Metal Detecting Daytona Beach FL — Summer 2020

Trina, Taylor and I found a whopping memorial penny, a tent stake and a few trash items like foil, bottle caps and other typical beach trash on day one.

We did a little better on day 2. I found two quarters and two zinc pennies. Trina found a quarter and Taylor unfortunately struck out and we never found any of her targets. This year we were using my dad’s Garrett AT Max while detecting Daytona. Last year I was using my GTI 2500. To setup the AT Max for salt water beach detecting, I’ve been ground balancing the machine, turning the sensitivity down three notches and also turning down the threshold to negative six. The machine is fairly stable and a couple of the quarters were 6-8 inches deep, but most of the coins found are new drops. We did have numerous signals that might have been ghost signals. They read 81-82 or 40-45 on the meter and were very repeatable, but after digging about 12-15 inches, I gave up on the targets. I guess that could have cans or other trash super deep but I never found them, so we’ll never know.

The rest of our trip, I only went 2-3 more time with finds similar to day 2. On my last metal detecting excursion, I decided to try and eliminate the falsing from the salt water, so after ground balancing, I set the Iron Discrimination setting to maximum which is 44. My thinking was this setting would eliminate the falsing that was in the 40-45 range on the meter. The setting worked, no more falsing but I feel like I was definitely missing small gold (discriminating the signals out).

On my last hunt, I was working the dry sand and I was way on the south end of the beach. Near the life guard tower, I got a nice repeatable signal that read 45-47 on the Garrett AT Max. I bent over and retrieved the target on the first scoop, as I’m shaking out the sand I spot a gold colored chain sticking out one of the holes of the scoop. It turned out to be a men’s bracelet marked 14KT! Good finds always pop up when you least expect them!

Metal detecting finds using Garrett AT Max on Daytona Beach Summer 2020 (5-6 hours of metal detecting)

The AT Max seems to be a great VLF machine for beach hunting, but I think I need to get a good pulse induction machine to really hit it hard or metal detect directly in the ocean or salt water.

A Day Full of Metal Detecting

I woke up naturally at 5:30am, I had my alarm set for 6:00, but I didn’t need it today! I was in the water by 6:15 and my first signal was a quarter.

I was using my dad’s Garrett AT MAX and its super sensitive, so I was getting a lot of deep signals. Unfortunately, this area of the beach is real rocky and very tough to dig. My scoop would hit rocks and I was finding it difficult to penetrate deep enough to recover the finds. I was on a good potential gold target (40-45 on the meter), but after 4 or 5 unsuccessful scoops I was starting to get frustrated! On the next attempt, I had the target a bracelet and it was snagged on the side of the scoop, I had almost missed it again!

Bagging the find, I decided to try the sandy area where its much easier to dig. Last time I was getting a lot of targets that evaded me. I would get them out of the hole, but they would fall thru the holes of the scoop. I slowed down this time and did a little better and netted two more earrings!

Metal detecting finds using Garrett AT MAX in shallow water

I had a blast and found 15 “bad” targets and 5 “good” ones. Unfortunely, all the jewelry items were costume jewelry, but I’ll hit gold eventually!

The “good” finds from the morning hunt

When I got home, I quickly changed and took Jimmy out to go potty. I then rang my dad to see if he wanted to join me on my next hunt. He said sure and we headed off to site that had produced numerous silver dimes, two silver quarters and great relics and tokens in past hunts.

After briefly talking with the land owner, we both headed off in different directions. The site is a working farm from the 1930s to 1950s. The county records show it dates to 1906, but so far all the old finds are from that period.

Dad quickly found two pocket knives and a large cow tag marked 74. I had found one on a earlier hunt marked 69. The owner said they had 200 cattle in the 1980s, so they’re probably from that period. She said they only stopped raising them because the local vet refused to help take care of them. Who would think, in Forsyth county GA, you can’t get a vet. How times change!

After a few hours, we tallied our finds. I had a few clad coins, a toy truck, a farm nozzle, a key and bullet shell and three wheaties dated in the 1940s and 1950s.

“good” finds from the 2nd hunt of the day — found using a Garrett GTI 2500

Dad and I were beat, so we showed the home owner our finds and called it quits for the day. You don’t need spectacular finds to enjoy metal detecting. You just need to get out there and enjoy the day! See you all out there and good luck!

Shallow water beach metal detecting trip

I set my alarm for 5:45, I wanted to hit the beach around first light. I didn’t quite meet my deadline and I pulled into the boat launch parking at 6:30am. The sun was completely up and a few people were milling around, but the park didn’t open until 8am. Luckily the boat launch is open 24 hours and is right next to the beach area, so I just walked over with my Fisher Aquanaut 1280-X and immediately got into the water.

The temperature was a cool 62 degrees, but the water felt warm. In fact as I hunted the shallow water, I was only cold when the wind hit my wet shirt. There are not a lot of targets in the shallow water, but there are a few. My first target was a crusty zinc penny (everyone’s favorite). As I continued to work the beach, I got a good signal and out popped a women’s ring. It didn’t look like it was made from a precious metal and on closer inspection when I returned home, I confirmed it. Just another piece of costume jewelry, but still a exciting find!

