I've Finally Danced The Gold Dance!

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

That's a Nice Gold Band! And you found it on land! I have never found one gold on land...

[CPT_GhostLight]

4 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

That's a Nice Gold Band! And you found it on land! I have never found one gold on land...

Thanks, I was beginning to think I never would, but you just never know. 😉

[Compass]

Well done- congrats on your first gold with more to come! I used to do most all of my detecting in schools and parks and I did find a little gold but it was hard work and the rings were few and far between. Of course, we didn't have Nox's or even detectors with TID numbers back then.

Nox with the 6" coil is a great combination!

[Hardtimehermit]

On 12/15/2020 at 10:40 PM, CPT_GhostLight said:

Thanks, I was beginning to think I never would, but you just never know. 😉

Hey GhostLight, as someone who is in his first year of detecting parks, how long did you wait for your dance if you don't mind me asking. ht

[CPT_GhostLight]

I got my detector last April but because of work and things, I couldn't get out to parks until October. I've gone hunting out about once a week since then and found the gold ring in the first week of November.

However, it really took a few months of trying to learn everything I could about my machine's settings, tones, etc, through books, videos, manuals, forums, and working in a test garden I made in the back yard before I started hitting the parks. So when work lightened up and I was able to finally get out to my parks, I had a fairly good understanding of my detector and when I hit that 11 (on my Equinox), I could kind of tell it sound different than the usual ring pulls. It sounded really solid and didn't change numbers at all and it turned out to be my first gold ring. It may have just been sheer luck though.

So while it only took only a month of weekly hunting in the parks to hit a gold ring (again, probably just luck), it really took about 6 months of learning my machine and learning to detect total. And I'm still learning! 😉

 

[Hardtimehermit]

Thanks for sharing your results, you are fasting than me, but i agree after about six months things really began to come together with understanding my nox. I plan on posting my finds and coin totals for the year coming up in a few weeks, and i hear you still learning every time!

[CPT_GhostLight]

I still think it was dumb luck, just right place at the right time. I'm also trying to learn the locations as well since the finds seem to be a little different in different parks near me. They all seem to have modern trash and modern clad coins, but the older parks have older coins and older trash. Unfortunately we can't dig holes in our local parks, only probe & pop, so I'm limited to about 6-8 inches max depth. It kills me to hear potentially really good targets deeper than I can reach, but I consider the parks as good training grounds and occasionally I get lucky with some good finds.

[Chase Goldman]

Nice recoveries.  Probing and popping at 6 to 8 inches.  That's impressive. 

[CPT_GhostLight]

4 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Nice recoveries.  Probing and popping at 6 to 8 inches.  That's impressive. 

Thanks Chase! Anything over about 4", I just widen the hole a bit with my screwdriver and remove the find with my 12" hemostats and pinch the hole closed. It's relatively quick and clean. It's more like metal removal surgery at that point. 😉

[GB_Amateur]

15 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I still think it was dumb luck, just right place at the right time.

Modesty is good, but I disagree.  It wasn't all luck.  You said in an earlier post that you put in the 'homework' time including building a back yard test garden (who does that after just getting his first detector?) and learning as much as you could in the limited time after work.

Luck is always a component, but it's something we can't control.  Putting in the hours detecting, researching, learning your instruments, reviewing your finds -- those are key components we can control.  Attitude is another big one.  You seem to have all of the above and that allows you to take advantage of the good luck when it presents itself.