Some Metal Detector Finds That Might Make Good Mother's Day Gifts.These are some of Lloyd D's finds. A few days ago I showed a pile of coins that he found during a one week trip. These are some of the jewelry items.
Have you ever arrived at a beach and saw another detectorist already detecting your favorite spot? Or maybe you just saw the tracks of that detectorist who evidently left the beach right before you got there.
If someone beat you to your spot, you might look to see if it looks like the other detectorist knows what he is doing, or if he is likely to leave a lot. If he is gone, you might see if you can tell what he did and how he did it.
When there are other detectorists on the beach, you might notice what type of detector they are using, if they are digging may holes, how thoroughly they are covering ground, etc.
If someone was there before you, but is now gone, you might notice where the foot prints are, evidence of any holes, and how close together the foot prints are. That can tell you something useful.
Sometimes though, if the other detectorists is one of the wise old-timers that are still around, your observations might be misleading. Appearances can be deceiving, especially if you don't know who you are watching.
I reveal the following with some hesitation, and wouldn't do it if I thought it would make the tricks any less effective. I have faith that the old-timers will be able to stay one step ahead of the pack even if some of the old tricks are revealed to the audience of this blog.
First off, some old timers would actually disguise their detector. Some have been known to paint their detector, beat it up so it looks like an old piece of junk, wrap parts of it in duct tape or electrical tape, or even change the control box housing. I can tell you for certain that all of that has been done.
You should realize too, if you ever asked some of the old timers if they found anything, they would most likely tell you that they never found anything,and they might even tell you something like they never found as much as a tin can, and they don't think that their old beat up detector even works.
Here are some other things that old-timers have been known to do.
They would carry a few pull-tabs or iron nails in a pocket, and when a good target was dug, they would leave a junk item by the hole so that anyone following would think junk is what came out of the hole.
When being observed, after digging a good target, they would make a motion that looks like the target is being tossed while palming the good target, eventually slipping the good target into a pocket unobserved.
When far enough away from other observers, after digging a piece of junk, they would stand there a few seconds inspecting the object as if it were the Queen's jewels and ceremoniously clean it off before sticking it in what would appear to be a goody pocket or bag.
They would make a show of digging some nice deep holes as if there were targets where there were no signals at all.
When nobody is observing them at the time, old timers not wanting anyone to know where they had hunted, would often hunt next to the water line or in a few inches of water when the tide is coming in so that any holes or tracks would quicky disappear.
They would sometimes spread junk over good spots to discourage others.
Those are just a few of the tricks that I know have been used. But some of the best detectorists are seldom seen and never suspected. You probably won't see them, won't hear about them, and if you do wouldn't suspect them anyhow. They are solitary hunters who tend to remain in the shadows.
There are many more old-timer tricks, but that will give you some idea.
Here is an article that shows how after sixty years a WW II fighter was uncovered by nature to suddenly appear on a beach. There are some really good photos of the emerging plane on this site.
Here is the link.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1274292/Buried-Welsh-beach-60-years-World-War-II-fighter-emerged-seas.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Items from the Frances Langford estate were recently auctioned in Stuart for the benefit of Habitat for Humanity. There were some interesting items in the auction. Here is the link.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/may/06/auction-raises-more-than-25000-for-habitat-for/
Forecast and Conditions. Conditions on the Treasure Coast are still poor for finding old shipwreck coins. A few artifacts and miscellaneous things are being found though.
The wind is coming from the northwest now. You can still do some low tide hunting.
The seas are expected to increase later Sunday and into Monday, reaching a peak of about five feet on Tuesday. That is normally not enough to do a lot of good, but it will probably freshen up a few of the old dips or cuts and create a few new small spots here and there.
Happy Mother's Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