I received numerous targets but were unable to locate them. I think they were small and were falling thru the holes of my scoop. I did visually see one of them and it was a tack like you would use on a cork board. Unfortunately, it fell thru the scoop before I could retrieve it. I attempted to locate it again, but I didn’t have any luck.

I continued to work the beach slowly, the targets were few and far between but when I got one my heart raced. In the middle of the beach around chest deep water, I got a good signal. When I looked in the scoop I immediately saw it, another ring! This one was a larger men’s ring, but again it didn’t look like it was gold or platinum. It had a dark finish to it and I was hoping it was silver and it had tarnished. Upon inspection, I think it’s one of the newer titanium or stainless steel rings that now pretty popular. Oh well, maybe next time…

Metal detecting finds — GA homesites

Mike and I hit a few homesites in North GA in the last couple of days. On Thursday (Mike was on vacation and I’m currently fuloughed from my job) we went back to the 1906 farm house. I found another silver quarter! This one was another Washington quarter dated 1948 and pretty worn out, so it was probably lost in the 1950s or 1960s.

Metal detecting finds using GTI 2500 — 1906 farm N. GA

In addition to the silver quarter, I also found six wheaties, a good luck charm, a small buckle and a few toy gun parts that are steadily found on this farm!

Today, we went west and asked permission at a couple of homesites in the area that was occupied by the Cherokee indians prior to the Indian removal act in the 1830s.

I struck out on the first two sites, but our final stop gave up 5 more wheaties using my trusty GTI. I usually average about one silver coin to every 6 wheaties found so hopefully next time I’ll find that elusive barber dime or quarter!

More wheaties, but no silver this time out (Garrett GTI 2500 finds)

Mike did great too, he found three wheaties at the 1906 farm house and four wheaties and a 1942 silver dime in the western sites we hunted.

Overall, we had a blast at all the sites and you just never know what you’ll find until you dig it up! Hope to see you all out there and good luck!

Minelab Equinox 800 — 15″ coil depth

Mike and I tested his new Minelab Equinox 800 EQX 15″ Double-D smart coil in our very mineralized Georgia soil (deep south). In addition to the heavy mineralization, the soil was also damp from a substantial rain that occurred in the early morning hours. The following videos outlines our results:

Here are the tabulated results:

Minelab Equinonx 800 — EQX 15″ Double-D smart coil depth results in heavy mineralization

Metal detecting — Mid-20th century GA farm — hunting a previous productive site

My trip started around 10am. I was driving back from a dental appointment and it was raining pretty heavy. I drove past the site and headed home, very disappointed! I made it almost all the way home, and the rain started to lift, so I turned around determined to at least give it a try.

Mike, my dad and I have gone numerous times metal detecting at this site and the interesting finds are still present! This mid-20th century farm keeps producing great finds!

When I knocked on the door, the familiar smiling face wasn’t there. I was greeted by the owners daughter, Rebecca, who seemed cheerful enough but wondered who I was? I told her I was a friend and normally the owner allowed me to go metal dectecting in her yard. She invited me in and she went to talk to the owner. When she came back, she said “just let me know what I found” and I was good to go.

My first target was a penny/dime signal, but it was large and about four inches deep. I was hunting with my Garrett GTI 2500 which has target imaging or target size data. I was confident it wasn’t a coin, but you have to dig everything. You never know what you found until you dig it up! I cut a large plug and I pulled out a toy gun from the 1950s or 60s.

The front yard has produced the most finds from this site, so I started working in that area, going really slow to make sure that I covered the ground throughly. Out pops up a couple wheaties, so I’m feeling optimistic. My next target is a quarter signal around 4 inches deep. Thus site produces a lot of clad, so I thought it was just another clad quarter. I cut a plug and looked in the bottom of the hole and instantly saw silver! I’ve found a lot of silver dimes in George, but no quarters or halves. I grabbed the coin and I had a found a 1957 silver Washington quarter! My first silver quarter in Georgia!

1957 Silver Washington quarter found using Garrett GTI 2500 in previously hunted site!

I continued to work the front yard and got a few more clads coins along with the ever present memorial penny finds. Working towards the large propane tank, I got another great quarter signal and it was four inches deep. As I dug the target, my mind wondered to thoughts of another silver quarter, but I was greeted by a large copper coin shaped target. Gently rubbing the find I noticed the familiar globe and monument from the 1939 New York Worlds fair. I love finding targets that give insight into the lives of the people that lived there. The people who lived her in the the 1930s might have visited the worlds fair! How cool! I wish I could have been there too!

Continuing the the treasure hunt yielded another silver dime (1943), one more wheatie, an old cow tag, an old pocket knife and numerous trash.

All the “good” finds from the 3 hour metal detecting hunt using a Garrett GTI 2500 (I dug plenty of trash too!)

As I said before, this site was heavily searched in the past by my brother, my dad and myself. It yielded numerous silver dimes and great relics, but yesterday’s hunt just proves the old metal detecting adage, “a site is never completely hunted out”. So get out there and hit an old site that was productive in the past, you might be surprised just how many targets you missed!

The “wheaties” found were dated 1939, 1949 and 1956.