Please post your gridding tips and how tos

[khouse]

If you walk the direction the Sun is shining you can see light shaded and dark shaded tracks. Just like striping a yard with a mower. I usually drag one foot a little to make sure the grass lays down. I pick out an object way out ahead and walk towards that object. The further away the object is the straiter your line. I always try to grid three different ways - north- south, east-west then diagonal.

 

[Digger-Dave]

I got fortunate a few times when hunting athletic fields. The previous day the grounds crew had cut the lawn and the cutting path made an excellent grid path to follow.

 

[jmorton04]

Duct tape a laser pointer to a sharp stick.

insert stick into ground. Walk with the laser between beam your knees.

"No, Mr. Bond, I expect your to die". Auric Goldfinger

Move stick half a pace sideways. Repeat until finished.

Move stick to position it on corner of grid 90 degrees to first. Repeat until finished.

Move stick to start grid on diagonal to first grid.

Etc, etc, etc.

Don't dig it till you grid it all 4 ways, because you don't want to break up the halos. Mark every hit with a stick or golf tee or whatever you normally use.

Of course, this is only a theory. I have never tried it and I never found anything either. LOL

HH,
John Morton

 

[Iron Patch]

In the past I have done what bentrod mentioned and just looked for landmarks to walk towards. I just had a set of large orange bean-bags made for me. However, if you lack the ability to walk a straight line toward a point, I don't know if anything can help.

Just know that a little bit of waviness in your path is normal as you repeated stop to dig targets that are off the perfect straight line.

Don't put too much stock in IP's post, gridding an area will get you the most finds possible compared to just aimlessly wandering. If you grid north/south and have good luck, then go back over with and east/west gridding and then maybe even a NE/SW grid.

Jan 2013 I found 12 silvers including a silver dollar by gridding a spot that everyone else who wanders around had given up on.

You should read my post again, maybe a few times and actually think about what I said before you pipe up.

I'm not surprised however, because reading some of your posts it seems quite apparent you're more about what detector, than actually having to skill to know one well. You're also quick to jump in with your attitude, and about half the time you're wrong!


PS: In the last 24 hours I read a post by you criticizing someone for posting about something who had no experience for that particular thing, and a couple hours later seen you doing the exact same thing! So if anyone is not going to put stock in someone's post, maybe it should be your posts.

 

[Jason in Enid]

You should read my post again, maybe a few times and actually think about what I said before you pipe up.

I'm not surprised however, because reading some of your posts it seems quite apparent you're more about what detector, than actually having to skill to know one well. You're also quick to jump in with your attitude, and about half the time you're wrong!


PS: In the last 24 hours I read a post by you criticizing someone for posting about something who had no experience for that particular thing, and a couple hours later seen you doing the exact same thing! So if anyone is not going to put stock in someone's post, maybe it should be your posts.

There you go again. go take you meds. The OP asked a question about how to effectively grid search an area. You jump in with a response that gridding is pointless and you're better off just wandering around. Your post wasn't helpful for the topic, and THAT is why I said to ignore your response. Maybe you should read AND think about the topic before replying.

 

[msand]

insert stick into ground. Walk with the laser between beam your knees.

"No, Mr. Bond, I expect your to die". Auric Goldfinger

Move stick half a pace sideways. Repeat until finished.

Move stick to position it on corner of grid 90 degrees to first. Repeat until finished.

Move stick to start grid on diagonal to first grid.

Etc, etc, etc.

Don't dig it till you grid it all 4 ways, because you don't want to break up the halos. Mark every hit with a stick or golf tee or whatever you normally use.

Of course, this is only a theory. I have never tried it and I never found anything either. LOL

HH,
John Morton

Good one. (diamonds forever) if god had meant man to fly he would had given him wings. or a laser between his legs

 

[Iron Patch]

There you go again. go take you meds. The OP asked a question about how to effectively grid search an area. You jump in with a response that gridding is pointless and you're better off just wandering around. Your post wasn't helpful for the topic, and THAT is why I said to ignore your response. Maybe you should read AND think about the topic before replying.

Yeah that's what I said. There you go again putting words in someone's mouth to support the !!!! you spew.


Gridding is pointless, yet I say in my post I do it? Learn to read.

 

[Milhaus]

My next strategy for field search will be to use two ~3' sticks with ribbon on the top. Starting out placing the first stick just under a swing width to the left. Walk out in a straight line as far as a I want to go, turn and move into the lane back to the original stick. Before starting back, place the 2nd stick a swing width to my right. When I get back to the starting line move the first stick to where the new return lane will be, and just keep moving sticks to the new lane position.
If I need to come back, I'll use a golf tee pressed down all the way where my last stick was at the starting line against some reference point.

 

[msand]

I would just carabiner my gps to my belt and walk the land with the bread crumbs feature to log my tracks and use waypoints to mark my finds.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I would just carabiner my gps to my belt and walk the land with the bread crumbs feature to log my tracks and use waypoints to mark my finds.

