How deep till you call off hunt?

Hogtown Hunter · Mar 14, 2020

I was working an empty lot the other day. Got a hit on my Equinox at 5 bars deep so started digging and digging. Pinpointer is screaming but still nothing. Then I hit something. Dug with my hand for a minute and realized I had hit a large old copper pipe. Almost poked hole in this thing with shovel. It could have been abandoned I don't know? Maybe water line. Not sure. My brother works for the gas company and freaks out about hitting water,gas or electrical lines. So I'm pretty much giving up anything in the vicinity of utilities and over 10-12". I have found large objects(plow) this deep but nothing small like a coin past 10". Just wondering if anyone has similar stories and at what point is too deep.

Digger_O'Dell · Mar 14, 2020

For me that can depend on the location. Parks usually stop at around a foot. But one mid 1800s church yard had really soft ground and finds were really deep. At one point I was digging on a tiny blip, CTX with 17" coil. Almost gave up at around 18", but then got a better signal as I went deeper, and pinpointer blipped around 20. Couple more inches revealed my first large cent! Quite rare in my area of the upper midwest, and certainly worth the stubbornness to get it.
Another time beach hunting on the treasure coast in Florida. Lots of replenished sand, so targets were really deep. Using my GPX4800 and 18" mono coil, I get really tired of digging sinkers and pennies at 4 plus feet! LOL

smokeythecat · Mar 14, 2020

Just over two feet is too deep. I have dug shipwreck copper coins at 15-18" deep and an 8 reale silver cob, a big one at about the same depth.

On the Brandywine, PA battlefield years ago I dug a 3 pound cannon ball at just over 25". It was so deep I had a hard time getting it out of the ground.

Silver quarters at 12" in most soils near me are no biggie.

Charlie P. (NY) · Mar 14, 2020

Hereabouts the frost line is 18" and most services are deeper than that.

I'm a coin shooter and I think 13" is about as deep as I have ever pulled one (Kennedy Half in an area that river-floods that I initially thought might be a large cent). But when I'm out away from "civilization" I will go deeper. I pulled a unexplained/unexplainable 1" piece of what looked like 1/4" aluminum wire from 18". Also a semi-modern aluminum pie-tin from 24" (what a bummer that was).

trdking · Mar 15, 2020

for me it depend s on how hard the dirt is

ToddsPoint · Mar 15, 2020

That's why I hate detecting people's yards. I invariably get a high VDI signal deep. To go more that a foot in someone's yard, you really have to dig a wide hole. Not good. I like my farm fields better. One neighbor farmer told me if I find something too deep to dig with my shovel, just come and get his backhoe! Rural life is the life for me! Gary

Trezurehunter · Mar 18, 2020

When in a park or wooded area or field, to deep for me, is when I'm just flat tired of digging. I keep it at around 8 inches when in a private yard where utility lines could be.

pa-dirt_nc-sand · Mar 18, 2020

Here is my experience with the Nox on deep targets. When I get a loud deep high tone I wave my coil 8” off the ground, if it is still there I pass as it is most likely a large chunk of metal or pipe. But if I pinpoint and the deep high tone is small and consistent I dig a big 6” deep plug and swing again. If it now becomes too loud or big I pass. If it is still small I dig down another 6”. And use a handheld pinpointer to isolate. Still sometimes fooled with copper pipes though. 12” deepest coin in dirt for me.