MDF Metal detecting & metal detectors resource: a friendly forum to discuss all your detecting needs and promoting responsible metal detecting for all.
We have lots of new forum members join our ranks each month and they are all made very welcome and we hope they settle in and start to enjoy this wonderful hobby.
However, its a sad fact that within 6 months of joining, about 50% of new members will give up the hobby. The reason? Unable to find somewhere to detect.
If you live near the coast, then you can apply for a Crown Estate Foreshore detecting permit but anywhere inland is owned by someone and getting permission to detect on that land will prove an impossible barrier for many newcomers.
So, if you think that you will enjoy detecting, please make sure before you buy a machine that you have somewhere to use it. Your garden will be ok for the first 10 mins but after that its a case of either joining a club and attending their Club Digs, finding a local buddy who will allow you to tag along or bite the bullet and knock on some doors yourself. Its tough but its the best way to get some land and there are lots of good advice in the Permissions section to guide you through the process and offer enthusiastic support.
Goo luck to you all, Liam
Deus, WSi's - In the end we will regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have and decisions we waited too long to make .. Lewis Carroll
I'm sure a lot of new detectorists are bitten by the bug after seeing some of the major finds in newspapers, but we all know life isn't like that. Unless you are lucky on your first few trips you are more likely to dig ring pulls instead of rings. We are all obsessed with depth but most finds are still within the first few inches, which can be reached by even the cheapest of detectors. At the end of the day it really is down to how much time you spend on the hobby, I've just spent three days on and off trying to find my pro pointer, which is made partly of metal, about ten inches long and should theoretically be easy to find. It's in one end of a small field because I know where I last used it and where I realised it was missing yet in reality unless I spot it I'm unlikely to find, despite being on the surface.
Wise words and I hope you find that expensive pointer. I left mine behind in the fields three times and now I don't bother using it at all, should use the holster I suppose
Probably best for newcomers to borrow a machine and at the same time try to get a permission somewhere. If they manage that, then fine. If not then they have saved the expense on a machine that they cannot use, Liam
Deus, WSi's - In the end we will regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have and decisions we waited too long to make .. Lewis Carroll
On the subject of losing your pinpointer I remember on a very wet rally seeing this poor bloke tearing around the field frantically trying to find his. A few of us joined in but it was a hopeless situation. Of course the colour of most pinpointers render it almost impossible to see when lying on earth. Perhaps a simple salution for all of us is to wrap a bright coloured tape around it. That's of course if you don't have a lanyard attached. Simple but effective I would think. I must do this myself.
Practice what you preach. If this suggestion helps just one person find his pinpointer then it will be worth it. Peter. Ps would suggest yellow. Peter.
Good advice. have lots of land to do in the UK...it's just getting the boss at home and work to let me cross the big pond more often.
Sorry for you Kippers in one regards and that is public access to places to hunt but on the other hand youz have the history as our Canuck history as a nation only goes back to 1867 with a smattering of Spanish and such.
Good luck to the newbies on getting land and on their.............next outings!
Hi Goldie, thanks for that, I did not want to discourage people from taking up this great hobby, just that some newcomers invest very heavily in equipment that they then find no opportunity to use.
If you are keen to detect, then may be buy a fairly cheap used machine that you can have ready and waiting if someone allows you to tag along and then you are on the first rungs of the ladder to getting your own land. Its difficult where you are and maybe attending rallies will be your way forward as at least you have a days detecting with others and you can get chatting and perhaps make some plans for later run outs. Detecting is a small world and people are generally very keen to help each other, good luck for the future, Liam
Deus, WSi's - In the end we will regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have and decisions we waited too long to make .. Lewis Carroll
It is such a shame how so many things have changed for the worse over the years in respect of there being such red tape and obstacles to contend with. It replaces the sense of freedom that we once briefly enjoyed, particularly with regard to detecting. Then, we would roam and detect as we pleased, especially on local authority land. Hostility and pressure from the established archaeological bodies led to a plethora of hastily convened byelaws. All too soon our hobby became subject to many restrictions and nowadays, pressure of numbers on the farmers, rapid crop rotation and issues like green waste further complicate matters.
