Metal Detector hobbyist have a code that they live by: Always get permission. Cover your holes up after you have found your target, treasure, coin, ring, etc. Leave the location in better condition than when you started.
Metal Detecting Tips for the beginning hobbyist
- Location, Location, Location! Research the areas you'd like to hunt.
- You have to learn your machine so go to a school, city park or some tot lots (playgrounds) to start out. Once you learn your machine you can try for the older stuff. Hey, even I had to start out this way and every veteran hobbyist will tell you the same thing.
- Another tip for you to remember: be patient and persistent. Perseverance will pay off!
- You need to learn this early on, recheck your hole because there may be more than one target in the hole.
- Join some type of metal detecting forum. They will help you learn a lot about our great hobby. I am a member of Treasure Quest and I invite everyone reading this to join. Here's a link to Treasures Quest and more forums are listed on my Links page.
- Sometimes when you find a coin it will have some green patina on it (green color) recheck the hole there maybe another with it. I've had this happen to me and there was another coin.
- Be careful when your digging not to hit your target with your digger.
- Always wear gloves because there is broken glass, rusty nails, cans and other metal objects in the ground that might cut your fingers or hands while digging.
- It's best to take some kind of insect repellent with you if you are going to hunt in the early morning or late afternoon.
- When your hunting parks, look at the bigger trees and check the base of them to see if there are roots growing out away form the tree. Sometimes when fill dirt is brought in you can`t see the roots of the trees. This might mean that it's a new park.
- You may want to hunt in all metal mode if you're not getting many signals, like in an open field or certain places you've researched.
- Everybody likes to be safe, if you are hunting out in the country wear boots. Watch for wild things such as snakes, yellow jackets, wasps, bees, fire ants, etc. Be careful where you dig because some insects nest in the ground, like yellow jackets. Look for fire ants before you kneel to dig a target. It's not a bad idea to keep a snake bite kit with you and a first aid kit.
Metal Detecting Tips for everyone
- Refer to the beginner's tips too. It never hurts to refresh your memory.
- Always get permission.
- Always fill in your holes after you have retrieved your target or signal.
- Location, Location, Location!
- Remember the last year the U.S. government minted silver coins was from 1964 and earlier.
- The years during World War II they put silver in nickels from 1942 to 1945.
- Keep watch around your town or city for new construction work, particularly the older part of town.
- If your finding older coins such wheat cents or old nickels, keep hunting that area because there will surely be some silver coins there.
- During the summer months take/drink plenty of water and wear light colors because they reflect heat, bright colors attract heat.
- If you're fair complected and sun burn easily take/use sun blocker.
- A good tip for everyone, always keep an extra pair of batteries for your detector and pin pointer.
- Buy some reading material for rainy days to help keep you motivated, such as Western & Eastern Treasure Magazine.
- If you're hunting an area and you make a really good find take a break and calm down a bit, then work that area real slow.
- Talk with older folks in your community. Verbal research to me is one of the best ways to learn about older places.
- Visit your local town, city or state library. It's a good place to do research and check out books on your towns history. Also look at their microfilm. Most of the time it will have old newspaper clippings of the early days in your town.
- Try to find old water ways, people used to travel these to get to where they were going.
- If you are going out of town for a hunt, let your family or friends know when your leaving and planning on coming back. Let them know where your going and how they can reach you. If your going in the mountains or a national park, let the park rangers know that you are there and the time you are going to stay there.
- Looking for places to hunt? I've already covered some of this, but here are a few more helpful suggestions. Try hunting around old homes, schools and parks in the older part of town, picnic groves, old campgrounds, church camp meeting sites that date back to the late 1800`s or early 1900`s, old swimming holes, old race tracks, fairgrounds and baseball fields. How about an old forgotten ghost town?
- Most of the time you can tell if a church or school is old by looking at the metal plate with the year it was established.
- If your a young person just getting started in the hobby ask your parents or Grandparents, they should know of other older places to hunt. Talk to older people about places that used to be located in your town.
- Was there a civil war battle that took place in or around your town? Here in the south, people in the summer along time ago had brush arber meetings. This was a church outside under a nathural canopy and would be a good place to metal detect.
- Other places to hunt: old resorts. old store sites, sidewalk strips (the little grass patches between the sidewalk and curb of the street). These are just a few suggestions and maybe it will get you to thinking about other places to hunt. I will add more as I think of them.
