What is your top detecting Tip? Checklist

[CODY]

As others have said, know your machine. &quotecome one with your machine, and the force will be with you!

Above All...... Have Fun

[steve in so az]

If you are looking for gold jewelry - go where they wear it the most. And this is not the rich people's area. Steve in so az

[CyberSage]

&quotecome one with your machine, and the force will be with you!

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Yes, The force is strong with this one.


Give yourself the best opportunity to find the gold. Use the right equipment, in the right places.

[Cheap Thrills]

Always be aware of what's going on in your surroundings .

[earthmansurfer]

Headphones - It's getting hot here and I often hunt with my headphones off when people aren't around. Boy do the speakers miss the nuances and cheap headphones (I've had) are nothing like a good pair of headphones. Some hit the highs better in my experience (like Gray Ghosts - nice for E-Tracs/FBS machines imo) and some hit the low conductors better (here in Europe Chef Phones seem so).

Pinpointer - Not an advertisement, but if you haven't tried a Garrett Pro Pointer you are missing out. They really increase the speed of retrieval and perhaps more importantly can make it such that you don't scratch the coin!

Trash Bag - I put all my trash in a free bag I got from kellyco years ago. It has a mesh bottom and goes for 20ish bucks. Have to say I've stuck with it. Coins go in my pocket and things more worthy in my wallet or somewhere else.

Digging Tool - I've used a few and the Lesche thus far is the best. I put a bicycle grip on the handle after taking off the old one and it is much more grippy now. They DO NOT BREAK. If you can use a shovel I have found that narrower ones (like 5 cut the soil easier - nice on dry days). To keep the grass from dying (at least when things are drier) it seems that 3 sided plugs folded over are best (not completely removed) Having some roots still attached seems to help in recovery. Also, deep plugs with shovels, again, if allowed, seem to recovery best, due to the roots going down deeper I guess.

Albert

[freemindstuck]

Hi,

1. When looking for a ghost house, try to find a high point and study the topography of the land. Even when there are no foundation stones sometimes there is an artificial flat spot where the yard was, and look for concave holes where wells or root cellars were.

2. Often the only clues to a ghost house are the perrenial plants that they planted. Like Rhubarb, Hosta, Flax, Day Lilies, and Peonies, at least in the Midwest. Usually in Iowa at least, they would plant White Pine on the north sides of their houses. This is always a give away because it is not a native tree.

It amazes me that the only thing left, at least above ground, of our houses in the centuries to come may be the plants we planted in our yards. It just goes to show that the things we build do not last, yet Gods creations, or natures creations, depending on your belief system, are much more permanent. It kinda of puts a different spin on gardening.

Good luck!
Adrian

[CyberSage]

Hi,

1. When looking for a ghost house, try to find a high point and study the topography of the land. Even when there are no foundation stones sometimes there is an artificial flat spot where the yard was, and look for concave holes where wells or root cellars were.

Great tip! You should also hunt the high point as well. It is very likely that the folks who used to live at the location spent time at the high point looking over their spread. Maybe a picnic or two happened at that location.

[Lowjiber]

I once lived in the mountains of northern California...giant redwood forests and everything else.


Many of the cellar holes (old homesites) up in the mountains were seemingly impossible to find. Then I stumbled across the old Easter Lilly Trick.


Often Easter Lilies were planted around old homesites. While the home and everything else may be gone, the lilies shine like diamonds against the darkness of a forest floor. They bloom every spring and have helped me a lot.

[CyberSage]

Very interesting technique. It's the same with Lilac Bushes here in Colorado. They were often planted around outhouses.

[ssserena]

was the peace dollar hiddin with a lot of nails surrounding it?

[freemindstuck]

Often Easter Lilies were planted around old homesites. While the home and everything else may be gone, the lilies shine like diamonds against the darkness of a forest floor. They bloom every spring and have helped me a lot.

Very picturesque prose and a good tip if you live out in California. Thanks

Very interesting technique. It's the same with Lilac Bushes here in Colorado. They were often planted around outhouses.

Yes this is the same idea, and seemingly practical use of Lilacs. lol

[elkameno59]

Everything everyone else said plus: adjust your machine so you are not stooped over and bent at the neck. This will give you a sore neck, back, shoulders very quickly and you'll have a lousy time. Posture is very important for us old dudes ( and those who want to be old someday ) -- I've taken my machine inside Macy's to look in a mirror to see how I'm standing - What I thought was good posture walking was not so correct so I drilled out my machine pole and adjusted it about a inch for better positioning I'd say right in between settings - . Just my tip..

