Fear of digging deep.

[mikeraydj]

Where I live in Montana, park hunting is not illegal but barely tolerated. I try to keep good faith with the parks crews and the police. As some of you know I just bought an E-trac and have had some good success with it. 3 silver rings and one gold in a weeks time. Even a merc in one spot. Most of my finds have been shallower 4-6". Today I went to the trashy park that has been hit hard. I found a 1940 nickel and a couple of 1964 pennies. I have been hearing quite a few high tone signals in this park that are deep. But I have been passing them up because I don't want to dug a large deep hole to find them, for fear of getting kicked from the park and maybe getting the parks closed for detectorists. Plus I am not confident enough to know if I am going after silver or a deep piece of iron as it comes up like silver too. I know how to dig plugs and am good at returning the site to where you have to really look hard to tell I dug. I am thinking a good strategy would be to go early in the mornings for deep digging so the soccer moms don't freak out and call the cops. Do you E-trac owners have any advice as to how I can tell deep silver from deep iron so as to lessen my chances of wasting my time on a deep dig?

 

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[Xraywolf]

Not a Minelab owner but I hear ya, I feel very awkward digging trenches in public property.

I have been past my elbow in my own backyard, but I too have passed on promising signals precisely because I didn't want to dig a huge hole. In fact, often the only digging tool I carry is a 5 in 1 painters tool [excellent little digger], so I usually limit myself to plugs 6" deep max.
Now that I have a Deus that may change, but I still would rather not carry around a shovel in public places like a park/school yard. There are alot of deep diggers so will be interesting to hear their views. I suspect most don't feel awkward at all and dig away at those faint signals, and fill in the hole best that they can. I suppose there is not much sense of having a deep seeking machine and shy away from digging deep.

The only thing I'd suggest off the top of my head is carry around a towel or large frisbee to place the dug dirt, that way at least it doesn't get all over the grass and look messy.

 

[SD51]

Just a couple ideas since I agree with you about digging deep plugs when there are observers around...

I agree with not carrying a shovel and I try to dig the deepest, smallest "U" shaped plug as possible (assuming the dirt isn't totally dry) with my hand digging tool and tip it back out of the hole. Always place a cloth towel next to the hole and any dirt coming out of the hole goes onto the towel. Using the pinpointer, determine where the coin is as quickly as possible. Recover the coin and pour the dirt on the towel back into the hole. Carry a waterbottle with and squirt a little water onto the grass roots if it's very dry and position the plug back into the hole. Step onto the plug and it should look like no hole was ever dug there.

I know the waterbottle isn't always feasible because I can't carry gallons with. If someone questions me what I'm doing, I pull out some of the trash I found and they usually walk away.

 

[OWK]

Advice for hunting public parks.

1) Hunt early or late (while no people are otherwise using the park)
2) Don't carry a long shovel. (18 inches or less, and dig with your hands and not your feet)
3) Dig a good plug, and replace it cleanly
4) Cut your plug back in. (Once the plug is reinstalled, make small cuts at 90 deg. to the original cut, to loosen and re-blend the dirt of the original plug line)
5) Cutting in the replaced plug, keeps you from leaving dead plugs
6) It is generally better (if you think your target is deep) to cut a slightly larger plug. This keeps you from having to butcher the hole looking for targets in the side wall.
7) Gawk at your find later. Retrieve the target, fill the hole, and move on a little bit. Then examine your find in detail. The less time you spend in front of an open hole, the better.
8) Don't hunt when it's way too dry. (You'll exhaust yourself, get poor depth, and make it difficult not to ruin the grass).
9) Try not to work areas of the park that are used for sports, when sports are in season.
10) If you do these things, you won't hear complaints.

 

[mikeraydj]

One part of the question that hasn't been answered. What do you E-trac owners look and listen for on deep silver signals. I ask this because I have gone after what I thought was a deep silver signal only to find out is was a deep piece of wire, rusty bolt or aluminum can. I have found a merc deep, but haven't dug enough deep signal to know if the odds are good that I am digging a silver.

 

[villagenut]

I am not a Minelab user, but if I am searching an area where older coins are dug at four inches, then I am sure to dig any faint signal that passes under my coil,especially coin sized signals. Generally, you can tell if the site is junk iron infested before you dig any deep targets. We love deep targets, don't pass them by or you may regret it.

