At what point do you stop digging?

Phanntom

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Oct 21, 2012
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Probably shouldn't go past the shoulder. We've all experienced a signal the was consistent and considered a good signal but ended up being an empty hole. Since I know from experience that my detectors max range is 10 to 12 inches...I don't go beyond that. Sure...it might pick up a manhole cover at 3ft, but what the hell do I want with a manhole cover.

Sometimes it's better to just fill the hole and move on in an effort to be more productive.
 

SusanMN

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Jun 1, 2007
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If you use a good pinpointer you will greatly reduce the number of targets you just cant locate. If the pinpointer is sounding everywhere in the hole, you know you have a big hunk of something and may need to dig to China to get it. Otherwise it should tell you where the target is sitting.

Also, the more you learn your detectors sounds, the better you will get at estimating how deep you should be digging.
 

Tom_in_CA

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Mar 23, 2007
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BBcamay, how long have you been in the detecting hobby? My hunch is, you are simply doing something wrong, and just don't know it. For example (don't get lost in the examles, as they are only examples): One time a beginner I was out with dug for 20 min. at the corner of some abandoned old military barracks. No matter how deep and how wide he dug, the detector continued to give a good signal there. Finally he got disgusted, and called me over to try with my detector. It took me one swing and 5 seconds to know what he was doing wrong: There was a concealed metal/copper rain gutter (or ribbing or something) concealed along the crease of the building's edge there. So the signal he was getting was merely the leading edge (tip) of his coil was he'd swing passed that. It appeared to be wood, so it didn't occur to him that metal could be behind there, nor was he accustomed to having to factor that the signal of a coil goes out for an inch or so from the edges of the coil, as well as "down".

Another time a friend of mine dug for 20 min ...... and was nearly 2 ft. down! But the detector kept telling him there was a target. FINALLY he found what it was: a barrel hoop that was only 1" deep, barely obsured from view. His detector was a CZ6, which is more of a "beep or no beep" type machine, that simply gave the "beep" as the center of the big target, which was the center of the barrel hoop. So he had been digging a hole right through the center, while the target was on the top of the whole time! :)

So a good thing to do, is hook up with someone proficient and experienced. Trade off signals, and compare. Pretty soon, you'll recognize various oddities. Or.... as you're doing, go the school of hard-knocks (we've all been there). And Susan is right: a pinpointer (especially the in-line sunray types) are great!
 

jeff of pa

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for me it's a Judgement call.

Location; could someone be watching me ? Could they care if I'm to my waste in a hole ?

Do I have the energy and equipment to keep going ?

If gas or oil starts Squirting, can I run fast enough to avoid
an explosion & arrest ? :tongue3:
If I hit a China'man , or Aussie on his big toe, would it be considered an international incident ?
& at what depth do I need a passport ?
 

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bbcamay

bbcamay

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Dec 29, 2012
138
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Summerville, SC
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I am fairly new but have gotten pretty good at just the basics. I was using an ACE 250 in an open field with no junk distractions. I got a faint hit, so I knew it would be deep. When I pinpointed it with the detector it said it would be 4-6 inches down. I went well below it and around it but got nothing. Finally I had to quit because the sun went down and I couldn't see a thing. I am bummed. It's been a sucky couple of days of hunting for me. Yesterday I hunted for a solid 8 hours and came up with 3 pennies and mounds of crap. I love reading everyone's posts and it sounds like you all do very well. At this point I would just be grateful for a wheatie!
 

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bbcamay

bbcamay

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Dec 29, 2012
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Oh and I did order a cheap pinpointed and its on its way to me now, thank goodness!!
 

rustyman9791

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Sep 30, 2012
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I am fairly new but have gotten pretty good at just the basics. I was using an ACE 250 in an open field with no junk distractions. I got a faint hit, so I knew it would be deep. When I pinpointed it with the detector it said it would be 4-6 inches down. I went well below it and around it but got nothing. Finally I had to quit because the sun went down and I couldn't see a thing. I am bummed. It's been a sucky couple of days of hunting for me. Yesterday I hunted for a solid 8 hours and came up with 3 pennies and mounds of crap. I love reading everyone's posts and it sounds like you all do very well. At this point I would just be grateful for a wheatie!

