Need experienced advice on a valuable target

Javadroid

Silver Member
Jul 6, 2017
2,501
2,838
Northwest Arkansas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've got a spot where I know a large gold and diamond ring for a man was lost about 40 years ago. I've talked to a few people who know the story and area and have it narrowed down to a section of tall grass about 60 feet by 40 feet, assuming their recollection is accurate.

Here's what I'm asking for guidance on: The soil in that area is fairly sandy as it is near the delta area of southeast Arkansas. It's dirt, but has some sandy texture to it. The ground has not been worked with equipment, so it's essentially the same other than what mother nature has done to it. Given that it's a fairly heavy ring in that soil in an area that gets a decent amount of rain, how far might the ring have sunk into the soil?

Unfortunately, there are cans that have been pitched back into the field over the years, so I am hitting those. They are shallow, so I'm working on how to best use my AT Pro to ignore shallower targets, assuming the ring is deeper.

Any thoughts, guidance, etc.? This is a pretty hefty piece of treasure I'd love to pull out, so help is appreciated!

Cheers! :occasion14:
 

Upvote 0

against the wind

Gold Member
Jul 27, 2015
24,797
24,976
Port Allegheny, Pennsylvania
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-trac, Excalibur, XP Deus, & CTX 3030.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
On the AT PRO, the VDI can swing from 40 to 70. I have pulled heavy 14kt wedding bands with 63 & 65 VDI numbers.
Don't worry too much about depth. The cans will come in with a much higher VDI and tone. Try to set a a grid plan working the area from east to west and then north to south. Go slow and low.
Good luck.
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,003
17,106
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
If you mask out the cans you will also null out anything below them.

Mow it, grid it off, and search it carefully. If you don't find the ring "cherry picking" in the gold range then the next step is to dig the junk and recheck the spot afterwards. The problem with gold rings is they are right on the middle of the trash/junk ranges of conductivity - though aluminum trash reads a LOT more conductive than gold.

Sux, donnit?
 

OP
OP
Javadroid

Javadroid

Silver Member
Jul 6, 2017
2,501
2,838
Northwest Arkansas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If you mask out the cans you will also null out anything below them.

Mow it, grid it off, and search it carefully. If you don't find the ring "cherry picking" in the gold range then the next step is to dig the junk and recheck the spot afterwards. The problem with gold rings is they are right on the middle of the trash/junk ranges of conductivity - though aluminum trash reads a LOT more conductive than gold.

Sux, donnit?

Yes it does. This aligns with the approach I'm taking, I was hoping there might be something that would allow me to discriminate based on depth. I'll just have to trudge through. Mowing is no small feat, as there's a lot of brambles and small bramble bushes about the area and it's very uneven. I'll just have to work it patiently.

Thanks!
 

OP
OP
Javadroid

Javadroid

Silver Member
Jul 6, 2017
2,501
2,838
Northwest Arkansas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
On the AT PRO, the VDI can swing from 40 to 70. I have pulled heavy 14kt wedding bands with 63 & 65 VDI numbers.
Don't worry too much about depth. The cans will come in with a much higher VDI and tone. Try to set a a grid plan working the area from east to west and then north to south. Go slow and low.
Good luck.

Thanks for this response. Any thoughts on how deep it may have settled in 40 years? I'm thinking it may have gone deep and might need to get a larger coil than my 8.5x11. Suggestions?
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,173
14,460
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
No telling for sure how deep it might be. You might get an idea based on other similar finds that you can date. The size and weight of the ring will determine what the VDI numbers will be. If it's big, like a size 12 class ring, it can read all the way up to zinc cents. Smaller gold bands can read around a nickel. In an initial search, I'd ignore numbers higher or lower than that. You should be able to tell a can by size and/or number. Your coil should be fine for that search, but, if you have a bigger one, I'd use it in wide open areas just to cut down the time it would take to cover the area. Your search area doesn't look all that big, but, sometimes people are wrong on where they think they lose things. Many times you'll need to expand out from the supposed site.
 

against the wind

Gold Member
Jul 27, 2015
24,797
24,976
Port Allegheny, Pennsylvania
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-trac, Excalibur, XP Deus, & CTX 3030.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for this response. Any thoughts on how deep it may have settled in 40 years? I'm thinking it may have gone deep and might need to get a larger coil than my 8.5x11. Suggestions?

There is no rhyme or reason on land. A lot of different factors can bury objects or wash away / erode soil. You can find coins at a depth of 6 inches that are 100 years old or the same coin, just below the surface.
You're talking briars in the approximate area where you think the ring was lost. That means that the brush has grown in since the ring was lost. Nobody plays in thorn bushes. It also means that the vegetation has minimized erosion. If you get a pulltab / foil signal at 6 inches,, dig it. The other benefit of overgrown briar is that it doesn't allow for humans activities. Thus, less trash. Good luck.
 

