Newbiew needs help finding family cache

S

Stickler

Guest
I need a recomendation for a detector to locate a cache my dad buried years ago. He told me once (he's no longer alive) it was buried less than 2 feet deep and I figure I know where it is within about 20 sq feet.

I've tried 2 detectors without finding it, the latest one was a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. I've been researching and realize those cheapies won't cut it. The ground is very rocky. I was surprised how hard this is, b/c the Tracker IV found a 22 shell about an inch under the surface, nice clean signal. Why its so hard to find several rolls of gold and silver coins less than 2 feet deep???
 

FLOYD MANN

Full Member
Apr 16, 2003
112
17
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
??? 20 square feet ? A 4 foot by 5 foot area? Why not just dig THAT entire area to a depth of 2 feet ? I would gladly do THAT---if I was even half-way Sure it was the correct area ! OR: "probe" the entire area ?
 

OP
OP
S

Stickler

Guest
Opps, my bad. I meant 20 feet by 20 feet.

But even if it was 4 x 5, this is very rocky soil, and it could take alot of digging, perhaps as much as 20 holes. 20x20 is obviously even more.

I'm surprised nobody has chimed in with MD recomendations yet.

Why is it that advertisements leave out depth range estimates? I understand the variability in play, but that is a stat always left out.
 

alec

Sr. Member
Mar 21, 2003
373
132
Hawaii
Detector(s) used
garrett, minelab, tesoro, whites
I would recommend a Tesoro Bandido or the newer version which is the El Dorado I believe. Either one of these will pick up a quart mason jar at two and a half to three feet feet based on the soil conditions. Depth can vary based on the operators experience with the detector, whether or not you are wearing head phones, (to hear the really faint signals of something small and/or deep), and the soil conditions. Signal response can vary depending on the amount of moisture in the soil and the soil structure itself such as clay, topsoil, frozen dirt, rocks etc.

Since you are looking for something that was buried, then the soil around the buiral would be disturbed from the original soil structure. It could be possible to use a probing rod in the area and see if you can hit an "easy" or soft spot compared to the other soil around it.

When was this supposed to have been buried?
 

hollowpointred

Gold Member
Mar 12, 2005
6,871
56
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE/Garrett GTI 2500/ Ace 250
do you know how big the cashe is? how about what did he bury it in? if it is a relatively large target, try a garrett depth multiplier on a gti detector. it will easily detect to a depth of two feet.
 

jonnyrebel00

Hero Member
Nov 9, 2006
545
2
Mobile, Al
Detector(s) used
Garrett GTI 2500, Garrett Master Hunter
Goodness gracious. Talking about getting a Treasurehound with a GTI that would run him 12-13 hundred bucks. if you say its only about 2 feet deep the cheapest way to do it would be to just dig it up. i know you said its rocky but it cant be that bad if it was dug up to bury the treasure in. get yourself a probe like the others suggested and find a soft spot. and go to town. 20X20 isnt really that big of an area to dig up. but if you want to get yourself a detector, then i would suggest a Garrett Master Hunter. it will for sure go deep enough. The Treasurehound you wont really need if its that shallow. plus the master hunter is about the cheapest deepest seeking.
 

jonnyrebel00

Hero Member
Nov 9, 2006
545
2
Mobile, Al
Detector(s) used
Garrett GTI 2500, Garrett Master Hunter
oh yeah forgot to mention that if you know anyone that has a GPR that would do the trick to.
 

CWnut

Hero Member
May 9, 2003
591
37
E. Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Tesoro tigershark----Tesoro Conquistador Umax------Fisher FX-3----Master Hunter CX-Plus w/ depth multiplier
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
detect in 'all metal' mode, go very, very slow, and dig every signal
 

T

TreasureTales

Guest
Let us know if you find your dad's cache. Good luck!
 

OP
OP
S

Stickler

Guest
I'm in Austin, TX. I found a guy who is going to help me out with this so I believe I'm ready for the hunt!

Thanx erik12152003 for your offer also. I'll let you all know if I'm successful next week.

