questions about hunted beaches and pull-tabs

[Indybeachhunter]

So I finally got out of Indiana, and down to Florida for some beach hunting. I'm putting in some time to learn my Fisher cz70 pro. I've got about 8 hours of hunting in, blended between dry and wet sand + a bit of ankle deep low areas.

I'm in ft myers beach, and went out at 5:30 on Sunday morning. There were at least 5 other guys out at that time, down by the pier (anyone here?). Some in the water, and some on land.

My question is about pull tabs. I read "dig it all" over and over, which I have been doing. I am finding lots of pull tabs, both new and old style. Do you think these other hunters are discriminating these, or just know to pass on them due to location/depth? Some have been kind of deep, 6-8". Some have hot solid as a pull-tab on my machine, but others have bounced into foil, nickel, and $ categories.

I'm finding a bit of clad in both the wet and dry, so that keeps my spirits up. I am having fun and enjoying the weather.

Any tips would be appreciated!

[RickO]

If you discriminate them out, you will also pass up gold and maybe some other goodies... dig it all...also, 'read' the beach and look for cuts and troughs. RickO

[Indybeachhunter]

Originally Posted by RickO

If you discriminate them out, you will also pass up gold and maybe some other goodies... dig it all...also, 'read' the beach and look for cuts and troughs. RickO

That's definitely been, and will remain my strategy. I was just surprised to find so many in close proximity to so many other hunters. I think I dug 6 in a trough, that looked like an obvious place, BUT I'm not experienced. This is an area near lots of bars, so I know pull tabs are plentiful. I felt good to be digging the old style pull tabs in this trough, which should speak to the age of the layer I was in??

[IntoIt]

Pull tabs just come with finding treasure, They have been known to drive some people insane.

[Rob479]

Originally Posted by RickO

If you discriminate them out, you will also pass up gold and maybe some other goodies... dig it all...also, 'read' the beach and look for cuts and troughs. RickO

Unless you have an AT Pro...

Couldn't resist

[Indybeachhunter]

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I'm not bothered by the pull-tabs.....I mean I don't "like" digging them, but they're not making me want to give up or anything.

I guess my question is: Does the presence of pull-tabs lead one to believe that there are still "goods" in an area? Or that the area is not "hunted out"?

I can't get over how much I like this forum. You guys are really "friendly". I participate in several automotive forums that are not quite the same environment.

[Surf Master]

I have that machine,you can notch out pull tabs were your getting ate up with them,however as soon as your out of them run full screen,sense 10,your gonna dig pull tabs but you will find the good stuff to,put all the pull tabs in your trash bag,then go over the spots you cleaned the pull tabs out of listen for the deep targets,get a sun-ray fx12 invader coil for that machine ,they are out of production,i have one,but they are deep seekers,pick it up,they are like Gold now,have a good trip Earl

[NHKeith]

Hey I am sure its better weather and hunting conditions then it is around your home.

Happy hunting, and keep digging!!

[goodmore]

With a Sovereign and a 180 meter I can tell a pull tab from a ring. If I hit a large amount in one area I will let them be. Same as a zinc penny. I'll dig em till I'm tired of doing it. Now that is one difference between a Sovereign and an Excalibur.

[Cfmct]

Originally Posted by Indybeachhunter

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I'm not bothered by the pull-tabs.....I mean I don't "like" digging them, but they're not making me want to give up or anything.

I guess my question is: Does the presence of pull-tabs lead one to believe that there are still "goods" in an area? Or that the area is not "hunted out"?

I can't get over how much I like this forum. You guys are really "friendly". I participate in several automotive forums that are not quite the same environment.

If the beach was hunted out, you wouldn't be finding pulltabs... my advice go into the wet sand where there is more sand movement.. most dry sand areas are picked over by now...

[Indybeachhunter]

Originally Posted by NHKeith

Hey I am sure its better weather and hunting conditions then it is around your home.

Happy hunting, and keep digging!!

Heck yeah!!

you probably dont want to hear it, but dig it all. many gold targets appear in the pulltab/5cent range.

[Indybeachhunter]

I went out today and dug another 34 pull-tabs, mainly in ankle to waste deep water. Almost half old round tabs. Also dug a healthy helping of can slaw (round pull-tab era).

I am now learning to skip over shallow pull-tab signals, as they are all over, and in theory rings/gold should be deeper due to weight density....right? I'm also going to adjust my location a bit.

We had some rain today, so the beach was empty early. I was able to rescan the dry areas that I saw a guy sweep with an9 excalibur this morning. I came up with about $1.50 in fresh clad, half of which was a pocket spill. That brightened my day a bit!

Thanks again for the pointers!

[erikk]

FYI FMB is called the "Land Fill" by us locals U will never, never, never run out of pull tabs and can slaw or bottle caps either

[Indybeachhunter]

Originally Posted by erikk

FYI FMB is called the "Land Fill" by us locals U will never, never, never run out of pull tabs and can slaw or bottle caps either

Sweet......

There is no way I would doubt that statement. Do you hunt here much? Are you one of the 47 people I've seen out this week?

The bright side is that I am really getting to know my machine, and what its telling me. I still have a Looooong way to go though.

[Drosera]

The only thing I discriminate out besides iron at the beach are crown caps (i.e. beer bottle caps that require a bottle opener, not the screw on kind). On my Explorer they hit solidly in the bottom right corner and I've never had anything else ring there. But pull tabs, screw caps, etc. are too much in the gold range to ignore.

I haven't hunted in Florida before, but in California pull tabs (and zinc pennies) in wet sand is a bad sign. It means the beaches are "sanded in" and any gold and silver is probably too deep to find. When conditions are good for gold and silver you find hardly any light targets like pull tabs. The main difference I'm unsure of is how much sand movement happens down there. If you don't get the ocean shifting the sand around a lot then heavy and light targets can accumulate together like in dry sand I suspect.