On Thursday September the 15th just a couple days before I go on my big planned hunt to Oshawa public beach I was told by my partner Erin, that she is going to Smiths Falls for lunch and If I’d like to come then she also threw into the mix that she would be ok if I left for a bit to do some detecting! Well how could I refuse an offer like this? Well I’ll tell you…. I can’t. Of course I’ll come, and go do some detecting lol.

A quick Google search and I find there are no beaches along the Rideau in Smiths Falls. However, a short jont over to Merrickville, and they have a small public beach I could hit up and test my new found knowledge, skills, & pint pointer, lol.

We decided to take separate vehicles for the day in order to maximize our time. I left about an hour before Erin so I could go to the beach before lunch and then I would meet everyone there. This way I could feed my new found addiction, I mean hobby. Lol

I had a lot of people obviously wondering what I was doing? Some people that were interested came over to chat and see if I would find anything? Well almost right away I found the usual trashy items as I know almost all beach detectorist know all to well about. Bottle caps and pull tabs were abundant on this tiny beach.

It was only a 15 minute drive to the beach from smiths falls but when I got there, there were a couple people around the vicinity, not actually on the beach itself which was nice, & if you’ve been reading my stories you’d know that I most definitely have stage fright when it comes to using my detector around too many people lol. “Well” I pulled up my big boy pants, and decided to give the small beach a once over anyway.

I was hopeful that this beach would produce some decent items like older coins as the town itself was old.

Merrickville Ontario was built in the early 1800’s around 1829. And became a village of around 700 people

Within the first couple minutes another detectorist came wondering down to the beach. As the beach was small I approached the guy chatted with him only to find out he had just bought his machine and was looking to give it a test. I told him to choose any part of the beach he wanted and I would start following behind him (@ a distance of course) as I was really only there to figure out and try some of the functions of my machine myself, and get a bit more accustomed to it before I did my trip to Oshawa coming up in the next week. I really wasn’t there to find anything in particular. Besides giving him the opportunity to use his new machine seemed like a better option for me.

He was hesitant to take me up on my offer but I said to him this isn’t a targeted area for me and he was a local so I gave him priority. Also if I was able to give any helpful hints that got him any treasure then I would feel like that was a successful trip out. More so than finding things myself.

Well away the guy went and immediately he started combing the beach in a very random pattern zigzagging all over. I said nothing this looked familiar to my times out. About 20 minutes went by and he had dug up a couple of bottle caps and a pull tab. And a few nails.

The guy did not have a pinpointer so I went to the car to lend him my knockoff model I got from Amazon for $35 it had worked well for me up til now. However of course I have now upgraded it to what I am now using, the Nokta pinpointer. This made the guy very happy as he could now dig his targets much faster. He told me he was digging every tone and VDI number the machine gave him as that’s what he read to do on all the online forums he was a part of.

I agreed with him that he should definitely be digging all targets until he gets to know his machine and understands the difference in modes and the sounds. I did however mention that he may want to pick smaller section of the beach and comb a small section at a time instead of aimlessly wandering and zigzagging across the beach. This way he will know exactly which areas he has gone over. So he started doing that, the beach was tiny anyway but still I think it’s better to section it out. If this was a normal size beach I would have probably picked sections to detect the size of this entire beach anyway lol.

When he had gone over a small section he was so excited that he had found a small ladies chain in the sand about 3 inches down, he was smiling from ear to ear. Then he moved on to another small section of the beach. Now he had found a small, what appeared to be a GOLD chain, his fist real find, not just with his new machine, but ever.

I couldn’t help but to feel a bit jealous if I’m to be honest as I had yet to find my first gold item EVER either. So I thought for a moment and figured that what he had found was only a chain, a small womans chain.

Well I don’t know about you, but any woman I’ve ever known never wears only a small gold chain. So I decided to go over the same area again myself and really pay attention to what my machine was telling me.

As it turns out approximately 2 feet from where the guy found the chain, I too got a faint signal, it was reading 5 to 7 on my machine the numbers were a bit jumpy, and was not a strong signal at all. It showed up on my machine only after every 3 or 4 swings over the same area . After using the pinpointer on the vanquish 540, it determined that there was Infact something there but it too was giving a weak signal. not loud at all.

When the target did register on the machine, it showed between 3 and 4 arrows down, so I figured it would be approx 6 to 8 inches below the surface. I dug 2 full scoops of sand with my CKG sand scoop and the signal disappeared. Whatever it was, was now in my scoop. As a shook my scoop to empty the sand and reveal the target, I was shocked to see nothing in it at all. So I waived the detector over the ground and picked up the signal again.

