10 ft cut.......... UPDATE

The take home message for me in their entire thread is that metal detecting is no different than fishing or hunting (which I do much more frequently than MDing). When you find a good spot, seasonal or otherwise, if you don't keep it close to the cuff you run the risk of having it blown up by a bunch of people.

I've made the mistake of telling the wrong people about a spot, only to have it get crushed by that person, the 10 people he told, their friends etc. etc.

It sounds like someone was trying to pass on a good opportunity to fellow MDers and others weren't very happy because he essentially blew open a spot they had been MDing under conditions that had much less pressure.

As for the differences in the machines and which ones will work - I don't own any of them so it doesn't matter.

Tragedy of the commons, especially with the advent of the internet. I think its safe to assume that if you give out information on a public area that is "hot", you'll also be spoiling it for at least a few others who have been intentionally keeping it quiet.

yacorie said:

The take home message for me in their entire thread is that metal detecting is no different than fishing or hunting (which I do much more frequently than MDing). When you find a good spot, seasonal or otherwise, if you don't keep it close to the cuff you run the risk of having it blown up by a bunch of people.

I've made the mistake of telling the wrong people about a spot, only to have it get crushed by that person, the 10 people he told, their friends etc. etc.

It sounds like someone was trying to pass on a good opportunity to fellow MDers and others weren't very happy because he essentially blew open a spot they had been MDing under conditions that had much less pressure.

As for the differences in the machines and which ones will work - I don't own any of them so it doesn't matter.

Tragedy of the commons, especially with the advent of the internet. I think its safe to assume that if you give out information on a public area that is "hot", you'll also be spoiling it for at least a few others who have been intentionally keeping it quiet.

Click to expand...

I posted a picture of a school I used to hunt a long time ago. Went back not long later and it looked like Iraq. If I post pics you can tell where it's at now it's because that's not where I'm really hunting

I can understand this "just us and no one else" lone ranger philosophy, if we were talking about land sites, with non-renewable older targets. But when it comes to beach erosion, there's some other factors involved:

a) It may be good for a few days, and then not again for 10 yrs. The following year the action may be a mile north, or a mile south of there. And it doesn't do anyone (of those new people who "found out") any good whatsoever, to know where you or I got a bunch of gold rings or coins from. Because they can go there and knock themselves silly till the cows come home, and ... if the sand has come back in, well, then it's no better than any other beach anywhere.

b) There are actually times when some beaches are going off SO hot and heavy, that ... 1, or 2, or 3 hunters will barely make a dent in the # of targets there. So let's say you got 300 coins and 4 gold rings. Yet if there were 10 hunters there, you STILL would have gotten "300 coins and 4 gold rings". It makes utterly no difference, because there are ssoooo many targets, in such a large area (slated to be covered over in 3 or 4 more days), that ....... other hunters do not diminish *your* finds #'s

c) As was seen in that southern CA event: When swells come through, it's hit & miss as to which beaches got eroded, versus which ones mother nature by-passes. So often-time you must drive around to see where the "action" is. And it's simply impossible to sample and test every single beach along your coast-line. So INVARIABLY, hunters will pick up the phone, or send emails, to their buddies asking "so how'd you do this morning?? Did you see such & such beach ? ", etc.... In other words: compare notes.

d) Quite frankly, even if it can be said that it was true that ONLY because someone else was there found some goodie that could, in theory, have been mine, "if only I had been the only hunter there", then I'm still not bothered. I have land-sites, for instance, where invitees of mine have found gold coins (7 or 8 times so far!), and reales. And in some of those cases, I could actually tell myself that that gold coin or reale *would* have been mine, if I had been the only one hunting there. But I'm still not bothered. I'm happy for them, and enjoy hunting with others. And invariably, those hunters will, in turn, turn ME on to sites that THEY research out later. So it ends up becoming a win-win.

But back to the beach topic: With the circle of friends I hunt with, that communication is the ONLY way we all know where the action is. Since it's physically impossible to drive the 50 miles of coastline, and check 30 different beaches. So for example: one year I'll turn buddies on to where I'm harvesting (and ... yes ... share). Then the next year where they'll turn me on to where action is. Tit for tat.

So there's a lot of factors going on here. If a spot has SO many targets, that no one's going to end of harvesting them all, then .... ok, who's being harmed ? But to each his own.

I agree Tom. If I go to a spot and then later SSC goes there and finds two rings it means we all can look forward to future good times.

That reale spot in CA?? (SJC parking lot??)


Another thing I have to say is that I'm used to having MD threads get kinda nasty as I am on geotech a lot. I ask a lot of questions and I think I and others learn a lot from it. I think we learned some things in this one about Aliso. Is it wrong to pick a site and discuss its behavior over time? I think it is very interesting stuff even though I may never get a site being discussed.

Bklein said:

.....

That reale spot in CA?? (SJC parking lot??)

Click to expand...

Huh ? What's "SJC" ? I'm in the central coast area, and have found reales all over this part of CA. Including a few after beach storms !!

