12/3/15 Report - Treasure Traps and Trapping Treasure. Sifting In Wet Sand. Bigger Surf Coming.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com

We all know that treasure moves.  From the time it is spilled into the ocean or onto the beach it moves.  It doesn't move continually though.  There will be times of relative stability, and there will be times when it can move quickly.

If you've ever dug a coin while standing in a rushing backwash of any magnitude and drop a coin before getting it firmly in your pocket, you know how quickly a coin can move yards in the matter of a second or two.

And if you ever dropped a coin in the ocean and watched it fall, you probable say it going one way or the other instead of falling straight down

The longer an item is out there on the beach or in the water, the more likely it is that it has reached a point of relative stability where it will not move much again until something fairly dramatic happens such a good storm or hurricane, for example.   The longer it has been out there, the more it will take to get it to move again.

I remember reading over twenty years ago how a one fellow constructed a trap on the beach to trap gold rings.  I think I read about that in Carter and Trevillian's book, Diamonds in the Surf.  If I correctly recall, the fellow constructed the trap out of stones.

After reading that story I made sure to check under and around rocks for gold rings and found a few that way.

If you think about it, treasure is trapped in all kinds of traps.

There was one time when I dug five silver dimes in one scoop.  They had settled at the bottom of a fallen palm tree after they washed out of a dune and down a slope.

I often focus my detecting around one type of trap or another.  Groins, seawalls dips and rocks and even clay or mud can create treasure traps.

You will observe natural treasure traps at work when you are detecting.  I detected one treasure trap day after day for months.  It was an area in front of a sea wall and behind a conrete goin.  It seemed like every night there would be a new supply of coins and jewelry there.

It is possible to construct your own treasure traps.  The first thing to know is how treasure moves. Just like anyone who traps wild animals, it helps to know how and where the game moves.

Although I have managed to construct some small traps and obtained some results, constructing highly effective treasure traps on an ocean beach does not seem practical.  I'll still keep thinking about it.

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One thing I've noticed lately is that most people do not use their scoops to sift wet sand when detecting in the wet sand.  Many people dump the wet sand on the ground and spread it out with a foot.  They either then see the target or pinpoint it with their detector.

It is difficult to sift wet sand.  That made me think about constructing a different type of digger for compact wet sand.

You can always use the moving water to sift the wet sand through your scoop, but the risk is that if the item is very small and falls through the screen or otherwise falls out of the scoop, you can easily lose it in the moving water.  That can cause time and perhaps the item.  That technique can still be used if you are careful.  You might be able tell if the item is large enough to sift in moving water without going through the screen of your scoop.  You will still need to be careful that the item doesn't fall out of your scoop.

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The surf on the Treasure Coast was small today.  Saturday it will increase.  The peak surf will be late Saturday night.

We'll have a north or northeast wind for a few days.  It was out of the north today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net