What's All The Hoop LA?

[mn90403]

This was my first beach hunt in a few days because I had been out in the Rye Patch area over the weekend.  While I was gone I understand that it had rained and some wave alerts had been sent to my email.  Our area beaches get hit hard by detectorists but I know them pretty well and followed my intuition when I got there.

We don't have a negative tide right now and there is a Santa Ana wind blowing so the new waves are very small.  On my way 'out' I hunted near the waterline.  There was very little to find.  I walked about a mile or so with very few targets.  There was a bit of a trough at the bottom of the hill (beach slope) but nothing seemed to be holding.  I was thinking about leaving and I worked back in the direction from where I had come.  Then I got a clue.  The clue was the junk wire pack.  It was completely buried in the wet sand and had a thin plastic bag around it.  It certainly is an unusual beach find for me.  

This pack was at the bottom of the hill and just above it for about 6 feet or so was hard sand and just above that was about 10 yards of 'past wave' deposited sand.  You need some energy to move targets and you need the right conditions for those targets to be 'grouped' and deposited.  Some beaches will stay this way for a few days and some beaches will only keep targets for a few hours.  I look for these pockets.  I liken it to a crab crawl on the Deadliest Catch.

Anyway, I went up into this area and found a hoop earring among the bobby pins, pennies and a few other coins.  I was using the Nox 11 on all metal and I was digging EVERYTHING.  Sometimes I skip pennies and bobby pin sounds but not last night.  Then I was surprised by one of the silver hoop earrings and its mate was just about 5 feet away.  Then came a copper hoop, and then another and all of them within 10 feet.  They're all water tarnished.  Then I got what I thought was a ring ... earring it turns out but then a stainless steel bracelet.  Then another earring (GOLD) and finally a couple of silver rings (.925).

I worked the patch with a grid pattern and it kept giving.  I had had enough after 4 hours.  A 'bad' beach had turned into the most hoops (10) I've ever found.  I've been on beaches where I've found 5 chains in a session but they are as rare as this beach.

You never know.  Follow your clues.

Mitchel

[Gerry in Idaho]

Very interesting and information post Mitchel.  I'm not a seasoned Beach Hunter as Idaho's Coastal line is a little different and out lake banks are the areas I practice.  Getting to take bits of knowledge from a veteran BH'er is important when I do get to real coastal beaches.

Why so many big loop ear rings is a stumper to me, but I have been told the water/sand movement seems to gather like size/weight targets.  You certainly read the beach correctly enough to find the sweat spot and your rewards show.

Keep up the good work and enjoy your posts.

[BeachHunter]

Awesome hunt and finds Mitchel.

[Mike Hillis]

thats a lot of hoop la!

Congrats on the silver and gold!

HH
Mike

[Mark Gillespie]

Awesome recoveries, you must have had a ball.

[strick]

Way to follow your instincts...

strick

[mn90403]

Put A Stake In It!

That could be the title of a separate post but I'll just say ... the tide and waves do strange things.  There were no hoops this time.

This patch has been created in the last 3-4 days when I was in Arizona.  When I got back I went to a beach where I had found a few rounds of ammo and I found a few more again.  With all the ammo were all of these stakes.  Go figure.  Someone had dug a few holes before me but they left the stakes, the stainless steel chain and cross and the ring.  I wonder what they got but I kept digging around all of those stakes.

Mitchel