Thanx everyone for your comments and suggestions!
 

mojjax

Silver Member
Feb 27, 2005
4,563
4,090
MAINE
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
4
Detector(s) used
Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Why not try dowsing for it ? could be an interesting experiment ! Good luck !

mojjax
 

Night Stalker

Bronze Member
Dec 17, 2004
1,803
97
Florida
Detector(s) used
Omega 8000 & Tesoro Cortes
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Most any name brand detector will pick up a cache of coins at 20-24"......if not, probe the area with a slim stainless steel rod.
 

kcommandos

Jr. Member
Oct 30, 2005
38
0
Detector(s) used
whites classic idx
well if you want to find that cache may take some time.have you ever went in straight lines one side to the other
then over lap. did that a house that was built back in 1900s.so if you have a lot of time do that.i started
at about 9:30am was done at 2:10pm and the yard was not that big but out of that fond 2 IHs so it was
worth the time
 

T

TreasureTales

Guest
What's this? Another poster who says he'll keep us informed and who says he'll post in a week and then a month later still no updates? Sheesh, whatever happened to the concept of keeping one's word??????
 

Monty

Gold Member
Jan 26, 2005
10,746
166
Sand Springs, OK
Detector(s) used
ACE 250, Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Rent a Bobcat with a blade for a couple of hours and dig it up. Monty
 

T

TheDetectorist

Guest
TreasureTales said:
What's this? Another poster who says he'll keep us informed and who says he'll post in a week and then a month later still no updates? Sheesh, whatever happened to the concept of keeping one's word??????

My wild A$$ guess? He found it, and he is smart.

Nothing good can come from telling the world you just dug up a bunch of old gold and silver coins. Even if they were put down by his father.

TD
 

bakergeol

Bronze Member
Feb 4, 2004
1,268
176
Colorado
Detector(s) used
GS5 X-5 GMT
It may be more difficult than you think if his father did not bury it in a metal container. The last time I looked no detector was able to detect Carl's 3 lb (220 quarters) cache test(no metal just coins)at 24". Carl's and Gary's cache tests kind of destroys our past thinking on coin cache detecting in non metal containers.

http://thunting.com/geotech/forums/showthread.php?t=11831

To answer your question- Why so difficult? It is because the detectors will not see the mass of coins as a solid mass but as individual coins. It can be done- the key is the gold coins and the correct detector.

I vote with Monty's idea.

George
 

Chagy

Bronze Member
Dec 20, 2005
2,226
121
Florida
Detector(s) used
JW Fishers Pulse 8X
Primary Interest:
Shipwrecks
You can buy a 2 box detector..... I bought a Gemini 3 from Kellyco for $599.99 depending on the size of the cache they can detect up to 20 ft deep.

Good luck and I hope you find it, keep us posted!!!!!

Best of the Season,

Chagy........
 

T

TheDetectorist

Guest
bakergeol said:
It may be more difficult than you think if his father did not bury it in a metal container. The last time I looked no detector was able to detect Carl's 3 lb (220 quarters) cache test(no metal just coins)at 24". Carl's and Gary's cache tests kind of destroys our past thinking on coin cache detecting in non metal containers.

http://thunting.com/geotech/forums/showthread.php?t=11831

To answer your question- Why so difficult? It is because the detectors will not see the mass of coins as a solid mass but as individual coins. It can be done- the key is the gold coins and the correct detector.

I vote with Monty's idea.

George

I think his testing was flawed. I use a Whites 6000 Di Pro. I put my 15" coil on and tried my detector in all modes. Standard motion discriminate, I got a shocking 16 inches on my bag of 41 silver dollars. I was shocked at how little "air" depth it showed. Then I tried it in the TR mode. Here I improved to 29 inches. Then I put it into GEB (all metal-no motion) and got a reading out to 37 inches.

This air test would be about equal to the test listed in the link as far as amount of loose silver coins. If I can get 37" in an air test, I have NO doubts about picking it up at 24" in the ground. The tester never made any mention to what operating mode his detectors were in, or how the controls were set.

TD

PS- I think I need to seriously rethink what mode I use my detector in.
 

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