Gold isn’t pulltab range anymore

Folks. Don't just dig numbers. Listen to the tones and tonal quality too to get a better mental picture of what might be under the coil. Bouncy numbers and flutey tones usually mean junk. Use the built-in pinpointer to get a better idea of the size and depth of the target. Use the all metal (horseshoe) button to listen for telltale ferrous tones indicating possible rusty, mixed fertous junk. Listen for solid repeatable tones even if the number seems off. Dug this 17 VDI target because it was repeatable and solid. Nice little gold turtle pendant or charm. 17? Weird but it seemed like a solid dig me signal.

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Don't let the turtle cross the road, some idiot will try to run over it. If all else fails, dig it all. That's how I get the good stuff.
 

Don't let the turtle cross the road, some idiot will try to run over it. If all else fails, dig it all. That's how I get the good stuff.

You can’t dig it all in a public park it’s impossible. You wouldn’t leave a 5ft x 5 ft area.
 

Folks. Don't just dig numbers. Listen to the tones and tonal quality too to get a better mental picture of what might be under the coil. Bouncy numbers and flutey tones usually mean junk. Use the built-in pinpointer to get a better idea of the size and depth of the target. Use the all metal (horseshoe) button to listen for telltale ferrous tones indicating possible rusty, mixed fertous junk. Listen for solid repeatable tones even if the number seems off. Dug this 17 VDI target because it was repeatable and solid. Nice little gold turtle pendant or charm. 17? Weird but it seemed like a solid dig me signal.

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Good advice for me. I must admit I don’t take my time enough.
 

Ah well...different machines, different tones, different numbers, all the different target responses, meaning the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yet we still do it, year after year, perhaps there's something not quite right with us, and that is just fine, we love it. I'm in great company. Great good luck to you all on your next "detector therapy" session.
 

Ah well...different machines, different tones, different numbers, all the different target responses, meaning the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yet we still do it, year after year, perhaps there's something not quite right with us, and that is just fine, we love it. I'm in great company. Great good luck to you all on your next "detector therapy" session.

So true and it’s also a lot better then paying someone $100 a hour to listen to me ramble.
 

It all depends on the site for me, some warrant dig all just because they don't have the tremendous trash as some do. on the trashier sites, I will do as many do and cherry pick it 1st. then come back and dig those that were a little more iffy. but as V said, I try to dig tones. it may surprise you to have a very good tone that has a very low number, a number that you would think would be a low grunt type but ain't. yesterday I was again flipping back and forth on targets with my HF coil from 54 to 14 khz just to see the difference. I had found a "drinking spot" from all of the pull tabs and rings that I was finding. this was a lot of them for this site and I had this one signal that I even said to myself, "By the numbers, I'd put money that this is another tab/ring." well, I would have lost my money, it was a stainless bolt with washer. To me there is such a wide range of numbers for tabs and pull rings that cover too many good targets. yeah, in a very bad area, I have to take a break from them from time to time. My wife says that she is good for about 50-60 holes dug and then she is wore out. I try to get closer to a hundred but not always and sometimes a few more than that. I do feel for those that only are able to hunt city parks where the trash level can be super high. I tried to hunt my grandfather's old homeplace but one of my uncles lived in it for about thirty years...alcoholic and the place was almost solid aluminum LOL.
 

It’s impossible to dig all those numbers 1,2,7,8,11.... I tried today NEVER AGAIN.

All depends where you dig, the conditions, etc. I only hunt on the beach so its so easy to dig you dig it all. But if its very trashy, then you must pick and choose.
 

All depends where you dig, the conditions, etc. I only hunt on the beach so its so easy to dig you dig it all. But if its very trashy, then you must pick and choose.

Exactly I hunt a 1850 park so I find everything from CW Minnie balls, old silver to gold, trash and everything in between in hard ground at that. Phew is rough being a park hunter. I love the beach and it’s only 45 mins from my house, closer then the park, but it’s in Mississippi and not enough action happens there.
 

All depends where you dig, the conditions, etc. I only hunt on the beach so its so easy to dig you dig it all. But if its very trashy, then you must pick and choose.