[Mort]

Ground balance

[foiler]

Patients.

[kickit]

These are all great tips and I agree with each of you...but to me the most important thing is to know your machine, plant a coin garden or go to a local park and practice listening to those tones over and over. Once you think you are comfortable a good practice is to start calling every find before you dig. I have had very good detectors but didn't take the time to actually learn them before hunting and ended up being discouraged so I'm sure others have done the same.

[Pona]

One thing I never go detecting without is a little note pad and pen....Lots of times when i'm detecting I see people out walking dogs and people just out for a walk, Its human nature for curiosity to get the better of most of them and invariably they will come across and ask if I've found anything??
I always make a point of showing them what I have found and during the conversation I ask them if they know any of the local land owners, most of them being local do, so I ask them for the farmers/landowners names and also what their names are. When I visit the farmer/landowner to ask permission I then add I have been talking to/know Mr whoever and I find this goes a long way in gaining the farmer/landowners trust
Not sure how relevant this is to any of you but i have gained most of my permissions in this way

[Tony Two-Cent]

One thing I never go detecting without is a little note pad and pen....Lots of times when i'm detecting I see people out walking dogs and people just out for a walk, Its human nature for curiosity to get the better of most of them and invariably they will come across and ask if I've found anything??
I always make a point of showing them what I have found and during the conversation I ask them if they know any of the local land owners, most of them being local do, so I ask them for the farmers/landowners names and also what their names are. When I visit the farmer/landowner to ask permission I then add I have been talking to/know Mr whoever and I find this goes a long way in gaining the farmer/landowners trust
Not sure how relevant this is to any of you but i have gained most of my permissions in this way

This is a great tip! Thanks for sharing!

[swamp yankee]

Hello all,

Curious what your top tip would be. I envision this thread as a sort of checklist, but not quite. If you have what you think is a good tip or two, then put it in here. Ok, here goes, preceding technique...

MINDSET - I have found that the better and more positive my mindset the better I hunt, the more intuitive I am to know where to hunt, the better I listen and focus, etc. Now, we can't always have the best of mindsets and sometimes we detect to get away from things but we clearly can still affect it. Just drinking a coffee seems to pick me up mentally. Planning the night before sort of pumps me up. ehehe You get the point.

FOCUS - This relates to Mindset. When I am swinging I listen and hunt better if my mind is focused or at least just open and relaxed as opposed to thinking of a problem, Hey, is that a cop?, something else, etc. If you are 100% with what you are doing, very little is going to pass you by. But if you are only partially there, well then that speaks for itself. We can't expect the machine to do all the work. So, imagine you are a surgeon as a lot is riding on you!
EMS

To all fellow detectorists, Bring a small plastic wide mouth bottle w/ distilled water in it (about half full) to drop the goods in to keep from scratching them by wiping to see the date.I cringe seeing people sandpapering nice old goodies to see the date.

[Pona]

Good call Swamp Yankee, I have a small spray bottle with diluted water in it which i use to remove some of the dirt on site...enough to hopefully id the coin.

I cringe seeing people sandpapering nice old goodies to see the date.
lol yep same here, I see it loads of times and it kills me to watch someone do it lol Another one is when someone comes up to you to ask you want you think the coin is and they remove the contents of their days searching from their pockets and and somewhere in between all the scrap metal and other bits and pieces is the coin they want you to look at..its been sat in the ground for hundreds of years going about its own business only for someone to try and destroy it getting brushed up against bits of scrap bronze etc in their pocket or finds pouch.
So i also keep a load of small self seal bags so they can keep it in a better enviroment...I'm sure some of my mates do this on purpose because they all know how much its gets to me

[mylastnerve.rw]

Good call Swamp Yankee, I have a small spray bottle with diluted water in it which i use to remove some of the dirt on site...enough to hopefully id the coin.

I cringe seeing people sandpapering nice old goodies to see the date.
lol yep same here, I see it loads of times and it kills me to watch someone do it lol Another one is when someone comes up to you to ask you want you think the coin is and they remove the contents of their days searching from their pockets and and somewhere in between all the scrap metal and other bits and pieces is the coin they want you to look at..its been sat in the ground for hundreds of years going about its own business only for someone to try and destroy it getting brushed up against bits of scrap bronze etc in their pocket or finds pouch.
So i also keep a load of small self seal bags so they can keep it in a better enviroment...I'm sure some of my mates do this on purpose because they all know how much its gets to me

It's hard to imagine they just being in the same bag with other trinkets can harm anything in just a few minutes of carrying them. I guess I don't understand it's not like you're scrubbing them with coarse steel wool?

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