Beach Gridding - Land And Water Metal Detecting Technique

Many people ask what metal detecting method works best at the beach? Without question, I always reply, "beach gridding". This technique allows a detectorist to cover a small area of a beach and find far more coins, jewelry and other beach treasures than individuals who zig- zag all over the beach. In a two hour period I cover about a 20 foot square on land and about 15 in the water. On land, I can always tell where someone else has used this technique and move to another section of the beach because very little will be found in the gridded sections. It takes concentration to be a gridder, but the rewards are worth the effort.

Beach gridding is easier to do on land than water at most beaches and there are three patterns of gridding to choose from. The straight pattern is where you start from the high beach line and walk a straight line to the low tide line. At the end of each point you step a foot over, turn around and walk back the other direction and slowly overlap your detector swings. It is important to mark the territory covered and my favorite method is dragging my feet. Others like dragging their sand scoop. This allows you to visually track the area covered. I use this same technique in the water but some beaches with rushing waves makes it necessary to have visual posts or markers (in the water and on the land) to guide you. Trees, cars, life guard stands, etc. mark my path as I walk towards land, while buoys and stationary boats, etc. guide me out into the water.

The second pattern is called the sideways straight. It is identical to the straight pattern but you detect sideways turning after you have gone 15 to 20 feet. I do not use this method or gridding pattern in the water on most beaches as it is more difficult to use the markers as a guide. The exception to this is detecting beaches like the Gulf Coast of Florida where the tide normally does not destroy the markings left in the sand by me and my sand scoop.

The third pattern is a circular one and is best used on large beaches. Go to the center of the beach and upon location of your first target, begin a circular pattern. There is no moving over a foot at each ending point as there are no ending points in a circle pattern as the circle size increases as you go around. This method of beach gridding is gaining in popularity. Beach gridding, regardless of the pattern, is a good tool for building a high grade circulated collection of the US State Quarters. A detecting buddy of mine has found 35 different states with 47 different quarters in his collection.

Gridding is great! It is also not limited to the beach hunting crowd. Hunting farm land, school and sport stadium grounds, renovated lots and public parks are all good place to utilize one or more of these patterns. In highly hunted areas where old and valuable coins are found in diminishing numbers, using two of these methods to cover the same area will produce some winners that randomly hunting detectorists will not find. Here's to "diggin it"! Larry

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