When the "easy" stuff is gone...what do YOU do?

Several of my sites are really drying up when it comes to any decent finds,a wheat penny is lowest on the scale of a "decent find". I've gone over a lot of the same ground with different coils and settings,different machines,different angles,different times of weather activity......the obvious stuff I know I can change and for various reasons may have some affect on finds. I find it tough to go search an area I know has been back filled and landscaped,as I've never had much success in such areas. When I see a tearout of any kind I check it out for sure,and have had mild success there.
What is the ONE SINGLE THING YOU CHANGE to bring a site back from the brink of saying ";&$@)& it", it just isn't worth it any more. I've thought about going into the low conductor realm but I don't feel I'm a good enough hunter to even have a chance,other than maybe trying in the obvious areas such as courts of any kind,river banks,etc.
When I say"ONE SINGLE THING" I mean what has made the biggest improvement in your experience?

Kevin

Larger coil after a rain has helped me, but not a cure all, I'm in the same spot my area has been hunted a lot, just keep looking I guess.

Just depends really but me personally I would go find other sites instead of beating the same rug. Expand your service area if you know what I mean.

The number one thing that works is to remove the larger than nail iron if the site warrants it..

a hoe head or a spike or piece of kettle iron shuts down some large volumes of dirt...

not sure how you are hunting the sites now but if you are relying on higher disc and by higher im meaning discing out foil,,If your that high then you have some sanitizing work to do...

Most coin hunters ignore iron as its way down in the bottom of the disc scale but it wreaks havoc like no other.. the iron is the silent killer...

a 3 inch nail 2 inches deep can eliminate a silver dollar 10 inches deep below it and you would never know it...so imagine what a spike or kettle piece does...

Over the years on my sites I have done what I like to call worked them down...I have plenty of site that's just nails.. and some of those Im sorting through nail sizes right now ...slow go for sure..

my rule of thumb for a good setting on a site that does not produce is I set the disc to dig bent nails...chirp and pop on the straight ones but make sure you have a pocket full of bent nails.. thats a good gauge to know if your cutting it tight..

dont try to do it on one day its a time consuming yet doable feat and also a learning process.. and you will find that maybe you have to switch machines to DIAL IN the resolution needed for a more FORENSIC approach..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 03:36AM by Keith Southern.

No disc if in a lot of iron small coil. Maybe time to move on

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Lawrenzo Wrote:
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> No disc if in a lot of iron small coil. Maybe time
> to move on

yes, but I never had a field that a good target could not be squeezed out, mostly by taking a chance on the soft iffy deep signals....but agree maybe try a greener pasture.

hh oj/bc that is very telling

Last weekend, my son and I gound a small, probably cabin site, in a mining area. We worked it for hours, then I started foing kinda what Keith said. This is mostly dhallow stuff, due to real shallow bedrock. I used the magnet on my Apex pick to reach out and remove visual iron in front of me, and yes, it did result in more finds.

deathray Wrote:
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> Last weekend, my son and I found a small, probably
> cabin site, in a mining area. We worked it for
> hours, then I started doing kinda what Keith said.
> This is mostly shallow stuff, due to real shallow
> bedrock. I used the magnet on my Apex pick to
> reach out and remove visual iron in front of me,
> and yes, it did result in more finds.

Well seems logical to remove iron, but many hunters are in urban settings not really practical, still sticking with advise of larger coil, only takes another inch to reach a few more silvers, hh.

Hit it with speed like a Racer or Deus. Hit it with depth like a larger coil. But in the end you will realize that the finds have dwindled to the point that investing in new coils and detectors just isn't worth those few meager finds left behind. It's time to move on. Knock on doors. Make phone calls and study old maps. I hit a site with the Racer yesterday. Not one new good find. And I was only really hoping for one. Some sites are very hard to say good bye to. Well I said good bye and sold the Racer last night.

On my etrac the "one thing" would have to be switching to manual sensitivity.
Also each time I re hunt a spot I lower my disc. Eventually to just above nails.

