DrCaufield
Jr. Member
- Jul 25, 2013
- 92
- 37
Have received a dm for Xmas and was wondering on ideas for the types of places I should start searching. I appreciate all y'all's knowledge.
Thanks
Thanks
Upvote
0
Received a md for xmas
- Thread starter DrCaufield
- Start date
airscapes
Hero Member
- Nov 13, 2013
- 973
- 555
- Detector(s) used
- DFX 950, U13,6"Exc & 4x6 Coils, Coinmaster GT 4x6 & NEL Hunter coil, TRX Pin Pointer, CZE-T200 FM Transmitter, Sangean DT-400W and ER6i in-ears.
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Here is some data I have gathered from other posts.. hope you and others who like myself have just recently started find helpful
1) Know your metal detector! Learn every little thing about it! This sounds obvious, but I have often ran out screaming into the field with a new detector and used it for hours (or months) without knowing something very important about that model. Read the manual, then search for your detector model on YouTube.com and watch videos of others that are an expert with your detector.
Two commonly overlooked settings on a detector are Sensitivity and Frequency. My Garrett's factory setting is around 80% sensitivity! You can vary the depth and number of targets you hit by adjusting the sensitivity. You may want maximum sensitivity in areas where you are getting few hits, and may want reduced sensitivity in high trash areas. You can always go back over the area later with higher sensitivity after you have removed some "low hanging fruit" and major trash. Your detector ever start acting "Haywire"? It could be interference from another detector, powerline, or the like. Change the frequency!
2) Create a Test Patch and warmup before every session! Take an area free of any targets and bury some coins and trash at different depths. Scan this area for a few minutes prior to going out to make sure your batteries are good and your detector is working properly, and to get a feel for what a coin hit feels like. Nothing beats knowing you are digging a coin before you break the ground! Another advantage of warming up is that you can't say you didn't find anything!
3) Positive Thinking: Prior to commencing a hunt, envision yourself digging a gold coin up. Relive your greatest find ever in your memory. Try to mentally take yourself back in time and pretend that old homesite is still there, or the battle is raging, or kids are running through that park in 1905, or the congregation is singing inside that old abandoned church. You catch my drift? Get your mind in a winning state every time you go out!
4) Enjoy Yourself: I am outdoors and above ground if I don't find a darn thing! Take in and appreciate the history you are looking at. Don't let anything get you down. You are enjoying your sport.
Slumps happen. I happen to be in a slump right now, which I feel is mostly due to the hard dry ground in the Southern US during this hot summer. You feel better if you can identify a probable cause for the slump and not feel like the metal detector dieties are after you personally. Try to break the slump by mixing it up some - hunt a new area, think outside the box, try different settings, change your batteries....
5) Safety: Some of the dangers I have encountered during my days detecting are snakes, fire ants, open abandoned wells, glass, wasps, sunburn, and poison oak/ivy. Just be aware of your environment and take the proper precautions. Get permission to hunt, or you can add "Shotgun" to the list of safety hazards!
HOT TIP: If you are in a remote area, take plenty of water and some toilet paper with you. Thank me later.
6) Respect the area. Don't ruin the site by having someone come along and it looks like vandals have been there. Don't make someone regret giving you permission to hunt. Respect the dead and don't dig in cemeteries please. An old man once told me that as a metal detector user, you are one part historian, one part archeologist, and one part treasure hunter.
7) Share your finds! School children learning about history by viewing some of your finds in a display case at a local museum or from you first hand is the greatest joy you can ever get out of this hobby and is far more satisfying than finding gold. Trust me.
8) In old crumbling and abandoned homes that are still standing, I have the most luck in the area under the porch (often find coins under less than 1/2" of dust) and in the bottom of the inside of the outer walls. Look for chewed up very old newspaper. Rats hid coins over the years and I have found many silver coins like this without even having to use my detector.
9) In high trash areas, I like to move way out to the outskirts of the area where there is less trash and work my way in. I like to begin a hunt in a new area with no discrimination to get a feel for the concentration of trash. I usually switch to discrimination only if I am tired of hearing trash signals, or just to switch approaches because I am not finding anything.
10) To identify very old home sites in the woods where there are no obvious visible signs, look for anything out of place such as a depression in the ground that may have been a cellar or a well, or out of place stones or rocks. High areas nearby a water source are good candidates as well. Keep in mind the original road/roads may be long gone. A quick scan with the detector will hit nails and verify a structure was once there. Spending the time to find an old topographical tax map of an area is a huge shortcut. I carry one of the handheld Garmin GPS devices to mark sites in the deep woods so I can find them again. It also keeps me from getting lost like I was in the Blair Witch Project!
