MD Dog
Bronze Member
Garnered from answering a number of newbie posts over time. I decided to start compiling some helpful, I hope, tidbits of wisdom that just might be the edge that helps some of you newer folks out.
No matter what the sound a detector of metal will do what ?
That's right detect metal, what kind of metal is the thang.
Now there are more kinds of metal than just the one or two or
three sounds that a low end detector will have thus the lower
end detector you use the more likely you'll need to dig every
target to find out just what it is. The higher end detectors
have more variations to the sounds they make and can
therefore differentiate between targets better so it is
easier for a detectorist to determine if they want to dig.
Here's the rub, with a lower end detector you may have to dig
more targets, but you'll miss very little. With the higher
end detector you can dig fewer targets, but you'll miss some
potentially great targets, unless of course your detector is
100% accurate. Roll Eyes So you can avoid all these pitfalls
by either going big and expensive yet digging all signals or
cheap and inexpensive and digging all signals. Hmmmmmm tough
call. icon_scratch
Kinda like the proverbial depth monster around here. No doubt
in a couple weeks or months you'll be back asking about
depth, saying how come my machine isn't finding all the gold
and silver others are finding ? And you'll be sure it's
because the good targets are older and just out of reach of
your brand of detector so you'll want to know what's the
deepest detector, cause older means deeper right and those
guys in the 70's didn't have machines that go that deep,
blah, blah, blah,yada, yada, yada....
I'm not going off on you because your a newb, I am just
writing this for my own health so I won't have to keep
writing the same things time and again, I plan on copying
this so I can cut and paste it for future newb posts.
Start off learning that to get good finds means first and
foremost good research, you can't find what isn't there.
Second start with any machine that can detect metal to a
depth of four inches or more.
Use that machine and learn everything you can about it, the
hobby, and yourself.
One of the biggest drawbacks to anyone being successful as a
MDer is their own ability to stick it out during slow
periods, you won't always be finding good things, some times
in fact most times you'll be diggen trash far more than
you'll ever dig treasure.
Third Dig every good signal, what's a good signal ? Damned
if I know and "NO ONE ELSE KNOWS EITHER", that's for you to
decide for yourself. If I knew what a good signal was I'd
only dig them and no others and I'd only dig treasure. Roll
Eyes
What I do is dig every possibly good signal and still
most of them are trash. But I miss very little and find very
little but over the years it adds up. Yes it is hard work,
but treasure hunting isn't meant to be easy nor is everyone
cut out to be dyed in the wool treasure hunters. Tenacity is
the word that wins the day. Fight for ever scrap of treasure
you can find and then hide it away for very few are worthy of
the title treasure hunter and even fewer are worthy of
viewing my treasure as they must first realize and appreciate
all the blood sweat and tears that went into it's
acquisition.
I save mine for a cold winters night in front of a warm
fire with my dog curled at my feet and my Grandchildren
gathered for a tale of incredible mishap mayhem and danger as
Grandpa spins a web. Wink
From a seperate but also enlightening post.
You have got to understand Some things about this sport. To
some people this is a weekend hobby, and that is fine it is
what it is to them and to you. For me I call it a sport
because I'm retired and can't stand golf. So I think of it
just like many of my older contemporaries who spend their
remaining days on earth chasing a little white ball over
field and dale and calling this exercise. Some peole here
actually call this MDing work and try to make a living of it
and it's associated counterparts; IE bottle digging,
antiquing etc....
So what do you call MDing are you just a week end kind of guy
? If so this may explain your dislike for the dig it
everything kind of advice. Most weekenders only have time to
dig the shallow confirmed targets and thus they tend to dig
fewer targets and get fewer good finds.
Are you a sport hunter like me ? I am still relatively young
and yet I hunt just about five days a week. SO I have the
time and inclination to find and dig as many targets as I
can. True it can be frustrating, time consuming and allot of
work. But in the end I think my finds make it all worth
while. You see for me It isn't just about the exercise. I
also like to think of how great it will be to one day take my
Grand children into my living room and light a fire in the
fire place and tell tall tales of treasure hunt adventures.
And after words being able to provide visible proof of these
adventures paying off. I think kids need reasons to dream
nowadays more than ever.
Do you call treasure hunting your passion or job ? If so your
gonna find it really hard to be successful without first
discovering most of the answers to good prospecting idealism.
That is what most unsuccessful hunters lack, that one very
definable quality that sets the winner above the average Joe
Shmoe. You gotta have perseverance, without that, you're
gonna quite inches away from that treasure you've been
hunting a lifetime for.
Now as for the technical reasons to dig everything. Are you
aware that no matter what you paid for your detector it isn't
a majic wand. you know that even the best detector only has
"good" Target ID down to a depth of 6" And if you aint
swingin the best your target ID will be even worse than good.
Most are only about 30% accurate. All detectors are
completely fallible below 6". Even if you buy a six thousand
dollar gold hunting expert top notch machine it will be wrong
about Target ID 99% of the time deeper than 6".
Then there's this thing called masking, have you heard of it
before ? Oh well no never mind I'll explain it for any other
newbie who hasn't heard of it before. You see when your
detector is faced with a situation where it is swung right
over top of say a gold five dollar piece, but it is also
swinging over a tin foil gum rapper what do you think the
machine will react to ? Since the gum rapper is bigger it is
going to read foil. So you dig and dig and keep getting that
foil signal and after the first two or three times you give
up because you think it is just some more foil from that gum
rapper. But since that Gold coin and foil will read the same
you may have just passed up that signal. Here's a much more
common situation. You get an Iron signal and you don't wanna
dig it since you don't hunt relics. But you've just read my
post so you think ok I'll try it out so you dig it and get
disappointed by the nail you find. So you start to swing
again and get another Iron signal right in the exact same
location but deeper. So this time you pass it up knowing for
sure it is another nail, which it probably is. But what if,
just what if, it is actually a good silver or gold target
that is at eight inches deep that you are now detecting
because you removed the rusty nail, but good targets deeper
than 6" give iron signals. Ok last scenario, you get a iron
signal so you dig it and it turns out to be a liscence plate,
so now you scan the area after clearing out the liscence
plate and you get another signal ten inches to the right that
says it is a good target. But that signal wasn't there before
you dug the liscence plate. That is the power of masking, the
liscence plate was being picked up so strongly that your good
targets were completely hidden from your detector until you
dug up the liscence plate and removed it from the scene.
So those are just some of the things I ve put together for now, I'll add to it for the future when I can. Those of you who no longer consider yourselves newbies and knew everything I said or want to debate them, never mind just ignore the rantings of an old coot treasure seeker/finder.
No matter what the sound a detector of metal will do what ?
That's right detect metal, what kind of metal is the thang.
Now there are more kinds of metal than just the one or two or
three sounds that a low end detector will have thus the lower
end detector you use the more likely you'll need to dig every
target to find out just what it is. The higher end detectors
have more variations to the sounds they make and can
therefore differentiate between targets better so it is
easier for a detectorist to determine if they want to dig.
Here's the rub, with a lower end detector you may have to dig
more targets, but you'll miss very little. With the higher
end detector you can dig fewer targets, but you'll miss some
potentially great targets, unless of course your detector is
100% accurate. Roll Eyes So you can avoid all these pitfalls
by either going big and expensive yet digging all signals or
cheap and inexpensive and digging all signals. Hmmmmmm tough
call. icon_scratch
Kinda like the proverbial depth monster around here. No doubt
in a couple weeks or months you'll be back asking about
depth, saying how come my machine isn't finding all the gold
and silver others are finding ? And you'll be sure it's
because the good targets are older and just out of reach of
your brand of detector so you'll want to know what's the
deepest detector, cause older means deeper right and those
guys in the 70's didn't have machines that go that deep,
blah, blah, blah,yada, yada, yada....
I'm not going off on you because your a newb, I am just
writing this for my own health so I won't have to keep
writing the same things time and again, I plan on copying
this so I can cut and paste it for future newb posts.
Start off learning that to get good finds means first and
foremost good research, you can't find what isn't there.
Second start with any machine that can detect metal to a
depth of four inches or more.
Use that machine and learn everything you can about it, the
hobby, and yourself.
One of the biggest drawbacks to anyone being successful as a
MDer is their own ability to stick it out during slow
periods, you won't always be finding good things, some times
in fact most times you'll be diggen trash far more than
you'll ever dig treasure.
Third Dig every good signal, what's a good signal ? Damned
if I know and "NO ONE ELSE KNOWS EITHER", that's for you to
decide for yourself. If I knew what a good signal was I'd
only dig them and no others and I'd only dig treasure. Roll
Eyes
What I do is dig every possibly good signal and still
most of them are trash. But I miss very little and find very
little but over the years it adds up. Yes it is hard work,
but treasure hunting isn't meant to be easy nor is everyone
cut out to be dyed in the wool treasure hunters. Tenacity is
the word that wins the day. Fight for ever scrap of treasure
you can find and then hide it away for very few are worthy of
the title treasure hunter and even fewer are worthy of
viewing my treasure as they must first realize and appreciate
all the blood sweat and tears that went into it's
acquisition.
I save mine for a cold winters night in front of a warm
fire with my dog curled at my feet and my Grandchildren
gathered for a tale of incredible mishap mayhem and danger as
Grandpa spins a web. Wink
From a seperate but also enlightening post.
You have got to understand Some things about this sport. To
some people this is a weekend hobby, and that is fine it is
what it is to them and to you. For me I call it a sport
because I'm retired and can't stand golf. So I think of it
just like many of my older contemporaries who spend their
remaining days on earth chasing a little white ball over
field and dale and calling this exercise. Some peole here
actually call this MDing work and try to make a living of it
and it's associated counterparts; IE bottle digging,
antiquing etc....
So what do you call MDing are you just a week end kind of guy
? If so this may explain your dislike for the dig it
everything kind of advice. Most weekenders only have time to
dig the shallow confirmed targets and thus they tend to dig
fewer targets and get fewer good finds.
Are you a sport hunter like me ? I am still relatively young
and yet I hunt just about five days a week. SO I have the
time and inclination to find and dig as many targets as I
can. True it can be frustrating, time consuming and allot of
work. But in the end I think my finds make it all worth
while. You see for me It isn't just about the exercise. I
also like to think of how great it will be to one day take my
Grand children into my living room and light a fire in the
fire place and tell tall tales of treasure hunt adventures.
And after words being able to provide visible proof of these
adventures paying off. I think kids need reasons to dream
nowadays more than ever.
Do you call treasure hunting your passion or job ? If so your
gonna find it really hard to be successful without first
discovering most of the answers to good prospecting idealism.
That is what most unsuccessful hunters lack, that one very
definable quality that sets the winner above the average Joe
Shmoe. You gotta have perseverance, without that, you're
gonna quite inches away from that treasure you've been
hunting a lifetime for.
Now as for the technical reasons to dig everything. Are you
aware that no matter what you paid for your detector it isn't
a majic wand. you know that even the best detector only has
"good" Target ID down to a depth of 6" And if you aint
swingin the best your target ID will be even worse than good.
Most are only about 30% accurate. All detectors are
completely fallible below 6". Even if you buy a six thousand
dollar gold hunting expert top notch machine it will be wrong
about Target ID 99% of the time deeper than 6".
Then there's this thing called masking, have you heard of it
before ? Oh well no never mind I'll explain it for any other
newbie who hasn't heard of it before. You see when your
detector is faced with a situation where it is swung right
over top of say a gold five dollar piece, but it is also
swinging over a tin foil gum rapper what do you think the
machine will react to ? Since the gum rapper is bigger it is
going to read foil. So you dig and dig and keep getting that
foil signal and after the first two or three times you give
up because you think it is just some more foil from that gum
rapper. But since that Gold coin and foil will read the same
you may have just passed up that signal. Here's a much more
common situation. You get an Iron signal and you don't wanna
dig it since you don't hunt relics. But you've just read my
post so you think ok I'll try it out so you dig it and get
disappointed by the nail you find. So you start to swing
again and get another Iron signal right in the exact same
location but deeper. So this time you pass it up knowing for
sure it is another nail, which it probably is. But what if,
just what if, it is actually a good silver or gold target
that is at eight inches deep that you are now detecting
because you removed the rusty nail, but good targets deeper
than 6" give iron signals. Ok last scenario, you get a iron
signal so you dig it and it turns out to be a liscence plate,
so now you scan the area after clearing out the liscence
plate and you get another signal ten inches to the right that
says it is a good target. But that signal wasn't there before
you dug the liscence plate. That is the power of masking, the
liscence plate was being picked up so strongly that your good
targets were completely hidden from your detector until you
dug up the liscence plate and removed it from the scene.
So those are just some of the things I ve put together for now, I'll add to it for the future when I can. Those of you who no longer consider yourselves newbies and knew everything I said or want to debate them, never mind just ignore the rantings of an old coot treasure seeker/finder.
, I once happend upon what must have been a frat party change fight at a local park. I was frantic with digging every signal and when I was done had close to thirty something dollars. But looking down at the thirty or so square fet I had ben detecting in it looked like I had created a miniture recreation of some long ago battle field, repleat with fox holes trenches armaments tank barriers etc...... :P Not to mention we were in the early stages of a drought as I was going to find out in the following days. I was called about a month later by a man who said he was the park superintendent of that particular park and was informed that through some fairly easy detective work he had surmised that I was to blame for some substantial damage at his park. I admitted that I had been there Metal Detecting but had filled all my holes and couldn't see how I had done any damage. So I said well let me see what the problem is and we set up a meeting to see what they were calling my damage. Sure enough the whole area where I had done my detecting and target retrieval had turned brown dusty and was roped off with new seed and hay placed all over it in an attempt to regrow the sod that I had damaged. I left after making out a check for $300 and told him I'd like to come back and work to fix any future damage that wasn't covered by that check and he agreed, and no police had been called, but certainly could have been. 
