Digging it all Out!!!

[sgt tee]

Any coin found while Metal Detecting is a plus as far as I am concerned. This hobby is good and I am stratified with just the thrill that I know at any time I could find what I have been looking for over 20 years. The elusive Gold Coin. But I just love getting out and listening to my threshold hum and that good old solid Whites Bleep. You know by that sound that is going to be a target worth digging. You know when I started metal detecting I always came home with more stuff then I do now. I know the reason for this, Digging all targets was the reason. Now I am older, got lazy, Once the spring comes around I am going to try something. Dig every target, stay in the All metal mode and see what happens. What I think is in the ground and what is in the ground could be a good target and I am passing them by. Also my theory is if you dig out the bad targets, this will open up good targets that were masked by the bad. Am I on the right track? Is this a good idea? I could start in my own back yard, just dig all the hits, rope off a section and just clean it out of all the metal. I would like to hear feedback about this, Is this a good idea? Have others tried this? I have found coins in my yard and before I bought the home 30 years ago, the owner would till up the entire half acre, So any coins that were dropped would be pretty deep, I think I found all the easy ones, but now all I get is this molted lead, slag I think they call it. Comes up as a solid 84-85 and 4ins or deeper, Of course I am going to dig it up, but I have done this many, many times. Once I get this done I will report back here and tell you what I have learned and pictures of all the garbage. My best find was right next door, 1895 Barber Half Dollar, what a chunk of silver. How happy I was that day, its just hard to explain, like kids on a Christmas morning anticipating the opening of gifts, Every time I look in a hole and see that piece of silver peeking back at me, it just never gets old. My new detector came yesterday. Larry from this forum gave me a great deal and the machine looks brand new. I bought the book "The MXT Edge". I hope the machine works out for me. it may become my main detector and the XLT my backup. Thanks for listening, this post got a little lengthy, Best of Days to all.......Pete, (aka Sgt. Tee)

 

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[Old Dude]

Sounds like you've already made some good finds Pete. I have only been doing this 2 years this coming March. I have found coins that I never even knew about until I joined this forum. Sounds to me like you have a good plan and should teach you a thing or 2. I got my second detector last fall, and even though I bought the same brand, it has taken me a while to get comfortable with it. Even though the basic functions are the same, each detector has it's own quirks and only experience can teach you. Good luck!

 

[bigfoot1]

I have taught several folks how to detect.lesson one is dig everything untill you can id correctly 8 of 10 targets.If you can do that than continuing to dig every target becomes a math equation as to number of keeper finds per hour of hunting.consider this;
My wife has a dig it all style..everything above mid iron.she is tenacious and digs a large number of targets.The square footage she covers is lessened by this strategy.
I,on the other hand,have many years more expierience than she does.I am more likely to ignore iffy signals.I dig fewer targets and cover maximum square footage cherry picking targets.I hustle.

What I have learned by this is as follows
1)I find a larger number of keeper targets per hunt on average.I can return to the same area more than once and likely find more.
2)she will find fewer keepers yet the removal of upper level trash has provided her with some stellar deeper finds.She simply doesnt re-hunt an area she has hit...she has cleaned it out to the ability of her equipment.

I guess its about personality type.The patient,exacting hunter is gonna hoover the lesser square footage.The boogie,cherry pick less patient type is gonna get their share by virtue of expanded square footage.I dont think there is a right or wrong way.Its more about how much footage do you have available to you.

good hunting !!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I started with a Minelab Musketeer and dug everything. That's how I learned what it was saying - no display but a very expressive analog tone. The "ooo"s, "woooo"s, chips, ticks, pops all mean something different. IMO it is the only way to get to know your detector.

As far as "grading off" a site I believe that is a good approach in areas you know will have coins. I used to work next to a town park and some spots were super trashy. I had one zone I would repeatedly hit (a log fence beside the vollyball court and swings where I figure coats had been draped for decades). Even after repeated visits and much digging there would be more to be found. Under all the aluminum, then steel caps, a few good rings and much clad I did eventually pull a silver Barber quarter and an IHC.

