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I love beach hunting with my SE!

DukeOBass

DukeOBass

Active member
I really love this beach hunting stuff! This is the first I had the chance to do it. Currently, we're visiting our 2nd oldest son in southern Alabama and I've been out on the beach before sunrise every day this week.
So far, the total take comes to $18.49, a silver ring and 5 matchbox cars! This has just been in the dry sand. I wonder what I could have found if I had an Excalibur?
I still have a few days left to hunt before I have to return to cold rainy central PA. Man I'm gonaa miss this place!
 
Start searching out all the swimming beaches at the lakes and rivers in Pa. there is gold waiting for you. Good luck and HH. If possible post some pics. of your finds that keeps us all motivated.
 
I know I am... I'm usually a 'sleep in' type guy. For me to be hauling myself out of bed at 4 AM and hitting the beach, I have no doubt it's an addiction.

I will post when I get back home in PA. I'll probably be leaving Alabama on Thursday morning. Look for some pictures on Saturday.

I'm heading out to the beach again in the early morning. I scouted out some other places this afternoon and came up with 12 cents. It was really hot yesterday and today so I'm hoping the dry sands have been replenished!
 
I live 3 miles east of Milton.
 
Wait until you get a load of this place in the summer. We're gonna be pullin' some serious BLING! What are the dates again?
 
I planning to be down there sometime Wednesday, July 4th and leave on the Tuesday 2 weeks after (the 17th. I would have liked to be able to hunt in the water here but the surf has been to rough. I've "dry sanded" the whole time. It would great if I could get an Excal by then
 
A guy I met on the beach told me not to wade with the SE/Explorer because the surf can twist the upper shaft off. He said he had lost two that way.

I had the Excaliber anyway, but I thought I would try the SE in the wet sand. As it turns out the Excal was working a little better there so I retired my SE to the dry sand.

Even though it is not coming directly from me I just thought I would pass his tip along. Perhaps others here can offer up their experience.

HH Alton
 
That's pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Because the Explorer II and the SE both have a carbon fiber lower and stout metal upper shaft with a very solid locking system. And unless the upper shaft is improperly installed, that's NEVER going to happen. As far as the surf "twisting the shaft off", anybody who's detecting in THAT kind of surf with a non-waterproof $1200 machine in the first place deserves to have it twisted off. :lol:

And I realize YOU aren't saying this. It's just one of those laughable things you have to wonder "Where do people GET this stuff??? :shrug:
 
If you put a heavy guy in some heavy surf and he uses his machine as a cane instead of a detector, I believe it could come off. Let's remember, it's a detector not a walking stick. If you need to brace yourself against the waves then use your scoop not your detector. Better yet, don't take the waves head on and ride with them when an extra large one comes in, pull tabs may get swept away but the gold will remain. I guess nobody told this guy what is covered in Beach and Water Detecting 101.

BDA:cool:
 
Yeah, really.

And once again, in the kind of surf you're describing (heavy surf...bracing yourself against the waves, etc) are you going to be out there with a $1200 land machine? Methinks not. Doing some dry sand, wet sand, or shallow water with an Explorer is one thing. Taking on King Neptune and Davy Jones is another. :)
 
...I wasn't using my SE in the water, but the wet sand.

This guy claimed he had been beach detecting for 35 years. He was a skinny guy and carried his scoop in a sling much like a rifle sling.

Now that some of these things have been questioned, I recall thinking it was peculiar the way he said the Excaliber had to be set up. First he said to always use "auto" for sensitivity. I'm new to water detecting, but everything I had read pretty much says that you should continually tune sensitivity for the conditions. He also said that threshold should be turned to where you can't hear it. I thought those settings were far from optimal and didn't use them, but I couldn't judge them either since I'm new to water detecting. But I'm not new to metal detecting and really had my doubts. I didn't try it on my Excaliber. I went by Riellys Treasure Gold with my detector and the guys there said I had my Excal set right.

Perhaps he just had a case of "I've always done it this way" metality. I still don't know if how he broke off the shafts (or if he actually did).

He didn't really need to warn me about taking the SE in the water because I would be too afraid of dropping it, or a freak wave splashing the control box.

But now you mention it, he very well could have been a blow-hard and might not have even owned a SE. I just didn't think that someone would walk up out of the blue and lie about something. My mind was not alert to that at the time.

Hmmmm.... :unsure:
 
Alton the part of the story that sounded strange to me is that he did this with 2 units. You would think that once would have been enough to have learned.I used to go in the lake waist deep with my whites land unit, but I was a nervous wreck the entire time I was in the water. I would never go in the water with big waves not even knee deep to easy to loss your balance.Good luck with your beach hunting.
 
Well that's strike two...he gave you crappy advice on the Excal too. Auto? Threshold where you can't hear it? The whole point of the threshold is to tip you off to deeper targets, small gold, and near-misses. You can't hear an interruption in the threshold if you can't hear the threshold. As for the Auto sens, well, it WILL work...just not nearly as well. General rule of thumb for a starting point would be:

8" coil - 10 oclock

10" coil - 11 oclock

12.5" - 15" 12 oclock

And then adjust from there for your area as conditions allow.

That fellow may have been detecting for 35 years and he may actually have found a thing or two. Sounds like to me he's missed an awful lot.
 
If I thought that water hunting was okay with an Explorer I would not have bought the Excaliber. By the end of the week I felt comfortable that I could find just as much with the Excaliber as with the Explorer. I ended up buying a lighter scoop to hunt dry sand with, and using the lighter F75.

Anything near the water though I'll stick with water units.

I'm still pondering all aspects of my trip. I've read Clive's book and now I'm wondering if a PI unit might have given me the depth to reach some of the covered up items. However, I also remember digging a few 2 foot holes with the Excal and wonder just how deep should you dig. I actually found a quarter around 18" and a few rusty bottle caps even deeper.

Bottle caps is another thing that I need to improve on eliminating. I got better by the end of the week, but some of them can really fool me.

If I decide on a PI, which one? I'm thinking I could use one relic hunting around here.

HH Alton
 
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