New T2 user got whooped by a trashy park today

[MrBlueSkyNM]

I did some recon on a small, secluded neighborhood park this morning. I talked to a guy who lives across the street from the park and he said he's never seen anyone hunt it. There are lots of targets, but also lots of trash. Maybe mostly trash! Beer bottle caps, pull tabs and foil everywhere! I figure this is a good place to get better with my T2. Thought I'd ask you guys for some advice on settings that would be best for this situation. I was using Sensitivity at 60, Discrimination at 40 and 2+ tones.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[Garrett424]

I'm using a Teknetics Omega and I can't help you with the T2 but I can definitely empathize with you. I hit the trashiest site ever today. It's an old house where I found a few wheaties and a flying eagle cent last year.
I swear whoever lived there must have melted lead and copper down and buried it in the yard for fun or something. It's everywhere.


I dug two wheaties, a couple cool buttons, a flattened thimble and about 1/2 ton of pure, unadulterated junk of every kind imaginable. I was there for almost 6 hours with very little to show for it.

When you hit those really trashy sites you just have to weed through it regardless of the detector you're using. If you disc out pull tabs you'll likely miss any gold and probably a few nickels. If you dig every high hit chances are you'll be digging old cans and can slaw. Those medium hits are anyone's guess until you dig them up and lay eyes on them. It's just part of the hobby sometimes.

On the upside, I do dig lots of trash but I've done pretty good on the gold rings as well so it definitely does pay in the long run. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and never give up. If you know the site is really trashy you just need to accept that going into it and get to work cleaning it up to reveal any good targets lying in the junk.


Good luck & HH.....

 

[Fletch88]

With disc at 40 using 2 tone you essentially are using single tone machine because iron goes up to 40 where the high/low tone break is. I would use 3 or 4 tone with disc set at zero and dug high tones and maybe a few mid tones. If you find it is loaded with small iron and get tired of all the low tone hits just ease the disc up until small iron(nails) will break up or silence. This will usually be around 15-20 on disc. Practice at home with a small rusty nail, beaver tail pulltab, square tab, nickel, zinc penny, copper penny, dime and quarter to get used to sounds and ID's.
I would only use 2 tone for old homesites/ ghost town type places that are littered with thousands of nails and iron trash. Run 2 tone with zero disc to prevent good targets from being masked by iron. Using this method everything above 40 will be a high tone, and you basically have to look at the VDI number to try to tell what the target is (or dig it up to be sure!)

 

[supertraq]

Well the park being trashy is a good indicator that it's not been hunted much if any.
Work on small areas,say 6' by 6' until you clean it out and then repeat.
Run the least amount of disc.possible and listen for any chirp.
Any bigger iron should be dug and removed,to much masking if big iron is even close the target to a good target

 

[MikeyMinx]

Same boat here, went out a couple weeks ago with the T2 at a trashy site. Sens 70 Disc 55 and 2+. It was pretty frustrating LOL

 

[Digzit2]

Every site i hunt is very trashy.I invested in a 9.5x5.5 nel sharpshooter coil and this has helped me alot as i am still learning the language/setup of my t2.

 

[Garrett424]

Let's face it; there's WAY more trash in the ground than there is treasure.
Gotta' take the good with the bad.

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

With disc at 40 using 2 tone you essentially are using single tone machine because iron goes up to 40 where the high/low tone break is. I would use 3 or 4 tone with disc set at zero and dug high tones and maybe a few mid tones. If you find it is loaded with small iron and get tired of all the low tone hits just ease the disc up until small iron(nails) will break up or silence. This will usually be around 15-20 on disc. Practice at home with a small rusty nail, beaver tail pulltab, square tab, nickel, zinc penny, copper penny, dime and quarter to get used to sounds and ID's.
I would only use 2 tone for old homesites/ ghost town type places that are littered with thousands of nails and iron trash. Run 2 tone with zero disc to prevent good targets from being masked by iron. Using this method everything above 40 will be a high tone, and you basically have to look at the VDI number to try to tell what the target is (or dig it up to be sure!)

