Metal detecting takes more than scanning over land and discovering buried treasures, it takes patience and persistence to be in the right position to find certain metals hiding just under your feet. It doesn’t matter if you are detecting on a beach, in the woods, or on a property that was just cleared, the following tips will help you to be in the best position to find something valuable.
1. Scanning the Ground Like a Professional
In order to be able to discover what treasures are hiding just below your feet, you need to allow your metal detector to work properly. Although the device has the ability to scan several inches below the ground surface, if you are moving too fast, you might miss something altogether. If your metal detector was a can of spray paint, you would discover after only a few minutes that you miss more ground than you cover when waving back and forth. The reason is that many novice metal detector users are walking too fast to find treasures. Slowing down and walking after you make a pass with your metal detector will help you to cover far more ground.
The best way to cover the most ground is to visualize a spot on the ground, wave the base of the metal detector all the way to the left and then the right, then move forward a couple feet and do a wide scan again. The further to the left and right, and the slower you walk, the bigger area you will cover.
2. Setting the Metal Detector to Find Riches
The metal detectors for sale today are extremely powerful devices that have the ability to distinguish between a variety of different metals. When the first metal detectors were used in 1874, they were to locate any metal. As they developed for soldiers to use in the field, they became more advanced. Today, the average metal detector can distinguish between junk metal, coins, and rare jewelry. These settings can be your friend when you are detecting in areas that have a high concentration of trash. For example, if you are metal detecting on the beach, it is extremely useful to set the metal detector to ignore things like pull tabs and aluminum cans that are buried in the sand.
If you are beach hunting, you are looking for jewelry and coins, so you can eliminate many of the other metals and be in a position to dig less holes and find more metal detecting treasures. If you are digging inland on a site with historical significance, you can set the detector to go deeper, but you will have to walk slower to get a clear reading.
3. Bringing the Right Accessories
Imagine being in the middle of the woods and your metal detector gives off a huge alert that a gold coin is about six inches below the surface. If you didn’t bring the right accessories, it is going to be a struggle to dig that deep. The shovel and scoop you use at the beach will not work on hard terrain in the woods. Be sure that you bring the right shovel, the right tools for filtering the dirt or sand, and plenty of batteries. Nothing can be more frustrating than getting to a honey hole and after your first find the batteries go dead and you don’t have replacements. One of the best accessories that you can invest in when metal detecting is a pinpointer. This device will allow you to search inside the hole or the debris pile for the metal object more easily while on the ground.
Bring the right size and design scoop for the location you are detecting. A sand scoop will not work as good in the forest as it does on the beach. Invest in a decent size fanny bag and carry batteries, head lamp, brush, pinpointer, gloves, compass, and headphone.
Now that you know how to be metal detecting like the experts, get out there today and see what you can discover. You never know when that next dig might uncover a rare coin, buried hoard, or a piece of valuable jewelry.
