Top 10 Places To Go Metal Detecting
Where to go Metal Detecting?
In order to help you get out and start digging, I’ve listed the top 10 places you can go metal detecting immediately, why they are good choices, and what you need to do in order to be successful at each of them.
It’s true that you can find treasure anywhere, but it’s also true that some places offer a better chance at coming across that “X” that marks the spot and making your next find a very memorable one.
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10. Playgrounds
Easy digging… like taking candy from a pre-schooler.
Found in just about every community, playgrounds have been a hot zone for finding coin spills and little trinkets as kids rumble and tumble through them. Digging here is often easy as many of these areas are either pea-gravel or wood chips.
Areas to pay special attention to are under and around swing sets, beneath the teeter-totter seats, under the monkey bars, and at the bottom of any slide. Any place a kid goes from standing to sitting or hanging upside-down throughout the playground is nearly a given that you’ll find targets nearby.
These items may not always be the oldest and usually you won’t find many high dollar pieces out there, but the targets are aplenty, so dig away!
9. School Yards
Searching around school yards often contain lots of targets.
Extending from the playground area (outside the pea-gravel/woodchip area), you’ll find a scattering of items throughout the grass and under the trees. Many larger activities often take place here which means there could be the potential for a lot of targets.
Kids are often running full speed and anything in their pockets is bouncing around and falling to the ground as they take a tumble chasing a friend. Because we’ve entered the grassy area of the school yard, it’s time to take a little extra time and care as we cut our plugs with our lesche digger, which I always use to recover a target, so make sure to review my article on “How To Cut The Perfect Plug.”
8. Public Parks
Parks have been a gathering place for years.
Hunting in public parks is like graduating from high school and moving out in to the real world. People have been gathering in parks for hundreds of years and the possibilities to what you can find are endless.
Everything from modern coins to silver or gold rings and old copper coins all the way to civil war buckles and buttons could be there! Many diggers like to keep a low profile while digging in public, so make sure to bring your lesche digger rather than a large shovel to dig.
Again, being in a public area that is being taken care of by public tax dollars means that we all use the space, so please take care of the turf by reading “How To Cut The Perfect Plug,” so that we are able to continue to metal detect the parks and enjoy the space.
To keep you from digging further than needed, bring your pinpointer (I use the Garrett Pro Pointer AT found at Kellyco) and it will help you locate the target once the plug is cut, allowing you to keep the area clean from excess digging or from scratching your newly found treasure.
7. Sport Fields
Take great care when digging on pristine fields.
These are perhaps the most important when it comes to “Cutting The Perfect Plug,” so be sure to bring your best lesche to the party.
Think of your target field users when choosing a sport field to metal detect. A high school football team field may not be as productive because most boys playing football aren’t wearing rings or carrying anything metal while playing, aside from a necklace here or there, this wouldn’t be a very high yielding field.
A softball or soccer field at a public park however could be very profitable as users of all ages and genders are frequenting the area, some not even playing sports at the time, but perhaps throwing a ball for their furry friend, which you can imagine a ring flying of here or there.
Often times special events like craft shows or carnivals will take up real estate in these fields, so there is an added possibility of goodies being dropped and waiting to be found.
6. Beach - Dry Sand
All sorts of goodies can be found in the dry sand.
If you are brand new to metal detecting, this may be my most recommended spot to start detecting when out in public. Why? It’s sand! Easy to dig in. Easy to fill your hole. Easy to clean off your target. And who doesn’t love spending the day at the beach? Items can disappear very quickly once they are dropped in to the sand, especially rings and coins.
The difficult part is that the beach is always changing, whether it is from the wind pushing sand around or from the tides, vehicles driving on the beach, or kids digging and building sand castles, those items can become buried very deep at times.
At the same time, items centuries old can become uncovered just in the same ways. One item many diggers want with them at the beach is a sand scoop to help dig down and then to be able to sift the sand out, leaving only shells and their new treasure in the scoop.
