The Truly Seasoned Detectorist

[bigscoop]

OK, I admit it, I'm still learning the hard way. For instance, in the past I have been critical about the technique of cherry picking, the notion that missing potential targets while employing this tactic just being to too risky to employ. Well, I'm starting to rethink my stance very seriously these days and here's why.

The other day I was hunting a couple of parks, still digging every good signal I encountered and as a result of employing this practice I walked away with two small 10k heart shaped pendents that I would have otherwise missed had I been skipping all the pulltabs, etc. Was it worth it? HELL NO!

Sure, it was worth it when I was 20,30,40, and even in my early 50's but at 59 I just can't take all the continuous squatting, kneeling, bending over, digging, etc., my hands and knees and lower back reluctantly stiff and aching this morning.

Now I know what it's like to be a truly seasoned hunter, and notice I chose that word “seasoned” very carefully. I chose the word seasoned because my knew-found respect for the technique of cherry picking has nothing whatsoever to do with experience or knowledge, but rather it's simply a factor of age and the passing of the seasons.

Only now do I understand why the industry is incorporating so many user friendly features and conveniences in their machine designs, things like signal boost and GPS tracking, the first being so us old farts can actually hear those faint returns and the second being so someone can find us if we happen to break a hip while out in the field.

Go figure....today I woke up and I'm actually embracing the technique of cherry picking. Today I woke up a truly seasoned detectorist.

 

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[SteveOrygun]

Ibuprofen 800mg....... just a thought.

 

[bigscoop]

Ibuprofen 800mg....... just a thought.

I wish...Advil would be nice but after the heart surgery they told me I couldn't take all that stuff anymore.

 

[TreasureHawk]

Keep on detecting and just have fun. Everyone has their own style and technique.
Embrace your "cherry picking" and enjoy life.

 

[Kray Gelder]

I feel your pain, Brother.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

That's what grandchildren are for!

Give em your detectors, scoops, and pouches, tell 'em bring back everything they find. If they have any rings, chains, pendants, then they will get "paid" for their day of helping out g-pa and/or g-ma metal detecting.
Everyone that participates will get ice cream at the end of the day.
You can always supervise from a cabana, with a refreshing adult beverage (if they doc will allow that).
Oh heck, one won't kill ya...... will it?

I'm trying to apply that logic to lobster hunting, too.
Gotta find some really small wetsuits, masks, and fins.

"I'll watch that shark for ya, now go get them lobsters....."!

 

[releventchair]

OK, I admit it, I'm still learning the hard way. For instance, in the past I have been critical about the technique of cherry picking, the notion that missing potential targets while employing this tactic just being to too risky to employ. Well, I'm starting to rethink my stance very seriously these days and here's why.

The other day I was hunting a couple of parks, still digging every good signal I encountered and as a result of employing this practice I walked away with two small 10k heart shaped pendents that I would have otherwise missed had I been skipping all the pulltabs, etc. Was it worth it? HELL NO!

Sure, it was worth it when I was 20,30,40, and even in my early 50's but at 59 I just can't take all the continuous squatting, kneeling, bending over, digging, etc., my hands and knees and lower back reluctantly stiff and aching this morning.

Now I know what it's like to be a truly seasoned hunter, and notice I chose that word “seasoned” very carefully. I chose the word seasoned because my knew-found respect for the technique of cherry picking has nothing whatsoever to do with experience or knowledge, but rather it's simply a factor of age and the passing of the seasons.

Only now do I understand why the industry is incorporating so many user friendly features and conveniences in their machine designs, things like signal boost and GPS tracking, the first being so us old farts can actually hear those faint returns and the second being so someone can find us if we happen to break a hip while out in the field.

Go figure....today I woke up and I'm actually embracing the technique of cherry picking. Today I woke up a truly seasoned detectorist.

You're gaining (?).
In time a single park may suffice. And cherry picking mean finding that just right bench in the shade. Just for a short break. Or two. Or another nap.

