Breaking the habit

[jf504mp]

Okay, here's the deal. I love metal detecting. Last summer I did allot of camping and tecting. Great you say? oh yes it sure is. Trouble is, I lack the patients when it comes to fining the older coins. I set out thinking, this will be the day I dig one that is really old. I always wind up digging the best signals.

I have a Whites XLT and it is a nice one. I think it is telling me there are older items down there but I don't seem to get to them. I hear faint signals and a few times I have tired them but haven't found anything that keeps me at it.....any ideas on what I should do to break this habit?

John

 

[shaun7]

i don't know about the whites, but i have learned not to ignore those faint signals

 

[MD Dog]

Tenacity is a requirement for this sport. Mind you it is only a sport if you dig those iffy signals. But the payoff goes beyond the good finds you'll get diggin those pesky iffy signals. It is the older coins that are deper than six inches that your machine may not recognize as silver or even gold so it may just give you an iffy signal. But beyond those rewards comes the hundreds of deep knee bends that have all kinds of healthy benefits.

P.S. on another note, if your really lacking in older finds it is usually just because of your location. Good Research is another aspect of this that makes it even more than a sport. If your serious about this beyond the weekend hunt then good research and digging those iffy signals as well as the iron signals in the right circumstances will pay off big.

 

[lamar]

Dear jf504mp;
I have one sure-fire method that has always worked for me:

"Dig 'em all!"

That's my method my friend. If it SEEMS to be a signal then I dig it up, at least until I have a resolution to what's causing the signal. Sometimes I can scrape a few inches of soil away and determine if the signal is a hot rock or not, but if the signal increases, even slightly, then I DIG DIG DIG!
Your friend;
LAMAR

 

[Jerry-Wi]

Well it certainly is not a matter of lacking for good equipment. Your detector will find plenty of silver or whatever. First you have got to take the time and learn the machine well. I know several people who at one point were so frustrated with their machine, not finding anything, not pinpoint anything, etc, etc, that they came close to qiving up metal detecting completely. They stuck with it and now are more than holding their own. There is a definate learning period that we must all go through. The 100 hours learning period mentioned in some books is not unreasonable. Older coins will come when you least expect it. The bottom line, stick with it and most of all...... enjoy!

Jerry

 

[Tom_in_CA]

John, I would digress from Lamar's advice ("Dig them all"), in the type hunt spots you're talking about. That advise is good for relicky type environments, of course. But for campgrounds, parks, etc... and other places where the surface is bound to have clad, tabs, etc..., here's what will happen: When you're digging the loud "BONGS" your ears become subconsciously tuned to *just* those targets.

You said it yourself, when you said (and I quote): ".... I always wind up digging the best signals"

Here's an example: I was once park hunting with a fellow who really wanted to find some older coins. He watched in envy as I pulled up wheaties, silver, etc... Meanwhile, he's "digging everything". By the end of each hunt, he might have perhaps a single wheatie, but I'd have 10 or 15 old coins! When I suggested he pass up all the shallow stuff, and ONLY go for whispers, he bristled at the suggestion. He reasoned "why do that, when the clad adds up eventually, and I may get shallow jewelry, and I'll have the 'best of both worlds'?" On the surface, that objection sounds logical. But in reality, what happens is, you spend all your time digging clad and shallow junk, and your ears never become tuned to the deeper whispers. It's a subconscious reaction to gravitate to the loud bongs, if you're not discluding them in your mental patterns. It becomes very difficult to favor the whispers, when you're digging all, as you eventually mentall don't even hear them! Contrast to passing all the loud stuff, and ...... after awhile, it's as if you mentally don't even hear the shallow stuff, since your mind has become so focused on hearing the correct whispers.

Like I say, this only applies to places like modern turf, campgrounds, etc... where surface modern stuff abounds, and you want to get the deeper older coins. I would never apply this to relicky type sites.

 

[Goodyguy]

I assume you are using headphones. Right?
If you are in the habit of not using them then, Break That Habit!
You wont even be able to hear the deep silver without good headphones.

GG~

 

[scrubber]

When you're digging the loud "BONGS" your ears become subconsciously tuned to *just* those targets.

Yes Tom, I think you're absolutely right about how we mentally zero in on just the loud targets. That's a bad habit to start, especially when there's nothing to restrict one (except laziness) from digging deeper. I try not to fall into that trap.

scrubber

 

[pookie-princess of rust]

would that be for all machines, or just certain ones??

 

[gmanlight]

There are a few schools near me that use to spit out old coins before i got it to this hobby.
Now i go there just to practice and maybe just get lucky .I don't dig anything less than
6 + inches except quarters Hit my first Buffalo nickel at 8in near the swings .
Give me one oldie instead of a hand full of clad any day .But that's just me.
Mike