Ignoring the "highs" and digging only the "lows" in the surf and wet sand

[hobbit]

Ignoring the "highs" and digging only the "lows" in the surf and wet sand

Gary Drayton’s post of his great finds with the new CTX3030 got me thinking of a technique Andy Sabish suggested years ago in “Mastering the Explorer XS”. He simply advised discriminating out all high conductors and digging only low conductive targets. The idea is ground coverage. The less time spent digging silver, dimes, quarters and other high conductors, the more ground covered in the search for low conductive targets that stand a substantial chance of being gold. I am sure we all ignore high conductors in the surf, at least occasionally. I sure do. I was wondering how many of you do it more or less religiously when hunting “jewelry beaches”.

 

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[John (west central FL)]

That may make sense when you have limited time and there are a lot of targets. There are some very valuable targets that ring in as high tones. My best find ever, a $9K diamond ring, reads as a zinc cent on most meters. Also, most mens class rings will be hard to distinguish from coins. Maybe this new Minelab machine has a way of differentiating large gold rings from coins. We'll have to see.

 

[OBN]

They call me the Cherrypicker on the other forums, easier now to do with a remote PP on the excalibur

 

[bigscoop]

In the deeper surf, at low tide, when I know I only have a short time before the returning tide and waves drive me out of the deeper water again. But I don't like doing it because some of the better, deeper gold rings I've found in the past sounded like complete junk before I dug them. On the other hand, there are days when I might only have an hour, or less, before the returning tide forces be out, so it's a tradeoff that I just decide to play sometimes.

 

[dewcon4414]

Its the same concept as disc vs PP. There are targets we miss plane and simple in disc that we sacrifice to cover more area faster. Many dont take the time to pick up small targets like studs..... just because the money is in the big tickets. We often talk and chuckle about those swinging as fast as they can and maybe a bit to high on the dry sand..... some do it for the same reason.... recent drops of larger gold. Its about playing the odds out there id say...... what are you willing to leave the next guy.

Dew

 

[hamiddetecting]

Thank you for you OBN.
Sov GT and EXcalibur are the best metal detectors and they will remain until end the world.

 

[bigscoop]

Its the same concept as disc vs PP. There are targets we miss plane and simple in disc that we sacrifice to cover more area faster. Many dont take the time to pick up small targets like studs..... just because the money is in the big tickets. We often talk and chuckle about those swinging as fast as they can and maybe a bit to high on the dry sand..... some do it for the same reason.... recent drops of larger gold. Its about playing the odds out there id say...... what are you willing to leave the next guy.

Dew

Agree. Some don't care about coins, others do. Some don't care about the small stuff, while others do. Some don't care about the coins or the small stuff, myself included a great deal of the time. Even while hunting in disc I'll often ignore certain signals in favor of covering more ground in search of the bigger ticket items. I know I'm passing up some typical good targets, maybe even a silver ring or two, but when the hunting has been good and time is limited I'll sometimes hunt this way. The only exception being good signals that appear/sound to be deep, those I'll always take the time to dig. Then again, on a day today, I would have been happy with a few iron signals!

 

[Native Floridian]

There are some in our group who do this in high tourist season. There is just so much clad that one can stand to dig. Especially if up against an incoming tide, beach filling with sunbathers, or a curfew. That said, The SOV GT gives different tones depending on how deep the target is, how it's laying in the sand and probably a dozen other variable factors. More than once i've pulled out a nice ring when i thought the target was going to be a quarter. Most of those were silver, but, still!!! So, I dig everything.

 

[herb n surf]

Can't do that . I would turn around and dig it up just to make sure I knew what I almost left behind. Luck would have it the guy behind me that stopped and dug the signal would be jumping up and down with happiness at what he (she ) just found.

 

[bigscoop]

Can't do that . I would turn around and dig it up just to make sure I knew what I almost left behind. Luck would have it the guy behind me that stopped and dug the signal would be jumping up and down with happiness at what he (she ) just found.

I remember when I first started using the Excal..............I didn't trust those nulls at all so I dug everyone of them until I was 100% certain the machine wasn't lying to me. After about 100 needless digs I started trusting it. So I understand exactly what you mean.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I did the same thing on the nulls, dug hundreds of them, never once was it anything but a piece of iron, on the other hand I had a target that was a null from one direction, and a good signal from a different direction, it turned out to be a gold ring and a piece of iron in the same scoop....

I always swing in two directions on nulls, and I dig all targets, I hace found too many good targets that were high tones or mid tones not low tones.... Tones depend on the content of the base metals in the gold the content of the gold and the way the ring is laying in the ground.... I'm not leaving any rings for the guy behind me, and I only hunt with large coils......

