Beaches and Pull-Tabs

chief-w · Mar 31, 2014

I am relatively new to the hobby and just getting back into "the-swing" of things but I have a question about beaches and pull-tabs. I am finding huge numbers of these things (probably getting close to 150) on the beaches where I frequent just in my last 5 hours of detecting. listening to the advice here, I dig everything...

I am making an assumption that if I am finding pull-tabs that the area probably also has gold as well. To date I have found a lot of clad, to include nickels which are near the same conductance, but not a single ring. Is this a good assumption to be making?

stewart73 · Mar 31, 2014

Unfortunately, no. The presence of pulltabs in no way is an assurance of there being gold in the same area. Gold is heavy, pulltabs are light. Not to say that you won't find in the same area but normally if you are getting only light stuff like pulltabs it means the beach is sanded in and the gold will be out of reach. If however you are pulling these pulltabs from way down in the compact sand/mud then there might be some good stuff mixed in there too. The ocean tends to sort things out according to size and weight though...for finding gold, chunks of lead and fishing weights would be a better sign than pulltabs. Though the reality is that the infernal pulltabs are *everywhere*. :lol:

I think the connection that people make between pulltabs and gold is that they can often give off the same sounding signal, hence having to 'dig it all'. You discriminate out pulltabs and you discriminate out gold...doesn't mean however the presence of one guarantees the presence of the other. :yes:

Surfchunker · Mar 31, 2014

gold is like all metals ... the bigger the piece the higher it will ring up

chief-w · Mar 31, 2014

Thank you for the reply. I was going on the premise that because they are so many and close to the same signal, that nobody is digging there. The beaches are quite active and I have dug them as deep as 12-14 inches.

stewart73 · Mar 31, 2014

chief-w said:
Thank you for the reply. I was going on the premise that because they are so many and close to the same signal, that nobody is digging there. The beaches are quite active and I have dug them as deep as 12-14 inches.

Ah I see...in that case it might be there are some good targets others have missed. Often areas with a ton of trash are areas that others haven't bothered with because they can't be bothered digging it all...in that sense there might be something hiding in there that others have never found.

Cfmct · Mar 31, 2014

chief-w said:
Thank you for the reply. I was going on the premise that because they are so many and close to the same signal, that nobody is digging there. The beaches are quite active and I have dug them as deep as 12-14 inches.

If you are pulling pull tabs that deep you aren't going to find any gold there

ksmxt hunter · Mar 31, 2014

so sometimes you have to take the surface trash off then you will be able to really do some searching keep at it :cool:

Chipk · Apr 1, 2014

Well one indisputable rule is " You can't find what isn't there!"many people think the world is generously littered with lost, abandoned or discarded jewelry that is just waiting for someone to find. I hunt nearly every day (I am retired) and the third will be my first anniversary for dirt fishing. I spent a lot of time at the beach and have NEVER found anything bling beyond junkers there. It took me 7 months to find any silver or gold and those came from parks and ball fields. Many people on this forum confess to still be looking for their first ring and many of them are seasoned veterans. Some find it on their first hunt. Some find it routinely.

If gold and silver are your goal you may need to branch out to new spots. BUT if you stick with it you will find it. I invite you to see the post I placed Saturday which was a review of my first year. I started slow but steadily improved and ended up with plenty of finds. There are lots of pictures.

Good luck!

DIGGER27 · Apr 2, 2014

My first gold ring was tiny and about 7" deep in the sand at a small inland beach where there were so many tabs I believe it was a major breeding ground.
I would dig over a hundred in one area, totally clean it out and then come back a week or two later and in that same exact area there were so many it was like I was never there before.
People are pigs, and why they rip those stay tabs off the cans like they do I have no idea.

I might suggest if you want a site where you must dig trash but would like a much higher percentage of jewelry possible including gold, try hunting around a basketball court sometime.
One of the best sites for finding jewelry I have ever found and if you don't mind doing the work the rewards could be well worth it.

chief-w · Apr 3, 2014

Thank you all for the advice. I don't mind digging the tabs but I think part of my problem may be that they must have added sand to the beach so anything there may just be too deep to find.

I have been doing some research and found an old park where students use to meet before going to an old high school. With a new school being built a few years ago, the park is almost unused now and it is in an old part of town and I plan to go there the first opportunity I get. It is also very trashy as Digger27 noted, people are pigs. So I am also looking forward to cleaning it up as I go along so others can enjoy it more as well.

albiediggin · Apr 3, 2014

A few weeks ago I got a nice 14k ring mixed in with 5 beaver tails. It was weird cause the ring rang in lower but it also hit harder. On the beach I found that digging everything is the best way to go.

Beaches and Pull-Tabs

chief-w

Junior Member

stewart73

Surfchunker

Elite Member

chief-w

Junior Member

stewart73

Cfmct

Administrator

ksmxt hunter

Junior Member

Chipk

Elite Member

DIGGER27

In Memory Of

chief-w

Junior Member

albiediggin

Elite Member

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