4/30/14 Report - Analyzing Beach Behavior Patterns To Know Where To Detect, Salvage Camp and Gold Signet Ring

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

Gold Signet Ring Beach Find.

Here is a strategy that some experienced beach detectorists use.  I know that it is effective even though I don't use it much myself.   

Some experienced detectorists go to a very busy beach, find a high spot that gives a good view of the entire beach, and just sit with their detector prominently displayed, and survey the beach.

If you do that you might be surprised how often you will see people frantically on their hands and knees sifting through the sand with their fingers trying to find a newly lost item.

There will also be times when people see you with your detector and come up to you and ask you to search for something they just lost.

There are two primary goals to this strategy.  The first is to survey the beach and what happens there, and the second is to be visible and available.

I knew one fellow that used to do this at Carlin Park in Jupiter back in the eighties.  If someone asked him to hunt something for them, he would charge twenty dollars. 

I'm not saying you should charge for your services, but some people do.  You might find that it is worth doing even if you don't charge.  You will still benefit from learning more about the beach and where people tend to lose things, and also have the satisfaction of finding lost items.

If you don't charge, don't expect a reward.  People very often don't give a reward.  I don't understand it, but that is the way it is, so don't expect it.  The satisfaction can be enough, plus you will learn more about where to spend your time detecting.

When you are hunting a specific item you will sometimes finding something else.  Be prepared for that.  Get a detailed description of the lost item that you are hunting.

Some people will try to claim things you find when the item does not belong to them.  As I said, be prepared. 

Clear the area.  Draw boundaries in the sand.  Explain that you need to be able to systematically detect a grid.

When you clear an area, it gives you room to swing your coil and detect a proper grid, and it also allows you to get a good look at the item before you show it.

Recovery skills are always important.  You will benefit by being able to quickly scoop and view an item before others get a chance to get a look at it.

While watching people at the beach, you'll be able to quickly identify the quantity and quality of potential finds from the beach in general as well as different parts of the beach.

Some beaches are visited by glitzy people who wear extremely valuable jewelry, and some are visited by people who wear virtually no jewelry to the beach, and some wear only junk jewelry or none.  You'll be able to observe that, but you'll also see where different types of people sit and play.

Sedentary people do not lose much.  The people that will be losing the most are those that wear the most but also are the most active and careless. 

Notice where people sit, where people stop and readjust their belongings, and most especially, where they play.  Notice where people play football, volleyball, dive, stand on their hands, and turn cartwheels.  The play zones will normally be just outside of the crowded sitting areas.

Sedentary people will occasionally lose things, and that can be quality stuff, but they won't lose things as often as the wild and crazy crowd.

While I don't go to the beach and sit, I have been on the beach enough to make the observations, and being an analytic sort of person, I do know the patterns.

Did you ever notice how many people who come to the beach with a ton of stuff for the day, stop about five yard on the beach side of the walkover, put down some of their stuff, survey the beach looking for a spot to camp out, and readjust their load before moving on.  I call that the stop spot.  That is just one example.

Since I don't like to go to the beach when the crowds are there, this isn't a favorite strategy of mine.  I don't like to sit either.   When I observe, it is while I'm busy doing something else. 

I do know this strategy can be worthwhile though.  You will occasionally see people in the act of trying to find things.  You will have people come and ask you to search for something they lost.  And you will learn more about the beach and where different kinds of things are most likely to be lost.

Pay attention to where different kinds of people congregate and what they do.   Make out a mental map.  

You'll discover that once you get the hang of it, that you can analyze where people will go and what they'll do on almost any beach even if you visit when the people are not there.  Every beach will have a stop spots, for example.  There will also be the locations where the wealthier but more sedentary people sit.  There will be the places where the younger and more active crowd frolic, etc. etc.

Also note the time of day when people come and go. 

Photos and postcards can also help with your analysis, even if you have never been to a particular beach before.


One person recently wrote asking me about the salvage camp near Turtle Trail.  I presume they were asking about the Winter Beach salvage camp site.  There is a book on the Winter Beach salvage camp written by Douglas Armstrong that you can find on Amazon,com.  There is a lot of good detail in the book, including site maps, finds, etc. 