But back to the beach topic: What gets complicated, is when a buddy turns you on to a spot, but adds the caveat: "don't tell anyone else". Ok, I can understand you're bound to that (since he was the one who informed you of the action-spot). But can you imagine the angst when your other buddies (who are perhaps long time confidants) call you up, find out you're scoring big time, but you "can't tell them where, because so & so told you not to". That might make sense in a limited pocket size, but what if it's endless and can't be harvested before the sand comes back in ?

But what if that initial spot-finder says nothing either way? Hmm, ok are you bound to ask his permission? And if you try, but he's no where to be found (can't get ahold of him), and meanwhile your buddies are calling wondering if you know where the action is, and the spot has a million targets that will never be harvested d/t shear amounts. Ok, what to do then? Let it go to waste? Or assume the obvious that this will go to waste so you let your other buddies in on it ? Ok, but what if hunter #1 is the lone-ranger type ? That's fine, but ....... at what point is he entitled to just go up and down the coast,and just "call dibs" on any and every place that's going off ? What if he happened to call you first, yet you were slated to be checking out that spot later anyhow? Does that qualify you as equal "finder" ? What if your source of info was a 3rd party, and that "3rd party" could care less (and has a "come one come all" attitude), yet the first party, upon seeing you there, tells you "don't tell anyone". Who's edict are you bound by ?

What if 2 hunters "discover" the hot spot at the same time? Who can "call dibs" on that? And if you say that both have "rights" to "dibs" on that, what do you do if hunter #2 "gets mad at you", for showing up the following day with another friend ? Is he entitled to be mad?

AAAArrrrgghhhh

And what cracks me up in all this, is that those "lone ranger" types will usually be the first ones to pick up the phone or email, to "fish" for where someone else may know a current system eroded at. It strikes me as odd that they're perfectly willing to accept that info from elsewhere, yet ..... would forbid others, beyond them, from knowing ? ok, whatever

Ohhhhhh - I thought you were local (south OC). "SJC" would infer the San Juan Capistrano mission parking lot... (illegal to hunt btw) although I haven't read of reale findings here but did meet a guy that found a sword.
Very cool that you find reales in the Central coast. In fact cool to get any information about searching the Central coast at all as it isn't discussed much.
My wife and I (and dog) visit the Central coast a lot - ranging from Jalama beach to San Simeon beach. I don't look forward to it for detecting as I imagine a lot of walking with no targets while she picks up rocks and occasional sea glass. If you care to offer reale prospecting trips we'd be up for it. Did you do a lot of research to narrow down on what turned out to be good places to try?

Bklein said:

... Did you do a lot of research to narrow down on what turned out to be good places to try?

Click to expand...

A lot of the ones we've found were at "adobe sites". Those are the habitations outside the mission and presidio walls, dating 1830s/40s. However, some reales have shown up at sites of the 1850s/60's (american/statehood era).

Tom_in_CA said:

Huh ? What's "SJC" ? I'm in the central coast area, and have found reales all over this part of CA. Including a few after beach storms !!

But back to the beach topic: What gets complicated, is when a buddy turns you on to a spot, but adds the caveat: "don't tell anyone else". Ok, I can understand you're bound to that (since he was the one who informed you of the action-spot). But can you imagine the angst when your other buddies (who are perhaps long time confidants) call you up, find out you're scoring big time, but you "can't tell them where, because so & so told you not to". That might make sense in a limited pocket size, but what if it's endless and can't be harvested before the sand comes back in ?

But what if that initial spot-finder says nothing either way? Hmm, ok are you bound to ask his permission? And if you try, but he's no where to be found (can't get ahold of him), and meanwhile your buddies are calling wondering if you know where the action is, and the spot has a million targets that will never be harvested d/t shear amounts. Ok, what to do then? Let it go to waste? Or assume the obvious that this will go to waste so you let your other buddies in on it ? Ok, but what if hunter #1 is the lone-ranger type ? That's fine, but ....... at what point is he entitled to just go up and down the coast,and just "call dibs" on any and every place that's going off ? What if he happened to call you first, yet you were slated to be checking out that spot later anyhow? Does that qualify you as equal "finder" ? What if your source of info was a 3rd party, and that "3rd party" could care less (and has a "come one come all" attitude), yet the first party, upon seeing you there, tells you "don't tell anyone". Who's edict are you bound by ?

What if 2 hunters "discover" the hot spot at the same time? Who can "call dibs" on that? And if you say that both have "rights" to "dibs" on that, what do you do if hunter #2 "gets mad at you", for showing up the following day with another friend ? Is he entitled to be mad?

AAAArrrrgghhhh

And what cracks me up in all this, is that those "lone ranger" types will usually be the first ones to pick up the phone or email, to "fish" for where someone else may know a current system eroded at. It strikes me as odd that they're perfectly willing to accept that info from elsewhere, yet ..... would forbid others, beyond them, from knowing ? ok, whatever

Click to expand...

