Huntin with the "Frat Boy" Compadre
I just purchased last Fri. a WELL cared for Compadre from a member of another forum that I frequent. I finally got a chance to take it out for a spin Sunday afternoon. I went to a park area that I had hunted several yrs. ago when I had my first detector to give it another look. I started out in a wooded area that I had avoided before. The city has started keeping the grounds mowed in this previously “wild” area so the ground around the large trees is exposed for the first time in a long time. Turn of the century maps show this section to have been a neighborhood with a livery stable, “negro” church (Sanborn map designation, not mine) and several houses with an alley. I started out with the disc. set just at the N in IRON and started swingin. The first solid signal was at the base of a large tree not 10ft from the truck. I “sized” up the target and could tell it was not coin sized. The tone was solid and repeatable so I dug it and 10” down pulled out half an axe head! It was laying flat and appears very old. GREAT, I thought, this thing is a Marty Robbins fan and likes “Big Iron”! I tossed it onto the parking area to be picked up later and went on. I had decided to dig every solid, repeating signal and over the next hour or so did a LOT of that. At the end of this first session 2 things emerged. I am “coining” a new MD’ing term, “Beep Fatigue”! Every swing produced a beep if not several! By the end of the first search I was thumbing the knob when I would hit a trashy patch and slowing way down to get the most separation. The other thing is I am going to nickname this machine “Drunken Frat Boy” because it wants to hit on EVERYTHING!! Tiny to fat, short or tall, old and new, it LOVES them all! It has a fetish for rusty iron, big aluminum and its favorite… crushed screw tops! It may just be this machine but screw tops didn’t go away till the disc. hit max.
The second site was a grass parking area used only during city school football games. It was also the practice field for the old elementary school that has long since moved. The grass has been growing like crazy here since the flood over Labor Day weekend so it was about 5” high. I started close to the gate and within a few feet started getting solid signals. Over the next half hour of working what would be the front row I dug $2+ in clad. 5 Quarters, 3 Dimes, 2 nickels and the rest 1C zinc except for one lone 49 Wheatie Darkness finally chased me to the truck but I will go back and work the lot again. Overall I think it was a good first outing with “Frat Boy”. On a personal note, I thought I was in fairly good shape for a man that will be 50 in a few months. I had been walking/running 3 to 5 time a week up until school started and on the weekends since then. I have lost about 30lbs this yr. and felt pretty good about it. After getting into the proposal position ( down on one knee ) several dozen times and pushing the Fiskars into the ground for all my “treasure”, I couldn’t have kicked you’re a$$ or shook your hand Monday! My palm and knee are better but I am gonna need to add lunges to my workout.
I just purchased last Fri. a WELL cared for Compadre from a member of another forum that I frequent. I finally got a chance to take it out for a spin Sunday afternoon. I went to a park area that I had hunted several yrs. ago when I had my first detector to give it another look. I started out in a wooded area that I had avoided before. The city has started keeping the grounds mowed in this previously “wild” area so the ground around the large trees is exposed for the first time in a long time. Turn of the century maps show this section to have been a neighborhood with a livery stable, “negro” church (Sanborn map designation, not mine) and several houses with an alley. I started out with the disc. set just at the N in IRON and started swingin. The first solid signal was at the base of a large tree not 10ft from the truck. I “sized” up the target and could tell it was not coin sized. The tone was solid and repeatable so I dug it and 10” down pulled out half an axe head! It was laying flat and appears very old. GREAT, I thought, this thing is a Marty Robbins fan and likes “Big Iron”! I tossed it onto the parking area to be picked up later and went on. I had decided to dig every solid, repeating signal and over the next hour or so did a LOT of that. At the end of this first session 2 things emerged. I am “coining” a new MD’ing term, “Beep Fatigue”! Every swing produced a beep if not several! By the end of the first search I was thumbing the knob when I would hit a trashy patch and slowing way down to get the most separation. The other thing is I am going to nickname this machine “Drunken Frat Boy” because it wants to hit on EVERYTHING!! Tiny to fat, short or tall, old and new, it LOVES them all! It has a fetish for rusty iron, big aluminum and its favorite… crushed screw tops! It may just be this machine but screw tops didn’t go away till the disc. hit max.
The second site was a grass parking area used only during city school football games. It was also the practice field for the old elementary school that has long since moved. The grass has been growing like crazy here since the flood over Labor Day weekend so it was about 5” high. I started close to the gate and within a few feet started getting solid signals. Over the next half hour of working what would be the front row I dug $2+ in clad. 5 Quarters, 3 Dimes, 2 nickels and the rest 1C zinc except for one lone 49 Wheatie Darkness finally chased me to the truck but I will go back and work the lot again. Overall I think it was a good first outing with “Frat Boy”. On a personal note, I thought I was in fairly good shape for a man that will be 50 in a few months. I had been walking/running 3 to 5 time a week up until school started and on the weekends since then. I have lost about 30lbs this yr. and felt pretty good about it. After getting into the proposal position ( down on one knee ) several dozen times and pushing the Fiskars into the ground for all my “treasure”, I couldn’t have kicked you’re a$$ or shook your hand Monday! My palm and knee are better but I am gonna need to add lunges to my workout.
