Coin shooting - where should I start?

[Ag Man]

Uhm, as the post reads - as a newbie to coin detecting, where do I start?

I read about you's going to the local oval & park etc. but do you aim for a certain part/area of an oval?

Not keen on detecting the cricket pitch & have the green keeper come at me with his shovel...

Should I go around the sides where the seats are or what's the go/un-writen rules?

 

[Scoopa]

Hi Ag man. The best advice I can give you is to go where the people are. In saying that I look at the spectators. I don't go onto playing fields as that tends to upset the players, officials and ground staff, not to mention the council. It's the spectators that are dropping things and the players as they get ready. But remember to take that little bit extra time digging and filling your holes. Treat the park as you would your lawn and you won't have any problems. Happy Hunting!

 

[Goldandsand]

X 2 what Scoopa said I also try talk to the older locals and find out a little bit of history on the park or oval eg about old markets , fetes or regular gatherings. Good luck happy and hunting.

 

[Nugget]

I don't like to dig holes on sporting fields either and past experience tells me its usually a waste of time anyway.

For per-decimals I generally look for the older sporting grounds, ones that have been there for years and years. The best place to find coins of any kind are around the outskirts of the oval (viewing areas), under large gum trees (shaded areas) and around the kiosk. Just remember the layout might have been a little different back in the day so that's where a little research on the likes of Trove comes in handy. And for modern coins its just a case of watching where people congregate on the weekends, at special events etc, you might even be lucky enough to snag a per-decimal while you're at it.

Definitely take the time and learn how to correctly cut a plug, and always cut your plug vertically as cutting diagonally will cut through the grass roots and possibly killing the grass. In most cases when I leave a park you would never even know I was there.

 

[axeman]

I talk the old timers who have lived in an area nearly all there lives to get a general idea where the old gathering spots were like picnic grounds, old sports grounds, swimming holes, schools ect. An example would be an old military staging area (an over night stop used for troops training for vietnam) and was used once in the early 70's as a car rally stop over complete with pits and spectator area. I was one of the spectators, went there to see colin bond and brocky in the XU1 toranas. Been meaning to get back out there with the metal detector, something on my rather large must do list.
Mick