Erie County considers restricting use of metal detectors

You see them sweeping beaches and parks, hunting for buried treasure.
They are relic hunters with metal detectors in hand and ear phones on their heads listening for the sweet clicking sound of discovery. Perhaps an old coin. Maybe a ring. More often, it is an old pop top from a beer can.

Then there are some true legendary finds, like the retired electrician in England who discovered a gold cup in what was later declared an early Bronze Age funerary site.
But many of these metal detector hobbyists feel they get no respect.

If they’re not at odds with archaeologists over the recovery of historical or pre-historic items, they are skirmishing with local officials who want to restrict their access to beaches and parks. Even reality shows like “Savage Family Diggers” and “Dig Wars” don’t show the hobbyists in a favorable light.
“Most of the time, it’s just change we find,” said Kathy Cartonia of Williamsville, who started detecting in 1988.

“What do they think we’re going to do with metal detectors? Wreck the place? It makes no sense.”
So it should come as no surprise that Erie County Parks, Recreation and Forestry Commissioner Troy Schinzel is working to implement a policy that would place a handful of county parks and both county-run golf courses off-limits to the use of metal detectors. The policy would also establish rules on the removal of items from public grounds.

“I am concerned about that activity occurring in our historic or older parks,” Schinzel said. “We have five heritage parks where I would not want this type of activity permitted: Chestnut Ridge, Akron, Como, Ellicott Creek and Emery.
Schinzel is not alone.

See full article here.

Florida's Metal Detector Fanatics Fight High Tide and Murky Laws

Brian Deutzman braces himself against the pounding surf just off South Beach and slowly waves his fluorescent-colored metal detector underwater. His eyes narrow as faint electronic beeps resonate in his oversize headphones. Tall, pale, and draped in a thin white shirt, he looks like a combination of a hipster Ghostbuster and an actual ghost. Beachgoers point and laugh while children swim around in circles, trying to find out what he's looking for.

Wooomp. Deutzman freezes as he hears a long robotic tone. The 24-year-old scavenger finds plenty of trash, from rusted batteries to soda can tabs to enough pennies to cancel out a thousand wishes. But that noise means he's found something larger. It's the same tone he heard when he nabbed a priceless 19th-century watch and when he stumbled upon a full diamond grill.
Deutzman reaches into the sand, feels something solid, and pulls out a half set of human teeth. "It's from some castaway at sea," he says, noting the teeth with gold dental work will net $75 on eBay if they're real.

Get full article here.

First Water hunt with the CTX 3030...

and I would call it successful and a lot of fun. I did drop my non-waterproof camera in the creek. Sorry about the audio towards the end. Camera did make full recovery and is working fine. I left a deep target down in the creek because the water and sand kept filling back in. All this summer we had tons of rain and could not go back an retrieve it. Now its deer hunting season and landowner does not want me in there. Will have to wait for next year...Don't forget, please subscribe to my channels and hit the like button.

JCJ

Giving back to the land owners...

I don't know about you, but most of the folks that let me metal detect their property never ask for any of the finds. When I first get permission to hunt from them, I always tell them they are more than welcome to any and all the finds. Most then say they don't want them. I do have a lot of land owners that want to see the finds, but very few want them.

So I started taking various finds that I have found on their property and put them in a small to medium size Sgt. Riker's case. I give them the case with the relics and their faces light up and a huge smile stretches across their face. A lot of the times they have seen the relics before, after a hunt, but they were dirty and only field cleaned. Now...they see the relics all cleaned up and show much more interest. Why is that...

A good by product of this, has been a clear and unmistakable increase in property to hunt. Every single landowner I have given a case to, has actively sought out other land for me to hunt. It is amazing how a little good will and kindness works.

I know some will say "I'm not giving up my relics" or "Man, I wouldn't have given up that button." To that, I say after 15 years of metal detecting, I have relics, coins, buttons, bullets, etc...coming out of my ears. I'm always buying a new something to display my finds. Bottom line, I have plenty and giving back some will not kill me. Most of what I give, I already have 10 of them. Plus, it has gotten me permission on property I didn't have before, to find more relics. The way I see it its a classic win / win.

JCJ

Favorite hunts and the impressions they make...

By far my favorite hunt of all time was a few years back. I took both of my sons with me on a hunt not to far from our house. The land had been timbered 15-20 years prior and the loggers had knocked down the old home. There must have been a huge bag of bamboo seed in the house because the spot where the house once stood, was nothing but a bamboo forest. Everyone knows that is impossible to hunt...

 

We were able to hunt the outside fringes and the yard and did pretty well. Like all the hunts with my boys, I would find a good signal and ask them to come investigate and tell me what they thought. We exchanged ideas on what we thought and start to dig the target. We first dug a very nice Eagle button and then a few older coins. Towards the end of the hunt when attention spans were wearing out with both of them I got another good signal. We all took turns swing over the target and giving our opinions on what we thought it was. I started digging the target and out popped the most beautiful Virginia coat button I ever saw. The button was in really good shape. As we knelt there on the ground taking turns looking at the button, I couldn't help to think that we were the first people to see that button in 100-140 years. We still talk about that day.

This year I had my youngest son (Michael) with me on a all day hunt in Henrico, VA. It is a late war site and has produce a lot of relics for me over the last 4-5 years. The day was slow and we had to really work for the relics. I could tell Michael was getting tired and some what bored, so I was really swinging for a good signal. After 20 minutes or so, I came across a good solid brass signal. This time I did not say anything and let Michael find it on his own. Michael found the target and began to dig for it. A few minutes later he had the target in hand. A Mass Volunteer Militia Button. I had never seen one before and actually did not know what it was until we got home and looked it up. Needless to say he was excited and so was I. He made it a couple more hours on the hunt and then wanted to call it a day. I agreed and we headed home.

Getting kids (or adults for that matter) excited about history is tough and challenging. Both my sons have done pretty good appeasing me on our hunts. As the Dad, I have to remember they have other interest and they should. I know I did at their age. Both like to study history in school and maybe one day will relic hunt with their kids.

JCJ

Hanover, VA. Civil War site

This is a video of a couple hunts over the last few weeks. We have not had a lot of rain and the ground is drying out. Did manage to find a few relics. Please subscribe to my channel and hit the like button. Thanks for watching and HH to all...

JCJ