new member, new detector, old treasure hunter

[dufus]

i retired a couple of weeks ago, decided to try some coin shooting, for the first time in years. i originally started treasure hunting in the early 70's, with an old BFO detector. then, garrett came out with the ''master hunter BFO'' and i bought one of those. i live in central mississippi, and i hunted civil war battlefields mostly in those days, with some success. i was always after an original CSA belt buckle, but never found one, but did find a bunch of other stuff, and some scattered old coins. then, garrett came out with the ''master hunter disc.'' in the early to mid-70's ?? [ 73-74????] and i got one of those. i then started mostly coin hunting, with some luck at that also. i ended up with a garrett ''coin shooter groundhog'', which i still have. i got that one out for the first time in years last week, and the batteries in it had corroded everything up, i took it apart somewhat, cleaned it good with contact cleaner and sandpaper,,, it wouldn't work. my wife said, '' get a new one, enjoy yourself'', so i ordered one of the ''scratch and dent'' BH pioneer 505 from kellyco for $200,,back in the game. this appears to me to be a decent little detector for the price, as i have a steep learning hill to re-climb for a while. i went and looked over a few sites waiting for the unit to come in, which it did yesterday, and i will go try some place this morning, an old swimming hole at a creek. lots of folks there during the summer, and now school is back in, so,, wide open. a good shady, cool place to try to learn the detector somewhat, and there should be SOME reward. sooo,,, if i go find a 10K diamond ring, and a civil war cache of gold eagles, i'll probably post pictures and brag here, so yall will realize what a great TH i am,, in the meantime,, i will humbly try to find a few coins.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Welcome back to the hobby.

 

[scubadetector]

Its better than most retirement hobbies. This one can actually pay for itself and keep you in shape. I have 11 more years till I retire. LOL then watch out world!! My scuba gear, and boat are traveling!!!

The name of the game is to relax and enjoy yourself and the finds will come. You just have to get your coil over the targets!! Have fun and visit when you can.

 

[Elton]

WELCOME back to detecting.

Wishing you much success.

 

[JB(MS)]

I live in northeast MS and except for a year of so in the mid 1980's when my work schedule didn't allow the time I've been involved with detectors and detecting since December of 1969. I too was after a CS plate, but while two guys I hunted with found them the best I could do was a US plate. I retired at the end of 2007 and have really enjoyed retirement. Now I mostly hunt coins, but I get out for a little while every day unless weather or a commitment prevents it. The only snag about retirement is that most of us have to be old to do it, and age, arthritis and various other physical ailments restrict the type of places I can hunt and for how long. Good luck with your new detector, but don't let the heat get you.

 

[dufus]

nice to hear from a fellow mississippian, JB. i went out for 2 hours, just got back. found a few coins, and a smushed, older aluminun can my detector assured me was a .50$ piece. it did however have a oblong sized tone, so i will remember that. the place i went to has a little park under big trees, with several tables, and gets frequent use all summer. i guess i'll keep going back there several more times until i get the hang of the tones on the 505. this APPEARS to be a decent little detector, and if i knew what i was doing, it will work out----for a while. it does a really decent job of disc. bottle tops, tabs, that i can readily see on top of the ground. one thing did really surprise me though--- the number of the pull tabs broken off the tops of cans and chunked on the ground. back in the 70's, pull-tabs were as common as dirt, now it seems i have a new enemy. who in the dickens pulls off tabs????? apparently millions of folks!!!!! at least this place is shady, no more than 4-5 miles from home, and sandy beaches, on top of limestone. another thing i discovered, it is not as easy to get up and down as it was 30-40 years ago. now, i'm pushing 68, but still in decent shape, although the miles have taken somewhat of a toll. still,, i won't rest until i get a nice jar of ''finds'' sitting on a shelf, to look at and bolster my spirit. i sold all my silver ''finds'' in 1980????? when silver went to $30 an ounce due to the Hunt boys creating a bubble. that still was a sound decision, as silver is approx. $40 in today's dollars, not even comparable. i bought a new ford XLT in 1980 for $6000 o.t.d.

civil war relic hunting would seem a sho'nuff tough deal anymore, as popular as MD have gotten in the last 20 years or so. it was wide open back in my days, most folks did not know what a MD was around here. there is still 2, 4-6 pound cannon [ LIVE] in my momma's old pond, that i found outside vicksburg. when i was a kid in the 50's, it was rather common to hear about a ball blowing up and killing 1-2-3 folks, especially in the vicksburg area. i did have enough sense not to fool with them, although my BIL was determined to drill the pine pitch out in the fuse hole, so i pitched them in the pond to bury in the mud. sometimes i wonder how many minnie balls i found, and i did find two of the US breast plate emblems. someone told me that the union troops threw them off before a battle, so as not to provide a target, center of chest. i gave most of this stuff away to people who collected it in those days, who did favors for me.

anyway,, it is good to be back in the game. my 9yo granddaughter was visiting from louisiana last summer and saw my old detector, and had a fit over it. i turned it on and let her fool with it for about 10 minutes, and it just quit. after they went home, i went to the bass pro in jackson and bought her some kind of bounty hunter for $175-200 and had them UPS it to her. after i get a tad of confidence in my abilities, i will go over and take her out somewhere, keep a family tradition going. her momma was about her age when i first started.it will be a wonderful hobby for her, not much sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll out in a field digging holes..........

