If You Could Not Detect Tot Lots,Parks And Beaches

[MartinL]

I see a lot of people's finds exhibit coins and jewelry that are in pristine condition, obviously not a dug item. These same people seem to find lots more stuff than the general crowd, me for one without doubt...I've almost never found surface treasure, always had to dig. What if the only detecting you could do was on private property? Would your fever for detecting wane? martin

[wingmaster]

I prefer to detect private property as some of those have not been detected before but do go to old parks when I don't have a place set up to go as some home owners want to be there when your detecting so if I go during the week I will usually go to an old park. I don't detect any place that doesn't have a chance of finding old coins or other finds as I bought my detector to find the old stuff, I figure if I want clad I'll take a ten to the bank and ask for change.

[steve in so az]

Wing -Then why go fishing - just go to the fish market :)

Martin - I do a lot of parks & schools to hone my skills for when the rare opportunity comes to hit an old place. Here in Tucson the old places are mostly built over. It's like a hunter going to the range to practice shooting before the season. Steve in so az

[leslie(nova scotia)]

From the land of the Bluenose......public land abounds! <;)

[MartinL]

Wing -Then why go fishing - just go to the fish market :)

Martin - I do a lot of parks & schools to hone my skills for when the rare opportunity comes to hit an old place. Here in Tucson the old places are mostly built over. It's like a hunter going to the range to practice shooting before the season. Steve in so az


Martin - I do a lot of parks & schools to hone my skills for when the rare opportunity comes to hit an old place. Here in Tucson the old places are mostly built over. It's like a hunter going to the range to practice shooting before the season. Steve in so az
[/quote]

The semi flaw in that approach is that the depth of targets in these tot lots, are barely under the surface, so the metal detector easily rings it's bell, and digging is mostly non existence. My question was for the hypothetical situation where you were suddenly outlawed from those easy hunts, and almost everything had to be dug. If all I had to do was scoot wood chips with my foot, I'd search every positive signal I got. It's a different work environment having to dig and just find can slaw, or nothing at all.

What if you didn't have any tot lots and parks? Would you put the hours in, and would you possibly lose the hunting interest in time? martin


Steve...I do understand your test runs in the tot lots. I apologize if I came across as nit picking. ml

[steve in so az]

Good question Martin - I'd like to think that I would do the older parks and occasional old houses but wonder how much I would do. And the older I get the less I want to dig deep for hours. And you would not believe the hardness of the desert soil here :( Steve

[v3ikid]

That's about all the hunting i do Martin. I rarely hit tot lots. It's not because i wouldn't, it's because in the small towns that i hunt you are lucky to find a tot lot with the wood chips. They are there but they are not much in size so it doesn't give you much time in them. Then again I only have 1 gold plated ring and 3 silver rings in 5 seasons.

Coins on the other hand are different then tot lot jewelry. Most any time you get old coins you are going to have to dig em. Not that they are always deep but many times that is the case. That's what i primarily hunt for so i'm mentally prepared for all the digging.

I once found a Buffalo nickel on top the ground and you are right anyone with a detector COULD have found it but finding pennies at nine inches to me is a bigger thrill. When i get to the point where i can successfully get em at 12 I will be amazed, even if it is just clad. There are so many things about this hobby to like, if a person is in it for just one or two they are missing alot. I'm tickled at some of the junk i've found. :yes:

[russellt]

there is treasure everywhere . its all relative . just keep swinging.. the less your coil is in motion the less the probability that you will find anything of significance... i have found the coolest things in the least likely of areas.

[Dimeman]

I see a lot of people's finds exhibit coins and jewelry that are in pristine condition, obviously not a dug item. These same people seem to find lots more stuff than the general crowd, me for one without doubt...I've almost never found surface treasure, always had to dig. What if the only detecting you could do was on private property? Would your fever for detecting wane? martin


Not a bit, I would get a bit more brave and start asking lots more land owners if I could search their grounds.

I could add to that-------- but I won't......... :eyebrow:

[zrickkid]

Im like wing. I got into the hobby to find the old stuff. I hit the tot lots when it rains and cant go anywhere else without becoming a mud pie.

[LeoninCali]

There's always mow strips and demo sites....they can be very productive also :peace:

[M-Taliesin]

Howdy Martin!
My situation is entirely different. I like hunting grounds where deeper targets can be found.
But with my knee still recovering, I am limited to where I can hunt.

But would I give up detecting if I couldn't hunt public places? The question is somewhat
illogical because they are public places, and paid for with public funds. Ergo, I am a part
owner of any given public property. So, I don't see that hypothetical working out.

For me, it isn't whether I'd dry up and blow away because I could not hunt public places.
It would, at this point in time, simply make hunting near impossible considering my situation.

I ain't the timid type, and have no qualms about knocking on somebody's door to ask if I
may have permission to hunt private property. But right now, there just ain't much point
in my asking for something that just isn't a benefit to start with.