11) Don't be afraid to dig trash. I used to refuse to dig up anything that my discriminator didn't like. When I started digging up more trash, I started also digging up more treasure. Remember a gold ring shows up as a pull tab on the detector, and remember a gold coin could be lurking under that cola can you refuse to dig up. You know the one I'm talking about!
12) I love old driveways that are no longer visible from above ground. You can identify them because the ground will be very hard about 1 to 2" deep and has a dense concentration of small rocks in it. Old driveways hold great targets very shallow as they cannot sink. Once you think you have found one, survey the entire thing with a screwdriver or your shovel to get an idea of how the whole thing is layed out, and hunt it all on low sensitivity. Silver coins, jewelry and even a hood ornament to a 1950's Plymouth are some of the shallow targets I've found in such.
13) Use proper digging tools and cover your holes appropriately. My digging tool of choice is a drain spade/shovel!
http://www.toolsandsuppliesforless.n...776/index.html
14) Take a kid detecting! Pass along the hobby and teach the kid something. A kid that is detecting is probably not out getting in trouble. Not only are you being a positive role model, you can negotiate with the kid for half of his finds! Just kidding LOL! Detecting also can be fun for the entire family. My wife and daughter love it. If you only have one detector, take two shovels and alternate using the detector and digging holes. You'll dig more stuff!
15) Ever dig a giant pit and can't find what the detector is yelling about? Spend the money and get a good pinpointer probe! Thank the Lord (and by proxy the manufacturers) for these things. I like the Vibra Probe and the Garrett ProPointer.
16) Redig and rescan every hole you find a winner in. When I was a kid, I didn't have a metal detector, but I followed this guy around and dug coins out of the holes he had already extracted a target from and abandoned! True story. I like to spend the extra time to dig a few more inches and use my pinpointer one more time. Sometimes you will get an extra coin that your detector wouldn't have hit. Also, check your shovel. I've had a coin stuck to it with gummy mud before.
17) Take care of your detector. Don't sling it to the ground every time you get ready to dig. Keep it clean and dry and store it properly. Take the batteries out if you plan to store it for a long time. My Garretts are tough as nails, but these are expensive, sensitive instruments. Take care of your detector and it will take care of you.
Happy detecting. Best of luck to you, and thanks for reading:
Welcome from White Plains, New York! If you are looking in local playgrounds or parks, you are looking in the same place as everybody else since 1980. You need to start trying to research places people gathered in the PAST (1870 - 1950) at your local library. You need to start thinking outside the box, and be prepared to do a little work with your head, not just your machine. Good Luck!
A Few Sites to Get You Started:
1) Old Schools
2) City/Town Parks
3) Circus/Fair Sites
4) Old Churches
5) Old Homestead Sites
6) Swimming Holes and Areas
7) Picnic Groves
8) Athletic Fields
9) Scout Camps
10) Rodeo Arenas
11) Campgrounds
12) Ghost Towns
13) Beaches
14) Old Taverns
15) Roadside Rest Stops
16) Sidewalk Grassy Strips
17) Amusement Parks
18) Rural Mailboxes
19) Reunion Areas
20) Revival sites
21) Fort Sites
22) Winter Sledding Areas
23) Lookout/Overlook Sites
24) Church Supper Groves
25) Fishing Spots
26) Fishing Camps
27) Resorts
28) Old Barns and Outbuildings
29) Battle Sites
30) Band Shells
31) Racetracks
32) Rural Boundary Walls
33) Roadside Fruit and Vegetable Stands
34) Under Seaside Boardwalks
35) Flea Market Areas
36) Ski Slopes
37) Drive Ins
38) Canal Paths
39) Vacant Lots
40) Motels
41) College Campuses
42) Farmer Market Areas
43) Town Squares
44) Urban Yards and Backyards
45) Disaster Sites
46) Areas Around Skating Ponds
47) Hunting Lodges and Camps
48) Mining Camps
49) Railroad Grades, Stations and Junctions
50) Hiking Trails
51) Waterfalls
52) Rural Dance Sites
53) Lover's Lanes
54) Areas Adjacent to Historical Markers
55) Old Gas Stations and General Stores
56) Fence Posts
57) Chicken Houses
58) Bridges and Fords
59) Flower Beds
60) Playgrounds
61) Old Garbage Dumps
62) Cloth Lines
63) Military Camp and Cantonment Sites
64) Wells and Outhouses
65) Abandoned Houses and Structures
66) Areas where Old Trails Cross County or State Boundaries
67) Piles of Scraped Soil at Construction Sites
68) Old Stone Quarries
69) Areas Around Old Abandoned Cemeteries in the Forest
70) Junctions of Abandoned Roads (crossroads)
VDI = Visual Discrimination Indicator .... The number tells you the type (not size or shape) of the target. Lower number = lower conductors.
