Funniest Mistakes

[Jeff H]

I once had a great signal; high VDI, shallow, pin pointed well. I am thinking it's a half dollar. Pin point, dig, nothing. Pin point again, dig some more, nothing. Repeat, repeat, repeat. What the heck??? About 45 minutes and a three foot wide hole later, I finally realized what was going on. I had managed to swing the coil over an old three foot diameter brass barrel strap. It fooled the the metal detector circuitry into thinking there was a coin sized target right in the middle of the circle created by the barrel strap

Also, twice I had gotten really excited about finding a new site out in the woods only to realize that I had actually wandered into one of my old sites from a different side than I had in the past

[Cowboy26a]

I was hunting a very old park in Mobile,Al back in the late 80's with my trusty White's 6000D series2. I had just found an 1879 seated dime in great condition. Before that several mercs,bufalo nicks and modern silver. I got a great hit and the depth meter pegged out. No vdi numbers then. I cut a monster plug and started removing dirt from the hole. At over 8 inches, I saw what I thought was the glimmer of a gold coin. The object was round and the size of a $20 gold piece. My heart was racing ,but try as I could, I could not get the object out of the hole. Someting was holding it in the ground. I finally got it to break loose after moving it side to side and pulling up hard on it. What I thought was gold turned out to be brass and the brass had a piece of metal pipe screwed into it with signs of a fresh break on the opposite end from the brass head. Seems that I got a reading on an older sprinkler system that used brass heads. I don't know if the system was still being used or not. I buried the head back into the hole it came out of and left. Never to return.

[alabamahunter]

First time out, I was digging hole and I would pass dirt over my coil with my hand..beep.. would search the dirt in my hand, nothing. would do it again ..beep..search,nothing. I finally figured it out. The metal detector was detecting my wedding ring haha

[Chad]

I took my hunting buddy out and he kept saying "lets move on, there is trash everywhere...I keep getting overload signals" this went on for about 45 mins before he realized it was his low battery alarm.

I was on the beach with same huntin buddy and we were hunting the shell patches. 20 mins of pinpointing later he finally found a small silver seashell pendant. He chucked the same pendant to the side about 10 times thinking it was a regular shell.

[triplehooked]

I've done the wedding band thing. It would happen more than once during a hunt, too. Now the wife gives me the eye when I take off my ring to go detecting.....

Getting over zealous with the lesche and popping the coin about 2 ft from the plug. After a few minutes of frustration I'd finally give it up as a false signal. Only to put the plug back, make a half a swipe and find the coin sitting on top of the ground.

Showing my brother in-law how well my detector works. After cutting a plug and searching to no avail for a minute or so he points from about 6' away and says "It's a pop top, right there!"

[stewart73]

I always used to forget to take my ring off so in the days before I had a propointer I would run handfuls of dirt over the coil...and every one would be ringing! Usually took me an hour or so to catch on.

[stapler101]

Just last week we stopped at a local hardware store and bought 4 9v batteries.
$14.00!!
Drove about 20 minutes to hunt, put the new batteries in, and in less than 10 minutes two cz6-a's were dead!
Looked at the battery package and the guaranteed fresh date was 2006!
I will not buy batteries again without looking at the date!

[Silversmith45]

Originally Posted by flyingscot

detecting.it took about 10 minutes to realize i had holes in my swimming trunk pockets were i was pocketing my finds. They'd just fall back into the sand and i'd find them over and over and over again.

[PAMD Tim]

Originally Posted by stewart73

I always used to forget to take my ring off so in the days before I had a propointer I would run handfuls of dirt over the coil...and every one would be ringing! Usually took me an hour or so to catch on.

I was doing this one with my pinpointer just yesterday and I thought of this thread

[Rusty Nails]

I found a 4" long piece of pipe and got my finger stuck inside of it.

[BillZ]

Here's one I bet many of you have done before.

I got a clear coin signal, cut the plug, and broke up some of the dirt below with my digger. Now no signal in the hole or on the plug. I must have searched for 5 or 10 minutes in and around the hole for a signal. When I finally gave up, I picked up my digger and noticed a dirt clod stuck on the blade with a coin sticking out of it.

[Cowboy26a]

Originally Posted by dogpound

getting to a site and after about 10-15 minutes wondering why the site seems soo clean.....then look and see i somehow had the sunray switch flipped to "probe" insted of "coil"

Been there and done the same exact thing. Got a signal from the knife in my right front pocket in my pocket and when I tried to pinpoint nothing. Finally realized that I forgot to switch back to the coil. Had to go back to my last plug and start over.

[chaser828]

Forgot my pointer but used the old fashion method of using the coil. Digging up plug after plug, passing it by the coil and hearing "ding, ding." Tear the plug up and NOTHING! Over and over for about an hour, "ding, ding, ding" and NOTHING in the plug. Frustrated, I went back to the truck and put up my Fisher F2, put up the digger, take off and pack my empty treasure pouch, take off my gloves and there it is ---- my wedding ring on my finger. DUH!

[ramer]

I stuck a bunch of nickels in the ole tumbler. Later when rinsing them off one of them was a 1898 V Nickel. It must have got mixed in with the clad. It didn't damage it though too much. Not something I would ever normally do with a V nickel.

[OZARKS]

This wasn't funny to me, but it might be to you...

The last time I went detecting, I made sure to have everything ready to rock & roll before I left to go detecting. I headed back to a walking trail that has given a few goodies in the past, so I loaded up my gear and cut a trail. When I got there I popped the trunk, got my headphones out of my backpack, grabbed my digger

(had to use my new digger since I left my old one in the woods by my house...gotta go get that too..lol)

Then I reached for the batteries that I always keep in my backpack...WHAT!?... I left the batteries at home on my desk! I had one new battery and one old battery, so, I made due and hunted for a couple hours before dark.

What an idiot to leave a brand new set of batteries at the house when I went detecting

3 hunts ago...lost my METAL sunglasses while metal detecting

2 hunts ago...it got dark fast when I was in the woods alone, I left my digger next to my last plug

1 hunt ago I left my batteries at home....


Let's hope that this weekends hunt goes better LOL

[Jo ann]

Originally Posted by Rusty Nails

I found a 4" long piece of pipe and got my finger stuck inside of it.

I choked on my coffee, while reading this... how did you drive home with that pipe on your finger?

[Rusty Nails]

I wound up getting it off but I skinned my knuckle up pretty good.

[LebcoPAhunter]

Originally Posted by KingTotsalot

On the 3rd revisit to the same totlot...over a 3 month period, digging up the same iron cutoff posts hidden under the mulch from old equipment .....for the 3rd TIME!

When you dig as many totlots as The King, you just cannot remember the details of every one!

Hey King did you give the royal cartographer the day off? You could always label a rough drawing of totlot and mark previously located junk and want not. Just a thought from a humble MD-R

[Merc]

My house was built in 1938. I have detected my yard a little here and there. Only found 2 wheats. But one day while planting flowers, i dug the hole and out popped a silver Rosey. Who would have thought. Lol

[Joves]

For me it has been forgetting to wave the dirt I dug out of the ground in front of the coil and sticking it with the scanned dirt. Now I have a PP coming so I wont be doing the dirt waving anymore.