Kenny
[www.youtube.com]

goodmore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hit it with speed like a Racer or Deus. Hit it
> with depth like a larger coil. But in the end you
> will realize that the finds have dwindled to the
> point that investing in new coils and detectors
> just isn't worth those few meager finds left
> behind. It's time to move on. Knock on doors. Make
> phone calls and study old maps. I hit a site with
> the Racer yesterday. Not one new good find. And I
> was only really hoping for one. Some sites are
> very hard to say good bye to. Well I said good bye
> and sold the Racer last night.

Tend to agree, for me investing in new equipment is not practical to get at a few more targets.
Though buying more used may be a option. hh

location..............location.................location

I think many of us are in the same situation...However change in scenery and travel come to mind.
If not...small coil, large coil, deeper unit, faster unit are all possibilities....always remember hunting the home field of the 1901 braves a local team that had been actually hunted by clubs according to the owner and came up with 10 indian head pennies 4 silvers including a seated dime and a barber quarter so one wonders are areas ever hunted out...

I guess you could tag along with a known good hunter if they will let you share a few spots we all know them from the clubs they just have a talent for finding good targets.

For instance one year I tagged along with Mr. G we decided on a park to hunt, I have been at that time looking to find a certain Canada coin for over 7 years.

Just as a joke I said to Mr.G today if find that certain coin I will give you a silver dollar after all what were my odds, well you guessed it, my first dig on outer unused section of grass field found my coin. Fairly old also 1900. hh

so found a silver fishscale and lost a silver dollar but was happy all the same

Everyone hears a target in a different way...if it is mixed with iron we may not dig it..if its deep and gives a iron tone it could be your detector can't see it for what it really is seeing it as iron. If you can scrape off about six inches of dirt you may find stuff..It could be your detector...I think a lot of hunters don't know how to hunt in heavy iron so they walk away from a target..

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Lawrenzo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Everyone hears a target in a different way...if it
> is mixed with iron we may not dig it..if its deep
> and gives a iron tone it could be your detector
> can't see it for what it really is seeing it as
> iron. If you can scrape off about six inches of
> dirt you may find stuff..It could be your
> detector...I think a lot of hunters don't know how
> to hunt in heavy iron so they walk away from a
> target..

Yea one of those that avoid iron, may give your advice a try next time on a hunt, just been too busy all month. hh

You could always move out of disc mode and into the all metal mode. Look for deep small responses. Adjust your all metal sensitivity setting for stability, then adjust the threshold just a tiny bit negative to cut off the very beginning of the ramp up and ramp down of the response and look for the small responses. If your threshold is set right you can also get good target separation in all metal with a nice clean break between targets.

When you lose the hum, you lose some of the very slightest of wavers, as well as the ground static, but you also get good clean target signals to explore. Drive the threshold control just like a prospector would drive the ground balance control so that once you find a response that sounds like what you are looking for you can bring the edges back in and see if it holds true with a full ramp up/ramp down threshold report.

All metal hunting is actually fun once you get into it. It helps if your detector also reports a visual reading in the all metal mode for the shallower stuff that wants to steal your attention away from what you are really after.

HH
Mike

That's what a non TID Detector is for as you go back and dig every thing that sounds good ''soft and round'' as it won't talk you out of diggin' a target like a display will. You would be surprised at what you pass up. I use it as a clean up Detector when I think I have exhausted a site of targets. I think any serious detectorist should have at least one non TID Detector in there arsenal. JMHO.

If you're in the right place you go to the good stuff. Those three things on the right work wonders in the dirt and on your back......
Just excavate a couple of inches at a time. Hoe and potatoe rake we call em......