My style of hunting is one that isn't limited to any particular type of hunting. I'll do tot lots,
easements, private property, beaches, ghost towns, river and creek banks, dry washes,
and any other location assuming I have time available and opportunity at my disposal.
I might look for old coins and relics on private property one day, then plunder schools
or parks the next. But right now, I am hobbled, and can only work tot lots. And for the
finds I make, offer no apology. I also ain't terribly concerned what anybody thinks about
hunting tot lots when I find gold and silver, and even old coins, with alarming regularity.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin

[exsquid]

Martin,

I hunt it all....totlots, parks, yards, fields, woods, any place I can get a coil to the ground. Don't much care so long as I can get a coil on it and I am not worrying about some joker claiming I am breaking some nonsense law for being there. I am always amazed at what can be found pretty much any ole place humans have been. Read these threads long enough and that is proven out over and over. My biggest enemy for success is that I probably pilfer away time I should be devoting to better locations. But so far I am happy with my finds and where I have found some of my most interesting finds. Each location has its pros and cons...some certaily require more work and so it goes. Me stop metal detecting.....naaa, not till the Lord calls me home...there will always be someplace I can dig or find something from those before me that was left behind... That's the thrill, and every beep makes me wonder what it is and how it got there.... I just keeep it fun....I don't need a second job.... lol

[MartinL]

Thanks everyone. I wouldn't totally quit detecting either, but I truly believe metal detecting for me would be a lot less interesting, and I'd hunt less and less over time. Yet I still wonder whether many people would reduce their average monthly hours days/months gradually as time continued, IF for some reason the tot lots and beaches were totally off limits, and then they would possibly let their detectors rest lots more. Take for instance someone with a beginning or modest point getting into the hobby, or even someone at a full blown, fun, metal detecting hunting routine process of who's basic primary hunting grounds are lots and beaches. I'll use my brother as an example. He is retired, been a detectorist for decades, but he's quick to admit that the beaches were his treasure trove. I find him difficult to join me for hunting when I visit him since I retired too after my beginning this hobby myself. BUT, just mention a beach though, and his eyes lights up. The sad part IMO is that he is so well known in the rural area where he lives from his being a local business-man figure in the area for over 30 years, so he is blessed with lots of old houses and various places to possibly hunt. Maybe he has added other hobbies, plus now he has grand kids, but I would have thought that he'd be easy to get to hunt with his brother when I visited since my catching the fever myself. We've maybe hunted together 10 hours total since I got the bug back in May of last year.

I will admit myself though, that I was prone to spend endless hours a day here hunting on my front property of 1.5 acres while I was digging good handfuls of targets, because it was a true addiction for me to go back and re-search again, no matter if was nearly a hundred degrees outside, or windy and 40 degrees, simply because the hunts were productive most every time. I spend lots less time hunting right now even though the spring weather has hit Texas. I am not fortunate like my brother's gift of knowing lots of people for easy permission to hunt their places, and I've resisted going out and using the tot lots an knocking on doors. Texas also has more restrictions, even on public property, lakes are a hassle because of the Corp Of Engineers, state property is always a question(state parks are basically a no-go.) The county where I live has gotten stricter on hunting city parks, hence the fever to hunt for me is waning. Waning means that I hunt less and less over time. Metal detecting sounded like tons of fun in the beginning, AND IT WAS, and I hunted TONS MORE then. It just made me wonder if there are a lot of avid beginners who soon began to lose interest, and eventually let their detectors gather dust, maybe selling them eventually. It looks to me that the tot lots and beaches might just be all that really keeps some people into the hobby over the long run. I also believe though, that a veteran THer will never quit, but would they hunt as much if restricted from tot lots and beaches? I like easy targets, which is why I go straight to front door steps and driveways when I do hunt someone property besides my own. It is still a thrill for me to pop up clad in spots I was sure there was none left, but I ran a much higher fever when I was gathering a handful of coins most every day. Maybe I am just getting older and lazier, well, I that know I am :-(

I entirely believe everyone's response to this thread, thank you. At what point will the metal detecting hobby scare off newbies, and run off the moderate hunters...that is the question. The hypothetical total restriction of hunting tot lots and beaches was my prime example because they are mentioned so much all over the on-line discussion groups, hunters which most always post numerous picture of clean, shiny coins and jewelry. I don't mean to wear the subject out here, I was just curious. I also don't mean to hijack my own thread by expressing my self-limited hunting areas by keeping out of the lots and the beach(I live nowhere close to a beach anyway.) It was only mentioned as another real time example for the question of a waning fever.

I think there will be a time in the future where there is much more restrictions, even on public property. The times are-a changin'. I've dwelled on this enough, too much maybe, sorry. Don't worry, I'm going to keep hunting...not quitting anytime soon ;-) Martin

[RobW]

There are some towns near me where you cannot detect on public land. But I always have places to go. So long as you can deal with the rejection, there are always doors to knock on. I find most of the time it's a yes. Then again, I wouldn't mind a few less detectors in my neighborhood lol