Small wonders

Last weekend I went on a metal detecting trip to North Carolina searching for civil war era coins and artifacts, giving me the opportunity to search inland woods and farmland. 

It was a fun weekend with a great group of people well away from my usual coastline treasure hunts. 

When you step outside your regular metal detecting world you often learn a thing or two about your treasure hunting equipment and search techniques and how they fit with the new situation you find yourself dealing with.

One of the reasons I like searching a wide variety of sites for different things is because you can learn new things no matter how experienced you think you are.

Unfortunately for me the first thing I learned was to pack a small search coil when traveling to an unfamiliar metal detecting site, boy did I get bogged down in trash infested areas using  a large search coil. 

Bad packing and pre travel decision on my part as I usually never travel without a small sniper coil just in case of the situation I found myself in. 

An unforeseen change of search sites threw a proverbial relic hunting wrench in my well thought out ground coverage and target depth over target separation plan.  

Instead of using two different large search coils to detect deeply buried civil war artifacts in the woods, I used the same large search coils over trash infested fields next to old home sites.

Im fond of saying to find the treasure you have to dig thru the trash but this was cray cray.

I recovered a few good finds but it was very hard work dealing with large amounts of iron and junk non ferrous targets, both iron and target masking lead to good stuff not being heard above the threshold chatter at very trashy sites.

Another thing I learned was a new found respect for VDI target readouts as digging it all is not the best option in real trashy areas, in certain situations target conductivity and ferrous property readouts save you valuable search and digging time.

Above all this trip just cemented what I have put in almost every treasure hunting related book I have written, you have to be prepared and ready for any metal detecting situation.
Another advantage to small search coils is they are easier to sweep in-between bushes and tree roots,  notoriously difficult to detect places because a large search coil cannot get to them.
If you haven't got a small search coil in your metal detecting arsenal I suggest you pick one up because they can really make a difference on trashy sites.
Here are a couple of my favorite small search coils for winkling out good stuff at trashy sites, the Coiltek 10 x 5 elliptical for the Minelab CTX 3030 and Minelab 6 inch for the Equinox 800

You never know when you are going to run across a situation where target separation over target depth is the way to fill your finds pouch with goodies.
To find the treasure you often have to go thru the trash as the best finds are often hidden in plain sight and you have to winkle them out.

Expanding the search

If you've been following this blog for a while you may have already picked up that I do things a little differently to the majority of beach hunters. 
One of those things I do differently is trying new or different sites, you wont catch me going to the same one or two beaches all the time because I actually enjoy trying out new sites.
Id hate to be that guy posting photos of one or two beaches every day and moaning about sanded-in conditions and finds droughts.
You have to try new search areas if you want to recover what you are searching for on a regular basis.
When you avoid going to the same one or two sites you learn a lot more beach and site reading skills because you are  exposed to more metal detecting situations. 
This week I tried three areas I have never searched before, only one had potential and I will keep an eye out for the conditions I believe will allow me to be more successful there.
Today I will try another site Ive passed on my travels but I never stopped to check it out, sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling and I hope it pays off.
'It is so tempting when you have success at one site to keep returning and hoping you find something else, but it is important to understand why you were successful at that site instead of blindly returning in the hope of detecting something else good.
There is always a logical reason why you detected and recovered a find and believe me it is not because you kept blindly hammering away at the same site regardless of the conditions.  
Site reading and searching skills you pick up along the way help you be a more all around beach hunter, especially when you metal detecting time is not confined to only one or two sites. 
Here are a few pieces of lead from a recent treasure coast beach hunt at a site Id never been to before, these type of recoveries tell me I have a chance of detecting old coins and other artifacts in that area.

Hey it beats going to the same site all the regular searchers hit every time they go metal detecting.
You'll never know what is possible unless you expand your searches, you'll get skunked a few times but when you do discover a hot site you have the place all to yourselves.
Having a wide variety of sites to search leads to a wide variety of finds and very full and interesting display cases, something to think about if you are ready to metal detecting this weekend.
   

              Available at www.garydrayton.com 

Spot the difference

One of the many advantages of not looking at a metal detector screen while searching is being able to see subtle differences in the terrain you are walking over. 
You carry and use a metal detector but there are plenty of non metallic finds you can eyeball while metal detecting, some can be more valuable than the metal objects you are searching for.
I love spotting coins, jewelry or artifacts that I am searching for hiding in plain sight, such as these pieces of Florida Ais native american pottery sherds, recovered on a recent Spanish treasure hunt. 