Lately I have switched instead to a sniper coil in such areas. A fast detector will "see" through and around the trash. But I still dig the occasional iffy signal. It usually is trash but can be old small denomination silver or jewelry. I know there are other detectorists who cherry pick that area, but I can pull enough nickels to keep me happy.

Have never found a old coin and may never. I believe the key to finding older coins is to do homework and chose sites that had activity when silver was in circulation. Old picnic grounds, vegetable stands, circus camps, revival spots. Look for these sites in old photographs.

 

[BosnMate]

I usually dig everything, can't stand it, just got to make sure. Detecting an old log cabin one time, and they had re-roofed it, and the ground was littered with roofing nails about two inches under ground. Got tired of digging nails, so ignored that sound, only dug different sounding hits, and out popped a diamond engagement ring. It was a fake, plated ring. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. But that's one of the few times I didn't dig everything, so did I miss the real ring? Another time I was at an old place, and my MXT loved the square nails. Totally different sound than modern nails. I dug them all, to me they sounded to good to turn down. In one spot there must have been a bucket turned over, or a box rot away, because I dug a gob of them in one hole. The ones inside the mass weren't near as rusted as the ones on the outside, which I found interesting. Another time I was in a park where they had an Easter egg hunt. Kids had opened the plastic eggs, and the place was littered with zincolns, and I didn't dig all those. On that one I moved, left them there. When I go back to that park I check to see if they are still there. So far there's still a bunch of them. I dig lots of pull tabs, can't stand it, my mind says pull tab, the dial says maybe not, and I gotta dig. Probably some personal mental disorder, but that's what I do.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Remove "SO"

I discriminate less and dig more on older private properties. When I hit public lands such as parks and schools, I discriminate more and dig less since most of these sites have been pounded over the years. Some places I hunt, when there are hundreds of targets, if it doesn't ring in as a quarter or better I do not dig it. These are places I will return and pull the smaller denominations when weather and time permits.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Combine bigfoot1's and LocoDigger's statement's x2.
I use a variety of discrimination levels depending upon site. If site is old and new to me, I dig it all. In so doing will eventually reveal deeper desired targets. Sites I've searched previously and know what to look for, discrimination is a must.
I too have recently changed my main detector. My main detector is an ETrac. Brand aside, I come home with a lot less junk. Time and knowledge are the key.
When I first started detecting, it seems I found more. But back then, everything was a keeper. I still swing to fast, but ground coverage vs. a slow pace work for me.
Very good luck with your new machine.
Peace ✌

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello Everyone,

I usually dig everything, you never know for sure unless you check. I have found lots of gold, coins and quality relics digging the iffy signals and middle tones; many low tones too!). Some of the places I hunt other folks set their machine for “high tones” only, looking for silver, they say. At the end of the day I usually have many more in my finds pouch, true not all are silver, but very cool nevertheless.
I wish to share an experience that happened to me this summer. I was working this very small strip of freshwater beach about 100 ft x 10 ft, which was the total area of the beach. I applied my multi machine method of “cleaning” the area out of the good and bad. This time I used the AT Pro and AT Gold to extract all good and bad targets till no more were heard, this took multiple visits. During the second visit (using the AT Gold) an elderly gentleman stopped and stated “There is nothing left we cleaned it out years ago”. We spoke a bit and thanked him for his advice and continued cleaning the site. My last visit after using the previous two machines produced little to no noise from the ground - finally! I brought out my Infinium LS, PI machine and proceeded to find 3 old mercury dimes, 4 Buffalo nickels, 15 old (pre-1930’s) wheat pennies and some very deep silver jewelry. I knew if I didn’t clean out the previous stuff before using the PI detector my frustration level would have ruined the pleasurable experience.

Happy Hunting to all!

Regards,

 

[slink]

I have been thinking its not as good as it used to be as well.The 1st detector I ever had was a feature packed radio shack it had on/off and volume control.It took almost a week to recover the 9.99 that detector cost.I dug more silver coin in a week with that thing than I can get in years now.Helped silver coins were still common even in chage from stores back then