z118
07-31-2011, 11:59 AM
I got back on Saturday from the annual family vacation at the beach in New England. Pretty much all year I look forward to those early mornings on the beach detecting, both for the beauty and calm of the surroundings as well as the possible good finds. Now that my father is hooked on detecting, he joined me for several hunts. I usually use the E-trac and he has my old Sov GT, but we switched at the beach as I think the Sov does better there (plus my father wanted to try out the E-trac). We did a few comparisons of signals on both machines, but weren't very scientific about it. All I know is that the Sov is an absolute beast in the sand. It ran as smooth as smooth can be and I pulled quite a few coin or coin sized targets at 12 or so.
I was very much hoping for some gold this year, but it was not to be. The sheer number of other guys detecting on the beach is staggering - it was not unusual to see a dozen other people with detectors at any given time. The dry sand was not very productive for me so when the tides agreed I worked the wet sand quite a bit. I did wind up with some silver jewelry - a tiny ring, an earring, and 11 silver beads. The beads were a chore to detect as they were small enough to fall through the scoop and when I first came across them it was right where the waves were starting to hit. There is no way to recover targets in moving water that will fall through a scoop that I know of. I still managed to find 8 of them between waves, and then my dad found the spot again a few days later and we pulled 3 more.
The other nice find was a surprise of sorts - a nice 1911 V nickel in the damp sand. I know there are plenty of old coins somewhere at this beach but at this point I'd expect them to all be beyond the range of detectors. You just never know. This V nickel is in much nicer shape than any of the ones I've found in the dirt. I also dug one deep and beat up 1917 wheat in the dry sand, and two others that I would suspect are modern drops.
Otherwise, total coins for the week was 331 coins worth $25.83. It was a great time as always. The thought of getting back to work and life in general is not a pleasant one at this point. I already can't wait for next year!
happy hunting...
I was very much hoping for some gold this year, but it was not to be. The sheer number of other guys detecting on the beach is staggering - it was not unusual to see a dozen other people with detectors at any given time. The dry sand was not very productive for me so when the tides agreed I worked the wet sand quite a bit. I did wind up with some silver jewelry - a tiny ring, an earring, and 11 silver beads. The beads were a chore to detect as they were small enough to fall through the scoop and when I first came across them it was right where the waves were starting to hit. There is no way to recover targets in moving water that will fall through a scoop that I know of. I still managed to find 8 of them between waves, and then my dad found the spot again a few days later and we pulled 3 more.
The other nice find was a surprise of sorts - a nice 1911 V nickel in the damp sand. I know there are plenty of old coins somewhere at this beach but at this point I'd expect them to all be beyond the range of detectors. You just never know. This V nickel is in much nicer shape than any of the ones I've found in the dirt. I also dug one deep and beat up 1917 wheat in the dry sand, and two others that I would suspect are modern drops.
Otherwise, total coins for the week was 331 coins worth $25.83. It was a great time as always. The thought of getting back to work and life in general is not a pleasant one at this point. I already can't wait for next year!
happy hunting...