 

[luvsdux]

Over the years there's been numerous threads concerning "dig it all" and "cherry picking". I often start digging it all or mostly until I begin to get tired, then become more picky. There's no law I'm aware of that says you can't detect however you want.
luvsdux

 

[Terry Soloman]

... Go figure....today I woke up and I'm actually embracing the technique of cherry picking. Today I woke up a truly seasoned detectorist.

Nah, you just woke up old. That only happens to the lucky ones.

 

[bigscoop]

I think we sometimes forget how laboring land detecting can be when we've grown use to hunting the beaches with those long scoops.
Up here the ground is often like concrete, tree roots all over the place, multiple pieces of trash in most every hole,........god, how I miss those long clean beaches!.....

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Here, lemme help ya out with that......




I also call it, "The Office".
My official position: #1 beach bum.
Yeah, it's a tough life, er, I mean job, but, someone's gotta do it.

Why was I thinking you were from the Ft. Myers area.....

 

[ARC]

Um... hey "scoop"... did you ever think of using one... ? a scoop that is.

Anyway...
I have designed something to help ya out big scoop...

This way... you can just reach down and grab it... :P

 

[bigscoop]

Um... hey "scoop"... did you ever think of using one... ? a scoop that is.

Anyway...
I have designed something to help ya out big scoop...

This way... you can just reach down and grab it... :P



View attachment 1443051

Believe it or not I've those rigs in action on the beach near my old Florida home.....use to follow them and pluck up the goodies they missed.

 

[SteveOrygun]

I wish...Advil would be nice but after the heart surgery they told me I couldn't take all that stuff anymore.

Maybe you should move to CO or OR.......its legal here!! Lowers BP too, just say'n..

 

[bigscoop]

Maybe you should move to CO or OR.......its legal here!! Lowers BP too, just say'n..

Wish I could, in fact, was preparing to head that way but the heart attack upset those plans. Now, well, the granddaughter would have a fit if I moved.

 

[enamel7]

A friend and I went to an old public housing area a few years ago. Local detecting club had hunted it hard, but ignored all cent targets, looking only for silver. My friend got a mixed cent reading beside a sidewalk. Dug a wheatie and rechecked the hole. Now had a large sweet signal. Dug a little deeper and pulled out a walking liberty half! Goes to show what happens if you ignore those iffy signals!

 

[Geobound]

Have you ever thought of just bringing your scoop to the shopping centre, and just snatching the coins out of the fountain/wishing well?

You could so easily play the deranged old man that didn't know any better?

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Great thread...sometimes I'm in the mood to dig EVERYTHING!..and sometimes not so much. Had a weird hunt thst kinda threw everything i knew and/or believed in out the window...been hunting medium sized park...the usual-clad, trash..the older the clad then the deeper it was..NO silver..and not for the lack of trying, I dug every decent signal and was digging plugs in the 8 inch range pulling mid to late sixties clad...after my 3rd or 4th trip there I spied a very small, very unassuming little patch of (public) property across the RR tracks. Not maintained, very rough ground...but within 30 seconds BAM 56 GW...next hole BAM Merc...both 3 inches or less. So between 3 of us, we've pulled right under 30 silvers from this little patch of crusty ground, the deepest was MAYBE 5 inches. TONS of trash, mostly brass fittings, taps, hardware, valves etc...Face value of silver dug about tripled the face value of clad...weird..very weird. Fill? I don't know. More than once I could pinpoint the target from the surface and actually retrieve it by digging with my fingers. Silver...at 1-2 inches. Just about the time we think it's dried up, one of us bags 3 to 4 silvers in a few hours. I can't explain it, don't want to...but just saying that this spot is bass-ackwards from all others...thx very much..Ddf

 

[foiler]

The stooping. kneeling and the digging is part of the reason I stay at it at 73+. I know at some point I won't be able to but I like to think that the very fact that I am will distance the day I can't. In my youth the wife and I would hunt sunup to sundown. Now, it's 2 or 3 hours at best but. I can go that everyday. I then offer this verse as true to my form. "When I was in my prime I used to do it all the time. But now that I'm old and gray I do it but once a day". So true.

 

[ARC]