Last edited:
Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett: AT Pro, AT Gold & Infinium; Minelab: Explorer SE, II; Simplex; Tesoro: Tejon & Outlaw; White's: V3i
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Javadroid,

IMHO: I would mow the grass if possible and grid N/S, E/W and diagonally (45 deg.) The search area isn't that large and be covered in a fair amount of time. My only concern is the rings location according to the owners. The item was lost 40 years ago and memories do fade, therefore you may have to expand your search area. Over the years, I have found many rings for people and not one time were they thought they lost it. :dontknow:

Unfortunately, gold lives were all the junk reads on our machines, so I would dig every signal.

Good Luck on your search!

Doc
 

junkhunt

Sr. Member
Feb 21, 2017
314
349
North Central Arkansas
Detector(s) used
white's eagle spectrum , White's Spectra V3i, Garrett AT Pro. Garrett AT Pen pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Quick answer, Dig everything. It's not that big of area. Dig it all good luck.
 

Hawks88

Gold Member
Aug 26, 2012
7,878
11,840
Niagara falls
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I agree, dig it all. You may have to go over it all again if you don’t find it BUT the trash will be gone so less digging means a quicker search the second time through. Good luck.
 

Nick79

Hero Member
Jan 28, 2018
761
1,920
California
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
You will do what most are suggesting by default anyways. Go through and cherry pick, if not then no choice but to dig trash. I'm doing the same looking for my wife's grand father's dog tag.
 

OP
OP
Javadroid

Javadroid

Silver Member
Jul 6, 2017
2,501
2,838
Northwest Arkansas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You will do what most are suggesting by default anyways. Go through and cherry pick, if not then no choice but to dig trash. I'm doing the same looking for my wife's grand father's dog tag.

That's a worthy search, mate, best of luck to you in it!
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,173
14,460
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I disagree with those who say dig it all. On an initial search, I'd only dig targets between nickel and zinc cent. That's where the ring will hit over 95% of the time. If you don't get it on the first grid, expand out 50% doing the same thing. If you don't get a good solid signal in the ideal range, THEN you can start digging trash signals. Now if you're finding all kinds of good targets (besides the ring), sure, dig more iffy numbers/sounds. If your mainly looking for this big gold ring, why waste time and energy on crap targets unless you have to?
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,173
14,460
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for this response. Any thoughts on how deep it may have settled in 40 years? I'm thinking it may have gone deep and might need to get a larger coil than my 8.5x11. Suggestions?

If the area hasn't had machinery run over it and there hasn't been any serious flooding or erosion, I would be surprised if it was any deeper than 6". No guarantees though! :tongue3:
 

OP
OP
Javadroid

Javadroid

Silver Member
Jul 6, 2017
2,501
2,838
Northwest Arkansas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I disagree with those who say dig it all. On an initial search, I'd only dig targets between nickel and zinc cent. That's where the ring will hit over 95% of the time. If you don't get it on the first grid, expand out 50% doing the same thing. If you don't get a good solid signal in the ideal range, THEN you can start digging trash signals. Now if you're finding all kinds of good targets (besides the ring), sure, dig more iffy numbers/sounds. If your mainly looking for this big gold ring, why waste time and energy on crap targets unless you have to?

Makes sense - I don't know that this land has ever had much activity on it, other than teenagers drinking beer or hunters passing through, so I doubt there's much else there to find. I'll follow this guidance.

Thanks all!
 

dirtdigginfool

Silver Member
Mar 8, 2014
3,580
4,841
south central ohio
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
At Pro At Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
All good advice, that why I love this site...but ANYWAYS....make sure you post up a big, fat pic if/when you find that unit!! Good luck, Ddf.
 

Peyton Manning

Gold Member
Dec 19, 2012
14,517
18,626
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
MXT-PRO
Sandshark
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
40 by 60 isn't that big
I'd use my sand shark and dig everything
 

Irishgoldhound

Bronze Member
Jul 15, 2013
2,350
2,129
🥇 Banner finds
1
If it’s a big mans gold ring, it’s gonna ring up between 50-70’s on the At pro. I wouldn’t dig everything first go. I wouldn’t discriminate at all. Hunt pro zero on the Pro and find that beauty! Good luck and keep us posted.
 

Irishgoldhound

Bronze Member
Jul 15, 2013
2,350
2,129
🥇 Banner finds
1
...I forgot to mention I had found a big mans gold ring almost weighing 20 grams and it rang up on my At pro in the high seventies. Check out the ring on my banner find.
 

OP
OP
Javadroid

Javadroid

Silver Member
Jul 6, 2017
2,501
2,838
Northwest Arkansas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
40 by 60 isn't that big
I'd use my sand shark and dig everything

It's really tough going through the long grass and briers and brambles, and the terrain is very uneven. I will be back down there in a month or so and will carve out the time to methodically search. It's worth the effort to find it, I just needed more time that this trip allowed.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top