To Dig or Not to Dig???

[PA John]

I seem to read that just about all the guys and girls on this site dig just about everything?

I guess this is a survey of how much you try to discriminate out and how much you just dig everything.

Share you knowledge and experience for all.

 

[DES OK]

For me it depends on certain things, where I'm hunting, if I'm looking for specific things, how much time I have...
In other words I don't always dig every hit, but sometimes I do...

Dan 8)

 

[ArkieGold]

Dig it!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

When you see people write "dig it all", trust me, they mean "dig it all .... above iron"

An exception might be extreme relic sites (like some CW sites) where they truly do farm out every paperclip, nail, etc... because they want iron relics too. Or on the beach with a pulse, etc.... But ordinarily, on land, persons will at least knock out iron.

 

[shaun7]

i try not to dig iron!

 

[gametalman52]

North Georgia, I diggggg it allllll !

 

[seger98]

There are some spots that if I dug everything, I'd be there all day digging nails. Try not to dig iron unless I'm in a fur trade site & then I will dig everything.



Chris

 

[muleskinner]

depends on the site. If it's my typical celler hole I dig everything until I prove there is an abundance of square nails, then I discriminate. You have to get a feel for he individual site.
I'm sure I have left some good stuff behind.

 

[johnnycat]

I try to trust my machine as much as I can. If it's telling me solidily that it's not what I'm looking for I won't dig it. I too have probably left some good targets behind. However, when I'm searching a new old place I'll dig all good solid signals.

 

[King-John]

It depends on site, if you are at a site that dates back, and you think you might have a chance at relics dig everything. In other spots I dig everything from high foil on up. The find below I almost passed up because I was tired of digging Pull-Tabs, this read solid Pull-Tab.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Hmm just think, that iron reading may just be a tin can or iron box full of gold coins or jewelry. sigh.

~ D I G E M A L L ~

Digging up 100 pull tabs or caps, is worth it if one indication turns out to be a can full of gold.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[DanB]

DIG EM ALL......ALL signals strong or weak........even if it says junk.....sometimes cash is under junk....2 for1......DIG EM ALL



db

 

[MeAndMyAce]

I dig everything!

Still getting familiar with my machine.

Sue

 

[PA John]

Hmm just think, that iron reading may just be a tin can or iron box full of gold coins or jewelry. sigh.

~ D I G E M A L L ~

Digging up 100 pull tabs or caps, is worth it if one indication turns out to be a can full of gold.

Don Jose de La Mancha

This is a great point! I have also read a story in the "Best Of" section that a guy found an old lunch box full of silver coins that was a solid iron signal. I guess you never know what could be under or inside of that iron that is being passed up!! I have a feeling that these machines that we all swing will id the largest signal or target if they are stacked up. Maybe I will do some testing with my machine.

Thanks for your input.

 

[hollowpointred]

for me it depends on the site. if im at a park or a school with a lot of trash, i might only dig the good signals. likewise, if i am hunting a site that i have limited access to or a limited amount of time to devote to it i might only dig the solid "good sounding" targets. if i am at a place where i know old stuff can be found and the trash is not everywhere, then i will dig everything above iron, and iffy signals too.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

PA-john, be careful with the enticing logic of "the iron signal that turned out to be a lunchbox full of coins", blah blah.

The same thing/logic could be said of "a foil signal in a blighted urban park that turned out to be a diamond ring", etc...

On the surface, each of the illistrations above would seem to be fool-proof that you should 1) dig everything, even iron, because .... afterall, you never know if it's not an iron container of goodies, or iron masking something, etc..., 2) dig all foil, no matter how flitty and junky sounding, and no matter how junky/blighted a spot you are working, because afterall, gold jewelry shares foil range TIDs.

Here's the problem with this: Let's say you are playing blackjack in Las Vegas. You have 20 in your hand. Do you "take another hit", or do you "hold"? Of course you HOLD, right? But why? How do you KNOW that the dealer *might not* deal you a 1 card on his next deal? Afterall, you *might* loose the hand if the dealer has 21 in his hand, so SHOULDN'T you take another hit just to be sure?

You see, it's all in the odds: I can go dig 1000 large iron signals in an urban demolition site, or on the beach, or wherever, and odds are ...... 1000 of them will be just that: large iron. Sure, once in awhile there'll be a conductive item that was being masked, or better yet, once in awhile you hear of an iron box filled with something. But the trouble is, you will loose the black-jack analogy, because you will have merely driven yourself mad, in the preceeding 1000 digs or whatever.

And for the foil/small gold analogy, (beaches excepted), I once hunted with a fellow who considered it fool-hearty to pass any little teensy foil, "lest he miss a gold ring". Well this fellow was seeing me come in with some barbers and such from a certain park, so I took him with me one day. He figured he could "have the best of both worlds" (old coins and turf jewelry both), by "digging all". He lasted about 30 minutes, and finally got to "cherry picking" a little, when he realized he was never going to get out of a circle 10 ft. square, and would likely get us both kicked out of the park d/t several holes every foot.

I know this sounds horrifying to some types hunters, like some hardcore CW hunters, who do indeed even dig the nails and such, or beach hunters, who have no trouble with the occasional beach nails, etc.... But other land and turf hunters will know what I'm talking about. Sometimes the person who "comes in at the end of the day" with the nicest picks, is the person who didn't spend all day digging trash & iron. Sometimes it simply isn't possible to "have it both ways".

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Tom, in general I agree 100% with you, since I am not involved in detecting in inner city areas. Most of the original ground in there has been buried under yeah many meters of top fill brought in from who knows where over the years., and subjected to heavy usage by people that may not be particularly well trained in manners or cleanliness's..

However, in the "outlying areas" did em. unless you are primerely interested in coins and similar artifacts.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[jlb783]

I knock out iron unless I go to a CW site which I haven't.... yet

 

[shaun7]

It depends for me on how hard I have already hunted the site. If it's a new site I start by discriminating just the lower metals like Iron, Foil and if it's an older site that I've already worked pretty hard I'll even leave Iron in. It's been my experience that coins, even silver ones will mimic Iron signals at greater than 6 inch depths. But I also use some other techniques to rule out such things as Iron ghosts.Like stomping the ground or Lifting the coil.

what is stomping the ground

 

[godisnum1]

When it's the normal parks and such, I'm guilty of not digging iron. When it's a civil war site, like the lost fort that I had the privilege of detecting with my fiancee's father yesterday, the iron shouldn't be overlooked... even if we walked away with a bag FULL of square nails!!! Only one mini ball shot... but it made the day and all those nails (and stupid shotgun caps) worth it!!!!

Bran <><