I increasingly go along on organised digs, paying someone else to deal with all the hassle of finding somewhere to detect. Usually, I enjoy them and make a fair amount of finds but it's a pity that some people, in my opinion, seem to exploit the present pressurised detecting situation and arrange dubious, "charity" digs on land that I suspect they know from past experience is unproductive or contaminated.
Good post, hit the nail on the head a few times, nothing much to add to that. Been out on some land that was unproductive 14 months ago, heavy wet clay soil, hurricane winds, swampy conditions and guess what? Its STILL unproductive! However I had dragged Ninja Nige along and we had a good natter with the farmer for later on, lots of other fields will roll through and he also cultivates for other farmers and so can effect some new permissions. In the last minute of searching, just as we were about to step off the swamp, Nige gets a good signal and up comes a beautiful George sixpence. It seemed like the Crown Jewels had been found!
Not much found but good company, fresh air, more land on the way and its better than doing the Waitrose shopping, Liam B-)
Deus, WSi's - In the end we will regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have and decisions we waited too long to make .. Lewis Carroll
Great advice again, Liam.....in fact I just got a 2nd-hand machine, and think I'll take it down to the coast after the storms have settled. BTW, most impressed with my instant e-mail reply from Crown Estates with my permit!
Yes, muddyfingers, you scored a bullseye with me too: I used to fish years ago, for much the same reasons as I want to detect....to be totally absorbed in something, forget everything and get outside (not in a George Michael way). But coarse fishing became all permits, day tickets, club swims etc, and I knocked it on the head.
I hope the prevailing attitude to detecting changes. Because, from what I can see, you guys are uber-responsible and care deeply about our heritage. When this message sinks in, maybe things will free up for people who just want enjoy a harmless and healthy hobby.
For me, it's not about finding things, but losing myself.
I'm a newby myself , in fact I unpacked my new detector today , ready for my first go the weekend , i intend to do the beaches for now , until I am lucky enough to get permission on some land , I got my crown permit and know what beaches I can and can't go , so will spend some time getting used to the machine and enjoying it .
Good piece of advice Liam and one that I didn't heed! My detector is coming Monday and I hadn't any permissions arranged.
Luckily I was walking the dog this morning and bumped into an old friend who agreed to let me have a look at one of his fields. It hasn't been detected for about 20 years when the last finds were a handful of Egyptian coins from the 1950s! It's assumed they were brought back by a soldier and lost during a picnic outing. Can't wait to get in there after going around the garden a few times first.
Steve
Good luck Steve, at least you have a good start and you never know what may come up and maybe offered a few more fields afterwards, do keep us posted!
There is plenty of land out there to be detected on and it will go to those who go door knocking or get chatting to landowners and/or emails. The topic is aimed at those who become interested in detecting and rush out to buy an expensive machine before considering where they can go. You see lots of almost new equipment for sale on auction sites and probably from someone who just gave up the hobby because of no land or a local club, Liam
Deus, WSi's - In the end we will regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have and decisions we waited too long to make .. Lewis Carroll
There are plenty of farms, fields and woodlands close to my proximity and I am yet to open a dialogue with any landowners at this early stage, but plan search on the coastline to begin with.
Farmers are busy people to say the least, if I was a farmer/landowner I would need to know what's in it for me,as in "how I am going to potentially benefit from you metal detecting on my land".
My metal detecting curriculum vitae doesn’t carry much weight, so I will need to be very convincing. I can show them that I’m serious by producing my NCMD membership and my Crown coastal permit.
If they are still in doubt, showing them press cuttings of the Staffordshire Saxon Hoard, I hope will be the deal maker :-)
With respect to metal detecting as a hobby, does anyone know how metal detecting is perceived by the non-metal detecting public and what is be done to address any negative attitudes if they exist.
I expect that a lot of people outside of the hobby think we only go out in the hope of finding "Treasure." I'm often asked, "Have you found any Treasure?" as opposed to just being asked whether I have found anything old or interesting. Once, a passer by to a rally remarked to his associates that "Treasure" must have been found in the field to cause so many people to rush over and start searching the field (presumably without permission)
However I had dragged Ninja Nige along and we had a good natter with the farmer for later on, lots of other fields will roll through and he also cultivates for other farmers and so can effect some new permissions. In the last minute of searching, just as we were about to step off the swamp, Nige gets a good signal and up comes a beautiful George sixpence. It seemed like the Crown Jewels had been found!