Conn's Wampum Hut

A Morning Metal Detecting

Things are always laid-back here at the Wampum Hut, so we encourage people to come in and share their metal detecting finds and shoot the breeze with D.J. and myself.

The other day, one of our club members stopped by the Wampum Hut, and I thought I’d share some of his metal-detecting lore with those of you who may not have been in the game that long.

In fact, Mr. Leo hasn't been metal detecting all that long, but he brought in a nice handful of coins, and some good tips for beginners:

Be Prepared: Not only is Leo out the door around 8:30 Saturday morning, (when it's still nice and cool!) he always carries several items to help make his day easier. Because he enjoys hunting in the more isolated areas of the Treasure Valley, Leo stores water, tinder, waterproof matches and nutrition bars in his vehicle. A compass and small knife help to fill out the boy scout motto while covering most contingencies.

Research: In his beginning months of metal detecting, Mr. Leo had been passing the same grassy area every morning, but, due to its location, he'd assumed it was off-limits. He decided to check around and spoke with a policeman he knew, only to find out the grassy area was public property, and o.k. to metal detect! Within a month, Leo was pulling rings, coins and jewelry out of one of the richest beginners glory-holes D.J. had ever seen! (no, he won't tell where...) The pictures give you a taste of just some of his finds:

Click on figures 1 and 2 to enlarge the jewelry pictures

Not bad for a beginner! Yes, this covers several days of metal-detecting, and he was able to sell some of the rings.....

Here's some of the coins he found at that same site (still not tellin‘!) ....If you'll notice the paper money on the right, that just goes to prove you should keep your eyes open while hunting, sometimes treasure is just lying on TOP of the ground too!

Click on figures 3 and 4 to enlarge the coin pictures

Just recently, Leo has been working at a place he learned about, from talking with a man who stopped to observe him metal detecting in a Boise city park. The two men struck up a conversation, and soon, Leo had a new site to hunt. Here's what he stopped by and showed us after three hours on a Saturday morning in July:

By the way, that’s eight dollars in quarters alone! This was after a few hours of hunting, which leads us to a third tip:

Be Thorough: Leo hunts with a Tesoro Silver Saber Umax; for a retrieval tool, he prefers a rounded-tip screwdriver. The ground had just been watered, and the turf was nice and porous, but not soggy. For this hunt he set his machine on nine, high discrimination, and took his time retrieving because he didn't know what he'd be uncovering. Like any good Wampum Hunter, Leo rolls the turf, replaces disturbed grass, and heels in the area before picking up his trash and moving on to the next beep. But just as important, Leo TAKES HIS TIME. He told D.J. he loved to metal detect behind people who swing wide and spend only 30 seconds on each hit, because all he has to do is follow and pick up what they leave behind. After retrieving a target, Leo also goes over the area a second time, having found multiple targets in the same hole more then once! For a morning’s take, Leo did well, he enjoyed his morning with some exercise and a good hunt, and even made enough for lunch and coffee afterward! Thanks for stopping by, Leo! As for the rest of you, I hope you found these tips useful...stay cool this July, and KEEP ON BEEPIN’!