Reality of A Virgin Site

[Indian Steve]

A couple of days ago, DeepseekerADS and I went to hunt a Virgin {to Us} site at a large swimming area. We water hunted the site last fall but had never hunted the large grassy area next to the swimming area. We knew that there had to be gold waiting. We found out that the area had large trees that people sat under until a couple of years ago when they were cut down and the whole area had been regraded and seeded in grass. I picked out where I thought the Gold was waiting and started a pass. The targets were so close that I was actually crawling from target to target. After about 50 feet of my first pass, we decided to hit the tot lot and swings sets and then come back to this target full site. At that point, I had 38 pull tabs, one nickel and two pennies. The tot lot yielded a kids junk ring and a few more pennies and the swingset/ monkey bars gave up some more clad. We went back to the Virgin site and started harvesting more pull tabs. We were there about two and a half hours and I came out with the junk ring and $1.12 in clad. Some of the trash in the pictures was from DeepseekerADS but most was mine. 105 pulltabs!!!!! WE covered less than 5% of the grassy area. I KNOW THERE IS GOLD THERE!!! It will stay there a little longer. Wore ME Out! My last water hunt there, I got a large 10 kt wedding band and 54 pulltabs in the water. This is the reality of metal detecting. I love it! This site has been a swimming hole since the 1960s and took a meeting of the Board of the park to get permission. They could not remember anyone detecting it.

 

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[relic nut]

Wow! That's a lot of work but I'm sure your persistence will pay off in gold.
We'll be watching. Good luck!

 

[Phishfarmer]

trash..

I'm not a fan of notching but with all those tabs I would consider it...

 

[relic nut]

I'm not a fan of notching but with all those tabs I would consider it...

Not sure I'd do that. Lot of gold in that range.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Looks like ya'll found a years supply of pull tabs. Man all my gold finds rang in with solid target ID's. I only dig solid mid tones, maybe that's because I am a coin shooter who appreciates a cool relic and some bling. I try to maintain a low trash to good target ratio when I hunt.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

I absolutely agree that there is going to be gold at the virgin site and also sure that there may be gold rings mixed in with the tab numbers. One strategy is to go over the area with a filter -out / notch-out the pull tabs (if your detector has that capability) and dig everything else. Once over the area cherry picking, you can always go back and "un-notch" and dig a lot of tabs but possibly one or more gold rings in the tab range. Heard somewhere that it takes 500 tabs to find a gold ring on land. I do know that my research with the CTX 3030 that 17% of gold rings are in the tab range. FYI

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Pull tab after pull tab after pull tab, etc. Then a zincoln, and back to the pull tabs. I dug 46 cents.... I was swinging the Tejon on the hunt.

But, I'd bet there's gold there somewhere. Heck of a lot of digging, couldn't step more than a couple feet without another pull tab.

 

[BLK HOLE]

That is some tough sledding!!! I don't know if I would have the patience to hunt that site! But in the end when you do find the gold all those pull tabs will be forgotten

 

[Tom_in_CA]

... 105 pulltabs!!!!! WE covered less than 5% of the grassy area. I KNOW THERE IS GOLD THERE!!! It will stay there a little longer. Wore ME Out!... .

Indian Steve, I am sure there is "more gold there". I'm sure there's gold in the municipal town dump near me to. But at what point is it simply not worth it ? I mean, if gold rings are your agenda, what are you doing hunting a spot with junk ratios like that for ? If it were me: I'd simply go to a swim beach, if gold rings were my agenda.

And if you're not near the ocean, you have swim beaches @ lakes, right ? Or at a minimum: types of land spots that aren't so punishing. Eg.: sports fields where eating/picnicing/BBQ/Camping is not going on (those are sure-fire recipes to introduce tabs and foil). But if the sports field is strictly athletics usage, the junk ratios aren't nearly as punishing. Plus add the "frolicking" motion of sports, and the sidelines areas where they take off their jewelry for "safekeeping" before the go on to the field.

 

[b3y0nd3r]

Your tabs to steel/aluminum bottle caps ratio tell quite a story. Most look like late 1970's with 80's mixed in. I would say that stopped being a popular swimming hole somewhere in the early 90's?

The lack of bottle caps tells me that most likely, there was a soda machine somewhere close someone was enforcing a no glass bottle rule.

Lack of a huge amount of change(especially quarters) and soda cans(although someone may have been collecting/cleaning) means to me, that this was hit hard.

Just some observations.