Stick with it. It may be all in your location. When you find and area that is good and never been hit by a detector, then the Fun begins.
 

releventchair

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May 9, 2012
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Depth and target i.d. on display can be tricky sometimes. I appreciate when detector tells me there is something round that may be a certain coin and try to smile after recovering an eyelet off a tennis shoe. A pinpointer will be a help for sure. Most of what i have dug deep stayed there. A copper line partner and i each had coin tones on about 3 feet apart and a square plate about 50 yards away that were from a long ago drinking fountain in a park. Stick with it,you are making finds!
After enough recoveries, or your next could be a very special one.
 

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bbcamay

bbcamay

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Dec 29, 2012
138
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jeff of pa said:
for me it's a Judgement call.

Location; could someone be watching me ? Could they care if I'm to my waste in a hole ?

Do I have the energy and equipment to keep going ?

If gas or oil starts Squirting, can I run fast enough to avoid
an explosion & arrest ? :tongue3:
If I hit a China'man , or Aussie on his big toe, would it be considered an international incident ?
& at what depth do I need a passport ?

My thinking a exactly.
 

Tom_in_CA

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Mar 23, 2007
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Rustyman is right. It sounds like you have poor locations. because if you dug "mounds of crap", then it wasn't as if you were lacking signals. So you need to find a better hunting location.

Example : my buddies and I researched out an old country picnic site (1880s to 1920s usage ). Since there atad never been any structures or buildings there (strictly picnics and before the advent of aluminum etc ...), it seemed as if every signal was an old coin . Only an occasional bullet shell now and then :).

So go find a better friend location with less trash and more coins. You can also increase your discrimination knob to knock out more junk, if you're in an area with a lot of surface trash, and just want to find some coins.
 

GrizLeeBear

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Jan 18, 2013
555
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I am fairly new but have gotten pretty good at just the basics. I was using an ACE 250 in an open field with no junk distractions. I got a faint hit, so I knew it would be deep. When I pinpointed it with the detector it said it would be 4-6 inches down. I went well below it and around it but got nothing. Finally I had to quit because the sun went down and I couldn't see a thing. I am bummed. It's been a sucky couple of days of hunting for me. Yesterday I hunted for a solid 8 hours and came up with 3 pennies and mounds of crap. I love reading everyone's posts and it sounds like you all do very well. At this point I would just be grateful for a wheatie!

It sounds like we do well because we all don't tell about ALL our bad days. We will mention a few now and again as an example, but for the most part we prefer to talk about the good times.
 

GrizLeeBear

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Jan 18, 2013
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The more time you spend in a dry hole, the less time you have in the day to find productive holes. I dig a little on almost all signal hits. Right now I am in dry, rocky soil and the signal often changes after I scrape the surface a little. I like to see the signal move, that could mean I moved the target, like when the signal goes from the hole to the dirt pile. I am also a firm believer in knowing the soil type. You can plant a silver dime in four different locations and get four different signals. I was at a site last week where my discriminator kept telling me I was on a silver dollar. Each time it did that I found a clad dime. The key here was that I got a good, strong, consistant signal right over the target. What I hate is when I get a signal swinging left to right, but not right to left. With my machine that is almost always trash. Finally, soil can take on the characteristics of metal. You bury a small nail and leave it until it rusts away. You can still get a hit. Then when you dig around some you break it up and the signal goes away.

Hang in there and the hits will start for you as it does most. I know we all dream of that tea-pot full of old gold coins, be very few ever find them. As the others said, put some planning and research into locating good spots.
 

63bkpkr

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Aug 9, 2007
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bbcamay,
You have a simple detector that many others have and find good targets with. You have a useable pin pointer on the way. You are finding targets though at certain times you have phantom targets that go away or that your detector is telling you are still there. This is a bothersome situation and sure could sour a person on detecting but all of us have had this type of signal and, alas, we will have them again. Seems it's part of detecting

The phantom targets could be pieces of metal that have changed color so they look just like the ground. One possibility is to bring a magnet to lift out any magnetic pieces and eliminate them from the target area. I would suggest keeping the magnet inside of a plastic bag so it does not become littered with small metal filings that are tough to get off.