EG: Negative numbers are ferrous .... 0 and up are conductive. "Gross groups": 0 to +55 = Gold. +55 to +75 = Copper. +75 to +95 = Silver. Quarters will be +80 to +85.
You'll learn the "common" VDIs with practice. EG: Nickel will be +18 to +20. Zinc cent +50 to +55. Clad dime / CU penny = +60 to +70.
They will change slightly with coil size, depth, mineralization, sensitivity setting, moisture content and adjacent target masking.
This will help with sizing: http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/...0-The-3-S-Rule
Practice. Read the forum. Watch the videos. Practice ...
Good luck !!!
The 3-S Rule
Here's an old time-tested process to help you sort out trash from treasure. It's the 3-S rule, and goes as follows:
3-S is Sound, Shape and Size. Let's say you are hunting for coins and jewelry ....
If your target Sounds like a coin / ring - EG: Tone ID, Repeatable target, No Threshold drop (iron) then it passes the SOUND "S".
If your target is "the same Shape" from all angles when you pinpoint (a circle is the only shape that fits this criteria), then it is probably a "round" target, which is a coin / ring. You have passed the SHAPE "S".
If your target is less than a couple inches in width, then its probably a coin. You have passed the SIZE "S".
If you run across a target that VDI's like silver or a ring, but it's oblong, or its 4" wide or if the threshold drops out, you probably don't have a good target - EG: not a ring or coin. Its up to your experience at that point whether to "pass or dig". I always recommend - "when in doubt - dig". You COULD have a good target being masked by trash.
Hope this is helpful.
1) Know your metal detector! Learn every little thing about it! This sounds obvious, but I have often ran out screaming into the field with a new detector and used it for hours (or months) without knowing something very important about that model. Read the manual, then search for your detector model on YouTube.com and watch videos of others that are an expert with your detector.
Two commonly overlooked settings on a detector are Sensitivity and Frequency. My Garrett's factory setting is around 80% sensitivity! You can vary the depth and number of targets you hit by adjusting the sensitivity. You may want maximum sensitivity in areas where you are getting few hits, and may want reduced sensitivity in high trash areas. You can always go back over the area later with higher sensitivity after you have removed some "low hanging fruit" and major trash. Your detector ever start acting "Haywire"? It could be interference from another detector, powerline, or the like. Change the frequency!
2) Create a Test Patch and warmup before every session! Take an area free of any targets and bury some coins and trash at different depths. Scan this area for a few minutes prior to going out to make sure your batteries are good and your detector is working properly, and to get a feel for what a coin hit feels like. Nothing beats knowing you are digging a coin before you break the ground! Another advantage of warming up is that you can't say you didn't find anything!
3) Positive Thinking: Prior to commencing a hunt, envision yourself digging a gold coin up. Relive your greatest find ever in your memory. Try to mentally take yourself back in time and pretend that old homesite is still there, or the battle is raging, or kids are running through that park in 1905, or the congregation is singing inside that old abandoned church. You catch my drift? Get your mind in a winning state every time you go out!
4) Enjoy Yourself: I am outdoors and above ground if I don't find a darn thing! Take in and appreciate the history you are looking at. Don't let anything get you down. You are enjoying your sport.
Slumps happen. I happen to be in a slump right now, which I feel is mostly due to the hard dry ground in the Southern US during this hot summer. You feel better if you can identify a probable cause for the slump and not feel like the metal detector dieties are after you personally. Try to break the slump by mixing it up some - hunt a new area, think outside the box, try different settings, change your batteries....
5) Safety: Some of the dangers I have encountered during my days detecting are snakes, fire ants, open abandoned wells, glass, wasps, sunburn, and poison oak/ivy. Just be aware of your environment and take the proper precautions. Get permission to hunt, or you can add "Shotgun" to the list of safety hazards!
HOT TIP: If you are in a remote area, take plenty of water and some toilet paper with you. Thank me later.