 

[Indian Steve]

The site has been a popular swimming hole at a well know park since the late 60s and alcoholic beverages were just banned two years ago. One guy did stop by to tell us that he drank a lot of beer on that spot in the 1970s. All of our regular swimming areas have been cleaned out {by us} and this is a recent permission. The park manager told us that nobody has had permission to detect there before us but one park ranger said that he had hunted there many years ago and gave up because of the pull tabs. The grassy area along the swimming area is at least 100 yards long and 30 yards wide. Next time that I can't find somewhere else to detect, I will probably go back. It was brutal!

 

[digger460]

That would be an interesting place to put the EQ to the test.

Way to be persistent!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

..... The park manager told us that nobody has had permission to detect there before us...

Whenever you hear stuff like this : 99% of the time it's just un-informed bunk. Some current caretaker on duty will say "no one's ever md'd here before". Or if you ask someone permission (as if permission were even needed?) they may say "you're the first person I've given permission to" . Because they can't recall ever having this question posed to them, or having granted permission in the past. So in their mind's eyes: That means no one's ever md'd there before.

I've heard this many times in my 42-ish years. And often times, I have to chuckle, because I know it's been hammered. Either because it's a place that didn't require permission (public parks don't require permission). Or if it's a place that does "need permission", then it's prior personnel who had opened the gates and said yes. Or past md'rs who simply helped themselves, etc...

And the fact of "thousands of pulltabs" could mean the prior generation was cherry picking for silver & coins.

Could some gold rings exist there ? Sure. But are spots like that the best place to look for gold rings ? No. There are places where your ratios won't be that punishing. And to get another machine (EQ, etc...that's more sensitive to low conductors) is NOT the solution. Because, think of it: You ALREADY are not lacking from low conductors to choose from. So how does getting a machine that's sensitive enough to pick up dainty chains and earing studs going to help ? You're just going to compound your problem 20-fold.

There are places where the ratio of junk to gold rings is not as bad as what you've posted. As said: Athletic fields (soccer etc...) where eating/drinking does not occur (ie.: it's strictly sports). Ski lift lines after summer thaw (d/t people taking off their gloves while standing in line, tugs at rings). Sand wrestle pits and PT courses, mud wrestle pits, sand volleyball courts, etc...

 

[releventchair]

The site has been a popular swimming hole at a well know park since the late 60s and alcoholic beverages were just banned two years ago. One guy did stop by to tell us that he drank a lot of beer on that spot in the 1970s. All of our regular swimming areas have been cleaned out {by us} and this is a recent permission. The park manager told us that nobody has had permission to detect there before us but one park ranger said that he had hunted there many years ago and gave up because of the pull tabs. The grassy area along the swimming area is at least 100 yards long and 30 yards wide. Next time that I can't find somewhere else to detect, I will probably go back. It was brutal!

I have hit a heavy trash site repeatedly ( no gold yet) and dig trash in a small area where it is heavy ,then hunt away from it.
By keeping track of the area ,it is noticeably different now. Where there were multiple targets within a coil diameter ,now it is an occasional target.
Not a ring drop place , but , better detecting of deeper targets ( for me anyways) without all the higher trash.
Someday....a " pull- tab" dug annoyingly will be a surprise of a different object.

 

[against the wind]

Persistence brings home the gold,, congratulations.

 

[fuzzy535]

at least your out digging!! Crappy winter weather here, dont even feel like going to work....blah....

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Payin' yer dues. That's the only way to do it up proper.

 

[halfstep]

That's a lot of pull tabs, Why people rip them off the can just to throw them on the ground amazes me. I can understand the older beavertails and bottle caps but pull tabs are attached to the can. People just don't have any respect. Why would anyone want to litter up their swimming spot? They need to invent a biodegradable pull tab.

Good luck and I hope it pays off for you.

 

[Ogre1190]

What Tom ⬆ said. I've found approximately 80% of my jewelry in sports fields...baseball, football, soccer, around basketball n tennis courts. My Mentor had a practice football field, next to the nice "game" one, that he pulled over two dozen class rings from...because years ago, freshmen were stoopid n wore their new rings all the time n those big cleats would cause instant burial. 😁

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Whenever you hear stuff like this : 99% of the time it's just un-informed bunk..

No Tom, these were long time staff, it's the real deal here.

I admit those tab after tab digs really bummed me out, I let it bother me. Steve went a hunk beyond the time I gave up. We'll continue to clean the site, and I can just about guarantee I will not enjoy it at all. That can change with ONE good find