Don't ever try commercial fishing. You'll be on food stamps real quick!

Visited Aliso yesterday morning. Amazing how this beach's sand moves around. This time the water went over the sand into the parking lot! The creek was dammed up and a ranger had to open it up to the sea. Im told this is normal though. I took the ctx and surf pi pro. Used the ctx for most of the time and really found nothing worth mention except my 3rd spoon from this site... I switched to the pi - wow so much lighter! It was finding a ton of nails from firepits. Trick with it is to get away from such areas. The hit sound from the pi is so much more "satisfying" than the ctx. I did find more coins with it than the ctx but dug way more bad iron stuff too. Note that areas away from the firepits i didnt cover with the ctx. Met another detectorist, john, out there that was working hard. Shared some good stories.

Bklein said:

..... Amazing how this beach's sand moves around. ........

Click to expand...

Yup. I recall a time during the 1982-83 storms, when a buddy of mine recounts: He and his friend were down on a particular beach digging silver as fast as they could. They even had several silver dollars, and just targets as fast as you cared to dig. But it was getting late, and they were getting tired. So they said to each other: "Let's just come back in the morning, and continue working this at tomorrow's low tide."

The next morning they came back and ..... NOTHING. A foot of sand had come back in, and there was nothing left ! Years later, when recounting this story, he kicks himself to this day for not forcing himself to stay out till midnight that certain night. As he'd have certainly topped 100 silver coins

Post-script that fellow alluded to in the last post, got a gold coin worth $45k from that beach during that '82-83 event. And for many years after that he kept the location a secret from all other md'rs in this area. Finally, 10 yrs. later, realizing it didn't do anyone any good EVEN IF they knew the exact spot, ... he began to tell folks where the coin had come from. And now, 32 yrs. later, you can go there and knock yourself silly. And a) not get any silver coins, and b) not get any gold coins.

Not *UNLESS* the next "100 yr. storm" comes through and erodes at that exact spot again. So what good does the info do anyone ?

Silver?

Just curious if someone would speak up - has anyone found silver coins at Aliso within the last 2 years or so?
I have in Laguna and Corona del Mar, but never at Aliso...

Ok here I am 5 years later, still hunting Aliso Montage and Laguna Main Beach. Tried the EQ800 for 8 months but went back the CTX. These beaches still have their secrets and I’m just lousy at trying to do research using wind/temp/tide tables. Storms come, mess things up, and some stuff shows, eventually all of it gets sucked into the ocean. Does it ever get put back? Perhaps, I can’t tell. Seems mostly, judging by this virus era, that most stuff is recent drops - as no people no targets for months. Now that people are showing up, and walking the beaches more than ever, targets are coming back. I see Tony Eisenhower is posting videos again. One of them shows him trying to dig a target and the waves are killing him, nocking him down a couple times, filling his hole each try. Reminds me of when there were targets in the wet at Aliso. Been a couple years or more since then although I did hit a crazy pocket of 38 quarters in one area one day. So after all this time I don’t have my honeypot sweet spots for these beaches; targets are where they are and I am just lucky sometimes. I’m good with that.

I just came across this. Read where many are ripping into each other. Sounds familiar ! What I can tell you is I grew up in this area when the "Laguna Greeter" would be out waving his hand at everybody. Most of the good "older" stuff that is in the sand now , is from offshore. Most Laguna beaches have steep drops like Aliso. Treacherous to reach the coves because of rocks and surf. The storms that hit and produce these massive cuts don't happen often. Paying attention to charts , reports , etc are not infallible. Big surf can roll in mysteriously 1 day and be gone the next. It's weird. But today's weathercasting technology is better than years ago. But again , not infallible. Local knowledge is key can take DECADES to master.

In the 70s there were several times where the sand was sucked out. It was "biblical". Gold was to be picked by hand from the rocks. Coins and jewelry. Though at the time I never got any , but witnessed some who did. In the 80s , more specifically like Aliso and other local beaches , it was a magical time to be a beach detectorist. Like Sandcrab mentioned about the guy who counted 4000 rings. Ha ! Very , very , very...few of us at the time talked about how many rings we found. We judged each other by weight. In ounces and pounds.

Yeah I should have started earlier in my life. When I was younger I had a couple Fisher detectors I got cheap from Advanced Computer Products (remember their swapmeets?). They didn’t work in wet sand and I didn’t know any better. Heathkit detector same deal.
It is weird how targets were in the wet if you were willing to chance it but it hasn’t been like that in a few years, at least for me.
Also weird is concentrations of certain coins - like the quarters and later dimes. Must be awesome when its gold rings!
The instance I wrote about to start this thread with coins, mainly pennies, everywhere has not repeated itself since.
Its almost 3 years since I found 5 mostly decent rings in one day. Similar conditions - Baja clouds, south swell, and soon? Santa Ana winds... I’m waiting...

Hey Socal. Nice Una and the Lion icon. I'm a coin photographer and have seen many of them.