Big Boys Hobbies

Where did you do your first detecting?

Outbackwack

Outbackwack

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2013
Messages
43
Location
Boston, Phoenix
I'm just curious where you went detecting for the first time other than in your own yard (assuming your yard isn't of civil war era or equivalent historical significance). Why did you choose that specific place? Was it successful? Would you pick the same kind of place today?

The reason I ask is that I'll be getting my AT Pro next week and after playing around with it I need to decided where to go first.

1. My town hosts the oldest ongoing agricultural fair in the country (1818). It starts in a couple of weeks and runs for a week.
2. I live on a large fresh water shallow pond with a private beach area and there used to be a resort of sorts on the pond around 1900
3. There are several cellar holes in the woods nearby
4. I live 20 minutes from the beaches
5. My wife's ancestors owned a lot of land in town going back hundreds of years and she knows everything about most of it.

Thanks in advance for your experiences and thoughts!
 
WOW.......... sounds like you don't need any help.

I am getting my AT Pro this week and I used my brothers and went to the park by my house mainly because of location. However I did find a 1902 Liberty head Nickel
And some Clad. The park is between 75 and 100 years old.

I do plan to go back with the AT Pro and see what I missed.
 
Most people try it out in their own yard first. Sometimes they have awesome old dirt with lots of history, and others have regular yards with few suprises. It's always good to practice your plug digging in your own dirt until you get the hang of it. Beaches and woodchip tot-lots are also good for practice. : )
 
Starting on your own property is always the best choice. You can learn at your pace, take breaks as often as you like. It's really important to learn to retrieve your targets, without leaving a huge mess. Sure, it'll fix itself, eventually... But, in public places, or on other people's property, it doesn't get the same consideration. You want to be able to go back and hunt several times. You won't cover the who site in a day, or even many months. Relatives usually keep in touch, so you want to leave them with a pleasant experience. Don't let inexperience close doors on you, before you really get started.

Like the freshwater pond and private beach area, heaven on hot summer days/nights, add a few beers, and a pocket full of change from the convenience store...
 
Revere Beach

A friend of mine had a Whites detector back in 1990, and wanted to hunt Revere Beach, but didn't know how to get there. I did and took him there, it was winter, so no one else was at the beach. He would find things, point at the sand, I would scoop up his finds and give them to him. Well after the third trip it dawned on me, I should have a detector and be digging up my own stuff. My first trip was with him to Revere beach with my Whites detector. Artie
 
My own, then parents, in-laws farm, local park, (now thinking of trying the shallow creek at the park.. at least downstream from the walking bridge..)
 
I did my yard first... then hit a couple of local parks with lots of history. I agree with the above posts, I didn't go anywhere until I had my pin pointing & plug digging down from mine and a neighbors yard (with permission of course) :yes:. Good Luck & HH!
 
I don't recall where I first detected, but the only silver dollar ever found was
dug out of my front sidewalk blv.

It was a 1966 Canada silver dollar, but I thought it was a tin can and damaged
it badly, but silver is silver..

hh
 
I personally think it is a mistake to waste time detecting your best old sites starting out. These sites tend to be junky a lot of times, and starting out in junky sites only teaches you to dig junk. I think you would be better of detecting for clad at a messy park or school.
 
My first hunts were dad's front yard where I couldn't find anything because of powerline interference aside from locating the water main :laughing: and digging up several blades from a plumbers pipe saw. Then tried totlot in middle of a tiny rural town and found nothing so got all discouraged with my machine only to learn months later that place just never has anything in the totlot. Then I went on to hunt an old park where I dug nothing but beer cans for hours before finally finding a penny! I finally figured out what I was doing after about a month.:lol:
 
I started out in my yard first...found my most impressive find yet (1914 'd' wheatie) ans then moved to a local park after getting permission, then local high school after permission and now spreading out into the town next to me.

Your yard is best or fields where you can dig some ugly holes when you start and the grubby looking refill wont stand out so much.

If you have some land too then do some air testing with your ATP and get some numbers using your jewelry and some things like bottle tops, ring pulls, etc to tune your ears in..you don't want to be walking with your head down all the time..it puts a crick in your neck like you wouldn't believe.

Get some good ideas for gold/silver/copper/brass target sounds.

If you're going to the beach you might want to consider a long handled scoop with the grill on the back to get that sand out quicker then the drilled base.

And really get yourself a garrett pro pointer if you can afford one..it makes retrieving finds a lot easier and will save your knees and digging for ages for a find that was only 2" down.
 
My first place was a local church picnic ground/ play ground area and I found $9.25 in clad, 2 dog collar tags, a matchbox car, a house key, and one wheatie.


If I had your choices, I'd go right to that beach resort area first! That sounds awesome. Also, depending on what you know about your wife's land, that sounds interesting as well.

Cellar holes will be better hunting in a few weeks when the poison ivy turns red and things start dying off so you can get in there better. Also less bugs as it gets colder. When do the leaves start turning where you live? That's when the woods hunting gets good, IMHO.
 
abbynormal said:
If I had your choices, I'd go right to that beach resort area first! That sounds awesome.
Click to expand...

After seeing what imalookin2 found on his vacation to Fla, I am beginning to think people should start out water detecting. Even freshwater. Get an Excal or waterproof fisher, and just stay in the water. Forget the history until you have found a few thous dollars worth of gold...
 
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