It has been suggested that you just need to find better places to detect but where? You want to go to any location that was a natural draw for people. The ages of people determine how many show up there and what you find there. Example: children say from 3 years of age to about 7 play mostly at home in and about the yard. If there are no trees then grid the area and swing low and slow. If there is a tree or more than one do trees first then grid the yard! You will find whatever the kids have been playing with and often they played with coins or had them in there pockets when they climbed up into the tree but the coins were gone when the kid got back to the ground (maybe hanging upside down is not a good idea if you want to keep your coins in your pockets). When kids get older they find trees to play in away from home. All people young or old go to trees seeking shelter to read/sleep/talk/etc. - trees are a natural draw. Church fields/fairgrounds/sports fields/race tracks/Drive in Theaters and the like draw all sorts of folks.

If you want to increase your chances of finding older coins, look for the tallest trees in town and go there. Various Clubs often have a lawn area associated with them: Elks Lodge/Masonic Order/etc. Also, any construction site that disturbs an old sidewalk or removes the cement sidewalk needs to be detected!! That is where I found my first Gold Ring!! Also, the ground underneath the clothes line is anothe spot where pants were turned upside down and the coins would fall out of the pockets.

What helps to find good targets - your personal knowledge of your machine is the first and most important thing you can do to increase your targets and to learn to recognize good targets! If you have a yard at home or available to you plant a "test Garden" of various coins and some of the most typical trash items you are finding. Leave a good three to four feet between targets and for starters plant the targets about 3 inches deep. Lay coins flat as well as vertically on edge. Have a map of your garden and label the location of each target with the targets identity and configuration(vertical, horizontal). After the targets are in place water the area to help settle the soil. Oh be very neat and tidy with the holes for your targets as grass will die easily and you do not want that to happen! Practice, practice, practice, practice, etc. and never stop practicing and learning about your machine. I do not know how many settings you have available though I suspect it might just be the discrimination dial but, if you choose, for any adjustments you should learn how the adjustments affect each other, the depth of detection, the sound the target makes, as the discrimination is increased at what point the target is no longer detected and just pay attention to everything you and the detector are doing. Dry ground gives a different signal than does wet ground for any particular target, wet ground usually gives a better signal. Oh, I don't know what part of the country you are in but if your area tends to have thunder storms then take your detector inside during the storm as the electronics might cause a lightning strike right AT you and the detector. Note: These three targets need to be in your test garden; horizontal nickel and a vertical nickel, an empty/dry small drinking water bottle with the lid on itabout 4 inches down. When you can find the niclels then you can find gold rings and
if you get a signal over the empty water bottle that will tell you if your machine finds hollows in the ground (think gopher/mole tunnels).
At the moment these are the suggestions that I've been able to drag from my tired brain. The best of luck to you with your quest and remember to practice and to let your mind think about where you are hunting at to suggest where to try looking at.
............63bkpkr
 

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Twinkletoes

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If you look down the hole and see sky...STOP DIGGING! :)

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signal

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Apr 30, 2011
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Oh and I did order a cheap pinpointed and its on its way to me now, thank goodness!!

You will likely regret buying a "cheap" pinpointer. A good pinpointer is 1) not that expensive compared to what you will pay for your detector, 2) something you will never have to upgrade and will likely last a LONG time, 3) will improve your finds, speed, and enjoyment in a way that is well worth the investment.

I got this "cheap" pinpointer for free with my kellyco purchase. The things is so god awful, I can't believe KellyCo, a great company, associated with it. That said, I quickly bought my Garrett ProPointer and am extremely happy.

Good luck to you and hopefully your pinpointer is better than I am giving it credit.
 

rainyday101

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Dec 1, 2012
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As a general rule of thumb, when I am in the hole and the ground is at eye level and I still don't have the target, I quit digging. Bear in mind the depth of the hole will vary depending on your height. :laughing7:
 

Tnmountains

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for me it's a Judgement call.

Location; could someone be watching me ? Could they care if I'm to my waste in a hole ?

Do I have the energy and equipment to keep going ?

If gas or oil starts Squirting, can I run fast enough to avoid
an explosion & arrest ? :tongue3:
If I hit a China'man , or Aussie on his big toe, would it be considered an international incident ?
& at what depth do I need a passport ?


Thats hilarious !!
 

bbells

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Jan 5, 2013
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I always how deep I am going to dig depending on the location before I start. Yes, I do miss some deeper targets, but sometimes digging a bigger hole just isn't kosher.
 

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