Show and tell

I get the point, I empathize too

I've come to realize that the scores we find here (on FMDF) and elsewhere are unusual. there just happens to be so many individuals trying to find the things they find. some are fulltimex2 dedicated, some are career detectorists, some are just plain lucky.

those find boasts are motivational for me, they show me what I could find if I hunt and hunt and hunt and hunt and hunt and hunt. as i get better, I expect more of myself. I expect to find a good spot, hunt it through and dig out similar finds. and I have (but not on the scale of some of these detectorists)

I personally desire thoroughness. I now have two examples of this. the first is my own back yard. I thought I had hunted it clean but just today within minutes of starting (and I only gave myself minutes, work and all), I found clad. The other day a random stranger came up and we talked and he indicated he had lost a ring. well, in finding his ring, I found another too.

the show and tell is motivation for me to be better, do better, hunt better. yet I too get frustrated that so few find so much. that leads me to my calculations. how many are on this site, how many hunt for how long each week, month, year? and how many find the goods we long for.

I say 99% of the hunters on this forum come up far short of the success those remaing 1% boast. 51500 members here...

we should relish in any one finding anything. we should learn as much as we can from those posts. we should also show off the good stuff when we find it, to motivate others to do their best as well.

-TK
 
Last edited:
My pet peeve with the ones that share is the lack of location. Now I don't mean the exact spot but at least the state or county. It would help give context to the find. If you don't want to reveal gps data wait until you get home to take pics.

As for not looking at other's finds, just don't click on topics that include them.

Cliff

Totally agree. More info !!!! Where. How deep. Farm land, Forrest suburbs ? Tips ? More info makes all finds. More interesting !
 
Trenchknife, I think what most people new to the hobby don't realize is that we go to very specific locations to find what we find. To paraphrase a famous saying, I have good judgment on where to go to find gold from experience. I have experience because of bad judgments I have made in the past.
If I go to the beach my idea is not just to go to one beach, my idea is to go to one spot, give it 20 minutes and if i see it is hopeless and bottom conditions are not right I will get my wet butt back in the car and try location number two. If that spot is also bad repeat until I find what I'm looking for. It may be half a mile down the road or 20 miles down the road.
I could tell you within 50 yards where I fully expect to find gold when I can get back out again, and that is from time invested and the knowledge gained in past trips to the town.
 
This is the best thread I’ve read on FMD by far...Lets keep it going.
Every Detectorists should be concerned about showing and telling especially when you get skunked out for many many moons NOT only from your so called “Buddy’s” but from your local hunters spying 🕵️!♀️ online nearby.No secrets if you share! There is over 50,000 members here,,,only a few dozen regularly share finds on this beach & water hunting forum sec ?? Do the math.Old timers and knowledgeable hunters don’t share finds for 1 Golden reason that you will only learn...The hard way.


”Those who share finds,Will find less.”
 
There is an old saying " 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish". This is true with MDing. Very few in numbers here can say they have hunted for 25+ years. For those that have , they have pretty much seen and done it all. Of course I got excited 3 weeks ago when I had a double gold day at the beach. But prior to that it was a good 2 months of no gold. It's hard to look back and count on all the 3-5 gold ring days I've had. They really don't happen for me anymore.

Now wrap your head around this : You basically top out over time and experience on reading a beach. Particularly beaches that are in your "backyard". You go to the beach after huge surf , high winds , a negative tide , perfect sand conditions , large crowds of beachgoers the last 2 months. And a 6' beach cut that's dug back into the beach a solid 30'. A dream just came true ! Only to have your soul crushed after 2 hours and there are NO targets. Talk about racking your brain trying to figure out what's wrong. It's not the detector , it's not you. You don't know what the heck it is. All longtime , hardcore hunters that I've known have experienced this a few times.

I guess my point is : stay in the moment when things are going good and you are on a roll. When it's hunt after hunt after hunt. Enjoy it ! Because surely it will end and all your left with is memories.
 
Detecting is not a way to make a living. It's a hobby and should be fun. It is true very few detectorist will help other detectorist. I try to help but few want to listen. It's a conundrum but I don't get anxiety over it. If you aren't having fun maybe a different hobby awaits you.
 
My pet peeve with the ones that share is the lack of location. Now I don't mean the exact spot but at least the state or county. It would help give context to the find. If you don't want to reveal gps data wait until you get home to take pics.

As for not looking at other's finds, just don't click on topics that include them.

Cliff

As I've mentioned before, I have met you at the Bolivar beach. That is not the beach I primarily hunt though. I hunt another beach but I'm not going to post it. I don't post pics either. I found 11 gold rings, one gold necklace, one small gold bracelet and three gold and silver earrings last year. I have found three gold rings this year. The day I met you I actually found a 14k gold pendant that fell off a necklace. I will show my finds at the club meetings and even tell a few where I found them. They just don't want to put in the time to learn what it takes to dig gold rings at the beach.