 

[OBN]

Many of the Oldtimers that hunt the Bay do this because of the limited hunt times that are allow, and most use the CZ20's also. That is where I first heard of this. In OC Maryland a few years ago I had a CZ hunter following me as I headed up the beach. I ran into him at the days end and asked how his luck was..He had over a hundred coins, 5 pieces of silver but no gold. I was luck enought to score one small gold, 7 nickles, and a few zincons in bad shape. Since then I have got better at pulling the silver rings, (And the Junk ones also), after watching my own video's, most rings that are not plain bands, be it silver or gold, and with some depth are not the perfect high or mid tone (like a coin) with the excalibur, and that is with them being in the sand, and with a 10 or 7.5 inch coil. but once out of the hole and dumped on the beach, a check of the target in disc, it is much cleaner and different then when deep. Being able to hunt in PP is a advantage also, because it gives you more info on the target, like the shape and depth..plus there is the depth increase in my area by several inch's, and this is in the wetsand to below the knee. With so much competetion one need's every edge over the next hunter. Special now with the 3030

 

[CASPER-2]

I run in all metal - and try and dig it all
there are guys down there that bought a bunch of Aquasounds
that supposedly just find the goodies and ignore the bad
I have hunted with them - behind them - after them
and I find gold they miss - and not just recent drops
my Fisher has had gold - especially small gold and white gold
go off as junk in ID mode now and then - maybe the ring is on edge
sometimes it has been with junk - but if my machine does this
then i sure others are not 100% and do it to - in certain conditions
the 2 gold rings I got this past weekend went off as pulltabs when
I clicked over from all metal to ID mode to check both targets
I had dug about 8 oldtime pulltabs down over a foot from same area
you want to be sure you got it all - dig it all
TRASH -PICKING IT UP | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[leprechaun]

My rule of thumb is dig everything, a wise old meteldector guy taught me that years ago.He pased away 5 hears ago and is sadley missed by all that new him.

 

[dewcon4414]

Depends on the conditions if i use PP or disc. In disc.... anything i mean anything thats chirps gets dug. I like PP.....but down here you dont gain a lot of depth over disc with the Xcal and sometimes i really have to pay attention meaning moving slower because at depth the tones are softer. Is like having your gain low on an Exp in PP and in disc its high.... theres no modulation of tones. If i want to cover more ground i normally hunt in disc.... if there just nothing out there i use PP and move a little slower. Different styles... sweep speeds.... and hearing thats why no one gets it all and im not to concerned about hunting behind people.

Dew

 

[bigscoop]

I just spent the morning in the water in PP. (Probably more true then I really want to know..) Anyway, it just didn't matter, not seen it this slow in a long time and the competition is pretty light. In fact, I've hardly seen anyone else detecting lately. I actually went back to the truck and grabbed a few coins to check my machine out hoping it had a problem. No such luck. Evidently it's just that slow out there right now.

 

[bigscoop]

I just spent the morning in the water in PP. (Probably more true then I really want to know..) Anyway, it just didn't matter, not seen it this slow in a long time and the competition is pretty light. In fact, I've hardly seen anyone else detecting lately. I actually went back to the truck and grabbed a few coins to check my machine out hoping it had a problem. No such luck. Evidently it's just that slow out there right now.

Check that! Did find a problem. After I got home I just couldn't believe things were "that slow" so I setup for a simple air test. Came to find out my volume control wasn't working. (Knob was spinning but very stiff switch wasn't. Bore in knob is all chewed up.) Got it on Max and all mucher better now. Du...

 

[hobbit]

Check that! Did find a problem. After I got home I just couldn't believe things were "that slow" so I setup for a simple air test. Came to find out my volume control wasn't working. (Knob was spinning but very stiff switch wasn't. Bore in knob is all chewed up.) Got it on Max and all mucher better now. Du...

Excal pots are the source of much grief...I am sorry, I am a big Minelab fan, but it is a great detector in a poorly designed housing...

 

[dewcon4414]

I know there are issues with the knobs on the Xcal. But the pods was what attracted me to the Xcal. I like the separation of the battery and brain much better than a box especially since im not hip mounting. No doubt there are improvements that SHOULD be made without us having to do it. Designing a more expensive machine wasnt the answer ML.

Dew

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Scoop, when I dont get any targets for awhile I swing the coil by my scoop just to test it....... I replaced the knobs on mine with larger, easier to grip knobs with SS hex set screws..