Myers Depot Metal Detectors

"My First Few Times Out and What I'll Experience"

S

smokey888x2

New Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
4
Here's the situation: I've never been hunting and lets say I've purchased a pretty good detector and my accessories are pretty good too. Maybe a little ahead of myself in this field.

I've also did some reading on my new machine. I'm in central IL, west part. I've experimented some with coins in my back yard. Because I don't know what all I can look for, I start looking for coins as my primary goal.

I've done some research about where to look. One is a site where my great great grandfather lived, another one is park which I know has been looked over before. There's another place too, down some railroad tracks that I recall as a kid, other kids would take money they stole and they would hide it under a small culvert where the tracks are.

I don't know much about soils at all.

What kind of problems could I run into w/ this machine that I've probably got which is definitely ahead of myself a bit but I've read some and experimented some.
 
The problem I see most often in that situation, is people will lose confidence in "that machine" when they don't find pocket loads of goodies right away. A high end detector doesn't ensure you will always find good stuff, it only increases the odds.

Patients is very important in most situations. Granted, there are those that walk out first time with that $200 detector and find silver or gold, but thats just not going to be the case for most of us. The problem is people often blame the detector for not bring home the good stuff, when its up to you to swing the coil over the good stuff. Do that and your detector will most likely tell you.

There has been 3 of us experienced hunters that have hunted Sunnyside grade school for at least 10 years with little more than a wheat or two to show for the time. Last year that same school produced over 50 rings, silver coins and tons of wheats. We used the same detector and hunted the same general areas, so why all of the sudden this place started giving it up after 10 years is not understood.

We have hunted places that we know should produce old coins and found nothing. Time after time we continue to go back, but to date have found nothing like what should be there. It could be that this place is a favorite hunting spot of someone else, and they have all but cleaned it out, or it could be another one of those Sunnyside Schools that will start giving it up after time.

Have confidence in your detectors ability to find the good stuff if you get the coil over it, and you'll realize if you're not finding the stuff, it's probably your fault and not the detectors.
 
In your situation I would VERY highly recommend starting out somewhere other than those places you have mentioned. They sound like great places, and you should certainly hit them at some point, but in my opinion it would be in you best interest to start out somewhere much easier.

Your own yard is a good option because you don't have to worry about what you do to the grass. You are likely to find that getting a target out of the ground is much, much harder than it sounds. It takes practice to pinpoint, dig holes, and find a target. Reading about it before hand helps, but is only of limited use.

I would also advise finding a local tot lot and giving it a go in the wood chips for one of your first hunts. Finding modern clad may not be your thing but it will provide invaluable experience with pinpointing and how your machine works in general. And again, you don't have to worry about killing grass.

Here a couple of posts that may be of interest from when I first started:

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=4969

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=5123

Detector is dead on though. If you come into this thinking you are going to find great items right off the bat you have a pretty good chance of being disappointed. And if you DON'T find great items, there is an inclination to question one's machine, which in my opinion is only the reason maybe 2% of the time.

Of course, on the other hand you could be one of those guys that finds gold rings and silver dollars on his first hunt in which case I will stop giving you my limited insight and start asking you for some!

Good luck!
 
Detector said:
The problem I see most often in that situation, is people will lose confidence in "that machine" when they don't find pocket loads of goodies right away. A high end detector doesn't ensure you will always find good stuff, it only increases the odds.

Patients is very important in most situations. Granted, there are those that walk out first time with that $200 detector and find silver or gold, but thats just not going to be the case for most of us. The problem is people often blame the detector for not bring home the good stuff, when its up to you to swing the coil over the good stuff. Do that and your detector will most likely tell you.

There has been 3 of us experienced hunters that have hunted Sunnyside grade school for at least 10 years with little more than a wheat or two to show for the time. Last year that same school produced over 50 rings, silver coins and tons of wheats. We used the same detector and hunted the same general areas, so why all of the sudden this place started giving it up after 10 years is not understood.

We have hunted places that we know should produce old coins and found nothing. Time after time we continue to go back, but to date have found nothing like what should be there. It could be that this place is a favorite hunting spot of someone else, and they have all but cleaned it out, or it could be another one of those Sunnyside Schools that will start giving it up after time.

Have confidence in your detectors ability to find the good stuff if you get the coil over it, and you'll realize if you're not finding the stuff, it's probably your fault and not the detectors.
Click to expand...

Can't put it much better than that, great comments!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom