Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

[rumme]

Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

Ive seen many seasoned detectorists say that they dig anything and everything that their detectors find. It seems to be a " better safe then sorry" scenario in that if you dont dig that one spot you feel is a pull tab, it could be a small gold coin.

So do most of you dig 100% of your finds or do you try and use your features on your detector on a regular basis to keep you from digging that possible bottle cap ? So far, from my limited research, it seems even the expensive detectors cannot guarantee 100% accuracy that if they identify the object in the ground as being trash it could be something much more worthy. If this is the case, then I guess one has to dig everything and any shortcuts around this, could possibly lead to a lost and valuable find.

 

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[KenPa]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

Yes I dig all targets

 

[jeff of pa]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

I learned this back in 99 doing a Community Project,
where digging everything was necessary to do a Thorough search.

Even some of the Iron turned out to me worthwhile relics.

I now set my sovereign to minimum Disc. (not all Metal)
but on occasion also dig the Null Signals.

about 1 in 10 Null signals turn out to be a Keeper Relic.

Which is worth it in my opinion.

 

[Ant]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

It depends on what you looking for. My quest is for none furious metals like Gold, Silver and Platinum, etc. I don't dig iron targets or targets that overload my machine. I also ignore small chirps and cracks. After a long learning curve I'm able to tell the size of objects in the ground with a fair certainty. So no, I don't dig all targets. In three years I found over 70 gold targets and I only hunt on weekends.

 

[ernie]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

no i dig only the sounds that i think sound good.i mostly coin hunt so I'm not that picky.

 

[SwampHunter]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

Around here the worthwhile places are all hot with signals. Each time you swing you literlly pick up several signals. If I was to dig everything then I might as well get a backhoe with a giant motorized sifter and be done with it.

 

[rumme]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

So if one is interested mostly in gold/silver/platinum coins/jewlery, is it safe to assume that anything that is registering as " lead" on the detector can be overlooked...unless of course right underneath that lead is a piece of gold/silver/platinum which probably doesnt happen a high % of the time ?

and if lead can be discounted, is there any other safe metal/reading that can usually be ignored ? I realize its a game of probablity but I certainly want to do as little diggin as neccessary. My back isnt what it used to be

 

[Born2Dtect]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

I let the site tell me what to dig. At first I dig everything, then if I am finding a lot of trash I will try to tell the trash from better signals. If signals are few I will dig all until I get a feel for what is there. In large fields I dig all most of the time, especially if the area is proven old.

Ed D.

 

[stoney56]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

It depends on the area. I usually dig all signals that repeat in at least one direction. If I'm in a nice yard, I'll set the disc. up a bit and if at a beach or swiming area then all signals are fair targets as is a CW site.

 

[Ant]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

So if one is interested mostly in gold/silver/platinum coins/jewlery, is it safe to assume that anything that is registering as " lead" on the detector can be overlooked...unless of course right underneath that lead is a piece of gold/silver/platinum which probably doesnt happen a high % of the time ?

and if lead can be discounted, is there any other safe metal/reading that can usually be ignored ? I realize its a game of probablity but I certainly want to do as little diggin as neccessary. My back isnt what it used to be

Gold and lead are so close on the elemental chart that the alchemiststried to transform lead to gold but they obviously failed. Just search with the terms, "changing lead to gold".

So the answer to your question is no, you can't tell the difference between lead and gold with a metal detector. As a matter of fact they sound exactly alike.

 

[lucky1777]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

I let the site tell me what to dig. At first I dig everything, then if I am finding a lot of trash I will try to tell the trash from better signals. If signals are few I will dig all until I get a feel for what is there. In large fields I dig all most of the time, especially if the area is proven old.

Ed D.

It depends on the area. I usually dig all signals that repeat in at least one direction. If I'm in a nice yard, I'll set the disc. up a bit and if at a beach or swiming area then all signals are fair targets as is a CW site.

I agree with both of you...

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

It depends. If I am in a trashy area I dig the first few iffies. If I'm finding a lot of foil or tabs I then begin to ignore those types of responses. The Musketeer has a vocabulary and a smooth vowel sound in both legs of an "X" is usually a coin, while the more questionable metals will give consonant sound. The squeeks, chirps, dits and pips usually indicate trash. If I'm in a new site or where tabs and caps might not be expected I dig it all.