 

[cudamark]

One part of the question that hasn't been answered. What do you E-trac owners look and listen for on deep silver signals. I ask this because I have gone after what I thought was a deep silver signal only to find out is was a deep piece of wire, rusty bolt or aluminum can. I have found a merc deep, but haven't dug enough deep signal to know if the odds are good that I am digging a silver.

No real way to tell 100% unless you dig. After you've recovered a few, you should be able to tell by the sound and reading if it's likely to be one or the other. I find in my area with typically decent soil conditions that the iron numbers vary a lot more than silver numbers. Silver seems to be a bit more stable where the numbers only change a point or two while sweeping across the target (even if the numbers are lower than normal), whereas the iron target numbers dance around a bit more and sometimes null completely and then jump back with good numbers. You can also tell a bit by the size of the target. Deep iron with good sounds are generally a bigger target than a silver coin. The way I usually do this is to sweep forward up to where I just get the signal off the front of the coil, then swing the coil beyond the target and work it back until I get the signal again. If the edges of the coil would overlap, it's probably a good target deep. If there would be a gap between where the coils stopped, it's probably deep iron. Could be big silver too though! When in doubt, dig!

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Honestly, if all your coins so far have been 4-6 inches deep, what your hearing is probably deep iron targets. Not to say there isn't a chance for a deep silver coin just that most coins will tend to stay around the same depth. Unless it's an area that goes way back, you prob have just that one layer of coins. One spot I've detected now for 3 years had/has approx 300 years of dropped coins. Rosie's, Mercs, War nickels, Wheats @ 3-5", Barbers, Indians, Seated, Buffalos/Vnicks @ 4-8", Large cents, Half cents, and 1 half reale and 2 reale at approx 8-12". Some of the depth fluctuated of course as targets to sink/rise at diff rates. For the last year now I've been chasing DEEP "high" tones hoping for one last old coin however they have all been deep iron except for one large cent that was approx 12" deep. I can dig as deep and wide as I want at this location without any problems so believe me when I say I check every bump, beep, squeal, break, that I hear. Good luck, Mike

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Back when I lived in Ohio, with that black spongecake soil, I dug quite a few targets at 10+" Pinpointing with your coil is a very good skill to learn. But when you're talking that depth you try to be as close as possible. I dug many a hole down deep only to have to expand the size of the hole to the sides. I learned after mangling some soil, maybe it's just better to start your plug off larger than a normal hole. It all goes back together much nicer and has less chance of leaving an eyesore.

 

[beerguy]

I have a local field that I hit regularly. I have recovered a Morgan, halves, quarters, all deep in the ground.

Another Explorer user I have seen commented on the deep silver.

12-14 inch holes get dug and I often find the coin in the 'corner' of the hole indicating it was on edge.

OWK has a great list there, couldn't agree more, and I am going to start cutting my plugs and see what they look like over time.

I love learning stuff like that.

 

[timelord]

I have a Safari and one way to tell if your signal is iron or silver is to pinpoint before you dig. I have found that if it pinpoints off center it's iron, give it a try. If it's copper or better like silver it will pinpoint close to the center of your best sound. Most deep iron will always give a high tone when the edge of your coil passes beyond your target. Hope this helps. I have never found anything good when the pinpoint is to far off center.

 

[jadocs]

I used to be paranoid about carrying a shovel until ground conditions and many blisters on my palm forced me to do so. I carry and use my full sized Sampson shovel everywhere I go now and have not had any negative reactions from anyone. It's like carrying a gun for the first time as a licensed CCW. You think everyone sees it and it makes you paranoid. Soon you will realize it's no big deal and very little people care. As long as you leave the ground as you found it there should be no problem. This started out as a small hole and thought my target would only be 6-9" deep. The ground was hard as cement. Can you imagine digging this with a hand digger? It was a nice high tone too, but I was not about to walk away from something that could have been great.

 

[beerguy]

jadocs, that is quite a hole.

I do have to say I dig them just like that, but I am in the Pacific Northwest, and there is no denying grass wanting to grow when it is cool and raining.

 

[jadocs]

jadocs, that is quite a hole.

I do have to say I dig them just like that, but I am in the Pacific Northwest, and there is no denying grass wanting to grow when it is cool and raining.

You wouldn't believe how hard that ground was. I was using my full weight on the Sampson just to break prices off inside the plug. When I found out the target was a lot bigger that I thought I had to extend the size and do it all over again. There was no way a hand digger was going to do the job.