Things I learned metal detecting...

[Whyme]

#1. People are pigs. I've seen human feces in parks, bottles, wrappers, and other junk 4 feet from a garbage can, needles, and syringes, and just about everything else.

#2. This hobby is awesome! You might think you know what's under your coil but sometimes you're amazed at what you find!

#3. People stop to talk to you and either give you permission to hunt their property or give you history on the town and suggest where to hunt. I've only run across one woman who was mad at me for digging in a public spot. All others ask me what I found and seem very interested in metal detecting.

#4. The people on this forum are awesome! And they are very knowledgeable and willing to share their knowledge.

#5. Local history!

#6. Reading old maps and where to find them.


What have you learned in this hobby?

 

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[Ammoman]

I learned fairly quickly that not all metal detectors are created equal and that no single detector is the end all be all. Detectors are tools and having and selecting the right tool for the right job makes life so much easier!

 

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[randywa]

I've learned my detector believes there are tons of missing silver dollars, most are where I'm hunting, and that they look just like aluminium foil. I also learned that sometimes the best find comes when you do the after find research. I never really cared about local history before.

 

[RustyGold]

I've learned my detector believes there are tons of missing silver dollars, most are where I'm hunting, and that they look just like aluminium foil. I also learned that sometimes the best find comes when you do the after find research. I never really cared about local history before.

What your “detector believes” is too funny!

 

[Stringtyer]

I've learned my detector believes there are tons of missing silver dollars, most are where I'm hunting, and that they look just like aluminium foil. I also learned that sometimes the best find comes when you do the after find research. I never really cared about local history before.

My detector must belong to the same church as yours as it, too, believes the places I am searching are littered with Morgan dollars, most of which look like foil or cadmium plated siding nails.

Like you said, I have never really taken an interest in local history until I returned to detecting. Now I'll spend a few hours doing research on an area before I head out to search. As I mentioned in another post, I have a permission in Hillsborough, NC (a colonial capital) and have been pouring over old maps, deeds, and other property records about the properties. I have seen in old aerial photographs (1940) that there are several clearly defined circular places on two of the properties that suggest old dump sites. That may make my hunting trips become more like archaeological digs than plain metal detecting.