approach into this melee. Hunt the washline of lakes. Look for the algae or debris where the waves lap, providing there are waves--even little waves from the wind or boating. This is like a natural sluice box on lakes. Rings, coins, jewelry, etc. tend to wash into this line and it is there that you should concentrate your efforts. Do the washline and your wife won't get bored easily because it limits the area to search.

As said by others, watch the people and see where they tend to sit or lie down. Or where would you sit or lie down? These areas will consistantly be the most popular for most people, we humans have certain characteristics we seek when on the lakeshore. Boat launch areas, sunbathing areas, under trees when the heat is on, and parking areas. But at the sandy beach, I always do the washlines first.

And even if a beach is detected before you arrive, don't despair. Think outside the box. Most detectorists will hit their favorite areas and move on to the next park or playground. This is where thinking outside the box will help you. Go detect an area of the lake that most of us would ignore. Try around the pay phone booth or the fish cleaning area or whatever area you wouldn't normally think of detecting. Be original and you'll get lucky once in awhile.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Here in sweden the water is so dark, so you won't find many there except the locals who else have to far to go elsewhere.
But still they only throw away pulltabs!
But at the ocean you'll get luckier here..more turists there. It's there I found my first coin a 1 krona
(at a bench to be exact)

 

[TreasureTales]

Here in sweden the water is so dark, so you won't find many there except the locals who else have to far to go elsewhere.
But still they only throw away pulltabs!
But at the ocean you'll get luckier here..more turists there. It's there I found my first coin a 1 krona
(at a bench to be exact)

The water is dark in Sweden? You mean it isn't BLONDE? That's a surprise.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I'll take a pic for you tommorow and you'll se, it has to do with minerals..No I wouldent say it blond it's almost like coke you know.

 

[TreasureTales]

I'll take a pic for you tommorow and you'll se, it has to do with minerals..No I wouldent say it blond it's almost like coke you know.

Sure, like Coke...full of bubbles! Just joking. Yes, I know minerals will turn water dark. Also rotting leaves will stain water. I've seen autumn leaves stain water in small lakes and ponds, looks like weak tea.

Would enjoy seeing the photos of the water, thank you.