Well you went and did it, wife said she sleeping in soooooo on my way to the beach. Lol

You planted a itch and now I GOTTA scratch it. Ugggh
 

You can’t dig it all in a public park it’s impossible. You wouldn’t leave a 5ft x 5 ft area.

So true, and the parks I hunt now are usually pretty old and abnormally trashy with a huge amount of iron mixed in.
I don't really go by just numbers and haven't for a long time, the tones and behavior I have observed over the years also factor in especially when hunting for gold.
I can't dig tons of trash anymore like I used to, I just don't have the time, energy or patience for it nowadays so I came up with certain rules for digging.
The numbers, the tones, the behavior on the screen are all part of the equation.
It is a high percentage method so it is possible I definitely could miss some great things but since I started doing it this way I still find more than my share of great treasure and I am happy.
What I miss I don't care about and I no longer let it bother me...I figure I will just find any treasure I missed another time.
I actually believe since I spend less time digging junk and more time digging the better more high percentage signals I think I have found more overall than if I would have dug way more trash but I had to learn my detectors real well to even attempt to do it this way.

It's all a numbers game to me, so far the numbers seem to be tipped a bit more in my favor.
At any rate I am much more rested and way less frustrated since deciding to do it this way.
 

Thank you for sharing! :occasion14:
 

So true, and the parks I hunt now are usually pretty old and abnormally trashy with a huge amount of iron mixed in.
I don't really go by just numbers and haven't for a long time, the tones and behavior I have observed over the years also factor in especially when hunting for gold.
I can't dig tons of trash anymore like I used to, I just don't have the time, energy or patience for it nowadays so I came up with certain rules for digging.
The numbers, the tones, the behavior on the screen are all part of the equation.
It is a high percentage method so it is possible I definitely could miss some great things but since I started doing it this way I still find more than my share of great treasure and I am happy.
What I miss I don't care about and I no longer let it bother me...I figure I will just find any treasure I missed another time.
I actually believe since I spend less time digging junk and more time digging the better more high percentage signals I think I have found more overall than if I would have dug way more trash but I had to learn my detectors real well to even attempt to do it this way.

It's all a numbers game to me, so far the numbers seem to be tipped a bit more in my favor.
At any rate I am much more rested and way less frustrated since deciding to do it this way.

I gonna have to do the same and lay off this Louisiana coffee with chickory it makes me nuts :)
 

I did some testing on my CTX 3030 with gold coins I bought, including some tiny California fractional coins in $1/4, $1/2, and $1. What I verified was that even high karat gold will ring up lower as size decreases. The smallest coin rang up as 12-02. A $5 US gold was around 12-35 so certainly would not be mistaken for trash. If I remember, the US $1 rang up around 12-08.
 

Exactly I hunt a 1850 park so I find everything from CW Minnie balls, old silver to gold, trash and everything in between in hard ground at that. Phew is rough being a park hunter. I love the beach and it’s only 45 mins from my house, closer then the park, but it’s in Mississippi and not enough action happens there.

I agree trashy parks are really difficult. You sort of need to decide WHAT you are looking for and dig those targets... your imagination can run wild and leave you in one spot digging a million pull tabs. I rarely look for jewelry in trashy areas, I focus on solid coin signals or small solid repeatable signals.

The more I learn 50 tones the more useful it's become.
 

Gold isn't pulltab range anymore

:Excerpt from digger27's post #15 on page #1 of this thread.

I use very little disc when hunting nowadays but even if I do about as high as I ever go is that 20-21 freshness seal foil area on anything I swing because of the lesson I learned on that white gold ring.
If you want to consider yourself a true gold hunter you are insane to use any more disc than that or believe that gold won't come in that low because it does...often.
It has for me, anyway.
Other gold could easily come in below those numbers too, broken rings, smaller pieces, but in a very trashy public site you have to draw the line somewhere or at least I do because digging tons of trash isn't my thing anymore.
Still like to find gold, though, so that freshness seal area on disc is pretty much my line in the sand when jewelry hunting.