That's some good advice! Thanks Bud! I appreciate it!

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

Well the park being trashy is a good indicator that it's not been hunted much if any.
Work on small areas,say 6' by 6' until you clean it out and then repeat.
Run the least amount of disc.possible and listen for any chirp.
Any bigger iron should be dug and removed,to much masking if big iron is even close the target to a good target

I like the approach you suggested! Thanks for the tips!

 

[smokeythecat]

But after the trash is out of the way, the good stuff comes out.

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

Same boat here, went out a couple weeks ago with the T2 at a trashy site. Sens 70 Disc 55 and 2+. It was pretty frustrating LOL

Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. I guess we have our work cut out for us!

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

But after the trash is out of the way, the good stuff comes out.

Thanks Smokey! That's the plan!

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

Every site i hunt is very trashy.I invested in a 9.5x5.5 nel sharpshooter coil and this has helped me alot as i am still learning the language/setup of my t2.

I might get one of those coils one of these days. Wish list purchase! Thanks for the advice Digzit2!

 

[Toothpick]

I would throw the small coil on, max out the discrim, run BP mode and cherry pick all the good targets first.

My reasoning is #1- I know if I dug every target I came across in a park, ( assuming it is in grass, not woods ) I would be risking getting my butt thrown out after a few hundred of digs. No matter how careful you are someone will complain if you dig everything.

#2 - I would cherry pick as much as I could before other treasure hunters get the same idea. If your detecting pretty steady in the park, people drive & walk by, word spreads and you will probily wont have it by yourself for long.

After you cherry picked the easy clad and silver coins, then go back with less discrim and bigger coil and try for the nickles, gold and deeper coins.

Good Luck

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

I would throw the small coil on, max out the discrim, run BP mode and cherry pick all the good targets first.

My reasoning is #1- I know if I dug every target I came across in a park, ( assuming it is in grass, not woods ) I would be risking getting my butt thrown out after a few hundred of digs. No matter how careful you are someone will complain if you dig everything.

#2 - I would cherry pick as much as I could before other treasure hunters get the same idea. If your detecting pretty steady in the park, people drive & walk by, word spreads and you will probily wont have it by yourself for long.

After you cherry picked the easy clad and silver coins, then go back with less discrim and bigger coil and try for the nickles, gold and deeper coins.

Good Luck

Great advice! Yeah, I definitely don't intend to dig everything and ruin it. The grass around here doesn't get enough rain and the drought keeps the City from watering too much. I't's not an old park, so there is no need to go deep. Just planning to pop coins and rings with my trusty screwdriver.

 

[supertraq]

I'm using a Teknetics Omega and I can't help you with the T2 but I can definitely empathize with you. I hit the trashiest site ever today. It's an old house where I found a few wheaties and a flying eagle cent last year.
I swear whoever lived there must have melted lead and copper down and buried it in the yard for fun or something. It's everywhere.


I dug two wheaties, a couple cool buttons, a flattened thimble and about 1/2 ton of pure, unadulterated junk of every kind imaginable. I was there for almost 6 hours with very little to show for it.

When you hit those really trashy sites you just have to weed through it regardless of the detector you're using. If you disc out pull tabs you'll likely miss any gold and probably a few nickels. If you dig every high hit chances are you'll be digging old cans and can slaw. Those medium hits are anyone's guess until you dig them up and lay eyes on them. It's just part of the hobby sometimes.

On the upside, I do dig lots of trash but I've done pretty good on the gold rings as well so it definitely does pay in the long run. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and never give up. If you know the site is really trashy you just need to accept that going into it and get to work cleaning it up to reveal any good targets lying in the junk.


Good luck & HH.....

Ran into that same situation a couple of times and have come to the conclusion they're were house fires.
All the copper and lead melted and littered the sites. Always find some chard wood or remnants in the ground
which in iitself will cause falsing.