Only this time it was a bit strong signal and a solid #5. So I now took my new pinpointer out of its holster turned it on and stuck it to the ground. It took a second or 2 before I started feeling it vibrate in my hand and hearing the beeping. I still didn’t see anything tho. I picked up a handful of sand and stuck the pin-pointer in my hand. The pointer started vibrating again so I knew whatever this was I was now holding in my hand. I slowly started scraping sand out of my hand and shortly revealed a small silver looking charm in the shape of a cross with a diamond in the centre of it. At a closer look it was a silver looking pin, it still had the backing on it. And it looked brand new.

I was ecstatic, I was now the one smiling from ear to ear. I showed the guy who I was sort of detecting with and we both celebrated. I could tell he was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t him that found that piece, especially since he had already searched that spot, but whatever, we both had great items with our metal detectors and out of such a small beach too lol.

I had spent about an hour on the beach but it was time to head out. So I politely said to the guy, “it was a pleasure and good luck with the rest of his hunt” then turned around to leave.

In all the excitement that just happened, I almost forgot to ask him for my backup pin-pointer back before I left lol. The gentleman did say that he now thought that having a pin-pointer was going to be his next purchase due to what he witnessed lol.

I got back to Smiths Falls to join up with the ladies for lunch. They did ask how the time at the beach went and all I said was, “It was Ok. I went to the washroom to wash off 2 item I found for the day and took them back to the table to show the ladies. I had dug up several items this morning but if I’m to be honest. Mostly just junk., well accept the necklace, pin and a brass nut. Well the pin is probably junk as well, I did not see any markings on it telling me it was actually silver so it will sit in my treasure box looking like a great treasure

Here are all the items I dug up this short trip to Merrickville on their very small beach.

I also got. A metal shim which I think may be used to put an axe handle onto an axe head. And 5 nails with 1x screw. The odd thing was that almost all the Nails were registering high VDI numbers when I was going over them. Like between 29,& I even had 1 come in at 40

Well the next little hunt was on September 16, (the very next day. This was an interesting 1 hour hunt as well. Only this time it was just around the corner from home. It was mid afternoon around 4pm when I left my house after going to town to grab a couple items to eat for work over the next few days. When I got home, no one was to be found so I took the opportunity to head over to a nearby town of Camden East where I had spotted a kids playground.

When I got to the park, not a soul was around for the first 5 minutes anyway, then 2 small young boys, probably 6 & 7 ish, ran up to me and said “cool, A metal detector. An we help you dig?” I looked around for mom or dad but they were not around.

I asked the boys where their parents were and they told me they were at home just a couple doors away. I told them they should ask mom and or dad before they help me out. One of the boys said. Well we have a wallow talkie and got right on it to ask their mom if they could help a guy dig in the park lol. Of course the voice that came over the radio said quickly & sternly. “NO” lol just a few minutes later dad came walking his dog to the park to check out what was going on.

I had explained to Dad that they came right up to me and wanted to help, so I told them to ask their parents first. Well dad didn’t look impressed and told the boys to go home. I probably would have done the same to my kids.

Feeling like I was a predator in the kids park. I continued to dig for the next 10 minutes when a truck and a mother with 3 small kids pulled up to the park. I was just about to leave when the mom asked me if I’d show her kids how the metal detector worked?

Excited to show the kids all I knew I quickly answered “Absolutely “ I swung the coil around for a few seconds before I got my first target. I dug down and pulled out my pin pointer and asked one of the little boys if he’d move it around in the hole I just dug, “nothing”. so then I asked him to stick the pointer into the pile of sand I had just created and start to swirl it around as if he was stirring a bowl of cereal. He did what I asked and soon the pin pointer started chirping.

Startled by the noise, the little boy looked at me as if he did something wrong, but I just told him, “ that’s it you found the target” now pick up the dirt in your hand and there should be something in it. He did just that and soon revealed a small quarter. He tried handing the quarter to me but I handed it back and said “you found this one, it’s yours to keep” the look of happiness on the boys face was priceless.

I tried looking around the park for some more coins to give the other 2 kids but all we got was some small nails and a long wire, probably for some old fencing.

Anyway I gathered my gear and said thanks for the help guys as I left the little park. The kids really made my day especially after the other 2 were made to leave by their dad.

Of course there are no pictures of this as I wasn’t about to start talking pics of someone else’s children, then I really would be creepy lol.

Anyway, this was quite the unexpected yet very rewarding couple hunts I’ve had the past couple days, and not to shabby, for 2, x 1 hour hunts.

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