 

[slingshot]

Hey, dufus. Welcome. I started out with the D-tex tiny tex and graduated to the Garrett, myself. Do you still remember Roy Lagal and my personal favorite,Karl Von Mueller? Boy, it was fun reading all those guys and learning-I remember how excited I was turning up the beat on that BFO and listening for those "skips" of the deeper objects. Those were some times.

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi Dufus, Good to hear you are back and a Big Welcome to you!! Hope you enjoy your retirement and dig lot's of Goodies. JB was right on what he said about the disadvantages of being old though, and Retirement sure ain't for Sissies, so be careful so you will last longer and be able to enjoy it more. I'm in South Ms, and started in 69 with a Garrett BFO too. Been digging regular ever since when I am able. My old hide looks like a roadmap (front and back) from all the scaple whacks but God has always Blessed me to be able to get up and go again.Whooee! Man alive, you being raised up and cutting your teeth already on CW sites, I bet you could very easily with your knowledge of the area , and some research come up with some sites untouched by all the "litterbug" folks.Be good too, to have a partner you can trust, so to help look out for oneanother. You may have already done some reading up on "new" Technology, but I just thought to let you know that in some ways that some of it ain't all that hot, and plenty diggers still prefer some of the "old" Tech. It's cheaper and does as good or better job in many cases.Take Care, God Bless and HH, Charlie.

 

[dufus]

hey there charlie,, good to hear from another in-stater. i just thought about the fact that i have never once hunted the gulf beaches, every time i go down there i am after crabs. it appears the ground is just fixing to get a tad softer, after ''lee'' gets out of here. i believe yall are looking for 10''-12'' of rain, they are saying 6''-9'' here. i am just northwest of magee, in the woods.there is several old cemeteries around with tombstones dating back into the 1700 [ born on date ]] and 1800's. i'm gonna look around the fringe areas of some of these, as most are remote and secluded. it will be like we used to do when we got dropped off at the vicksburg park at sundown, keep a low profile, do not leave a trace of your passing.i'm not gonna fool with any civil war stuff any more, just be a coin hunter basically, look for some relics around some old home sites if i can find some. truth is,, i don't have the ambition [ read gumption and stamina ] anymore, so i will take the path of least resistance. i'm gonna try to hold out, not show out. i've got a $750 check in the mail from a rebate on an extended warranty on a 4-wheeler that i bought my granddaughter 5 years ago, and was never used, so a check is on it;s way. i have decided to use this to get a really good coin detector, i just need to decide which one. so, some homework, and aggravating you guys is in order. i like the specs on the new AT gold, but i have got to get this frequency deal worked out, which is best for coins. i will start another thread on advice, and look it over carefully, as you guys know more than i've forgot. i'm basically starting over again, with the technology changes in the last 30 years. i do know this, the little ''coin shooter groundhog'' i bought in ''75 was a very good detector, after i learned what it was telling me. i have contacted garrett about getting it fixed, they said $40 [ plus shipping to texas ] to look it over, and they did not have any parts for it anymore. so,,, maybe i will make it a museum piece, as the newer models are a lot more ergonomic, and an old wore out man needs to stack the deck in his favor.everybody keep dry.......

 

[fowlercharles]

Hey Dufus, you sure got the right idea about taking the path of least resistance. Old dudes aren't left with many other choices, and sometimes it is afful hard for some of us(me for one) to settle ourselves into it. I have to remind myself to be careful sometimes before I venture off into taking on more than I am capable of. Slow and easy, close and convient, is the only way I can manage to enjoy digging now and it is still just as much fun as ever, and even better when with some good digging buddies.Yeah, me too on the Beaches. I have been trying for awhile to make aother trip down there but health and weather have not yet allowed it Only 30 miles for me and my daughter lives less than 500 yds off the beach in Long Beach.Katrina nearly wiped her place out but she fixed it all up again, like most all those folks do that love it there.I don't hear of much (historic ) stuff being found on the beaches but after a big hoilday weekend I am sure there will be some goodies found now and then.All the goodies are on the old homesites just off the beach that have had many houses destroyed over many years.Many (with permission) of them are unbeliveably loaded with riches.I only hunted the beaches a couple of times, once back in the early 70;s with the BFO, and later when they were dredging new sand in. Was hoping they would bring some older stuff back in but it didn't happen.Good that you are going to shop around and learn all you can before you settle on another machine. I would suggest for coins, and older homesites , be sure to consider the nails and iron trash factor.There are some that cut through the nails better than others so keep that in mind. Personally, I have been using Tesoro since 84. They are known to be good at descrimination(they are),great varriety of interchangeable coils ,Great Service,(you pay to ship it in) rest is almost always free, and Lifetime Warranty that covers any machine you send in no matter how many owners have had it ahead of you. Been there and done it and Tesoro works Great for me! As for digging CW finds,they are like gold , and are where you find them because that stuff turns up when least expected, especially on the old homesites. There were always unknown campsites that turn up too, and I have researched and discovered not only them, but several sites where several groups of Andrew Jackson's troops camped on their way to the Battle of New Orleans. Actually found 4 of those sites where both Jackson and CW troops passed through and camped almost on the same spot. The "slow and easy close and convient" has eliminated most all those digs for me. but I have one or 2 left,,, hopefully I enjoy the research a lot and have become fair at it so if while I am snooping the web, and find something interesting up your way I will surely let you know. LOL,you will probably have been there already, but it will be worth a try. This storm is a mess and will be awhile before it is outa here. So far, so good but it is wearing on our nerves.Few limbs down and some well wanted/needed rain, but wish it would move on .Take care Dufus, God Bless and HH, Charlie