 

[vferrari]

I'm using a Teknetics Omega and I can't help you with the T2 but I can definitely empathize with you. I hit the trashiest site ever today. It's an old house where I found a few wheaties and a flying eagle cent last year.
I swear whoever lived there must have melted lead and copper down and buried it in the yard for fun or something. It's everywhere.


I dug two wheaties, a couple cool buttons, a flattened thimble and about 1/2 ton of pure, unadulterated junk of every kind imaginable. I was there for almost 6 hours with very little to show for it.

When you hit those really trashy sites you just have to weed through it regardless of the detector you're using. If you disc out pull tabs you'll likely miss any gold and probably a few nickels. If you dig every high hit chances are you'll be digging old cans and can slaw. Those medium hits are anyone's guess until you dig them up and lay eyes on them. It's just part of the hobby sometimes.

On the upside, I do dig lots of trash but I've done pretty good on the gold rings as well so it definitely does pay in the long run. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and never give up. If you know the site is really trashy you just need to accept that going into it and get to work cleaning it up to reveal any good targets lying in the junk.


Good luck & HH.....

Yep running into the same issue with a farmhouse and farm built in the 1880's that we just started hitting. I was using my F75 and Deus and gave my buddy who inherited the place my Omega. We had 12 cents in modern coins to show for our efforts but dug a ton of can slaw, cans, pull tabs, a few nails and half a dozen mason jar lids, shell casings, and shotgun shells plus some melted lead in about 6 hours of hunting. I was really surprised we did not turn up one old coin. The trash is encouraging as it looks like the property has not been hit, but would have thought we would have come across at least one interesting target. Well I guess we'll spend some time clearing the trash and then start really gridding the place. Plenty of real estate to hit that will keep us busy for years to come.

 

[GA_Boy]

Great advice! Yeah, I definitely don't intend to dig everything and ruin it. The grass around here doesn't get enough rain and the drought keeps the City from watering too much. I't's not an old park, so there is no need to go deep. Just planning to pop coins and rings with my trusty screwdriver.

With a higher frequency (13 kHz) I imagine the T2 picks up smaller stuff like tin foil etc?
Marvin

 

[Garrett424]

Yep running into the same issue with a farmhouse and farm built in the 1880's that we just started hitting. I was using my F75 and Deus and gave my buddy who inherited the place my Omega. We had 12 cents in modern coins to show for our efforts but dug a ton of can slaw, cans, pull tabs, a few nails and half a dozen mason jar lids, shell casings, and shotgun shells plus some melted lead in about 6 hours of hunting. I was really surprised we did not turn up one old coin. The trash is encouraging as it looks like the property has not been hit, but would have thought we would have come across at least one interesting target. Well I guess we'll spend some time clearing the trash and then start really gridding the place. Plenty of real estate to hit that will keep us busy for years to come.

I've come to the conclusion that SOME people took very good care of what little money they may have had back in the day and just weren't in the habit of dropping their silver coins after working so hard to get them. I have a few spots where I just KNEW I would find plenty of of silver and haven't found anything but mostly wheats and old nickels.

I swear I sometimes tell myself "someone just HAD TO drop at least one dime at least one time over 50 years" but so far I'm still looking. It can be frustrating at times. I did dig that 1857 flying eagle but so far not a single silver coin at that site after 3-4 hunts.

Also, the ground is really soft at the site and the heavier coins could just sink really deep. That flying eagle was in an old driveway in heavily packed gravel and even that was down a good 6". Talk about a nightmare. It took about 4 minutes to free that one from those rocks without scratching it. It's in nice shape though so it was definitely worth the trouble.

 

[MrBlueSkyNM]

With a higher frequency (13 kHz) I imagine the T2 picks up smaller stuff like tin foil etc?
Marvin

Yes, it is a very deep and sensitive machine. But...that's why I went with it. Just really tough to rein in when searching a trashy park. I'm still learning.