New To This Sport - Ordered Minelab Equinox 800 - Ventura Ca

[Zoomie97]

I am new to this sport, and waiting for my Equinox 800 to arrive.  Anyone in SoCal care to show a newbie the in’s and out’?  Looking forward to meeting new friends, and learning about the equipment. 

Located in Ventura CA   

[Vez]

Welcome the hobby!  Couple of tips that were given to me when I first started:

Know the laws where you are in regards to metal detecting.  Some places require a permit or it is outright forbidden.

Know how to cut a nice horseshoe plug in the park or in someones yard.  You don't want to look like you were ever there.  Cutting a plug during very dry times will kill the sod.  Use  small digger to do this, I have had the cops called on me in a park where it is allowed when I used a small shovel rather than my lesche.  Perception is important.

Knock on doors and ask for permission!  It can be awkward but my bust hunts have been on a permission.  If they tell you know take your lumps and move on with a smile.  The owner sometimes changes and if you think it is a really good spot after all your research just keep an eye on it from time to time.

Again welcome to the hobby and happy hunting!

P.S. If anyone has some simple starter tips I forgot add them in!  We are all ambassadors to the hobby and want to make sure every encounter within our control is positive!

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

Welcome Zoomie,

Some great info, discussion here and great people.

I don't hunt gold  nuggets, but it's fun peeking in at the prospecting portion here on the forum. 

[Skate]

8 hours ago, Zoomie97 said:

I am new to this sport, and waiting for my Equinox 800 to arrive.  Anyone in SoCal care to show a newbie the in’s and out’?  Looking forward to meeting new friends, and learning about the equipment. 

Located in Ventura CA   

I'm in Ventura county. PM me when you get your machine and I'll help you get started with anything you need. 

[Terry Greenway]

Welcome, a little story. This was years ago, I had just purchased a new white's detector. I received permission to hunt a civil war era house in Springhill, Tn. I started finding silver coins, indians, eagle buttons, & bullets. A dream hunt. Finding a lot of items, I gave Miss Shouse some of the spoils, which was the right thing to do. She was really excited. The next thing I know she is over my right shoulder with a flashlight. It was late in the evening getting dusty dark. I hit a soft silver signal on my machine that read in the quarter range. It was a 1910 quarter. Miss Shouse got really excited & said she wanted it. I needed it for my collection, it was a date I needed, so I decided not to let her have it. Words of wisdom, no matter how hard it is to give up the coin, give it to the property owner. I went back the next weekend to hunt, she refused. Miss Shouse said her son was getting a detector to hunt the property. I still wear the quarter around my neck as a reminder.

[Gerry in Idaho]

Welcome Zoomie97,  You are about to enter a hobby full of Adventure, History, Fun and sometimes Frustration.

The 1st thing you should do is get with the dealer you purchased from and have them take you out for some pointers.  Not knowing proper coil control, sweep speed, how to pinpoint, knowing a real target from chatter and the local rules will certainly get you going in the right direction.

A simple beginner tip you can do in a small area.  Take 5 dimes, 5 nickels, 5 zinc cents, 5 quarters, 5 small pieces of wadded up foil and 5 of the most common pop tops.  Have one of the kids or wife hide them in the grass in your area.  Then go and find them.  Listen to the tones of the targets and the cleanliness of the signals.  After a few attempts, try and guess what your detector is telling you and sounding like on each target.  Before long you'll learn the tones, reading of such targets. 

It is only after you have put some time on your machine and found approx 100+ coins would I suggest going to an old site and trying to find older deeper coins.  If you head straight to the old site and fire up the machine...You'll go nuts not knowing tones, and numbers.

Stick with clean repeatable signals for the 1st hunts.

Here is a video that could help a few newer users.  I realize it is a different detector but the tips are the same.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, Skate said:

I'm in Ventura county. PM me when you get your machine and I'll help you get started with anything you need. 

That is an incredibly kind and generous offer to a stranger - kudos to you Skate!! Terrific starter tips from everyone else also!

[Zoomie97]

Thank you for all of the input.  Skate I will hit you up when my equinox arrives.  

 

Thanks Again

[flakmagnet]

Skate, you rock.

[Terry Greenway]

Zoomie, just something that you will run into when you are hunting with any good detector. I was out at a civil war site detecting yesterday with my at max, with a Cors Strike coil. I had hunted the same trench with a thunder coil the day before & found 3 58 caliber three ringers & a general service eagle coat button. I hit a soft signal on the machine both ways but very little vid reading. Pushed pin point button & got a good soft sound also. Dug down bout 6 1/2 to 7 inches & turned up a nice general service eagle cuff button. It just shows you got to pay attention to those little squeaks & sounds. A little later I dug two fired enfields. I hunt those hunted out sites moving like a snail & bring a lot out of the ground. Some of the guys I hunt with say I look like a turtle moving. That's okay, I usually always find more. Good Hunting. Bluegrass Man.