most give up too quickly... advice, especially for our newbies

[GRAY GHOST]

hello all, i can't count the number of times ive actually seen people pull their machine out of the car, all hopped up, and ready to start hunting, hunt for 15 minutes, make a couple of digs, shake their heads, and load the machine back into the car - AND LEAVE. thats the way it goes too, in that order. i can't teach you patience, but i can show you how to be more disciplined and improve your techniques. i've always set time limits for myself. no matter how well or bad the day goes, i have a time limit. and i'm bound to it. that piece of ground will be there tommorow. i have to be true to my hobby, as i am in the other major areas of my life. no sense being frustrated over a bad day when i know full well two minutes into the next hunt could change my life into one of relative ease. frustration is pointless. to me, metal detecting is like mopping the kitchen floor; start at one corner and work your way around in tight, long lines. don't forget where you've been, mentally note where the find was made in your sweep, and don't mop yourself into a corner! make mental landmarks and develop your mind's eye. the mind's eye is when you've got the beep, in motion to set your machine down so you can dig, your eyes transfixed on that irregular piece of dirt you would otherwise have had no idea that something was there. the not - so- hard - to - learn mind's eye i've developed over the years has denied the pinpointer makers another sale. keep the coil low and slow; no need to hurry a sure thing. it makes absolutely no sense to fumble and fidget for tools that i don't need. it takes time and finds away from the hunt, which suffers as a result. and it's distracting. i feel that too many of us are impatient with our machines, and don't give ourselves the time and lessons necessary to learn the machine and consequently, what we interpret those beeps to be. so the next thing i hear is, inevitably, "i need a new machine!" give your expensive new machine a chance, and go with the learning curve, not against it. after a while, you will come to a "place" with your detector, a place where man and machine are one and operating on even terms. it's a great feeling. and you'll know when it happens. almost like an extension of your arm. you just have to be smarter than the machine and single - minded in your purpose. that's part of the discipline. and the great finds will come, you may have no doubt about that. thousands of hunts later, initially i never expect to find anything. i go hunting with a clean slate every time. everytime. i learned long ago to expect the unexpected. it's become a self fulfilling prophecy: because everything that i've ever found WAS unexpected. long post, i know, thanks 4 reading, and hope you can benefit somehow. my special thanks to elton, a.k.a. the mayor... good conversation this eve. hh,


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[GRAY GHOST]

n/t

 

[Rosco Bookbinder]

Some of the best finds I've gotten were in places where others have been (and I was told "other people have been here before") Be they new to the hobby/sport or experienced, WE ALL miss things. I know from experience in my own back yard. I thought I had it covered then found a silver franc under the pine tree.

Never think you are done searching an area until you have SEARCHED the area. I think it was John or Bill that told me one time. Grid, criss-cross, grid and do some more. Then go back some other time and do it again.

And the more experience we get the more we think we can shot-gun and find all the loot. Not even close. One fast swing on a fast step can miss the one thing you were looking for...........

Good report Gray Ghost....

 

[Uncle Willy]

One has to always consider this - no matter how big your coil is and no matter how much ground you think its covering, at depth the signal is only covering an area the size of a quarter. That's why no area is ever hunted out. The only way you could hunt it out would be to dig up every square inch of soil to a given depth and sift it.

Bill

 

[Goes4ever]

not me, I hunt till my alotted time runs out, good finds or not

 

[draaiorgel]

Good post GRAY GHOST,
I found myself nodding in agreement all the way through it.
Cheers m8.

 

[treasurefiend]

I will go untill my batteries die, or till it gets dark. But I have to admit, I get anxious when I don't find anything within 30 min. But I wont leave, just get antsy in the pantsy. I know I have to be patient and not skip steps, as that leads to missing targets - I know the goods will come...

 

[John-Edmonton]

n/t

 

[GRAY GHOST]

thanks, john, i'll take that as a compliment from a great poster and detectorist. thanks, everybody.

 

[awhitster]

[quote GRAY GHOST]hello all, i can't count the number of times ive actually seen people pull their machine out of the car, all hopped up, and ready to start hunting, hunt for 15 minutes, make a couple of digs, shake their heads, and load the machine back into the car - AND LEAVE. [/quote]More for me

 

[Jesse W. McComas]

No truer words have ever been spoken. In 40 years of swinging a metal detector, your words ring true. I told my Son a few weeks ago to slow down. This hobby is a matter of INCHES. Just scan the ground in front of you, Do not worry about the rest of the area you are hunting in, just the few inches in fron, and left and right of you coil, and the inches down in the ground will produce the finds you are looking for. Get focused on your hunt, just inches in front of you nothing else. He did as I said and the next signal was a Roosevelt Silver Dime. At that point He realised what I was teaching him, and you could see in his eyes that it all started to CLICK. After that he added a few Wheat Cents to his day's total, and we headed home with a big smile on his face. So you see, persistence pays of over time. HH...Jesse.