DETECTING STYLES

[tcornel]

I usually hunt with a friend but our style of hunting is vastly different. Our hunts are mostly 1800's houses and farms. I am 7 years into the hobby and he is 35+ years.

I hunt with a big 17" coil and like to grid an area so it takes a while to cover say, a front yard. Picking out of trash is not an issue even with the big coil.

He goes on long walks and cherry picks the signals and will not go near a trashy area. Basically looking for clean signals.

I am thinking that I may have the wrong approach on new permissions. At the end of the day he will usually have more targets recovered. As far as quality targets I may have the edge. Most of that is luck I think.

On the new sites I am thinking that he will find the hot spots quicker. But it is hard for me to not cover an area thoroughly as I feel I am passing over things.

What are your thoughts? Which style of hunting do you do and why?

 

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[Tpmetal]

What you are doing is just fine and probably lets you sleep better at night. If i'm on a new unknown site I bounce around at first before getting down to serious coverage, just to get an idea of the layout of the place and what it has to offer. Its all personal preference, even if you grid a place out you wont pull everything.

 

[fish1on]

I cherry pick and grid hunt, all depends on the spot I am at.

Ball fields- grid sidelines, cherry pick the playing field
tot lot-grid whole thing including 10 feet out perimeter
cuts in sand-grid
large open fields-cherry pick
woods-cherry pick

 

[Truth]

I'm obsessive so a iffy Signal would bother me not to check it I have learned. At 47 I can starting to feel it at the end of a day. I have a feeling the older wiser man has a great point!!


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[SD51]

My best finds last year were found by gridding a small area versus randomly trying to cover the entire area. I usually start by lining up two trees and detect from one tree to the other. I force myself to not miss one square foot along this path and always double check my path to make sure I'm inline with the tree I'm approaching. If the first path produces some keepers, I go back to the starting point and start another path in-parallel with the first path. I also use over-lapping sweeps of the coil.

 

[sprailroad]

My thought is that your friend with 35+ years of hunting, might be like me in that getting up & down to dig so many targets, becomes alittle rough after a while. If it's a small area, I go slow & try to cover it all, Large area? I aimlessly wonder around like I'm lost, only I have a detector in hand. If I'm meant to find it I will, If not, mabey the next day. I don't so much think there is a right or wrong style, it more depends on when, where and even frame of mind. Good luck & ENJOY.

 

[cudamark]

I usually hunt with a friend but our style of hunting is vastly different. Our hunts are mostly 1800's houses and farms. I am 7 years into the hobby and he is 35+ years.

I hunt with a big 17" coil and like to grid an area so it takes a while to cover say, a front yard. Picking out of trash is not an issue even with the big coil.

He goes on long walks and cherry picks the signals and will not go near a trashy area. Basically looking for clean signals.

I am thinking that I may have the wrong approach on new permissions. At the end of the day he will usually have more targets recovered. As far as quality targets I may have the edge. Most of that is luck I think.

On the new sites I am thinking that he will find the hot spots quicker. But it is hard for me to not cover an area thoroughly as I feel I am passing over things.

What are your thoughts? Which style of hunting do you do and why?

I have been detecting for 46+ years now and do it both ways. I start out cherry picking to determine if the site is worth a more intense hunt. If it is, I then grid the place. One of my hunting partners is mostly a "wanderer". On average, I usually do better by the end of the day.

 

[ironhorse]

I never thought I'd say this ,but it depends.

If you enter a site( yard, field, park, whatever) do you look for the iron patch, the place where a structure stood and what largely remains are the ferrous and nonferrous targets are, picking through the iron patch or concentration of targets?

Here's where it depends, do you like search where the centre of activity took place, if so this is where you can be digging rather than swinging your machine. If digging more targets is your thing, stay in the concentration; staying away limits your finds but doesn't eliminate them.
If there's no clear concentration, everyone is on a level playing field searching for random hits.

I feel staying in the concentration of targets lets us find a larger variety of finds and gets the user more in touch with what the machine tells you.
I dig every target.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Cudamark spoke my mind.

I would say "it depends". When I am at a totally new site I tend to "cherry pick" just to see what may be available. If I get into silver era THEN I slow down and pay more attention. I'll also return.

On the other hand, if it is a site I know is a one-time (example - a site about to be bulldozed for new construction) I will think first for where a likely spot that had a good likelyhood for drops and concentrate in those spots. Near doors, pathways, stone walls, etc.

In a large area like a park I will run in one long & straight line; but in "likely" spots. Shade, pavilions, concession stands (check old images for where they were).

 

[RustyGold]

On the beach I'll cherry pick an area quickly then I grid it.