Great producing site.......how would you hunt it?

[Happa54]

Hey Everyone….

I have been working a site that at one time had a couple dozen homes and streets on it. I knew I found a good site as I could see structures on early 1900’s topo maps and images from 1940’s Netronline maps. The whole area was razed early 1950’s. In all total probably 30-40 acres.

Everything that goes into a home is in the ground here. They hauled the lumber away but bulldozed all the smaller stuff into the ground. Nails, slag, aluminum, tin, tiles, screws, bolts, iron pipes, pull tabs, furniture & appliance parts, auto parts, lots of broken bottles with their old caps attached and tons and tons of iron.….pretty much everything you find in a home and garage is buried here.

I dig pull tab, bottle cap and zinc signals because I don’t want to miss the relics, which many come in between 17-21 TID range. Here, I don’t let the size of a target fool me. I dig signals/targets that I would not dig elsewhere…any size and shape. I don’t however, dig targets in the TID range of -1 to 10. And depending on stability of tone, I may or not dig TID range of 15 to 17. Yes, I am missing targets in these ranges but there are just too many to dig. Someday, I’ll start digging within these ranges. All nickel & high CO tones, I dig.

I hunt primarily in Park 1, rec spd 3, all metal, 50 tones, 0 IB, sens varies (18-22). I use a slight threshold and lower the iron volume just slightly. The mineralization for this area hovers around 8-15. I pump for GB and rarely need auto tracking here.

I work this site approx. 2 hours per week, and have been working it for over a year now. I figured that I will be in and out of this site for a couple more years to come. It is my go-to-site.

Thus far, I’ve dug mercs, rosies, silver GW, wheats, 2 V niks, 1 barber dime, 3 indians, ’35 walker half, dateless SLQ, ’03 mexican silver 5 cent piece, 2 war niks, buttons, various tokens, old badges, rings/jewelry, etc, etc, etc. My buddy dug a 1850’s quarter, US and Canadian silver dimes here as well. Yesterday dug a dirty war nik buried under a piece of concrete slab.

I haven’t purchased the 6” coil yet but I do know its effectiveness since I use one on my Safari. The 6” coil could increase my finds but I am too confident at this time with the stock 11”.

Based on what I’ve described, what would you do differently? Or, what do you think I should be doing differently? Right now, I’m grabbing for suggestions, a different method or settings with my Nox that will enhance or increase my effectiveness here. I’m convinced from what this site has produced thus far, that there is a Barber quarter or a Shield Nik here… and I’m gonna find em. Surprised I haven’t dug a Buffalo here…yet.

There is a lot of masking going on here, and I move my coil low and slow and cover very little ground at a time. It’s just this kind of site. There are a lot of hidden keepers at this site. I have found that moving too quickly and not analyzing signals, you are missing a keeper, of something or another.

I look forward to your feedback.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[CoinFetcher]

You could drop your recovery speed one notch, and go a little slower. Dig repeating signal. Hard to say what VDI and below you’d want to ignore. But if it was in the teens, I’d be digging it

 

[saanich2018]

Great finds!

 

[Bayoutalker]

Looks like your are doing great so far. I don't know that I would change anything except going to the 6"coil. It sounds like you have access to the area for a long time so I wouldn't rush through and miss something good. You never know what is being masked by the stuff you aren't digging. I know it is a lot of digging but could be well worth the effort.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I like your comment on “too confident with the 11””. Keep doing what your doing. When finds start slowing down, then think about trying the 6” coil.

 

[Happa54]

Thanks for the feedback folks.

Coinfetcher: Yes, I run with 2 rec speed at times when the spread between targets is manageable. Since I have ample time to hunt this site, I'll eventually get to the TID's I'm not digging. I want to clean it out of certain targets and work my way towards the others....process of elimination. Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

Bayoutalker: I agree...need to eventually get a 6" for this place. If you could only imagine the trash I've taken out of this place.... could fill a dumpster. I've pulled 3' long steel pipes and fencing out of this place. In fact, I've injured my shoulder digging hard and deep here. But all-in-all, it's a great place to hunt and learn.

 

[Happa54]

I like your comment on “too confident with the 11””. Keep doing what your doing. When finds start slowing down, then think about trying the 6” coil.

Right on !!! Will do.... thnx for you comment.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Your settings are very close to what I use in my "hunted out" 220 acre park. It looks like it's working for you too, so I'd stick with it and go slowly. Sometimes different angles or directions, or right after a good rain will turn up some more goodies. I'm also confident with the 11" coil, I'm gonna wait for the 8-9" coil to come out.

 

[cudamark]

You're doing pretty much what I would do. I might also try bumping up the iron bias in some bad areas. I would also experiment using some other modes, like Field 2, which I like in some similar areas along with upping the iron bias. Good luck and let me know if you need any help up there! I'm only a couple of hours away!

 

[Iron Buzz]

Try dropping your sensitivity down to 16 or so sometime in the trashier areas. I've had that work for me in a much smaller, but very similar area.

 

[Happa54]

You're doing pretty much what I would do. I might also try bumping up the iron bias in some bad areas. I would also experiment using some other modes, like Field 2, which I like in some similar areas along with upping the iron bias. Good luck and let me know if you need any help up there! I'm only a couple of hours away!

I've been reluctant to use any amount of IB due to what I understand and have read about losing masked or iffy non-ferrous signals. When does one know if using IB is beneficial or not?

The next time you are in my neck of the woods Cuda, hit me up and I'll check my schedule for a hunt at this site.

 

[cudamark]

I toggle back and forth between detecting modes with different IB settings to see how much iron bias I need. Find a deep promising target and do some experimenting with various IB settings, then dig the target to see what it is. If a good target starts to get masked, you know the IB is getting too high. What part of LA are you?