How You Got Started Detecting

I know there are lovers and haters out there, but I started because of "Diggers" with KG and Ringy. They were always somewhere interesting digging up history. Yes, their celebrations were over the top, but they were having fun and there's nothing wrong with that. And now because of that show I've dug some history myself.

nkmu said:

How was it hunting in PR? I've visited the island several times over the past year and a half. I was thinking about taking my detector next time. Any PR-specific laws to know about?

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Its totally lawless - i would stay away from national park land as always. The beaches are great - tons of cool foreign coins. I mostly hit Isla Verde, Condado, and some spots off of Fajardo. But I also found some... older.. more interesting places. Old San Juan is basically a no-go but its because its so full of ground trash that even though it has great history, theres hardly a spot left that isnt stone or concrete. The south was the original capitol around Ponce. It's a great spot with a little research OR just go crush the beaches. Both good.

Fantastic, thank you for the information. I was on vieques last year and was pretty much the only person on the beach most of the time. I wish I would have taken my detector then. Next time I'll be on the west side of the main island.

SirFrancesDrake said:

Its totally lawless - i would stay away from national park land as always. The beaches are great - tons of cool foreign coins. I mostly hit Isla Verde, Condado, and some spots off of Fajardo. But I also found some... older.. more interesting places. Old San Juan is basically a no-go but its because its so full of ground trash that even though it has great history, theres hardly a spot left that isnt stone or concrete. The south was the original capitol around Ponce. It's a great spot with a little research OR just go crush the beaches. Both good.

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Thanks, don't think I replied correctly on mobile with the new form, but there's a short post above.

New Year's Eve 2008 I ordered the Ace 250 and when it arrived I took it to a local ski hill and dug a quarter and said holy shit this thing does work.. LoL

years ago I went with a friend that had an old very old green heavy detector think it was a Garrett, it beeped and he dug a clad coin, I pretty much thought what a waste of time LOL, that was somewhere around late 90s early 2000, fast forward ahead to 2009 my wife which was my girlfriend at the time talked me into moving to OHIO, I purchased a house, the house we purchased was old it was built in 1889, after purchasing that house we started doing research on the area and the house we had purchased mainly the house, which we both pretty much knew because of the age had to have history, went to the historical society for the town we were in, found out the home we purchased that I was restoring was one of the first two houses built in that area and on the street we lived, also found out two bank robbers were arrested in that same house in the 50s, so the treasure fever started, we walked into a small store in the area that sold antiques and various old stuff like coins and things but they also sold new metal detectors and used ones as well, the AT Pro had just came out the gentleman behind the desk convinced me and my wife we needed a metal detector, well needless to say we purchased two metal detectors a brand new ATP for the girlfriend and a used Mine Lab Xterra 705 that came with three coils, being greenhorns to metal detecting I asked the person that sold us the detectors if he would mind teaching us he agreed to come to our house that again was built in 1889 (GEE I wander WHY) LOL, had it not been for the sales persons willingness to come to that house and teach me and my wife most likely it would have ended with two detectors sitting against the wall in our home, when the salesperson came to our house he brought his detector and started showing me how it worked his happened to be an AT pro also, my girlfriend at the time now my wife lost interest in about 20 minutes, and went inside the house the sales person him and I spent about 3 hours in the front yard area, and dug several silver, dimes and quarters and I cannot even tell you how much clad, it was like someone had filled a fertilizer broad caster with coins and broadcast them all over our yard, needless to say I was now hooked and have been ever since, i detected the front and back yards of that house for over 4 years, then we sold it and moved back to Arizona, even though I detected that house for the length of time I did I knew when we left Ohio there was still stuff in that yard, I could literally feel it, that same home is where I found the best find I have ever found and still to this day have not topped that find and most likely never will

D4tee said:

I know there are lovers and haters out there, but I started because of "Diggers" with KG and Ringy. They were always somewhere interesting digging up history. Yes, their celebrations were over the top, but they were having fun and there's nothing wrong with that. And now because of that show I've dug some history myself.

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yep was accused of that when I first started, when I was accused of purchasing my ATP because of that show, I had to literally go look up Diggers just to see what I was being accused of I had never even seen the show at that time.

oldkoot said:

...that same home is where I found the best find I have ever found and still to this day have not topped that find and most likely never will

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You're killin me man...what WAS it??

gismapper said:

You're killin me man...what WAS it??

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well I have posted about it a few times on this site so you will have to go back and look, and it was not found in either the front or back yard but under the house in a crawl space, I found a box with over 700 coins in it and 12 of those coins was 2.5 dollar 1800s gold pieces

1973...my parents bought me a Bounty Hunter BFO for Christmas. My best friend got one for his birthday earlier in the year, and I just had to have one!

Just something that I always wanted to do, so I finally did it.
I remember when I was a kid and seeing old guys detecting I'd think, poor saps, scrounging for pocket change ,,, Hope I don't grow up and get that desperate ! Well, I did Ahahhaa, but I never really thought about finding oldies and relics, I thought they were just looking for pocket change [which they actually were at the park down the street from me] I never got curious enough to ask them if they found anything, in fact I had contempt for them, I thought, get a job, sheesh.
Because of these suppressed memories I think that held me back from starting earlier, I started around mid 30's and now in my mid 50's. I was self conscious at first and tried to stay away from the public eye, but I got over that. Started hitting playgrounds myself and I looked around for any kids with contempt in their eyes, shaking their heads thinking sheesh, what a loser ! But it was alot easier with my own kids tagging along, they liked to help or detect themselves, so that way I didn't feel like such a peon. I go out where I please, often in public view but I won't hunt tot lots with kids around [meaning mostly at night], would not hunt a strip with alot of traffic around, and never have asked any permissions, so by the standards of alot of you guys, I am somewhat inhibited.

oldkoot said:

well I have posted about it a few times on this site so you will have to go back and look, and it was not found in either the front or back yard but under the house in a crawl space, I found a box with over 700 coins in it and 12 of those coins was 2.5 dollar 1800s gold pieces

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Ohhhhhhhh! I totally remember reading that one. Didn't realize it was you. Yep. That's beyond mind blowing. Thanks for the reminder!

