good-bad ratio

[corncrasher]

Antbody have an idea on the ratio of good things you dig compared to the junk you dig?

I went to three old home sites, a campground, a old mine, and my old school the last two days and I've dug about forty pull tabs, foil, couple bottle caps, misc pieces of aluminum, six iron rings of various sizes, four cartridge cases, various chunks of unknown metal, gobs of nails, tons of pieces of iron, one hot wheels car and some other assorted junk. the only coin I found was one lousy penny. So I'm guessing I'm running about 150 to 1 on the stuff I dig.

 

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[spotz]

Welcome to the wonderful world of metal detecting. The next good target you dig may be a nice ring or a gold coin. It may be worth one cent or it may be worth thousands of dollars. That is the wonderful dream attached to this hobby. How did you feel after your outing? I bet you wern't thinking about taxes or your job while you were out there were you? Best of luck & I bet you are hooked. Spotz

 

[stoney56]

Work the area again after getting the layer of trash out. If there's that much trash, then it shows how many people have been using the area. Try working it from different angles.HH!

 

[czman]

Its all good as long as you are out hunting...HH

 

[ol ploock]

"Antbody have an idea on the ratio of good things you dig compared to the junk you dig?"

Today it was not good, I didn't keep track but it was about 10 pieces of junk to one keeper. I'll go back during the week and finish cleaning out the junk.

Roy!

 

[Lowbatts]

Yep, dig a lot of garbage. But then one man's trash....

 

[corncrasher]

I think people in my neck of the woods had very little money and what they had they spent on beer and pop. I'm also learning to regret the thousands of rounds of ammo I shot up around the country side at the old home sites and such when I was a kid.

 

[Bob B.]

I think my salary for metal detecting is about a penny a day, but I don't care I don't expect to do all that well in the woods, but to actually hit a target in the woods where a lot of people have not been really is exciting as you never know what your going to find, and its great just getting out and doing this hobby (addiction) HH Bob.B

 

[omnicognic]

sometimes the trash is the treasure! as a kid I used to make a spinner lure out of a pulltab that would drive the bluegills crazy!

 

[wepc]

I'm impressed with my ratio of good versus bad targets. I use the MXT in Jewelry mode, in relic mode I do dig more trash. Part of it must be machine and part must be user.

 

[gldhntr]

considering that this country has literally been trashed over the past couple hundred years, after the indians have been here over ten thousand years and all you find that they left are pointed rocks it is probably good for us all to dig all the trash we can and be happy --- if i can recover one keeper for every garbage bag of trash i am happy all the same. what else is there to do anyway, party, tv, sit , stand,work, sleep.etc...if we don't get up some of the garbage now then by the time my 5 year old is ready to do some serious detecting he will have to take a dump truck just for the trash. just dig and smile..........

 

[Lowbatts]

gldhntr gave me a chilling thought. What if pulltabs had been invented around the time of the Clovis point instead of the late 1950's?

Think of it, instead of 50+ years of pulltabs in the ground we'd be looking at 10-12 THOUSAND years of pulltabs.

 

[Monty]

Being a novice I have the same problem. I think like most newbies my expectations are too high as I have read about all the rings and old coins and things being discovered. Maybe with a little experience my ratio will improve? I need the exercise and have found I get more than I expected as my legs are sore after a 3 or 4 hour outing. Also, the time flies and even though I haven't discovered any gold mines I have discovered several historical places I didn't now about prior to taking up the hobby. All in all it's been a good experience that I have enjoyed. JIM

 

[TORRERO]

Yep, dig a lot of garbage.? But then one man's trash....

Well if you feel that way about it....
give me your address....
ha ha ha

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey now, you wouldn't spend the money on postage! One day, I'm gonna be the Fred Sanford of this town. Gotta have goals....

And a little old red pickup.

 

[gldhntr]

lowbatts that you said about a chilling thought--- it would be more like a nightmare!! could you imagine how good a detector would have to discriminate just to get people to buy them. one would cost you $ 20,000.00 this just for your basic radio shaq model.....

 

[spotz]

Blessed be we diggers of trash from an old site! Remember! NO ONE EVER GETS IT ALL! Every time we go back to a favorite old site, while the finds are fewer, they are better & you don't have so much trash to dig every time out. Those who are discouraged by the trash will never find the " GOOD STUFF"! More for the rest of us trash diggers. Spotz

 

[poppop]

Corncrasher, You got a lot of good ,free advice. I believe your ratio will improve with the quality of your site. IF IT AIN'T THERE ,YOU CAN'T FIND IT!! Poppop

 

[Monty]

In spite of all the metal detector ads that claim to elieminate trash on various machines I can see you still have to dig the trash to find the good! When you find that first piece of gold or an ancient silver coin I suppose that will make it all worth it?