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