A simple "How to" on probing before digging

[DeepseekerADS]

I have not seen this posted here, but in responding to a new member who did not understand what I meant about probing, just maybe this method could help others, and also minimize the damage we do to those pretty lawns and manicured parks....

Depending on where you're located geographically, your ground conditions would determine whether you could effectively use a probe. If you've rocky soil, then a probe might not suit you - but still worth doing. I spent years in Michigan and Ohio, with their spongy soil, fewer rocks. I took a long thin screwdriver, and filed down the tip to blunt it. I'd pinpoint the signal, and gently insert the screw driver around the area until I hit solid. And that solid hit was very often the coin, got rocks occasionally (the feel). But most often, I'd find the exact location of the coin. If it were as much as 2"-3", I had another screwdriver with a bent end. I'd reach that in to beneath the coin, and just pop it out of the ground without leaving much of a hole at all - essentially leaving no trace I'd been there. You have to be gentle in your probing so you do not damage the coin.

If the target were deeper than 2"-3", at least I had an exact location for my plug.

Over time as you use this method, it's like detecting itself - you'll get the "feel" of what the target is you've probed down to. Certainly not coin ID, but the difference between coin or rock and even trash. And you actually get quicker in your target retrieval.

A good successful example of this, one time I hit a signal, pinpointed, and inserted the probe - found the target on first effort - it was 1 1/2" down. Stuck in my bent screwdriver under the target and popped out an 1894 Indian Head cent - no damage to it whatsoever.

This is a great skill to learn, and I believe everyone should try this. You may very well discover just how helpful this trick is, and how nice you leave those manicured yards and parks!

 

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[Jeremy S]

Very good write up! I use a probe for most of my retrieved targets. If more people would use this method, there would be less nasty holes dug open and less patches of dead grass.

I hunt a very active park with a built in irrigation system in the lawn. They would freak out if they saw you with any kind of digging tool out there. I use my probe and screwdriver all day long and nobody even notices me. The guys detecting and packing around a shovel are the ones who they boot out.


Garrett makes a nice brass probe, which I primarily use. It won't gouge like a metal screwdriver will.

 

[Hoshnasi]

I bought a brass tipped probe to try this. It is definitely a skill that takes time to learn properly.

 

[xr7ator]

This was the trick back in the 80's when there were no pro pointers. I got very good at it but the brass probe will need to be dulled on a regular bases as shoving it into the ground causes it to sharpen.

Now that there are pin pointers, no need to touch your object with a probe and put a mark on it.

I'm great at pinpointing and cutting deep 3/4 plugs.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I bought a brass tipped probe to try this. It is definitely a skill that takes time to learn properly.

Good for you!!!

If you're good at pin pointing with your detector (another skill to have), it's not that difficult, and it absolutely saves a whole lot of time. You go from target to target pretty quickly.

I think I paid about $2.00 for that about 9" long screw driver. The shaft was only about an 1/8" diameter. I did blunt the end completely and rounded it so I wouldn't damage the target, and you don't just stab the ground. Even a brass end might mark a coin if you did this recklessly. On coins deeper than about 3", recovery does get a bit more difficult if you're not going to do a plug. That's where some ingenuity comes in

And YES!!!, you do need to keep dulling your probe tip!!! Get's pretty darned sharp after a fair amount of use!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

This was the trick back in the 80's when there were no pro pointers.

Oh YES!!!! Holy smokes!!!! When I came back into the hobby, good gracious there are pin pointers!!!!

 

[xr7ator]

With the pin pointer, why would you probe? If the coin is shallow just push your screwdriver under it and pop it out. No need to probe if you already know where it is.

Again, no need to take the chance of dinging your coin now that pin pointers are available.

One other thing. Back in the 80's it might take 20 minutes to find a deep coin on edge. I remember my first SLQ and it was right along side of a sidewalk and about 10" deep. I probed and probed and couldn't find it. Finally, I had to dig, making a mess and found the coin which was on edge. I hit that coin many many times scratching the back of it all up. It took at least 15 minutes to get the coin outta the ground.
The pin pointer cuts recover time HUGE. The more targets dug, the better chance of getting a goodie.

Back in the 80's without the pin pointer I could only dig so many coins in a day. Now I can dig 2 to 3 times as many targets in the same amount of time because you know where the target is much quicker and your not worried about hitting it with a probe.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

In addition to what xr7ator just said, if a coin is say 4" or 5" (or deeper) and tilted in the ground, it actually projects it "halo" out sometimes quite a distance from its' actual location. I've diligently kept at a signal I knew was good, ultimately finding it over 6" away from the "projected" location - happened with a WL once. With pin pointers today, we really do not have that issue (as bad), and tear up a lot less sod....

 

[cudamark]

Brass probes don't work too well around here. The ground is so hard that you would turn it into a pretzel the first time you used it! With the quality of pin pointers these days, they're almost obsolete for finding a target. They still are handy when it comes to recovering a target however. There again, brass just doesn't hold up to the task around here. Go steel or go home.

 

[BDinutah]

I used a probe for years, then quit when I got my first pin-pointer, during the last year I've noticed a lot of improperly dug plugs that have destroyed lawns at homes & parks. Now I've gone back to probing after locating my target with the md pin-pointer. I use a 8" steel screw driver w/rounded end to GENTLY locate my target & pop the coin out, with a little practice you can pop a 1-3" deep coin out of the ground just as fast as you can cut a plug and replace it, with a lot less damage to the lawn. I believe somewhere around here there's detailed instruction on this technique if your not familiar with it.

 

[gusser]

I'm old and still use this method. The probe IS my pinpointer.

 

[mainliner]

I've tried this method with some success. Now I use a 7" heavy hunting knife, cut a slit about 6 inches long through the sod above the target. Then take both hands into the slit and pull the sod to each side, just wide enough insert the hunting knife blade into the dirt sideways and lift the target out. Return any extracted dirt into the slit, push the sod back together and no one will ever know you were there. Give it a try, quick, easy and never any dead grass a week later.

 

[BDinutah]

These are just a couple of examples of probing & recovering targets with a screwdriver.

 

[Jeremy S]

I use my probe in conjunction with a ProPointer to find and retrieve objects. Anything over 3 or 4 inches and it does get tricky using a screwdriver.

In well manicured parks where I am mainly coinshooting and looking for jewelry I almost always use a probe and screwdriver to retrieve targets, I locate them with my pinpointer. If I do have to dig I often cut a slit in the sod just next to the target (so I don't hit it with my knife) like mainliner described. Any dirt pulled out of the slit in the ground is laid on a cloth rag and later poured back into the hole. I am very fast at retrieving targets this way and my goal is to never leave a mess.

I am a firm believer that shovels and big plugs or holes are what will get you negative attention. I have come across half filled HOLES in a park before that you could fit a gallon container in, and lying next to the hole was a twisted up pull tab. Sometimes you can even see the markets where they used a decent sized shovel or tile spade to dig their hole.