Anything that stands out from the natural search surroundings when metal detecting should be picked up and investigated, assuming you are not walking around looking at the darn metal detector screen waiting for numbers to appear.  
Several years ago I searched an eroded section of a well known Spanish 1715 fleet shipwreck beach, with a 6ft cut running for several hundred yards along the beach.
I was following a local guy who had his eyes locked on his display screen, he didn't notice the large rim of a piece of 1715 fleet silver plate protruding from the wall of sand we were both following. 
Low hanging treasure fruit for someone metal detecting and watching for anything out of the ordinary in the search area, I often pull pieces of old pottery, glass and even fossils out of cuts on eroded beaches. 
Look for anything out of place in the search area, for example straight lines in rocky areas, different colors or shapes or textures. 
If something catches your eye pick it up and put it in your finds pouch for further inspection.
If you find out its nothing when you get home throw it away, but Im sure you will have more pleasant surprises playing it safe and stopping to pick up unusual objects.
Pottery sherds are excellent signs of previous activity in an area, broken glass and pieces of clay pipe can also help date a site and lead you to what you are really hoping to find with your metal detector.
Im a Spanish treasure hunter at heart and I still hunt by ear only relying on signal interpretation to influence my digging decisions. 
When you hunt by ear your eyes are free to focus on what is really important to a person using a metal detector, site reading skills! 
The quote "Cant see the forest for the trees" comes to mind, especially if you are searching for old coins and artifacts. 
Keep your eyes on the ground if you don't want to leave cool finds behind for the next person following with a metal detector not interested in target ID numbers. 


                                       

            Available at www.garydrayton.com 

Weekend warriors get ready to rumble

If you work for a living and own a metal detector, Thursday or Friday is when you start to think about where and when you are going to go metal detecting over the weekend.
Where and when are you going to search as well as putting work in your rear view mirror for a couple of days.
There is no use fretting over who has been searching areas while you were working your butt off all week, who you are potentially following or who is already searching the site when you get there. 
All that matters is how you search the sites you choose when you make it to the beach over the weekend.
That is why I am and always have been a methodical son of a beach using a metal detector, Im used to following and finding stuff behind other beach hunters over the weekend.
I figured if I had to be a weekend warrior I was going to use every trick in the book to be successful on the only two days I was free too metal detect.
So here are a couple of those weekend warrior tricks I used to detect coins, jewelry and artifacts following people lucky enough to go metal detecting during the week. 

Work on timing

At tourist type beaches, avoid hitting the beach early Saturday morning because you are way too early to take advantage of weekend crowds at tourist beaches. 
The whole point of hitting a busy beach over a weekend is to find stuff lost during the busiest two days of the beach week.
Try searching Saturday evening or even better Sunday evening, all it takes is patience and a little will power. 
You will have more success searching after the weekend beach crowds than before the expected beach crowds. 
Now you know why It does not matter how many people you see metal detecting at a tourist beach on a Saturday morning, they are in the same boat as you searching the beach before anything has been lost. 
Other good times to start your weekend searches off are Saturday evening or Sunday morning if you don't have the opportunity to search on a Sunday afternoon or evening. 
You can also add Monday evening into the mix is its a three day holiday weekend, when beaches are even more crowded if the weather is nice. 
Please don't get me started on going metal detecting two hours before low tide advice, it sounds like something I would invent to get people to stay home instead of metal detecting my local beaches lol. 
Holding off going metal detecting so you have more lower beach to search may have been option years ago but more people are searching for Bobby Dazzlers at the beach now.
Perhaps time your weekend searches to coincide with the magic four hour low tide mark, when you know other beach hunters are still waiting at home. 

ROI 

It really is about return on investment being a weekend warrior, maximizing your chances of recovering coins, jewelry or artifacts over the only two days you get to swing your metal detector search coil.
No matter if you search tourist type beaches or remote shipwreck beaches, it is better to find something worth your valuable weekend metal detecting time. 
During the work week come up with a plan to be successful, for example check beach surf projections to help you decide what beaches will have favorable search conditions.
Check out beach webcams to hopefully show you where people are using the beach or what  the lower beach looks like in real time.
Always think about the percentages, how many people do you think you are competing against for the available metal detecting finds at any given search site.
Perhaps you increase your chances of success choosing a site that fewer or no people search.
For example a beach always mentioned on blogs or detecting forums is going to be heavily hunted, so try searching somewhere else knowing exactly where the competition is heading at the weekend.
Preparation and foresight are often the keys to being a successful weekend warrior, oh and don't forget to charge your metal detector batteries!

For many more weekend warrior tips visit my website books page and invest in my "Hardcore beach hunting" or "Guide to searching heavily hunted beaches" books.  

                    

 Available at www.garydrayton.com