Newbie Question...

[toasterburn]

My wife and I wanted a new hobby that we could do together on the weekends, and we decided to pick up metal detecting. I have an older garret 350 that my parents gave me for x-mass one year when I was younger, seems to still work fine.

I found an old (late 1800s) church nearby and we went on our first hunt this morning. I was sure that we'd find an old coin or two there, but all we came back with were two recent penny's and a nail. I'm not really sure where to go now... I live in Tuscaloosa, AL which has a lot of history, but the town has been greatly developed over and the few historic buildings left have been renovated and sold to local businesses as office space. I doubt law offices would want me digging up there expensive sod.

So is there something I should be looking for? There are a few newer parks here and a river bank, that's about all I can think of to try.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

TB,I wouldn't hunt on any private property without permission.The 350 Garrett isn't a depth king but will work well for clad and ring hunting.You may even snare an old coin after a few hunts.My suggestions look again in your area for parks,your own yard,public schools on weekends,any type of recreation area.Think about the park you went to as a kid for a baseball game or picnic.The 350 in my opinion will work well for a starter unit.You may want to get a handheld pin pointer to help retrieve your targets since this Garrett doesn't have a pinpoint mode.Good Luck Ron

 

[Sky1]

I am new to detecting as well but I would think you need to go to a place were people used to congregate. Preferably places that are vacant now.

Talk to Old people about old places people use to go to and take notes.

Listen for things like, there used to be an old ball park or use to be a church over there or an old schoolhouse etc.

Have fun!
I think the research is probably half the fun!

 

[norman maassey]

You have a real good detector to start with. Go to the parks and tat lots to learn you detector. and to see if you truly like detecting ( I have seen to many good machine in up the closet). To some of us that love this hobby it can be addiction as some drugs. My White's LT is my fifth detector in 25 years and they all pay for themselves. The pin pointer is a not bad thing to have was any detector ( lam fixing buy one too).

The reason to start in the park is to find many coins and rings in a short amount of time to get hooked and to learn how to recover a target with least amount of damage to the grass. this is were a pin pointer comes in handy.

Hunting yards and older site can hard on a Newbie Good target are far an few between but are Worth the time.

Welcome to the Hobby and
Happy Hunting

 

[Canewrap]

I live on the outskirts of Huntsville, AL so I know how you feel. Ok, the advice about coinshooting to get used to your machine is good and I want to add, do research to find out where any drive-in-theaters were, old fairgrounds, picnic groves, one room school houses, etc. Also, after you know a little more about how your detector works, look for any fields that have a nice flat topped hill, the kind of place where somebody probably had a house at one time. Old homesites have all kinds of potential for old coins, relics, and caches. And, when you feel your ready for adding more to your list, start doing research on what Civil War units camped around there. There is all kinds of potential where you live, the key is good research. Happy Huntin'