Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Eroded Dunes Jupiter Area Beach. Source: See link below. |
There is about a six foot cut along Carlin Park in Jupiter. Here is the link submitted by Trae R,
https://www.facebook.com/postonjupiter/posts/1797526313835827
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I mentioned the other day about stopping at a beach to detect where I saw that someone else had already detected. You can often but not always tell if someone has detected a beach before you. You can see their tracks, and you can see the holes they dug even if they filled them in. You can get a lot of information from signs like that.
On busy beaches, you might not be able to see tracks left by other detectorists, but on the Treasure Coast most wreck beaches aren't that busy so you can often see the foot prints made by individuals. I pay attention to those things. In fact, I recognize the tracks of some detectorists. I know the tracks of one fellow with big feet that often visits one of wreck beach, for example.
The other day when I stopped at the beach where I dug the choker, one of the first things I noticed after noticing from the promising shape of the beach, was a set of tracks along the bottom of the dune cliff. Those tracks went back and forth in even spaces making five rows of tracks. The foot prints were closer than when a person walks normally. There was no doubt in my mind that a detectorists had gridded the area directly in front of the cliff. I also noticed that there were very few holes, and he did a nice job of filling them, but it was still easy to see where the holes were.
I used that information. Somebody had detected there. They detected a tight grid at the bottom of the cliff. And they dug a few (very few) targets. It was not a beginner. Beginners normally run a more random search pattern and do not go so slow and carefully. There would be a larger space between their steps.
In this case I didn't choose to spend my time checking where the detectorist had already detected. I do that sometimes, and that can be worthwhile, especially if you use another type of detector and are targeting something specific, but since I was in a hurry, I looked at where he dug his few holes, and checked down the slope closer to the water directly below the holes. Bingo! I hit the first coins in a coin line almost immediately. It also turned out to be near the center of a coin line, where the quarters and other things were accumulating. In a few minutes I had dug several coins and the gold choker and left knowing that I was undoubtedly leaving more good targets. I didn't take the time to finish it out in this case.
Did you know that you might be leaving that much information for other detectorists to use? If you aren't that competitive, you might not care ( I don't), but some experienced detectorists actually take steps to prevent others from benefiting from the tracks that they leave.
That just reminded me that I have in the past talked about tracking treasure as if you were an Indian tracking deer or some other game. This is one element of that.
Some old timers would take steps to cover their tracks. One way is to work just ahead of an incoming tide. That will cover your tracks for you.
Some old timers would mislead those that follow them by digging holes where there were no targets at all. Some would even drop a nail or pull tab by a hole where they removed a good target.
Some would try to make their holes less obvious by spreading the sand to really disguise the hole and kicking rocks or seaweed over the hole.
My main point today is that there might be good useful information in the tracks left by those that detect a beach before you. I didn't start out with the intent of giving you a glimpse into some of the tricks of the old timers, but you might find that interesting or enjoyable anyhow.
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I was expecting to receive pictures of cobs found after Hurricane Matthew, but haven't recieved them yet. I'll go ahead and post one - a two reale.
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| Mexico 2 Reale |
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There is only one day remaining on the blog poll. I'd appreciate your responses.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net