Question about hunting tot lots.

[tabdog]

That is interesting. It's good to hear ones thoughts and strategies. I can then compare them to my own. It's like a soup. I put in the ingredients and wave my spoon around and churn up something from the bottom of my mind and Bingo

Never know what I'm gonna come up with

One nice thing about tot lots is that, it's a park. I have had fun talking to kids, their parents and most people who come around me. After working with the public for so many years, I'm just like that.

These little tot lots have physical boundaries. What's inside those boundaries is usually very easy to recover targets in. It's like a gift to me.

I can recover targets at a high rate. I am slowly learning to distinguish between aluminum foil, pull tabs, nickles, coins on edge and possible jewelry items. I'm learning there can be a small difference between iron, like bolts, blobs, nails and gold chains and small golden jewelry items. Right on up the scale to around nickels.

Armed with this casually learned knowledge in an enjoyable surrounding, I am able to apply that to IDing targets in harsher conditions. That makes it more interesting, and more fun to me.

I do this for my health and enjoyment. May get carried away, a little, sometimes. But there's not enough left of me to get carried very far.

But it sure beats laying in bed, which is what I was doing,

 

[Pap]

I can agree with some of what you said. Like you I do occasionally hunt some parks where foil is a problem and unless you can remove everything in a tot lot before leaving removing some actually helps the next guy or gal who follows and gives them a cleaner area to hunt. And I agree that if there is an abundance of foil I sometimes discriminate it out. Generally the people that hunt the same areas that I do however are "cherry pickers" and recover dimes and quarters so they are not much threat to collect the Au that may be there. And I guess I'm one of the few, referring to your assertion, that doesn't keep track of their finds. I never know until winter how much clad I have recovered and usually forget some of the jewelry finds as well. And for me it is a hobby. And not a completive one. Personally if I were to take it seriously it would become a job and I am against working which is why I retired.
Pap

 

[rmptr]

OK Pap!
Always exceptions...

Glad your out there having fun...
When I was in sales, and making the big bucks it was good to get away from everything and spend a few hours with the MD by myself on the beach... (It's easier than fishing!)

Hey Tabdog! I like the kids investigating also... had a very pretty little 3 or 4 year old girl with a HUGE smile toddle over to me today and barely was able to say, "whatcha doin?" Here's comes Mom, quickly, nervous as a hen with a missing chick... but she managed a smile as she retrieved her daughter... I had just dug the lincoln memorial up and held it out so the little girl could see.
Mom asks, "Are you finding anything?" and I told her, "just a few pennies," and she was happy with that answer...

Too many whackos in the newspapers these days, so I'm real cautious and kinda stay away from the kids, and even people, if I can, since I'm doing something a bit different than most, and have digging tools (pointy objects).
A lot of the kids know all about it, and sometimes I get swarmed with a whole flock of 'em, but that's fun, too.
I pull off the headphones, pocket my tools, and generally let them dig the next couple beeps. The usually get tired of it within a few minutes!

Didn't make fuel today, but got a scrap ring and a rolled penny. It was a nice day!

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[rmptr]

Actually I'm kinda in a holding pattern, as most of us here in CA.
All dressed up, and nowhere to go!
There's just not much work around.
I'm beginning to see more young men with long faces at the parks bringing their kids to play.

Might be a good gig doing inspections for banks, on the foreclosed homes.
...and an opportunity to do a bit of quick metal detecting at private sites!

 

[tabdog]

n/t