Metal detecting trouble.

Ender_boy24

Jr. Member
Jan 20, 2017
45
94
Michigan
Detector(s) used
Lone Star Pro Bounty Hunter with Bounty Hunter Pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I was metal detecting yesterday with my Lone star pro Bounty hunter when it got a hit. After frantically digging for a long time i came up empty handed. The same thing happened time and time again. I just started metal detecting and haven't found anything recently but i was wondering if any one could tell me why my detector was acting up. Or if it's sensitivity is too high or what. I discriminated Iron from its detection but that didn't work so i was wondering if even after that it will pick up ground minerals. When i got these hits i made sure to swing over it to check if it was false but it wasn't.
 

Peyton Manning

Gold Member
Dec 19, 2012
14,533
18,680
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
MXT-PRO
Sandshark
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
toss a coin down and check it, or if your shoes have metal eyelets try those
 

OP
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Ender_boy24

Jr. Member
Jan 20, 2017
45
94
Michigan
Detector(s) used
Lone Star Pro Bounty Hunter with Bounty Hunter Pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
toss a coin down and check it, or if your shoes have metal eyelets try those

It can detect fine when i hover it over something i dropped it just keeps giving out false signals whenever i go detecting.
 

Loco-Digger

Gold Member
Jun 16, 2014
11,827
17,744
Northern O-H-I-O
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
F75 LTD, 1280X Aquanaut, & a Patriot (back-up/loaner)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
How high are you running sensitivity? What discrimination do you run? Are you using a coil cover?
 

68kaiser

Full Member
Feb 6, 2016
147
405
Northern California
Detector(s) used
F4, tesoro vaquero, AT PRO
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I notice my cell phone plays hell with my fisher f4. I can't have my phone with my when I use the f4. The vaquero dose not care.
 

foiler

Sr. Member
Mar 17, 2013
395
389
Kansas
Detector(s) used
Fisher, Wilson-Neuman, Whites, Minelab, Tesoro and others I've long since forgotten
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
ground balance
 

68kaiser

Full Member
Feb 6, 2016
147
405
Northern California
Detector(s) used
F4, tesoro vaquero, AT PRO
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If its a repeatable hit chances are good there is a target under your coil.. Do you have a pin pointer? When I first started I dug holes chasing false signals... A lot of holes now that I think about it. Weird things happen with signals. Hot rocks, emi, halo on iron that breaks up after you dig it. my V gets good signals at times and after a foot or so I give up unless the it sounds really good.
I am not familiar with your detector. Does it have all metal mode? If so switch to AM if the target goes away after you dig and see if you can find it again.
 

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Rustynailsandscrews

Full Member
Sep 26, 2014
225
241
Salem, NY
Detector(s) used
AT PRO and a BH 505 that I let friends and relatives I don't like use.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
All of the above answers are good and very possible. I don't think your detector is capable of manual ground balancing so if your in a hot rock mineral area backing the sensitivity down may or may not help. If your getting good repeatable signals in the same exact spot something is there. The ghost signals also could be the halo effect as others have mentioned, where an object disintegrates to nothing but dust but the detector picks it up as an object. Try a whole different spot and see if things improve. When I first started detecting I went through a lot of what your describing and it can be very frustrating. Also be aware that buried electrical,phone lines and invisible dog fences can make detectors behave erratically. I'm guessing your getting ghost signals or the target is so small your missing it when you dig it. I have found pieces of bird shot that weren't readily visible when I dug the plug.
 

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Ender_boy24

Jr. Member
Jan 20, 2017
45
94
Michigan
Detector(s) used
Lone Star Pro Bounty Hunter with Bounty Hunter Pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Thanks for all the help! I was able to fix the problem and found some things on a hunt today.
 

68kaiser

Full Member
Feb 6, 2016
147
405
Northern California
Detector(s) used
F4, tesoro vaquero, AT PRO
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Lol reminds me of waving a hand full of dirt over the coil... With my jacket that has brass buttons on the cuffs. It still gets me.
 

Rawhide

Silver Member
Nov 17, 2010
3,590
2,185
SouthWestern USA
Detector(s) used
Nox 800, Etrac, F75, AT Pro. Last two for sale.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Usually when that happens its a dime the same color of dirt for me. But shoes got ya, well it got me too when I started.
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,417
54,767
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Also remember Iron rusts, you could be hitting the remains of old iron target that has completely rusted away and your getting signals from that, when you try to recover it you disturb the soil that has the rust and you lose the target.
 

GopherDaGold

Silver Member
Dec 12, 2009
2,817
3,356
St. Charles County, Missouri
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Tesoro Vaquero, Bounty Hunter Land Star, Teknetics Delta 4000, Minelab Equinox 600, Garrett Carrot
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Several years ago I went detecting while wearing steel toe boots. Not my most brilliant move.
 

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