I got started with this one (see photo) when I was a kid back in the 1970's. Found a few lead toy soldiers that the neighbor boy had left behind and a few coins. If you held if over a metal object a red light on top would illuminate. Lost interest due to sports at that time. Fast forward to 2009 and a co-worker insisted that I take her Whites Prizm II to the beach for my kids to enjoy. I didn't want to take it but she insisted. I ended up playing with it more than my kids did, and I was very impressed with the advancements in technology compared to that one red light! I was hooked, and a short time later bought a Minelab Xterra 305, which I still hunt with today, along with my beloved Compadre, Outlaw, and yes, even a BH Tracker IV, which I find to be a useful and fun detector in certain situations.

Some nice stories on here from you old-timers. I may be old, but I'm young to metal detecting. Summer of 2018 I was over at my brother's house and saw he had a $60 harbor freight detector sitting in his garage. Asked him what he'd used it for and he said bought it just to find the property markers. He told me to take it and see what I could find with it. I had no clue what I was doing, but took it to the local fresh-water beach. Some clad, toy cars, and lots of bobby pins and bottle caps later, I was hooked. I used that machine for a half dozen or so hunts and then bought a Fisher F22. I used that for a year, happy to hunt clad and bling. Then upgraded to the Equinox 600 to go deeper and older. Yep, it's gone from a curiosity to a passion to an obsession and now I'm in need of a twelve-step program.

I was in 7th or 8th grade when I saved enough lawn mowing money ($60) to buy a used BFO (beat frequency oscillator) detector out of "The Association" metal detecting newspaper. It was 1969 or 70. The unit had a speaker, a volume knob, and a tune knob. It beeped continuous at a steady rate until you moved over metal, then would speed up the beep pace as you got closer to the target.

I lived only a block from school so that was my hunting ground. This was back in the day when you were allowed to go on school property over the summer and on weekends. My buddy and I would do 20 minute shifts each sharing that detector back and forth to see who could come up with the most money when we called it quits for the day. Good times....coins all over the place. We had names for the coins- gorgeous georges, stinky lincolns, rosie roosies, and jiffy jeffs.

The king of the hill back then was the Metrotech model 220. It had a meter, headphone jack and tuning knob and was "transistorized". My next machine was a Bounty Hunter Red Barron, then a Garrett Master Hunter. A bunch of years went by out of the hobby then I got transferred by work here to the Saint Petersburg area and thought...."I'd like to detect the saltwater beaches here." That was about 2010 and my renewed interest led to researching salt machines and I wound up with a Fisher CZ-21. Great machine. I used it mounted on a belt until about 2 weeks ago when I got my hands on a Mine Lab Manticore. Now I'm spoiled for life with an LCD screen! CZ-21 has tones only. What a change! Got a lot to learn now. Ha!

I am newer to detecting than a lot of people in here. I got started during the pandemic in 2020 when I was 16. Was getting interested in coin collecting and learned that U.S. silver coins were phased out in 1965. Living in a house built in 1964, I thought to myself there ought to be at least one silver coin in my yard.

My first detector was a RadioShack Micronta 3001 which my grandfather had bought back in the 1980s. Very basic unit but it was good enough to find me my first silver coin in my yard--a 1939 Mercury dime. That was the start of the "addiction."

After reading a lot and saving up some money I bought my first proper detector (Vanquish 440) in May 2021. I'm still using that detector and having a lot of fun learning about history and looking for old coins.

I was up on a job for Williams Pipeline in Des Monies IA. one of my coworkers had brought an old Bounty Hunter Metal detector along to help locate buried lines. I was curiuos about it and later that evening back at the motel I had him show me how to operate it. well there was a play area with a swing set and I found an old Wheat penny so I was hooked. That weekend I order a New Compass Coin Scanner and the rest is history.

Chicago Ron and Aquachigger

What GREAT stories here. There should be a sub-forum on here for just this kind of "short story". I loved reading them. In fact, they left me wanting to read more. If anyone has more stories, please add them No matter how short, or long. The more detailed the better. I really enjoyed this. Thanks to all who have shared "their" stories so far. Looking forward to reading more.

I was talking with a guy I knew around December 1st 2009 and he ask me what I was getting for Christmas. I said I didn't know. I ask him what he was getting. He pulled a magazine out of his desk drawer and had a page marked to an ad for Garrett Ace 250 metal detector. He was very excited and started telling me all about the features. I knew nothing about metal detectors, never been metal detecting, but the excitement was contagious . I thought hell, that looks like fun, I'll just go buy one now. I went to the sporting goods store on my way home and the only md they had was a Bounty Hunter for 149 bucks. I bought it. Found some change at a volleyball court and found this forum a week later and joined. Been in and out of MDing over the last 7, 8 years but lately getting the fever again. Hmmm... I should order a new detector.