Dig everything?

[Deathontwolegs]

Hi everyone.

I'm just now getting back into hunting. In the early 90's I bought a Garrett Ultra GTA-1000. I used it for about a year until I lost interest, but, found a lot of silver at old school yards and private homes. I've caught the bug again and figured I'd try to find a unit I was familiar with. I found a Garrett Power Master GTA-1000 in great condition...I guess it's comparable. I had to settle for used since I didn't have much to invest and I was happy with a few finds. I primarily used an elliptical coil. The deepest I found was a 1897 dime at 10" and most exciting was a 1855 one cent piece at 8".

On to my question. Do y'all dig most every ping or rely mostly on what the display indicates?

Thanks!

 

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[Jay In NewKen]

That really depends on the location. At a saltwater beach i dig everything. In a trashy public park, i'll cherry pick some and when i do get a nice deep hit, i dig. Even effy signals just to make sure. Location really helps determine if i dig every or most hits. I try being productive with the little time i have on the weekends. Just my opinion.

 

[cudamark]

Welcome to Tnet! A lot will depend on where you're hunting and what you're looking for. Relic hunting, you'll want to dig just about everything. At the beach, I dig any non-ferrous sound. At a park, school, parking strip, etc, I'm a lot more selective. If the site has deep old coins, I ignore shallow signals unless they're in the gold ring or silver range or I can just pop them. No way I'm going to dig a 4" Zinc unless the area has Indians at that depth. So, to answer your question, I use the sound, VDI, and depth meter to determine if I dig or not based on knowledge of the search area and it's history. If you're hunting a brand new area, you may have to dig a variety of targets at all depths to get an idea of what to do.

 

[cudamark]

Looks like Jay beat me to it!

 

[Jay In NewKen]

Looks like Jay beat me to it!

Haha, perhaps but as always, cudamark, your response is more detailed than the gibberish i piece together. LoL

 

[Tom_in_CA]

jay & cudamark are spot on. It depends on location.

Sometimes you'll hear the admonition "dig everything!". But under close scrutiny, what the person means is: "dig everything except iron". And if that person was plying old-park turf for silver, they might elect to pass surface foil and zinc pennies, and chase only the deepie/coin sounds. So in that case, a "dig all" mantra might only apply to the beach, etc... Or to relicky sites *but still passing iron*, etc...

 

[LM]

It depends on what you're going after.

I dig everything because I'm usually hunting relics, not lost pocket change. I don't detect parks or ballfields. When I'm not in the water, I'm usually in areas known to have historic battle or encampment activity so there is no 'trash' in there, really.

My ideal metal detector would be able to DISCRIMINATE OUT modern clad coinage whereas that same thing is the reason other people do this.

 

[Deathontwolegs]

Thanks to all who responded. Sounds like it will take some time for me to find my niche.

In the meantime, I've been searching out places to dig and securing the permissions. Today, I received the go ahead to hunt an old school ground. The two-story building is currently an antique store of sorts and the sidewalks and playgrounds are still in tact.

Thanks again! I'm sure I'll have many more questions in the future.

 

[cudamark]

It depends on what you're going after.

I dig everything because I'm usually hunting relics, not lost pocket change. I don't detect parks or ballfields. When I'm not in the water, I'm usually in areas known to have historic battle or encampment activity so there is no 'trash' in there, really.

My ideal metal detector would be able to DISCRIMINATE OUT modern clad coinage whereas that same thing is the reason other people do this.

That might be ideal, if it could be done. As it stands now, there are many good relic targets in the clad range so you would lose them if you discriminate. Even if I was looking for relics only, I wouldn't turn my nose up at a nice old Indian head cent, seated coin, or large cent. Those can read in a real sketchy zone if they've been in the ground a while.