Jason in Enid
Elite Member
OK, I feel a bit remiss... I have neglected to post about my hunts from the last 2 weeks! 
Sometimes I get so caught up in posting it to social media I forget about posting it to the "detecting media" 
Anyway....
So, I finally got my Equinox800 out to my local lake beach for a test spin.
-background-
I have been hunting this beach for 18 years. It was a secret garden of silver when I started. 5+ sterlings and handfulls of coins every hunt. over the years, finds dropped (as I hunted them out!). I never found gold until a severe drought lowered the lake, exposing the swimming area, then gold and more silver emerged, but eventually it got low on finds again. Now the lake has re-filled. Now I have a new detector to try to find some some tiny missed gold.
Last week-
I think there must be someone else hunting my beach because the dry sand was D E A D. A couple fresh drop coins and couple pieces of trash. Reluctantly I headed into the water, because I hadnt planned on it. I dont have waterproof phones yet. I decided it was worth the minimal risk in a few inches, maybe knee deep. It was night and day! I immediately began getting hits. Pulltab, pulltab, pulltab,
then coins... green and black crusty coins that you couldn't see anything of the actual target, just corroded sand cookies. Then rings (and more tabs). Very first ring was a 10K gold with a tiny stone chip in the center. Then black and crusty silver rings and some very crusty junkers.
The most amazing part of this was that I never left a 10ft area!! I was just turning in circles digging targets! I've hunted this spot, hundreds of times. I hunted it underwater and when it was dry. This lake beach was damn near silent the last few times I visited. Crown caps? Every single cap I dug was with another target. Sometimes tabs, sometimes coins, sometimes rings. Every time I saw one in the scoop I though I had been fooled, but I always found something else with it.
My only problem has been what I THINK are lead balls, but its a guess.... I never got one to the surface. They hit solid with a 5 or 6, but are gone (with the sand) before I can get the scoop up. My guess is buckshot pellets, because 22 bullets are hitting like nickels (have dug many in the dirt) so this is likely something much smaller. Even though I know what probably is, its maddening to walk away from a solid target response.
Then I went back yesterday
Not only was it the same beach, it was the exact same patch I worked last week. Where the hell are all these targets coming from for one spot?!
Not all bad news, I did get 3 more silvers today (well, 2 and a 1/2
) Theres a bunch more crusty coins in the pile as well, just not separated out yet.
Here are the 2 rings after a little cleaning. Also a teeny tiny junk ring I found in the scoop while going after another target. One of the junkers I dug last week actually had a silver top on a copper ring. And a crappy stainless POS. I wish people would buy REAL jewelry instead of this garbage.
I'm trying to find the local COE office to see if I can bring my 3 inch dredge for "voluntary trash remediation"
Seriously though, there is so much glass in the sand, its a wonder people arent getting cut up feet.
Sometimes I get so caught up in posting it to social media I forget about posting it to the "detecting media" Anyway....
So, I finally got my Equinox800 out to my local lake beach for a test spin.
-background-
I have been hunting this beach for 18 years. It was a secret garden of silver when I started. 5+ sterlings and handfulls of coins every hunt. over the years, finds dropped (as I hunted them out!). I never found gold until a severe drought lowered the lake, exposing the swimming area, then gold and more silver emerged, but eventually it got low on finds again. Now the lake has re-filled. Now I have a new detector to try to find some some tiny missed gold.
Last week-
I think there must be someone else hunting my beach because the dry sand was D E A D. A couple fresh drop coins and couple pieces of trash. Reluctantly I headed into the water, because I hadnt planned on it. I dont have waterproof phones yet. I decided it was worth the minimal risk in a few inches, maybe knee deep. It was night and day! I immediately began getting hits. Pulltab, pulltab, pulltab,
then coins... green and black crusty coins that you couldn't see anything of the actual target, just corroded sand cookies. Then rings (and more tabs). Very first ring was a 10K gold with a tiny stone chip in the center. Then black and crusty silver rings and some very crusty junkers.
The most amazing part of this was that I never left a 10ft area!! I was just turning in circles digging targets! I've hunted this spot, hundreds of times. I hunted it underwater and when it was dry. This lake beach was damn near silent the last few times I visited. Crown caps? Every single cap I dug was with another target. Sometimes tabs, sometimes coins, sometimes rings. Every time I saw one in the scoop I though I had been fooled, but I always found something else with it.
My only problem has been what I THINK are lead balls, but its a guess.... I never got one to the surface. They hit solid with a 5 or 6, but are gone (with the sand) before I can get the scoop up. My guess is buckshot pellets, because 22 bullets are hitting like nickels (have dug many in the dirt) so this is likely something much smaller. Even though I know what probably is, its maddening to walk away from a solid target response.
Then I went back yesterday
Not only was it the same beach, it was the exact same patch I worked last week. Where the hell are all these targets coming from for one spot?!
Not all bad news, I did get 3 more silvers today (well, 2 and a 1/2
) Theres a bunch more crusty coins in the pile as well, just not separated out yet. Here are the 2 rings after a little cleaning. Also a teeny tiny junk ring I found in the scoop while going after another target. One of the junkers I dug last week actually had a silver top on a copper ring. And a crappy stainless POS. I wish people would buy REAL jewelry instead of this garbage.
I'm trying to find the local COE office to see if I can bring my 3 inch dredge for "voluntary trash remediation"
Seriously though, there is so much glass in the sand, its a wonder people arent getting cut up feet.
Congrats on the gold and the Equinox working out for you so far!
seriously crazy amount of targets.
