They Say There Are No Dumb Questions

[Stringtyer]

I certainly hope it's true that there are no dumb questions because I'm going to ask what may be one. As I have said in previous posts, I am new to serious metal detecting. My previous MD'ing has been just sort of banging around with a very inexpensive detector my wife gave me a few years ago. I've recently purchased a couple of nice machines and have secured a few permissions.

I've gotten the idea in reading many posts that most of you are working a site over a period of several days (at least). My question is, how do y'all go about doing a systematic search of an area? I am thinking about using a smaller version of search and rescue grids to mark off the property and doing a thorough search in each area.

I think my main issue is that I haven't developed the patience I need in order to do a good search of an area. Any suggestions will be welcomed.

 

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[boogeyman]

The tennis ball work great in an area where there aren't any mower tracks. Space them out it a line and when you come up to one use your coil to sweep it over to the end of your sweep and continue to the next tennis ball.

Have you thought of those day glow golf balls? I've made up 11 (used to be 12) with SS welding rod (4"long) in a drilled hole with a drop of superglue. Those lil boogers are handy as heck! They don't roll, good markers, and great for holding the tip of your long tape measure. Made a few for a friend that was tying surveyors tape on everything in sight except his legs. Only time I found they didn't work was with my labby. She kept bringing em to me. How do you explain to a dog, no I meant to leave it there.... sheeze......

 

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[Whyme]

I'm very interested in gridding and I plan on doing it a lot next year when I'm retired. I plan on using plastic fluorescent yellow tent stakes and fluorescent yellow string. Going to measure my swing for the width of the string -6 inches for overlap. Then set the length for whatever the site is I'm at. I have a couple ideas how to grid but this one seems the best to try first.

 

[Kace]

I use construction flag markers for detecting, mushroom and ginseng hunting.

Kace

 

[ecmo]

I do search my permissions in a grid pattern but I don't mark them off with rope or balls or anything. I follow the landscape and use trees and bushes and other things to mark where I am going. I can also look back in grassy areas and see where I have been by looking at the footprints I have created while taking short steps. Those footprints become my line to follow. I grid as I go so valuable swing time is not wasted.

This is much the same as I do. Four or five inch tall grass reveals my shuffle marks nicely. Also have a few of the orange construction flags in my beater, detecting truck.

 

[1637]

i just use plastic bottle caps or sticks that i find out there.i only carry what fits it my pockets.
good luck brad

 

[GA_Boy]

I have seen some folks doing this type of detecting. Just ramble around in no discernible pattern..
Marvin
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[A2coins]

Its about having fun if you grid you still need to come from different directions sounds like a good plan

 

[luvsdux]

You've got the right mind set. Covering a small area well, will often pay off better than going over a larger area in a sloppy fashion.
As to dumb questions, I generally stumble over questions about whether a particular site is worth detecting or not. If it's handy to you, the only way to really know is to get moving and give it a good hunt. Sometimes great finds show up in the strangest places. I found a presidential campaign token from the 1860 Lincoln/Douglas election under the basement stairway in an old house with a dirt floor one time. Thought it was a quarter until I got it cleaned up a bit.
luvsdux

 

[Stringtyer]

This is an interesting resurrection of an older thread especially in light of a site that I am working these days. The site is what I refer to as my "learning permission" because I am still fairly new to serious MD work, the site is old enough to be interesting (100 years old or so), it is close enough to the house that it takes little time to get there, and the owners are good friends.

I started out working the site willy-nilly then went to a grid system. I was still working around the edge of the house looking for coin spills and stuff thrown from the house. On my most recent trip, I did less detecting and more exploring/research. I had talked with the owner - who lived in the house as a child in the late 1940's and early 1950's. She pointed out areas where her grandfather's outbuildings had been.

I spent most of my last visit stomping around the property and found (and documented using the Spyglass app) several interesting places. For example, I found foundation stones that suggest the location of the old shop/storage building as well as two or three slight depressions in the earth that suggest dump sites.

I'll be working those sites pretty heavily on my next few trips.