6) Respect the area. Don't ruin the site by having someone come along and it looks like vandals have been there. Don't make someone regret giving you permission to hunt. Respect the dead and don't dig in cemeteries please. An old man once told me that as a metal detector user, you are one part historian, one part archeologist, and one part treasure hunter.
7) Share your finds! School children learning about history by viewing some of your finds in a display case at a local museum or from you first hand is the greatest joy you can ever get out of this hobby and is far more satisfying than finding gold. Trust me.
8) In old crumbling and abandoned homes that are still standing, I have the most luck in the area under the porch (often find coins under less than 1/2" of dust) and in the bottom of the inside of the outer walls. Look for chewed up very old newspaper. Rats hid coins over the years and I have found many silver coins like this without even having to use my detector.
9) In high trash areas, I like to move way out to the outskirts of the area where there is less trash and work my way in. I like to begin a hunt in a new area with no discrimination to get a feel for the concentration of trash. I usually switch to discrimination only if I am tired of hearing trash signals, or just to switch approaches because I am not finding anything.
10) To identify very old home sites in the woods where there are no obvious visible signs, look for anything out of place such as a depression in the ground that may have been a cellar or a well, or out of place stones or rocks. High areas nearby a water source are good candidates as well. Keep in mind the original road/roads may be long gone. A quick scan with the detector will hit nails and verify a structure was once there. Spending the time to find an old topographical tax map of an area is a huge shortcut. I carry one of the handheld Garmin GPS devices to mark sites in the deep woods so I can find them again. It also keeps me from getting lost like I was in the Blair Witch Project!
11) Don't be afraid to dig trash. I used to refuse to dig up anything that my discriminator didn't like. When I started digging up more trash, I started also digging up more treasure. Remember a gold ring shows up as a pull tab on the detector, and remember a gold coin could be lurking under that cola can you refuse to dig up. You know the one I'm talking about!
12) I love old driveways that are no longer visible from above ground. You can identify them because the ground will be very hard about 1 to 2" deep and has a dense concentration of small rocks in it. Old driveways hold great targets very shallow as they cannot sink. Once you think you have found one, survey the entire thing with a screwdriver or your shovel to get an idea of how the whole thing is layed out, and hunt it all on low sensitivity. Silver coins, jewelry and even a hood ornament to a 1950's Plymouth are some of the shallow targets I've found in such.
13) Use proper digging tools and cover your holes appropriately. My digging tool of choice is a drain spade/shovel!
http://www.toolsandsuppliesforless.n...776/index.html
14) Take a kid detecting! Pass along the hobby and teach the kid something. A kid that is detecting is probably not out getting in trouble. Not only are you being a positive role model, you can negotiate with the kid for half of his finds! Just kidding LOL! Detecting also can be fun for the entire family. My wife and daughter love it. If you only have one detector, take two shovels and alternate using the detector and digging holes. You'll dig more stuff!
15) Ever dig a giant pit and can't find what the detector is yelling about? Spend the money and get a good pinpointer probe! Thank the Lord (and by proxy the manufacturers) for these things. I like the Vibra Probe and the Garrett ProPointer.
16) Redig and rescan every hole you find a winner in. When I was a kid, I didn't have a metal detector, but I followed this guy around and dug coins out of the holes he had already extracted a target from and abandoned! True story. I like to spend the extra time to dig a few more inches and use my pinpointer one more time. Sometimes you will get an extra coin that your detector wouldn't have hit. Also, check your shovel. I've had a coin stuck to it with gummy mud before.
17) Take care of your detector. Don't sling it to the ground every time you get ready to dig. Keep it clean and dry and store it properly. Take the batteries out if you plan to store it for a long time. My Garretts are tough as nails, but these are expensive, sensitive instruments. Take care of your detector and it will take care of you.
Happy detecting. Best of luck to you, and thanks for reading:
Welcome from White Plains, New York! If you are looking in local playgrounds or parks, you are looking in the same place as everybody else since 1980. You need to start trying to research places people gathered in the PAST (1870 - 1950) at your local library. You need to start thinking outside the box, and be prepared to do a little work with your head, not just your machine. Good Luck!