Galveston gets hit by their club members constantly. I hunt there maybe twice a year and it only takes me 35 minutes to get there. There are other beaches to hit south of Galveston though if you feel like making the drive. My buddy and I hit one a couple of weeks ago and he found a stunning woman's gold bracelet. He's like me though. He isn't saying where and he isn't posting. You've actually met him as well. In fact you spoke longer with him than you did me.
 
As I've mentioned before, I have met you at the Bolivar beach. That is not the beach I primarily hunt though. I hunt another beach but I'm not going to post it. I don't post pics either. I found 11 gold rings, one gold necklace, one small gold bracelet and three gold and silver earrings last year. I have found three gold rings this year. The day I met you I actually found a 14k gold pendant that fell off a necklace. I will show my finds at the club meetings and even tell a few where I found them. They just don't want to put in the time to learn what it takes to dig gold rings at the beach.



Galveston gets hit by their club members constantly. I hunt there maybe twice a year and it only takes me 35 minutes to get there. There are other beaches to hit south of Galveston though if you feel like making the drive. My buddy and I hit one a couple of weeks ago and he found a stunning woman's gold bracelet. He's like me though. He isn't saying where and he isn't posting. You've actually met him as well. In fact you spoke longer with him than you did me.
I hear what you are saying. I don't spend enough time hunting to ever be really good at finding the gold. However if someone wants to give me a tip I try to listen and learn. I rarely have anything worth posting but if I find something odd I might post and say "I found it on Bolivar" for example to add some context and make it more interesting. I see people posting a Large Cent for example. Now if it was found in New England that's not really odd but if it was found in Arkansas I would find that weird and special. That's what I mean about adding context.

I hope we meet up again someday soon. I enjoy talking to fellow detectorists and hearing stories. I also enjoy hunting with others even if I don't find much. I guess I'm odd but if someone shares a spot with me I won't go back without them unless they say it is ok. I also won't share that info with anyone else. I'm in this hobby for fun, not profit and I guess that's why I don't hunt as hard as I could.

Cliff
 
I enjoyed your post. One suggestion that might add some enjoyment of the hobby is to scale your expectations waaay back. Start by trying to complete the coin circuit (penny, nickel, dime, quarter)...it’s a lot less stressful needing to find a nickel than needing a gold ring! Add whatever else is more likely (although not guaranteed) to be found...sunglasses, bling, gray matter. Don’t worry, when the gold honker appears, none of the thrill is lost!
 
It’s no fun to go a lot and come up empty handed. Lot of people hunt the same beaches I do... and I mean a lot. So you don’t want to be bragging it up to much. I tell ya what keeps some from posting.... people looking for their lost rings. Local detection clubs, Facebook clubs, and ring finders. The hobby has really expanded with the Nox... it makes it very affordable. Not as many were willing to pop for $1500 +. It doesn’t concern me when I hunt behind people... I get it or I don’t.
 
It’s no fun to go a lot and come up empty handed. Lot of people hunt the same beaches I do... and I mean a lot. So you don’t want to be bragging it up to much. I tell ya what keeps some from posting.... people looking for their lost rings. Local detection clubs, Facebook clubs, and ring finders. The hobby has really expanded with the Nox... it makes it very affordable. Not as many were willing to pop for $1500 +. It doesn’t concern me when I hunt behind people... I get it or I don’t.

Funny that you mention this, I was always curious why minelab would make a machine like the nox, it seems to do well in the wet but is at a very low price point. I suppose from a business point of view it makes sense, however from my foxhole...
 
When the NOx was first discussed it literally halted the sales of many machines while we waited. As a beach machine i dont believe ML realized its potential .... i mean they didnt even have waterproof headphone for a good 5 months after its release. There were problems and still are.....BUT the 3 year warranty and their williness to fix anything has made people jump on board. They have killed the sale of their own beach machines for the most part.... the Xcal and the CTX. Even hurt resales of these machines. This machine has hurt a lot of companies in that price range or higher and opened up beach hunting to a lot more people too. Even machines from other companies now are finding it difficult to release a machine that will compete price, warranty and performance wise as a multi use machine.
 
“I enjoy the show. It helps me to stay motivated to go digging. Knowing that at my age I will come home totally worn out with maybe a few dollars in clad. But once in a while something comes out of the dirt or sand that raises my heart rate and makes the effort all seem worth while. Yes I certainly would like to find goodies like some of the people do but it still motivates me to get off my old backside and go get some exercise I rarely find anything that I feel is worth posting pictures of. I am not in competition with everyone who detects. I am in competition with the dirt or sand that is hiding the goodies from me. Once in a while I win.“


Georgeinsc, Perhaps, a large contributor to constant good finds is pure tenacity, the push to keep going when everything hurts. In that aspect, seeing others success has given me the drive to go non stop until I find what I am looking for. It has made me ponder at times, what do I have to do to have a 3 gold ring day. It does tend to motivate.