What a great group of responses,ideas,experiences....I don't know how to thank everyone for the input. A lot of different people hunting in different conditions putting together a collective formula for "last call" on a site is exactly what I needed to read. There isn't ONE stray thought on this,all of it is useful...to EVERYONE,and that's what's so cool about this site.
To me,it is a challenge to get just one more keeper out of a place,and I know most everyone who hunts hard feels the same way. If I could hunt year round it wouldn't be a thought in my mind,but in the north we have to pick and choose our battles before the cold locks it up for 5-6 months. It is not intuitive to "slow down" or "grid", as it seems we are always fighting the clock. I guess I just have to decide what is important to ME as a detectorist....finding MORE 5-6" clad or finding that one Indian for the day. I'll have to follow the AM advice if I think something is really deep,and just practice that technique. I could spend time getting permissions,I'm not against that,and have a number of them already,though producing little. I think I have the equipment to get deeper,it's just developing the skills to utilize what I have to its fullest. Whatever I can't find with a modded IDX and an EX2 with good coil assortments is just gonna have to stay where it is,I don't think that my issue is rotten equipment,and nobody said it was. We all like to find decent things,whatever that may be to each of us,on a fairly regular basis and I'm just in a short slump. Whenever that happens,doubt creeps in....is my coil bad? Machine on the fritz? Too wet? Too dry? You know the act,and what it takes is gaining confidence in yourself and your equipment again. That is number one for me right now.
Thanks everyone for a GREAT group of responses

Kevin

Easy. I'll just follow Cal-Cobra.

Hi Kevin,

...Using the the threshold based all-metal (pinpoint) on the Explorer ll and the GB'd traditional threshold all-metal mode on the IDX Pro would not be as deep as the motion discriminate mode on those two detectors. I know because I've owned and used both, the pinpoint mode is lackluster at best. The deepest mode on the IDX Pro is with the Black Sand toggled and Disc. turned down to minimum, the trouble with that setting is it reports on everything in the ground. An operator would have to be watching the meter constantly, gets old in a heavily trashed hunt site. But it is deep when set that way.

...Location is the key, one of my most productive spots was where an old depression era mom & pop grocery store was torn down. Got the permission and started finding wheaties by the handful, then the silver dimes and quarters started popping up regularly, nothing was over 8" deep, need to find a spot like that again. Believe it or not, I thinned the place so much with my old Tesoro Toltec ll that I went back with the Explorer ll and found nothing to speak of, maybe a stray wheaty or two but no silver coins. I found a deep Barber quarter underneath a a small pocket spill of 60's copper memorials with the Tesoro one day, just blew me away. The topper find was a 1938 10Kt gold class ring that was returned and made the front page news at two different towns. What a hobby...LOL

Probably the biggest single thing was realizing how big a problem masking really is... not just iron but discriminating too much out also .... turn the disc way down, slow down the sweeps and investigate targets from multiple angles, listening for those weird reports from co-located targets, and just learning what the audio is trying to tell you. With patience and persistence it can yield some interesting results. HH

Odd no one mentioned a move to England

Hombre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Kevin,
>
> ...Using the the threshold based all-metal
> (pinpoint) on the Explorer ll and the GB'd
> traditional threshold all-metal mode on the IDX
> Pro would not be as deep as the motion
> discriminate mode on those two detectors. I know
> because I've owned and used both, the pinpoint
> mode is lackluster at best. The deepest mode on
> the IDX Pro is with the Black Sand toggled and
> Disc. turned down to minimum, the trouble with
> that setting is it reports on everything in the
> ground. An operator would have to be watching the
> meter constantly, gets old in a heavily trashed
> hunt site. But it is deep when set that way.
>
> ...Location is the key, one of my most productive
> spots was where an old depression era mom & pop
> grocery store was torn down. Got the permission
> and started finding wheaties by the handful, then
> the silver dimes and quarters started popping up
> regularly, nothing was over 8" deep, need to find
> a spot like that again. Believe it or not, I
> thinned the place so much with my old Tesoro
> Toltec ll that I went back with the Explorer ll
> and found nothing to speak of, maybe a stray
> wheaty or two but no silver coins. I found a deep
> Barber quarter underneath a a small pocket spill
> of 60's copper memorials with the Tesoro one day,
> just blew me away. The topper find was a 1938 10Kt
> gold class ring that was returned and made the
> front page news at two different towns. What a
> hobby...LOL


Good Karma to return lost items. hh last summer found a purse with over 200 just returned it.

Buy a CTX, it will find silver/copper you've missed. Simply magic....after you've scoured your spot with one of these that's it....time to find a new locale....

