Disappointed by an old park...

[JeepGuy]

So I've been researching this park on the North side of town for a few days and decided to give it a try. It's in a "less shiny" area of town across from a group of cemetary lots, but seemed like it'd worth the trip. After all, the park had been there for 60 years or so. There is currently a neighborhood ballfield and an old water tower slab as well. After about 30-45 minutes I was overwhelmed by the consistant overload tone set off by the TONS of junk in the ground. It was unbelievable! There wasn't a 6-inch stretch in the park that didn't have pull tabs, bottle caps, or some type of wire just under the surface (or ON the surface). As I realized that I was pretty much doing community service for the thousands of folks that decided that the ground was the best place for their trash, my excitement died and I called it quits.
What's the general concensus when it comes to trashed areas like this? Just avoid? Any tips?

 

[NolanTheExplorer]

I drove an hour today to check out some very old abandoned homes in the country.I too was hitting junk every two inches.It drove Me crazy!I guess these Rednecks just threw everything out in the yard!As I was leaving the last place,I got a flat tire.Had to buy a new tire.Not very profitable.

sounds like it could be karma

 

[batcap]

Everyone has days like that. Don't write off that park! Try slowing way, way down. Yesterday, in the same park that I've gone over more than twice with each of two previous detectors, I found a bottle cap, 4 rusty nails, 2 hot rocks and 8 wheat cents from 1938-1952(pocket spill) . . . all in the same hole.

In the hour between the time I pulled out the detector and when it got too dark to continue I never made it 10' from my car at the curb. Also, I passed over and shrugged off digging at least a dozen targets that seemed too iffy to bother with. When I push the pinpointer button on my detector it just comes on and stays on over unreasonably large areas.

Sometime just as an experiment, in really trashy areas, just stand in one place and sweep slowly back and forth until you find one target that might be worth digging. Dig that target and keep digging until there are no more targets left in that hole. Now you can take another step and swing again.

Make a game of it. You must choose one target to dig every pace. In my neighborhood, that could be 5 or more new targets every single step.

What happens when you're overwhelmed by so many targets? My first inclination is to start cranking up the disc. First the nickels go because "They're probably just foil anyway." Then the zincolns, then the dimes because they're probably only copper cents. By this point I've got everything less than a quarter disc'ed out and I'm swinging madly and pacing around looking for "good" signals. Mostly I'm digging bottle caps with a few clad quarters.

I made up this game to stop feeling like I need to cover a certain area quickly. I don't know if your environmental conditions or your attitude to the overabundance of iffy signals is like mine. But if what I refer to above sounds at all familiar then take a break, relax, play my game once. See if you can enjoy it.

 

[JeepGuy]

What happens when you're overwhelmed by so many targets? My first inclination is to start cranking up the disc. First the nickels go because "They're probably just foil anyway." Then the zincolns, then the dimes because they're probably only copper cents. By this point I've got everything less than a quarter disc'ed out and I'm swinging madly and pacing around looking for "good" signals. Mostly I'm digging bottle caps with a few clad quarters.

That pretty much summarizes my experience at this place. Thanks to all the advice, I'm now actually looking forward to going back.