How You Can Start Finding Treasure With Metal Detecting

Have you ever been curious about how people find lost artifacts and hidden treasures out in the wild? Well, a lot of the time, it's because they were metal detecting. If you want to become one of these treasure hunters, or are just curious about the hobby, it's a good thing you clicked on this article! There are a few things that everyone needs to know when starting out with metal detecting if you want to be successful in your search for treasures.

Why Metal Detecting?

Man holding metal detector on beach.
Photo Credits: Nadtochii / Envato Elements
Photo Credits: Nadtochii / Envato Elements

There's lots of metal in the ground at different levels under the earth and in different places, some put there on purpose and some lost to the ground at some time in history.

The best way to approach metal detecting is to do so in a small way, don't jump in whole hog and expect to find the biggest treasure trove of history, it's very unlikely to happen, by starting slowly you're going to be able to pick up the skills you need and learn about the hobby.

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What To Buy

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Man with metal detector equipment searching for metal goods.
Photo Credits: FabrikaPhoto / Envato Elements
Photo Credits: FabrikaPhoto / Envato Elements
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So, you need to purchase a mid-priced metal detector and learn to use it, get out int the unpopulated places and start to learn the skills and how to read the machine. Don't lay out to much money, there's plenty of time for that when you really want to take things seriously, most modern metal detectors are easily good enough for your needs.

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How To Start

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Man digging up finds from metal detector.
Photo Credits: akifewas / Envato Elements
Photo Credits: akifewas / Envato Elements
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Start by digging up anything that's detected by your machine. This will help you gain experience, you'll learn the different signals the machine gives off for metal types, mass and depth, etc. and you'll get to know what's worth digging for and what's not, to start, dig for everything.

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There's no doubt that you will dig up and discover more garbage than treasure, that's just the way it is, you can rebury it or you can collect it in a bag or box, some like to filter through all they dig up later when they have time to have a really good look, this is good experience as well so that you can see what sort of things are detected and sometimes those things that you first think are garbage, they're actually treasure!

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Dry Runs

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Man with a metal detector on a sea sandy beach.
Photo Credits: miraclemoments / Envato Elements
Photo Credits: miraclemoments / Envato Elements
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Sometimes you're not going to find anything, this is called a dry run and it happens to everyone, don't worry about it, it's part of learning the art of metal detecting. It can sometimes seem boring and tiring but stick with it.

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Hot Spots

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Old bullets and coin. Man is with metal detector in the field.
Photo Credits: mstandret / Envato Elements
Photo Credits: mstandret / Envato Elements
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There're certain places that have more chance of success than others; these are sometimes referred to as 'Hot Spots.' Beach's are good places, after festivals if you can get access to the land, parks, and places where other's tend to frequent. There's also places where there's been battles and historic settlements that you might have access to and are worth trying.

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It's a great hobby, and you can have a lot of fun for little outlay so give it a try, you'll become more patient, get out into the fresh air and who knows, it cold make you rich... Or at least get an ice cream.