Beach Boy Goes Relic Hunting..

[Erik Oostra]

Keeping with the theme of having a looksee at spots that I never seem to get around to hunting, I thought I’d hit my own backyard.. I’ve always had a feeling that it would be a good spot as I’ve found a few pennies and old bottles in the little creek which runs through it..

My backyard has an old house slab which is made of beer bottles with concrete over the top.. The house that stood there was built at the end of the 1940s and blew down during cyclone Althea in 1971.. Needless to say there’s a whole load of junk everywhere and I ended up with a small coil on the Equinox to cherry pick amongst it all..

Because I’d found some pennies here before I ignored the more obvious junk on the first sweep around and just honed in on old copper and silver coins.. This strategy worked and within an hour I’d picked up 2 pennies (one is dated 1912), 3 silver three-pence (all before 1946), 3 two cents, 4 one cents and some modern coins..

The picture below shows the best of the old junk.. I’d normally toss this stuff aside but since it was a relic hunt I thought I'd better keep it.. Maybe diehard relic hunters can pick a keeper.. For me the find of the day was a tiny little pendant.. It’s a touristy trinket which has ‘Magnetic Island’ written on one side and ‘Made in Czechoslovakia’ on the other.. I had a good chuckle when I figured out what it said.. Although I didn’t find a hoard of gold sovereigns, this hunt was another great reminder of this island’s diverse history..   

I really would’ve liked to use the Deus II for this hunt but unfortunately the manual tells me not to use the detector in my own backyard.. This is a bit of a shame because its Relic Program would’ve excelled in this spot.. But since I’m a ‘manual man’ I’m gonna stick by the book and heed its wise advice.. 😁

 

[Valens Legacy]

Nice hunting even though it is your backyard.

I always enjoy going around my grandmothers yard, because of the history in it, and because you never know what to expect when you get a signal.

Good luck on your next hunt!

[rvpopeye]

Beach Boy did good in his yahd !👍

Too bad about the manual directives........

I say let 'er rip and find yer gold hoard !

We don't need no stinkin' manuals anyway !🤪

 

 

[F350Platinum]

Nice hunt Erik! Like the old fancy plate and buckle, and you killed it on the coins. 👍 Glad you dusted off the Equinox, was it the 6" round coil? Quite a backyard you have. Any idea what the plated rectangular object is? Looks like a lighter to me. 🤔 Also, is the 1912 penny a "Bertie"? Believe it or not I dug a 1907 here. 😀

My first hunts were in my backyard, imagine my surprise when I found old Tombac and brass buttons from colonial times, and a musket ball or two. That is what got me hooked on detecting, relic hunting in particular. If I could somehow tune out bullets, I could hunt the area I've used as a pistol and rifle range, but I wouldn't find much because bullets often are the same tones and IDs as many great relics and coins. 😵 If it was just iron I would definitely use the Deus. 🤣

[Againstmywill]

35 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Any idea what the plated rectangular object is?

It looks to be the head of a razor (left side under the glasses) and a belt buckle (bottom).

[F350Platinum]

40 minutes ago, Againstmywill said:

It looks to be the head of a razor (left side under the glasses) and a belt buckle (bottom).

Thanks! I was asking about the rounded rectangular object on the top right near the dog tag. My bad should have been more specific. 🙂

[Againstmywill]

2 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Thanks! I was asking about the rounded rectangular object on the top right near the dog tag. My bad should have been more specific. 🙂

That's a piece of lead from Oak Island that originated from the same mine as the lead cross. It could also be a Templar marker that was found nestled between the rocks on the stone path in the swamp. These guesses, of course, are complete conjecture on my part. 😁

[CPT_GhostLight]

Great finds, Erik! Well done!

I couldn't find anything in the manual that advised against searching your yard. I would absolutely recommend the D2 in Relic mode in your yard and would go back over it just to see, regardless of what might be in the manual. You may experience some EMI issues (or not) but give it a try. It won't hurt the detector, just be careful when digging, there may be underground cables that you don't want to cut. You might want to contact your gas, phone, cable, and electric utilities companies because they will usually mark where their lines are so you can avoid them when digging.

 

[Chase Goldman]

Good job, Erik!  Much more interesting than my back yard.  Cool saves.

[Erik Oostra]

6 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I was asking about the rounded rectangular object on the top right near the dog tag

It's the lid of a little metal box.. can't find the bottom part..