The real range for looking for gold is pretty much...everything.
From iron on tiny pieces and chains up to about the quarter to half dollar area for large, pure jewelry pieces or the bigger gold coins.
If anyone has given up on a spots that only hunted them with disc a little below nickel or up and thinks there couldn't possibly be any precious metals hiding there please tell me where these sites are and I will be eternally grateful.
I don't seem to have gathered enough gold in my career quite yet.

digger27,

This thread and your above statement colored blue substantiates what you have always taught us, that when using the Compadre "thumbing the disc dial Up and Down" method, we still have to pay close attention to the audio tone and signal characteristics before making a decision to dig or not and even sometimes the characteristics can fool us and we have to rely on our "digging instincts". It's not always just a matter of where the signal fades out and back in relative to the console labels ALL METAL, IRON, FOIL, 5¢, Pull Tab, 1¢ ZN and MAX.

I just thought this would be a good reminder to those still learning the tips and tricks for better success with the Mighty Compadre !


ToddB64
 

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Hi Digger27 !

With reference to the next-to-last paragraph of your post #15, where you are referring to the disc. setting and say "about as high as I ever go is that 20-21 freshness seal foil area", I decided to run tests with my Tesoro Compadre and Teknetics Gamma 6000 digital TID, to see what signals these would report on (4) sample freshness seals shown in the attached photo below. I peeled seal #1 from a new bottle of CQ-10 and #2, 3 and 4 were all dug previously and saved as future test samples.

Test results are listed below and were performed in the yard behind my apartment and test setup conditions were as follows:

⦁ Gamma used in AM mode to find clean area and Ground Balanced using the automatic "Ground-Grab" which gave a reading of 53 (Yellow clay with moderate mineralization).

⦁ Grass pulled to make bare spot of earth, all freshness seals layed flat on earth, silver side up for individual tests.

⦁ Gamma setup: Coil Teknetics 5" DD that was on detector from recent hunt at trashy park, Disc. mode, Disc. level 01, Sens. 94 (no sound), Tones at 2, Volume at Max. 10.

⦁ Compadre (5.75" Coil) operation: Hunting in All Met. mode. When hearing target signal thumbing the dial up the arc a little ways past where the target signal fades out, then thumbing back down and listening to the signal when the target "comes in".

⦁ Coils scanned slowly approx. 2" above each of the four seals and readings recorded as follows: Gamma 49-50 (Just passed the "L" in FoiL). Compadre (slowly thumbing dial back down) dug seals #2, 3 and 4 gave some crackle sound when dial indicator reached the F in FoiL, then signal came in strong a hair below the F. The new seal #1 just came in strong a hair below the F and no crackle sound.

Regarding the Gamma Disc. Level, my usual setting for hunting trashy parks has been 39-40, but in the future I'm going to drop that to 20 - 24 in the Foil sector; don't want to miss any gold jewelry ! :wink:

HH !

ToddB64
 

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Folks. Don't just dig numbers. Listen to the tones and tonal quality too to get a better mental picture of what might be under the coil. Bouncy numbers and flutey tones usually mean junk. Use the built-in pinpointer to get a better idea of the size and depth of the target. Use the all metal (horseshoe) button to listen for telltale ferrous tones indicating possible rusty, mixed fertous junk. Listen for solid repeatable tones even if the number seems off. Dug this 17 VDI target because it was repeatable and solid. Nice little gold turtle pendant or charm. 17? Weird but it seemed like a solid dig me signal.

View attachment 1589432

Yeah it's easy to say when you are digging a 17 solid tone. There are plenty of solid quality tones all the way down to 2 which are nothing but foil.
 

Yeah it's easy to say when you are digging a 17 solid tone. There are plenty of solid quality tones all the way down to 2 which are nothing but foil.

The point was people seem to focus solely on VDI, when the tone (especially in 50 tones) and other techniques will often help paint the whole picture on the target. Are you still going to dig round aluminum freshness seals and pull tabs? Of course. But the smaller pieces, especially the non-symmetric shards and bent pieces will sometimes give a more distorted tone than a solid symmetric or round object. Also, the thinner target tones sound more hollow than solid, thicker metal targets like coins and rings. Aluminum cans ring up nice, use the pinpointer to gage the size and you will realize it ain't a quarter. Of course, the only way to be 100% certain is to dig it all. If you are doing that, then it really doesn't much matter what the VDI is. Might as well be in two tone. HTH
 

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