Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
On the Treasure Coast you can find old shipwreck treasures, modern coins and jewelry, fossils, bottles and more. There is a lot to find, but for some things, such as gold nuggets or natural gems, you'll have to travel to other locations.
Different people like to hunt different kinds of treasure. Some are driven to find the most valuable things they can, while others are more interested in history or get on the trail of a particular story or puzzle. Once a person gets on the quest for a particular type of treasure,
One factor that will likely influence what you hunt, is what is available in your area. Of course you have to find out that they are in your area, but it is a big help if you have managed to find one or a few because you then know not only that they are there, but you also know a specific location where they can be found and you become confident that you know how to find them.
If you just go out and hunt an area without targeting anything in particular and just hunt hoping to find something valuable or interesting, you might luckily have success, but the probability is fairly low.Still, I've posted plenty of stories over the years of stories showing that many great finds are made by accident and beginners - even first-time detectorists - can make great finds. If you are out there hunting, you've taken the first step, and dramatically improved your chances. Being out there is an important step and a big part of the battle.
Here is my formula for metal detecting success. Success = L + T + Sk + E + D+ N + A.
I won't go into all the factors now. You can use the link below if you want a more complete discussion, but the letters stand for Location, Time on task, Skill, Effort, the Detector you use, Networking, and Access to areas.
Each factor requires some additional explanation or clarification. For example, location and time is an interaction and the formula should therefore have a multiplication sign instead of a plus sign, but the individual factors are the important thing. The formula could use soe fine tuning though..
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| A Couple 2023 Finds. |
Don't fall into the trap of doing the same thing over and over again if you are hoping for different results. It might not be insanity, but it can be unproductive, and there are times when you will have to make some changes. What worked in the past will not always work in the future. Conditions will change. And to be optimally productive, you will have to make some changes too.
Having success in the past, can lock you in. It is natural after having success to try the same thing again, and that might work a few times, but eventually it will probably show diminishing returns..
If you look at the factors in the formula and check each of them, it might help you think of some things you might try changing. You might need a change in location, you might need to spend more time or maybe even change the time of day you hunt. That can be important, as simple as it sounds.
Of course we can always try to increase our skill level, make a greater effort, trying some things that might be more difficult, or select a better metal detector for the situation.
Sometimes the change that is required is a very small change. When beach hunting, you might follow a certain line. A small change in path can make a big difference. I've talked about search strategies in the past, but it is very easy to get in the habit of taking the same path. You can do that without thinking about it.
As the result of various factors, I've done very little shipwreck beach hunting this year. I've done some modern jewelry hunting too, but mostly bottle hunting. If you judge by the economic value of finds, jewelry hunting has been by far the most productive for me by far this year, as it was in years past when I was doing a lot more metal detecting. Bottle hunting has been easily available to me, and I've been doing a lot more of that. I can do it when I don't have time to do much else.
The thing I don't like about jewelry hunting is when you find something, you know that there is somebody that lost it. I have mixed feelings about finding some pieces of jewelry. I'm sorry somebody lost the item, but it is good to find it and possibly be able to return it. You have to do your research to find the owner. That kind of research is not my favorite kind of research. I'd rather be researching an old artifact.
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You might find this site handy.
COLONIAL SPANISH TERMS (somosprimos.com)
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I just saw a television program last night that I thought was really good - This is Mark Rober, which was on the Discovery channel.
The title doesn't tell you very much, and so I never checked it out before, but liked it a lot. It is about problem solving and engineering fun projects. Here is a link.
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Watch out. It appears that pregnant ladies are running around attacking and stealing from healthy young men in New York. At least that was one big story yesterday.
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The magicSeaWeed web site has changed. You have to sign-up to get the charts I have been using. I'll try to find something else as good or better.
The Treasure Coast surf will be around three feet today.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net