Yesterday I mentioned genealogical research again.  I keep mentioning it because I keep learning so much from it.

I discovered a source of old land use maps that are really great.  I'll get into that tomorrow.


On the Treasure Coast we still are supposed to have about a two foot surf.  Unfortunately we still have the southeast winds and swells.

Tomorrow the surf is supposed to increase some.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/14/12 Report - Finding Your Own Good New Sites To Detect

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

Low tide Line On a Typical Treasure Coast Beach

Are you tired of hunting the same old worked-out sites?  Would you like to find a new site that few others know about?  It's possible.  It takes some work though, and a different approach.  If you do what I'm about to tell you, you might be the next person to make a great new discovery.

The biggest mistake most people make is that they go out looking for something specific, like a Spanish piece of eight, for example.   If you go out looking for one of those, you might find one eventually, in fact you probably will if you stick with it long enough, but if you want to find more than a few beach left-overs, what you really want to look for is a site that hasn't already been hunted ten thousand times.  And to do that you don't go out looking for a piece of eight, you look for other things first.

It is something like deer hunting.  A novice might go out tromping through the woods looking for a deer, and they might even see one, but a more experienced hunter would look for the signs of deer first.  They would look for the tracks, paths, and freshly eaten vegetation first.

Hunting pieces of eight is a lot different from hunting modern jewelry on a busy beach that is constantly replenished.  You can use the same techniques, and they'll work to a certain extent, but to discover new sites takes an entirely different approach.

For example, if you go out looking for an arrowhead, you'll have a hard time finding one.  The first thing you have to find is a site where arrowheads will likely be found.  To do that you have to know what signs to look for.  You have to learn to recognize debitage.  That is all of the stone discarded or left-over stone debris, or flakes and chips.  You'll most likely see that first, and that will indicate a good place to really begin your hunt.  Your chances of finding an arrowhead are very slim, if you haven't first found the debitage that indicates a good site to begin a more intensive search.

The same thing works with shipwreck treasures.  How many times are piles of coins found first?  Almost never!   First, iron, ballast, and various scattered debris is found, then the search narrows for those elusive coins.

The same thing applies on land.  Looking for that new detecting site means scanning new ground for any indications of a good new site.   The first signs are typically things like pieces of pottery, glass, iron, and wood, which will stay near the surface and be scattered around an area.  That is the type of thing to look for if you are tired of hunting those same over-hunted.

Some people stumble onto those good spots through circumstances and luck, but if you do some learning and put in the time, you can separate yourself from the pack.



Yesterday I mentioned how bad of an idea it is to store sensitive or easily lost items in a shirt pocket.  There are solutions to that problem.  I personally use a waterproof case most of the time when I expect to be in the water or when there is a good possibility of rain.  I didn't do that the other day for a couple of reasons, one being that I didn't expect to be in the water.  

James H. told me what he uses.  It really looks like an excellent solution.

Waterproof Pouches.

Here is what James said.   This is what I keep the car key and sometimes cell phone in when in the water. It's in my front pocket and secured with a carabiner to my belt. I also have my phone number inside it. I have used the $14.99 model for over a year up to chest high with no leakage or float offs. Anything bigger than this one is too big. The plastic top seal is just a tad wider than the top of a shorts pocket. The plastic top seal has a good rubber gasket in it. Just put the bag in sideways in the front pocket and rotate its top horizontally in the pocket so it doesn't wiggle out either. I use this in water all the way up to chest deep. I guess if a person is really worried, the contents could be put in a quality baggie and then put that inside the pouch, but I never found that necessary.

This looks like a great accessory for any detectorist.

Here is a link for more information.

.http://m.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_11151_10001_102071_-1____ProductDisplayErrorView

Thanks for sharing James.


There are two low pressure areas in the Atlantic.  One is way south of us and won't affect us, and the other is in the mid-Atlantic.   It has a 30% chance of forming into a cyclone.  My guess is that it won't affect us either.

The wind is still from the west, and the seas calm.  Low tide on the Treasure Coast will be around noon.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net