Whats even more important than learning your machine ?

[MD Dog]

What's even more important than learning your machine ?

Doing your home work ! Some people seem to expect silver and gold to just magically appear from nothing. Not every totlot, park or beach will have such treasures in abundance, so even the most experienced user of a high end machine wont always find treasure. The secret seems to be that those people who are willing to do the research to discover when and where and under what circumstances they'll find the treasure are the one who consistently perform. A totlot for instance maybe more productive for jewelery after a particularly hot spell. Or beaches, everyone know that lowtide is the best time to hunt them but did you know there are two low tides a year that are lower than all the rest, or do you know what an offshore wind will do for or against you. How about parks they're easy right ? Anyone should be able to score there, right ? Not if you haven't done your research. Now I'm not talking about the clad hunter but the used to be a clad hunter who now wants to find the real goodies like silver and gold coins or jewelery. This is definitely not a hit or miss sport, but for the dedicated few who really poor themselves into the research side it is an almost guarantee. I hope this thread will motivate some of the newer folks and even some you has beens like me to do what works this winter and spend the time to do some good and thorough research and I'll bet your next spring hunt really pays off.

 

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[dave-enc]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

MD Dog you are right doing your homework is part of it, as well as knowing your machine which is important. One of the reasons why Bobbie and I have been so consistant has a lot to do with site selection and when to detect them. You mention tot lots We like playgrounds and detect them often but they are set up to be primarily summer time when their use is heaviest. The other time would be during spring break, and Christmas. Now if they have a soccer fields or baseball fields, we will detect them through out the year, but here again past experiance with the site is the key. Fall, winter and spring is our school yard detecting time. Guess we are still old school, cause we still go by gut instinct. We keep a very large listing of sites that I constantly try to add to.
Research comes in many forms and It all depends on what you are looking for to determine that type of research.
Lastly and i think this is forgotten, is you have got to get out there and detect. I didnt say swing the coil, but to detect. Good detecting habits are a must for consistant sucess for whatever treasure you are looking for
hh
dave+bobbie

 

[Murph]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

Makeing sure you have a machine where there is something to learn.

If there is a favorite phrase on this forum it would have to be "learn your machine". In the case of my first detector it was a silent search only, fixed ground balance, three tone machine.

Any advice would all ways start off with that popular phrase "learn your machine" followed by various personal techniques with some discussion about discrimination the LCD target ID why you cant trust it and the last advice would almost always be something along the lines of dig it all or dig all repeatable signals.

Well this left me scratching my head. The thing either makes a consistent sound or not and then you dig. I was astounded that some people were claiming a years worth of practice before they had it figured out.

After about three months with this detector and the fact that I was willing to consistently get out of bed before sunrise on weekends to go out hunting I figured I was in the hobby long term and went ahead and spent some money.

New detector arrives an low and behold something to learn. A threshold, a ground balance, a threshold that nulls , an iron mask but the most delightful of all this thing sounds different when I run various targets over the coil. Even this light piece of foil sounds a bit different than this heavy piece of foil. Man I can see a lot of potential here but I am going to have to spend some time "learning this machine" and I could see it taking a year before I am really good with it.

 

[stoney56]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

Research does play a key part in the scheme. Would you expect to find Barber's and IH's in a park that was established in say "1949"? Oh there might be an occasional late 30's Merc or early wheatie either dropped by someone who had been there early on or brought in with fill dirt. If you want old key date coins or gold ones, you need to hunt areas where people were in abundance during and a bit after the years they were minted. If you're in a recent suburb, you're chances are better in the early original part of the township.

 

[MD Dog]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

Making sure you have a machine where there is something to learn.

If there is a favorite phrase on this forum it would have to be "learn your machine". In the case of my first detector it was a silent search only, fixed ground balance, three tone machine.

Any advice would all ways start off with that popular phrase "learn your machine" followed by various personal techniques with some discussion about discrimination the LCD target ID why you cant trust it and the last advice would almost always be something along the lines of dig it all or dig all repeatable signals.

Well this left me scratching my head. The thing either makes a consistent sound or not and then you dig. I was astounded that some people were claiming a years worth of practice before they had it figured out.

After about three months with this detector and the fact that I was willing to consistently get out of bed before sunrise on weekends to go out hunting I figured I was in the hobby long term and went ahead and spent some money.

New detector arrives an low and behold something to learn. A threshold, a ground balance, a threshold that nulls , an iron mask but the most delightful of all this thing sounds different when I run various targets over the coil. Even this light piece of foil sounds a bit different than this heavy piece of foil. Man I can see a lot of potential here but I am going to have to spend some time "learning this machine" and I could see it taking a year before I am really good with it.

The term "learn your machine" is what inspired me to start this thread. The fact is murph, even with your "beginner" machine, you could've found good treasure at the right locations and with the right knowledge. Take Crackbadger as an example, he and Kingpulltab hit beaches with ace 250s, machines which are known to be problematic at best on beaches. Yet they find all kinds of good treasure, because they have a good locale with little or no competition and they "Know" where to look. On a this beach.
(See Video)http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,101006.0.html

So my point is that knowing your machine helps but most machines are darn near Idiot proof nowadays. Knowing your locale and how to hunt it is the real trick of the trade.

