Metal detector

[Tar Heel]

Has anybody tried one to find lost arrows. I'm thinking of getting one
for that and just playing around to see what i can find.
Thanks Tar Heel

[Razor Head]

I used one when I was shooting aluminum shafts. It was great.

Carbon shafts are another matter. The field point and insert are not much in the way of metal for the device to detect.

I was shooting in the cold yesterday and lost two carbon shafts. I will have to wait till spring and go looking for them. I could have attempted the search with a metal detector but the problem is; that I was a shooting range. There is lots of lead there and the detector will pick up on that also.

If you are shooting aluminum I highly recommend it.

[Adam]

I used one to find a lost knife this year. It worked great.
I also tried it on a carbon arrow and it picked up the broadhead no problem.

[Tar Heel]

What brand would be a good reasonably priced one for a poor man.

Thanks Tar Heel

[awshucks]

What brand would be a good reasonably priced one for a poor man.

Thanks Tar Heel

Another topic I'm some what knowledgeable on. I've had many detectors. I recently got another, but mine is not cheap. Metel detectng is the one hobby I've found that can and will eventually pay for itself.

Check out the Garrett ACE 250. Can be had for just over $200 if you shop around. I recently got one for a buddy and helped him get started. I am really impressed w/ this machine. They make an ACE 150, not worth the few bucks diff, imho.

Until you actually run a metal detector, the average person won't believe the scrap metal and 'stuff' in the ground. To find a field point on a carbon arrow means you are going to be on your knee's more you are gonna want, lol. It will have the same signal as a gazillion bits of trash and minerals.

Here's my best find, an 8 reales, [1710] from the Plate Fleet wreck of 1715, found in Fl in '95 or '96. I made the bezel.

[Pydpiper]

That's awesome Dan! Any idea of the value of that thing? Probably a memorable moment as you wiped the dirt off of it.

[Shotnbeer]

I bought a Whites in 1981. My wife thought I was crazy until I started to give her the rings I found. The detector cost me $300 at that time and I paid it off in 3 weeks with what I found. Like fishing, you never know what you"ll find.

[awshucks]

That's awesome Dan! Any idea of the value of that thing? Probably a memorable moment as you wiped the dirt off of it.

Probably around $200. Here's the story on it, paste job from another forum:

As some of you no doubt know, the Spanish shipped treasure from the New World in huge armadas commanded by Generals.

They lost a dandy in 1715 when 14, arguably 15 ships commanded by a Gen. Ubilla went down off the east coast of Florida due to a hurricane. After reading a book by I think Kip Wagner called "Pieces of Eight", I decided I was going to take a shot at that.

I went there in 1995. I knew the wreck site stretched out about 50 miles from above Sebastian Inlet to south of Ft. Pierce. I'd located a md shop in Ft Pierce and made some equipment [sand scoops] arrangements w./ the owners, real nice folks.

The Spanish silver coins are called reales, [r] also 'cob' coins. They were made via slave labor pouring melted silver into ingots, then cutting chunks off, trim to weight, flatten, then put between two 'dies' and whacked real hard w/ a sledgehammer.

They were made in the following denominations: 1/2 r, 1 r, 2 r, 4 r, and 8 reales. At that time it was common practice to cut a coin in pieces to get even more denominations, and the 2 reale was the origin of our term "two bits".

A side note here. I'd found a 2 reale in Pa dated 1728, but it was a minted coin. I was in the backyard of an apartment bldg in Lancaster.

Prior to my trip down to Florida, my buddy was vacationing in the Keys and had pumped me full of horror stories on the prices down there. My wife and I went prepared to camp out to make this doable $ wise.

The owners of the md shop had a friend who owned a motel and he was willing to let us stay there for a week for next to nothing and we took him up on the offer.

I'd brought quite a bit of venison I now wasn't going to be able to easily cook and started giving the big part of that away. I was in the md shop giving some to the so very helpful owners when I noticed a gentleman sitting there.

He was a sight! He had an old straw hat on, bell bottom jeans w/ flag sewn in the bell part, run down tennis shoes, a pipe stuck in his sock, and this huge necklace of what I assumed was costume treasure type jewelry. The pendant looked like a round piece of sponge dipped in gold paint w/ ugly plastic rubies and small fake emerald in some of the holes. I gave him some venison as I felt sorry for him.

After he left, the shop owners asked if I knew him. I told them no, had just felt a little sorry for him and had more meat than I knew people to give it to. They started howling laughing and then told me who I'd just fed.

His name was/is John Durham, a relatively famous treasure hunter, had articles in several treasure mags, personal friend of Burt Reynolds, did the archery shots in the movie Deliverance, yada yada yada. His personal treasure finds were well over 2 million dollars.

Mr. Durham is an important part of this story. After a few days of nothing put fish hooks and sinkers and an occasional coin from last month, he asked me at the shop one day how I was doing. When I told him how rich I was not getting, he asked me if I ever did any night detecting back in Illinois. I jokingly told him only when I'm going some place I probably shouldn't be.

A little description is needed here. While the beaches in Florida are public property, access to them is not. There were several public access areas, but they were spread out pretty good except for two whose names I can't recall, but well remember they were only 3/4 mile apart. And while I'm at it when detecting the beaches you can go from what's called the 'toe' or 'tow' of the dunes [where flat beach ends and hill starts] out to the water. You can't be in the water, that's all leased, but as long as it's just waves coming and going around your feet you are ok.

Back to the tale. Mr. Durham [John, while I thought he was a bum] said if you want to do some night detecting in Florida go in [one of the two 3/4 miles apart] "count your steps to" [the other one] "turn around and go half way back and head west".

Heading west meant up on top of the dune. Which is where I went that night. Which is where about 8" down I found this 8 reale coin. Which was minted in 1710 in Lima, Peru. Which I made the bezel and bought the chain for. Which was on a ship in the Plate Fleet Wreck of 1715. I also found a 1/2 r someone[s] had missed 40 miles away at another site, but it and the wife are long gone.

That's what I know. What I don't know is how it got there. Could have been missed after a hurricane or it could have been Karma from a nice old guy that wanted to pay for his venison.

Oh, one last thing. Mel Fisher was alive then and had/has a treasure museum at Sebastian Inlet or just a tad south. There's a portrait of Gen. Ubilla in it. Around the Generals neck is a necklace. It's the one on John Durhams neck now. Honest.

[Hoss]

Ive spent hours behind mine and love it..and they will find your arrows easy,,even carbon----because they have brass or alum inserts or field tips or broadheads..it will find them

[Boo]

That's awesome Dan! Any idea of the value of that thing? Probably a memorable moment as you wiped the dirt off of it.

Probably around $200. Here's the story on it

Then there's the story behind that story Dan, pretty good stuff!

[awshucks]

That's awesome Dan! Any idea of the value of that thing? Probably a memorable moment as you wiped the dirt off of it.

Probably around $200. Here's the story on it

Then there's the story behind that story Dan, pretty good stuff!

I have a couple more true stories w/ metal detecting if y'all want to read them, tied the last one in w/ venison, lol, but the rest are kinda OT, so I'm posting them there.