I've had a couple of those 3 gold ring days. It comes down to two things:

1) 90% Putting yourself in a position/location to find such
2) 10% luck.

No two ways about it. Sometimes I just find gold rings passing from one area to the other. Keeping my detector ON and swinging while I'm walking across a field is what makes the difference, but getting that coil over the only gold in that field? That's just luck.

Gotta have #1 to take advantage of #2, though.

And for finding multiples? It sure does help when they're all in the same hole/drop! LOL Again..> luck.

Skippy
 
Now wrap your head around this : You basically top out over time and experience on reading a beach. Particularly beaches that are in your "backyard". You go to the beach after huge surf , high winds , a negative tide , perfect sand conditions , large crowds of beachgoers the last 2 months. And a 6' beach cut that's dug back into the beach a solid 30'. A dream just came true ! Only to have your soul crushed after 2 hours and there are NO targets. Talk about racking your brain trying to figure out what's wrong. It's not the detector , it's not you. You don't know what the heck it is. All longtime , hardcore hunters that I've known have experienced this a few times.

Yep, The targets have to be there, to find them. sometimes, stuff just isn't there!

I do tend to think, though, that we can sometimes WILL the stuff into existence. :)

Skippy
 
There is an old saying " 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish". This is true with MDing. Very few in numbers here can say they have hunted for 25+ years. For those that have , they have pretty much seen and done it all. Of course I got excited 3 weeks ago when I had a double gold day at the beach. But prior to that it was a good 2 months of no gold. It's hard to look back and count on all the 3-5 gold ring days I've had. They really don't happen for me anymore.

Now wrap your head around this : You basically top out over time and experience on reading a beach. Particularly beaches that are in your "backyard". You go to the beach after huge surf , high winds , a negative tide , perfect sand conditions , large crowds of beachgoers the last 2 months. And a 6' beach cut that's dug back into the beach a solid 30'. A dream just came true ! Only to have your soul crushed after 2 hours and there are NO targets. Talk about racking your brain trying to figure out what's wrong. It's not the detector , it's not you. You don't know what the heck it is. All longtime , hardcore hunters that I've known have experienced this a few times.

I guess my point is : stay in the moment when things are going good and you are on a roll. When it's hunt after hunt after hunt. Enjoy it ! Because surely it will end and all your left with is memories.


The KOB has certainly put in the time and experienced “ghost cuts” like us 10%ers. Most beach hunters haven’t earned that kind of hard work yet,or even heard of that mysterious erosion occurring...Besides taking pictures and tubing,, it is a catch 22 also from verbally shareing years of knowledge of any kind with folks online who you never even met! Take the deadliest catch tv show for example,Those in the wheel house no better about showing and telling with other captains out searching for crabs.


I can tell what beach you’re at just by the sand grains & cobble in the background.
 
The KOB has certainly put in the time and experienced “ghost cuts” like us 10%ers. Most beach hunters haven’t earned that kind of hard work yet,or even heard of that mysterious erosion occurring...Besides taking pictures and tubing,, it is a catch 22 also from verbally shareing years of knowledge of any kind with folks online who you never even met! Take the deadliest catch tv show for example,Those in the wheel house no better about showing and telling with other captains out searching for crabs.


I can tell what beach you’re at just by the sand grains & cobble in the background.

You must be Lord STAN !
 
You are correct on the catch 22 thing. But as I get older , there are some things that don't matter as much anymore. I don't mind sharing a little knowledge. In So.Cal , the coastline is only so long. It's not hard to find what is accessible , but is physically time consuming. All the major beaches are well known. But within those beaches are where the true secrets lie. The crab guys are similar , but you still have to catch them yourself once put on the location. I have led a few horses to water , but they couldn't or wouldn't , drink the water !
As in they couldn't find gold once being led to the promised land !
 
Since I am new to the St Pete area, I have no secret beaches. They are all pretty much out there for everyone to find. My strategy today was to go to a section of the beach that didn't look like it would hold a bonanza of finds, search in as big of a grid as I could in my 2 1/2 hours of available MD time...knowing the likelihood of finding much would be remote but the possibility of something lost a year or so ago still being there made it okay. I found 60 cents......and trash of course.....so....maybe a different strategy....or maybe it's a decent strategy but needs some refining.....of maybe I found just about what I figured I'd find....and well.....that makes me smart right ???? LOL ...maybe not. There's probably a non flatterinig name for a MD that uses that strategy.....Anyways public service message "Don't get into metal detecting....All the gold is gone !!" ;0)
 
Back
Top Bottom