 

[Murph]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

Understand your point but when you have what appears to be unlimited funds and unlimited time to hunt and no limits on where you can travel then sure you could probably produce like the people you mentioned with just about any machine.

For those of us with jobs and limited hunting time IMO the more important research would be the kind that matches the detector to the hunting grounds. I imagine the ace 250 mania will continue for some time but I literally cringe when it is suggested that these units are suited for beach hunting. Can you hunt a beach with a 250? Yes. Can you hunt a beach efficiently with a 250? No. Can you raise the frustration level for a new hobbyist on the beach with a 250 to the point he just wants to quit? Definitely.

I think it is kind of telling that when a third party video of the people you mention that claim to use a 250 on the beach shows up, he is standing there holding an excal. I have waisted time and money attempting to use the wrong detector in the wrong place. Nothing would please me more than helping others to avoid my mistakes.

 

[UnEarthed72]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

I've learned to never expect anything,i believe if you go out with the mindset that your going to find fistfulls of gold,pockets lined in silver it just makes detecting that much more stressful and can easily become frustrating to the point of giving up.
Research is fun and a nice start,yet is isn't a guarantee that your gonna find anything other than clad.I cover as much ground as possible in the allotted time slowly,move on and then back to where i started..most times i happen upon a find that i over looked in haste.Also getting out to as many places you can will improve your chances,and hitting the same area many times until your satisfied that it's been covered to the best of your ability,then....RINSE AND REPEAT.

 

[MD Dog]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

I didn't mean to contradict you Murph nor belittle what is a valid point for you. But a newbie may also get frustrated and put of by jumping into a DFX or Explorer SE only to find little more than clad if that. I myself sold my DFX for the simple reason that it was more machine than I needed at the time for the type of hunting I was prepared to do. I don't wanna dig a 12 inch deep hole for a silver barber dime if I don't have too. And I don't have too so I discovered. I'm just saying people keep thinking that a bigger better machine that will go deeper and deeper is the answer to finding the real goodies. The answer is to find the sites that offer a better opportunity to find such things at a shallower depth. And to learn how to best hunt those sites. For those people who have the limited time to hunt then I would suggest that investing in a high end machine would really be dumb. Sure it might pay off initially with older deeper coins, but that will play out sooner or later new sites have to be found or you'll run out of fun, unless using a thousand dollar machine to find $3.00 in clad is your Idea of fun, which maybe the case and there's nothing wrong with that. But my post is aimed at those people who are aiming for the silver and gold trinketts that are out there, but not very many for those who think depth is the answer. A good quality machine is a pleasure and a real help for finding the good stuff but not a nessecity. I hunt with A low end B/H and a 250. I find I have to hunt each location twice, once with each machine because the 250 is better on silver, but the B/H is better on gold, that's ok though cause it's twice the fun!

 

[JOe L]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

MD, This thread couldn't come at a better time. After reading allot of "today's finds" I do realize it is more than swinging a stick. Its research!!. I have done the tot lots, schools parks and am just not satisfied. I also agree that a good machine helps when its time to come down to the one of the final tasks, location of the target.
Allot to ponder here and while this has been on my mind lately, your now jump starting me into "research" Thanks, joe

 

[MD Dog]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

No thank you Joe, it's not that I know anything or even allot, it's just (to tell you the truth) what we all need to be doing. I wanted to go beach detecting for the first time a couple of weeks ago and went to lake Erie state park. I figured what's to know you detect the beach, you find the goodies you go home right, well after coming home with zip,nada,nuttin honey. I decided that maybe it wasn't my machine, apparently it was me and my lack of knowledge. In like allot of others saw crackbadgers video and figured if he can do it with a ace 250 so can I. well could i have been more naive, apparently theirs quite a learning curve between my normal land haunts and the beach especially if I wanna be as successful as Crackbadger. So I went to the beach and shallow water board here at T-net and started reading up and asking questions. A Person named sandman was quite often telling newbies to beach hunting to read up at thegoldenolde.com. Wow did I get a mindful. If your interested check it out you'll see what I mean. Lots to learn and that's just the start, I figure if I look around hard enough here and else where I'm sure to find good info to help with hunting just about any terrain. I knew location was paramount but I gave little thought to how I hunted each location. Certain places have definite secrets on how to hunt them in order to make them more productive. Like the Guy at thegoldenolde site says, most old timers won't divulge this info because it has taken them sometimes 30+ years of study and practice for them to learn them, that knowledge is valuable and certainly not for just anybody to give away or take. But I think just thinking about such things will help everybody develop a much better understanding and help them to learn their own secrets. 8)

 

[txkickergirl]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

One important thing I have learnt was that when you go from a metal detector with batteries to one that you need to charge, its a real b$%&h when you get to where you going only to find out you did not charge the battery. I need to invest in a car charger

 

[MD Dog]

Re: What's even more important than learning your machine ?

Hope you weren't too far from home txkickergirl