You could always go with a PI machine ><

dig all the iron out and go back the next month

One thing I have to ask the Explorer users in particular is....have you used a lot of concentric coils with the Explorers and how do they work? I have gotten so used to my IDX over a few years that I'm doubting my ability to effectively use the DD coils,the stock 1050 in particular. I have a 5" Excelerator E that is REALLY unbelievable as far as separation,depth and pinpointing goes,but to tell the truth I have no idea if it's a concentric or tiny DD,it doesn't say and the way it behaves it almost seems like a concentric. Anybody know FOR SURE? The Sunray X-8 is better yet for depth but aside from a few wheats I haven't found anything remarkable with it in 12-15 hours of hunting so far,so I don't know where I'm failing with that. The 1050 has found the most in the short few weeks I've had the EX2 but it really is quite heavy. I usually just use that in wide open areas with short grass so I can just slide it back and forth on the ground.
I'm SO in tune with the IDX it's almost harder to transition to the Explorer from it than it might have been if I'd had no experience at all,it seems at times. I know that's a ridiculous statement but the concentric coils have a quality to them that makes hunting easier for me. I thought at one time that the IDX would be great with a DD coil,now I know that's not what I'd want.
After doing some reading of the above input I'm thinking it's going to be a site specific approach to hopefully getting more from each individual place. My two farms are going to get some bigger targets removed,especially around the house and driveway/high traffic areas. I'll also spend a couple days pulling out nothing but small iron in these areas as well and see if I can effectively sanitize to some degree the sections where I'd think most coins may be. I'll never clean it all,and I don't think anyone should think they will. It has to be a targeted approach,or it's just an excercise in futility. There's only so much work I'll do to enhance the chances of a possible good outcome. Otherwise,sayonara.
The parks and schools are always an enigma. Most schools,I've found,are reincarnations of past schools,usually on the same property but heavily landscaped,redone,fiddled with,etc. Some parks and schools are more "readable" than others,I've found that if you dig a plug and your tool goes right into the ground with little resistance you are NOT digging in original ground. If the ground has lots of little roots and/or the plug is really compact and tight,you're on the right track. Maybe THESE areas are the ones to concentrate on first,or the most,as at least you won't be fighting so much for depth,though you'll still be fighting modern garbage in the upper 3-4" layer. I'm beginning to think that trying to overcome the depth of fill dirt along with whatever is IN that dirt is a waste of my energy and time,for now. If I were to follow that logic,I wouldn't need anything but the Sunray and Excelerator,those will reliably get a dime at 5-8" I know for a fact. Knowing that nobody gets everything,inexperienced hunters are in a hurry,there are plenty of tabs and canslaw to mask the coins and there are nearly limitless acres of parks and schools,a slow,disciplined approach with a couple of smaller coils is what I'm going to try. I've been lacking the DISCIPLINE part.
My personal goal is to literally step off a square of ground at my local late 1800s school yard that I have a good idea is original. A 20 pace square should be a good start,and I'll spend an entire week hunting it with both my IDX and EX2 with medium and small coils. I plan on digging all targets within reach of said coils.
I'll report my findings next week with as many details as possible. I know that many guys here have done a similar thing with positive results and I'd like to prove it to myself that there ARE more good targets to be had from my seemingly dry areas,and that it just takes a different METHOD to find them. Hopefully I am in for a rude awakening in a good way,but either way at least I'll know if I've been doing something wrong and be able to correct it.
I am an old coin hunter,I hunt old coins,that is my quest....thank you EVERYBODY for excellent advice.

Kevin

I am having the same issue. I hunt at a site that is nothing but woodland. It has produced for me all Spring and pretty well everytime that I would detect it. The last two times.......nothing. But I DO speculate that there has not been a coil over every quarter inch of this land so that is my goal. To cover this campsite from proverbial "wall to wall" until every piece of metal (ferrous and non-ferrous) has been removed (by me and my hunting buddy, hopefully). And even if we could pull that off......a man could go back there next year and find stuff again. Tree roots. Nightcrawlers (big earthworms). And a few other factors (not entirely ruling out gravity) can push targets up into the "hi blip" range. Just my opinion. I don't expect everyone to embrace my thinking on the subject. But that is okay. I am willing to be taught. Very good thread. Very good question.

What happens to me is, I forget I got skunked the last time there only remembering the good hunts...end up going back, over and over again with the same enthusiasm same machine. lol