Dirt Fishing - Early Sunday Hunt

I woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning and got into the Metal Detecting mood. A 2 hour hunt for coins before heading to church yielded these US coins. Also, a 2007 Chucky Cheese token and Dog Tag... Enjoy

 

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Nice find.....did ya throw any of them in the poor box?

 

Not bad. About $6 in two hours. Fun stuff.

 

Can you metal detect at National Battlefields?

 

No! Google the story of cannon ball found in a Georgetown chimney last year! And that should explain why

 

Love your post. Never have done that however,....I have some land in Arkansas that has an old logging road, which I am sure many troops traveled in Civil war. Any suggestions on best type of metal detector to buy? Maybe a max of $ 1000 cost?

 

Wow, lot of coins found in a short time. I used to spend many, many hours with my dad's old Garrett detector and find many pop tops, nails, tin toothpaste tubes, scraps of aluminum foil, and other assorted junk. Once in a GREAT while I would find a coin, almost always fairly new and worth no more than face value. I recall one time finding a token in an Arizona ghost town, it said "Pabst's Pool Parlor, good for 12 1/2 cents in trade", and had a mule on one side. A one bit piece.

 

NO!

You WILL be arrested, lose your car, be fined, and go to jail

 

A lot of good detectors at that price point but I think the hot one right now is the "Deus". I had an online dealer willing to sell me one for $1,250.00 new.

 

Go for a White's.

 

I prefer Garrett and Fisher. The old Fisher CZ's. But, if I had the funds, Minelab makes one for about $3000. Waterproof to 10 feet, wireless headphone and very adjustable shaft.
Headphones help a lot, but are problematic, always getting the wire tangled. Detectors also have adjustable shafts right out of the home made in a garage era. The Minelab simply slides up and down, and has a huge range. The water resistance is a great feature too. Imagine getting caught far from your car with $1000 or more in non-water resistant detector, when a storm hits? Also, wetness and rain give buried coins a "halo" making them look bigger to the detector. But you cant put your detector down if its not water resistant.
There are other detectors for less, that are water resistant, or even submersible.

 

I think you are referring to the Minelab CTX 3030, which I happen to own (about $2,500.00). A lot of money but it has paid for itself many times over. Only problem (big one) with this machine (for me) is it shuts down for no apparent reason from time to time.

Pulled eleven silver dimes from two parks this weekend plus numerous wheats and a few Indian pennies. An old timer greeted me at the first park I hit and told me he had been hunting it for years with a White's and three detectorist's had been there the day before. I pulled ten wheats and two barber dimes within three hours so... Great machine!

 

You are correct. It is the CTX 3030.
I have been into metal detecting for a long time, but in recent years, the arthritis in my knees prevents me. Sigh!
Minelab has a great rep, but its the features on the CTX that help elevate it above the others.

 

Sorry for your troubles. I'm no spring chicken myself and am feeling the years. Don't know what I'll do when I can't get out "dirt fishing" any longer?

One of the benefits of the "Deus" is its weight advantage over the Minelabs. My CTX comes in at a little over 5 lbs, whereas the Deus is about 2 lbs. I'm thinking I'll make the transition next year and see if it allows me to enjoy the hobby with less pain.

 

No but do some research and you will find that in many cases much of the battlefields are on private land.

 

Sounds like someone talking from experience

 

Well we had a bloke here that hasn't been on in awhile that alluded to detecting in cemeteries or very close proximity to them.

 

I get uncomfortable thinking of it, but what can you find in a cemetery? No one goes there to play volleyball or swimming. There are people in coffins there, but they are buried and you don't need a detector to find them.
Just cant figure why people would detect in one. Or laws being necessary to prevent it. Anyone crazy enough wont be bothered by the law.

 

In the 19th century having family picnics at the cemetery "with your loved ones" was a very common thing.

 

I would never do it but any where people visit (such as dead loved ones), they are sure to drop things. As it is so taboo, probably most have never been hunted before so virgin ground.

Not sure what the time rules are but eventually it gets called archaeology and becomes respectable. (lol)