A Few Sites to Get You Started:
1) Old Schools
2) City/Town Parks
3) Circus/Fair Sites
4) Old Churches
5) Old Homestead Sites
6) Swimming Holes and Areas
7) Picnic Groves
8) Athletic Fields
9) Scout Camps
10) Rodeo Arenas
11) Campgrounds
12) Ghost Towns
13) Beaches
14) Old Taverns
15) Roadside Rest Stops
16) Sidewalk Grassy Strips
17) Amusement Parks
18) Rural Mailboxes
19) Reunion Areas
20) Revival sites
21) Fort Sites
22) Winter Sledding Areas
23) Lookout/Overlook Sites
24) Church Supper Groves
25) Fishing Spots
26) Fishing Camps
27) Resorts
28) Old Barns and Outbuildings
29) Battle Sites
30) Band Shells
31) Racetracks
32) Rural Boundary Walls
33) Roadside Fruit and Vegetable Stands
34) Under Seaside Boardwalks
35) Flea Market Areas
36) Ski Slopes
37) Drive Ins
38) Canal Paths
39) Vacant Lots
40) Motels
41) College Campuses
42) Farmer Market Areas
43) Town Squares
44) Urban Yards and Backyards
45) Disaster Sites
46) Areas Around Skating Ponds
47) Hunting Lodges and Camps
48) Mining Camps
49) Railroad Grades, Stations and Junctions
50) Hiking Trails
51) Waterfalls
52) Rural Dance Sites
53) Lover's Lanes
54) Areas Adjacent to Historical Markers
55) Old Gas Stations and General Stores
56) Fence Posts
57) Chicken Houses
58) Bridges and Fords
59) Flower Beds
60) Playgrounds
61) Old Garbage Dumps
62) Cloth Lines
63) Military Camp and Cantonment Sites
64) Wells and Outhouses
65) Abandoned Houses and Structures
66) Areas where Old Trails Cross County or State Boundaries
67) Piles of Scraped Soil at Construction Sites
68) Old Stone Quarries
69) Areas Around Old Abandoned Cemeteries in the Forest
70) Junctions of Abandoned Roads (crossroads)
VDI = Visual Discrimination Indicator .... The number tells you the type (not size or shape) of the target. Lower number = lower conductors.
EG: Negative numbers are ferrous .... 0 and up are conductive. "Gross groups": 0 to +55 = Gold. +55 to +75 = Copper. +75 to +95 = Silver. Quarters will be +80 to +85.
You'll learn the "common" VDIs with practice. EG: Nickel will be +18 to +20. Zinc cent +50 to +55. Clad dime / CU penny = +60 to +70.
They will change slightly with coil size, depth, mineralization, sensitivity setting, moisture content and adjacent target masking.
This will help with sizing: http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/...0-The-3-S-Rule
Practice. Read the forum. Watch the videos. Practice ...
Good luck !!!
The 3-S Rule
Here's an old time-tested process to help you sort out trash from treasure. It's the 3-S rule, and goes as follows:
3-S is Sound, Shape and Size. Let's say you are hunting for coins and jewelry ....
If your target Sounds like a coin / ring - EG: Tone ID, Repeatable target, No Threshold drop (iron) then it passes the SOUND "S".
If your target is "the same Shape" from all angles when you pinpoint (a circle is the only shape that fits this criteria), then it is probably a "round" target, which is a coin / ring. You have passed the SHAPE "S".
If your target is less than a couple inches in width, then its probably a coin. You have passed the SIZE "S".
If you run across a target that VDI's like silver or a ring, but it's oblong, or its 4" wide or if the threshold drops out, you probably don't have a good target - EG: not a ring or coin. Its up to your experience at that point whether to "pass or dig". I always recommend - "when in doubt - dig". You COULD have a good target being masked by trash.
Hope this is helpful.
DeepseekerADS
Gold Member
- Mar 3, 2013
- 14,880
- 21,725
- Detector(s) used
- CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
- Primary Interest:
- Other
Congratulations! NOW USE IT !!!
And, of course if you tell us the manufacturer and model, you might get some very specific help here for that detector.
airscapes response is pretty darned good. Make sure you read it and completely understand it. And know ye it will take more than a few hunts to start to get the hang of it.
For right now, and I had to learn this myself as have everyone skilled in their machine has had to do - learn those sounds, learn what the detector is telling you and that will make all the difference in the world. Be patient with it, and go slow.
Good Luck!
OP
OP
DrCaufield
Jr. Member
- Jul 25, 2013
- 92
- 37
- Thread starter
- #4
Sorry I received a Garrett ACE 250 from my father.
I sincerely appreciate the responses and the list of to do's and do nots above. Great list of spots to start after the snow melts and I have burned out the back yard.
I sincerely appreciate the responses and the list of to do's and do nots above. Great list of spots to start after the snow melts and I have burned out the back yard.
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