machineman
Senior Member
These are some of my views on finding jewelry with a metal detector, when not at the beach. (Urban Prospecting) I am not a pro if such a thing exists. I have not found mountains of jewelry. I have found some jewelry and my finds are increasing.
Some observations: Why do beach hunters find so much jewelry? They find a lot for these reasons.
1. They are looking for it almost exclusively.
2. They use powerful detectors with big coils. Covering huge amounts of ground.
3. They use low or no Disc and dig almost everything. The sand is soft, why not.
4. People lose a lot more jewelry swimming than any other activity that I know of.
5. The salt water tends to destroy most lighter metals. I.E. less trash.
6. A lot of Beach hunters hunt all or every day.
So how do we translate these observations to inland hunting?
1. Have jewelry in mind when you hunt. If you go out looking for coins you will be less likely to find jewelry. Jewelry is lost mostly during or around high energy activity areas. Sports fields, tot lots, basketball and volleyball courts, are my prefered areas to hunt in parks. Fresh water swim areas are probably best over all.
2. Use detectors that work well for gold. Higher frequencies are better for gold. Most detectors will detect a shallow gold ring but most wont give a good enough signal or VID on a chain or frilly piece.
3. Its a numbers game. In trashy areas this means you must dig a lot of targets. In fields it means you must cover lots of ground.
4. Learn your machine. This is probably the #1 best thing I can tell you. I am a detector jukey. I love trying new detectors always hoping to gain an edge. I have bought many over the years. The one I do best with is my Compadre. Its the first one I bought and the one I know best. It has no VID so I dig a lot. If in doubt I dig. I have recently been hunting with my Gold bug pro. When I first got it I couldn't make heads nor tails of what it was telling me. Now I regularly dig jewelry. The longer I have a detector the better I do with it.
5. This goes with #4. Try to guess what your about to dig. The longer you have the detector the better you will be at this. This way every target will be a learning experience.
6. Also goes with #4 practice and test. The best practice is field use as listed above. However I learned a lot doing air and in ground test at home. Mask targets and check how they sound, change settings and try again, ect. Make a test garden. Not with coins but with jewelery. You can get it back later.
Im sure there is more but I have other stuff to do, like go practice. Good luck happy hunting.
Some observations: Why do beach hunters find so much jewelry? They find a lot for these reasons.
1. They are looking for it almost exclusively.
2. They use powerful detectors with big coils. Covering huge amounts of ground.
3. They use low or no Disc and dig almost everything. The sand is soft, why not.
4. People lose a lot more jewelry swimming than any other activity that I know of.
5. The salt water tends to destroy most lighter metals. I.E. less trash.
6. A lot of Beach hunters hunt all or every day.
So how do we translate these observations to inland hunting?
1. Have jewelry in mind when you hunt. If you go out looking for coins you will be less likely to find jewelry. Jewelry is lost mostly during or around high energy activity areas. Sports fields, tot lots, basketball and volleyball courts, are my prefered areas to hunt in parks. Fresh water swim areas are probably best over all.
2. Use detectors that work well for gold. Higher frequencies are better for gold. Most detectors will detect a shallow gold ring but most wont give a good enough signal or VID on a chain or frilly piece.
3. Its a numbers game. In trashy areas this means you must dig a lot of targets. In fields it means you must cover lots of ground.
4. Learn your machine. This is probably the #1 best thing I can tell you. I am a detector jukey. I love trying new detectors always hoping to gain an edge. I have bought many over the years. The one I do best with is my Compadre. Its the first one I bought and the one I know best. It has no VID so I dig a lot. If in doubt I dig. I have recently been hunting with my Gold bug pro. When I first got it I couldn't make heads nor tails of what it was telling me. Now I regularly dig jewelry. The longer I have a detector the better I do with it.
5. This goes with #4. Try to guess what your about to dig. The longer you have the detector the better you will be at this. This way every target will be a learning experience.
6. Also goes with #4 practice and test. The best practice is field use as listed above. However I learned a lot doing air and in ground test at home. Mask targets and check how they sound, change settings and try again, ect. Make a test garden. Not with coins but with jewelery. You can get it back later.
Im sure there is more but I have other stuff to do, like go practice. Good luck happy hunting.