5. In The Water - Swim Areas
She was shocked I found her daughters ring after she had lost it over an hour before hand.
If you have a waterproof metal detector such as the Minelab CTX 3030, Minelab Excalibur II, or the Garrett AT Pro (I have and love all 3), you’ll be able to move from the dry sand on the beach and head out in to the water.
Make sure you know if your headphones are waterproof as well, otherwise you may be looking for a new pair should you drop them in the drink. The water is a great place to find items such as rings, jewelry, sunglasses, and even coins.
The digging and recovery process can be difficult because this is one type of detecting where you can’t always see your target as you begin to uncover it. In fact, you’ll almost always need a good digging scoop for this unless you are down below with a mask to see and you’re able to fan the sand away.
Detecting in the water can also be tiring because you are swinging the metal detector and digging with the resistance of water, so don’t be surprised if you need to take a couple of breaks from time to time.
4. Fairgrounds
You’ll often see street signs called “Fair St” which means it was most likely the site of an old fair grounds site.
Many fairgrounds have been used for hundreds of years and in fact, that is where I found my first 1800’s coins. Fairgrounds have been filled with activity and trade taking place over and over throughout the property and there is no shortage of targets to dig. With that in mind, be prepared to haul out a few bags of trash and plenty of pull tabs as well.
It is recommended that you go when there are no events taking place on the grounds and some metal detecting clubs like the West Michigan Metal Detecting Club often host group outings throughout the year, so look in to seeing if a club exists near you that you can join.
3. Sidewalk/Street Tear Outs
I’ve found many of my oldest coins in street and sidewalk tear outs.
This type of hunting is often a hidden gem as not everyone thinks to metal detect these spots. Think about it for a second… sidewalks and paved roads didn’t always exist, but people walking down a path or wagon trail have been used long in to the past, so it only makes sense that when construction crews rip up these sealed treasure faults, all sorts of goodies could be waiting for you.
I found my first seated coin while metal detecting a sidewalk tear out that must have been dropped by someone walking down a path and as time went on, that path was finally paved over, only to be unearthed years later for me to find.
Timing is everything with this type of detecting and you can often find announcements from your city government on upcoming construction projects for the year, so plan accordingly.
2. Private Property/Farm Fields
You never know what you’ll find out in the fields.
Many treasure hunters often complain that many of the sites listed above have been “hunted out,” so where do you go if that is the case, which is never true as there are always goodies left to find no matter the location.
“Door knocking” can be very difficult to do because it takes courage to ask a property owner if you can dig in their yard or out in their farm field, but the payoff can very well be worth your while. The worst that will happen is that you’ll hear a lot of “no’s,” but the couple of “yes’s” you get will leave you often smiling.
Ask to detect farm fields either before farmers plant crops or after they harvest to increase your odds of getting that “yes.” Farm fields are perfect for bringing out the big guns when it comes to digging tools such as the grave digger shovel from Kellyco.
If you happen to be in someone’s yard however, show them how well you can cut your plug and not damage their lawn, and recover the target with a pinpointer to reassure them they won’t even notice you were there.
1. Your Own Yard
I found this M16 rifle buried in my own backyard wrapped inside a trash bag while digging my shed foundation.
By far the number one place to metal detect is your own yard. You will always have permission to go dig it and with plenty of time to dig at your leisure, you’ll be able to snuff out every single target when it is all said and done.
Even if you don’t find anything amazing, you’ll have learned your metal detector inside and out, so that when you take it out in public, you’ll be more than confident in your skills and digging techniques.
Worst case scenario, you’ll have the cleanest yard in the neighborhood or if your house is anything like mine, you’ll find something crazy like a gun buried inside of a trash bag!
Summary
So there you have it. The top 10 places to start metal detecting your way to finding treasure!
No matter where you decide to start digging, make sure that you have the proper gear to help make life a little bit easier for you and that you take care while digging by following the metal detecting code of ethics.
I hope you find the treasure you are looking for as you go out there to Swing4TheRing.
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