 

[Recruiter]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

Just the ones that peak my interest. If I get a good hit then I try to measure how big the target is by how many beeps I get on the target. If I get a couple of beeps around the target I can almost tell it is a beer can. Also if it is a long target more than likely it is a piece of wire. I could spend an hour in a square foot section digging pull tabs, nails and other trash in the parks I hunt. Most of the parks are made of land fill and trash.

If I ever find an item that is of some value I may change my mind on cherry picking but until then its only the interesting beeps.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

HI Down here everything comes up! It has paid off. However, where I search it isn't littered with pull tabs and and bottle caps, but then I look for caches.. Soo the latest id'ng instruments are useless for me, I still use a couple of old Garrett Master Hunter ADS-7 with the blood Hound attachment. It goes just as deep as any of the latest ones do..

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[rumme]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

Well it seems that it can be good to just dig up the majority of hits. And if thats the case, I guess all those fancy features like I.D and lcd readout or images of what may be underneath the ground isnt really needed. If one is gonna dig everything, all that may be needed is a dependable detector with decent depth and a solid warranty and maybe a manual ground balance feature. More bells and whistles may actuially make things more complicated then they need to be since there doesnt seem to be any detector at any price that can positively identify the junk from the gold/silver 100% of the time.....

 

[SouthArk]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

I agree with a few of the above posts, however I do it a little backwards to some, I guess. I dig mainly for CW relics and, I generally tend to hunt a new area..... by digging the "better" sounding signals. (I use an X-5, so no ID meter)... then, if I'm digging Civil War bullets, brass, etc...... I slow down a great deal and will test some of the weaker signals. If those weaker signals pan out right, then I may start digging the iron signals..... especially if the camp is "clean".... I know a lot of iron relics are probably missed in this manner, but if i hunt a site long enough most of the signals wind up getting dug anyhow.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

Well it seems that it can be good to just dig up the majority of hits. And if thats the case, I guess all those fancy features like I.D and lcd readout or images of what may be underneath the ground isnt really needed. If one is gonna dig everything, all that may be needed is a dependable detector with decent depth and a solid warranty and maybe a manual ground balance feature. More bells and whistles may actuially make things more complicated then they need to be since there doesnt seem to be any detector at any price that can positively identify the junk from the gold/silver 100% of the time.....

'Course everyone wants something diffrerent. But that does explain why I still swing my Minelab Musketeer Advantage. It does what I need. I'm building up a kitty for a Sovereign GT with a meter (# display only) that I figure will help me a bit in determining a hit before digging, especially nickels. And I know many don't even bother with nickels. One Buffalo makes my whole day.

I see an analogy with fishing. The guys with the fishfinders, depthfinders, pH meters and fish phemerone spray for their lures with their $18,000 Ranger w/220Hp bass boats vs. the worm or minnow & a bobber or maybe a Mr. Twister jig from a $800 johnboat with a 3.3Hp motor. I'm the latter, also.

 

[jglunt]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

In my area pull tabs and gold (rings) are too close together. If you don't dig the tabs, you will miss rings. The ratio is very small and it gets frustrating at times but when you do pop out a nice 14k ring...it's worth it.

Nickles are also difficult for most detectors. With my XLT they are a solid 15 but so is foil and other junk. I've developed an ear over the years and can pretty well pick one out.

I go for coins and jewelry mostly so I generally don't dig iron targets or large really deep targets and use the block edit discrimination feature on my machine.

Jim

 

[EDDE]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

I let the site tell me what to dig. At first I dig everything, then if I am finding a lot of trash I will try to tell the trash from better signals. If signals are few I will dig all until I get a feel for what is there. In large fields I dig all most of the time, especially if the area is proven old.

Ed D.

It depends on the area. I usually dig all signals that repeat in at least one direction. If I'm in a nice yard, I'll set the disc. up a bit and if at a beach or swiming area then all signals are fair targets as is a CW site.

I agree with both of you...

here here

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Do you generally dig all your " hits" that your detector alerts you to ?

On my Excal, I set the disc to 2 and dig everything that tones, but do not dig the nulls....On my 6000 pro xl I set disc to nails and dig everything from foil on if the meter locks.

Dig lots of pull tabs and bottle caps, but if I didn't I would not be finding gold and silver.