The problem with this is that consumer level GPS have an inherent accuracy of about 20 feet. I have tried that very thing in the past and your track line looks far more wavy than it really is, especially when you stop to dig.

 

[msand]

The problem with this is that consumer level GPS have an inherent accuracy of about 20 feet. I have tried that very thing in the past and your track line looks far more wavy than it really is, especially when you stop to dig.

You are correct.

 

[ohiochris]

Its nearly impossible for anyone to walk a straight line very far , probably impossible when you are looking down. Using wire flags is a good idea , just at the end of each pass , grab the neares flag and move it over about two feet. But I just line up with visible landmarks I can see , like trees or posts , fences , etc. and every few steps I look up to make sure Im still walking directly toward the item I lined up with and make corrections if necessary. Then at the end of the pass I move over about two feet , pick the next item I want to line up with and do it all over again. If there isnt anything good to line up with on a pass , I atleast know I should be about two feet over from the last one. Its not perfect but it works good. Then after you have finished going one direction back and forth over the area , do the same thing over again from the side so you are criss crossing your earlier paths.

 

[Dark Chameleon]

Just a suggestion but get yourself some of those little cones (say a half dozen of them) and spray each pair a different color, bright colors.

Then place three of them (different colors) about 6 feet apart, so 18 feet covered, then with the other three on you walk to where you want the grid to cover while detecting, when you reach your distance where you feel you could do a straight line without too much deviation place the other three colors matching the first three over 18 feet.

This should cover you having 6 feet cover zone, three passed before you move them on, and only move them on when you have finished your last pass, if you want to make sure your not missing places then attach string to the tops of the cones or the bases so they are almost exactly 6 feet between each one, you have a point to look forward to.

If you want to cover more area then make a third of each color and then use the second set as a midway point and not a finishing point, the small cones are cheap and light, and can be put on top of each other so carried easily.

If you want to save money then use bright colored material on flags with the same 6' strings to keep them equal and learn your coverage so you can increase or reduce the string length to cover you optimum swing....and easier then stringing out 100' grids.

 

[msand]

I think using cones or flags works on a small yard. Walking across a larger field or big beach may be a lot of work. How big of field is to far to walk across to place markers? That may depend on the person doing it. Good topic however and using a combination of tactics may be what could be used on a serious location.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I've used markers on roughly 100 yard long areas without problem.

 

[Resqsarge03]

I am pretty new at this (2 mos) but I am learning all the time, both from this forum and from real life hunts.
I have been hunting an old elementary school with my ACE 250. The buildings are gone and all that is left is several acres of mowed grass around where the buildings used to be. A community garden occupies the land where the buildings were.
I've been detecting everything outside the gardens, concentrating on old play areas and open spots. Ive come up with a good bit of clad and a keen awareness of the brand of screw top soda the kids of the day preferred (ugh). I also curse the maintenance folks who mowed all the aluminum cans into slaw for me over the years.
Anyway, I quickly realized that I could not reliably walk 100 ft long straight lines even if i sighted a landmark in the trees. The answer presented itself fairly quickly. Stop drinking! LOL. Not really!
I found a damaged fishing pole in the grass so I used it as a marker for the end of each "lane" I searched. I also picked up golf balls (the other thing this area is commonly used for) and dropped one every 20 ft or so. The idea worked very well and kept my variances and wanderings down to a more stable wiggly line from something that was more aimless.
Golf balls are easy to find for free or pick up near golf courses so it did not cost anything.
As i got to each successive ball, I just nudged it over 4 feet to mark where I just searched and kept moving. Once I got to the end, I pulled the pole out of the ground, planted it 4 feet over and started again.
I also learned that nickels, screw tops, and most other things look and sound the same to my Ace 250. After the first 30 nickel hits that were trash I discriminated that out of the search and spent less time doing deep knee bends. I probably missed some good stuff but I was OK with that. I won't do that everywhere.
I've since learned how to get a better idea if it is a nickel or trash so i have gone back to including that setting in my coin hunting setup.
Just thought I would add this to the discussion.
Thanks everyone for your posts in this forum. You are helping this noob along!
-Sarge

 

[Rammjäger]

Imho

Could you use perhaps a Laser Pointer ?
Say,aprox. at 8" high ?

PS.:
position the Laser Pointer at one end of the field ,pointing at the chosen
direction .Then walk swinging the coil and from now and then wave a white
paper sheet at 8" and you will see the red dot at the paper sheet....

 

[ramer]

You could use what high tech farmers use and that is a monthly paid subscription to super accurate GPS systems. Could get you less than 12 inches in accuracy. When people found out the 3030 had a built in GPS unit they thought it would allow them to accurately grid an area. Of course, the truth it that it will only get you to within 15 or so feet of your target, just like any of the usual store bought hand held GPS units.

 

[North☆Star]

I think we can all agree gridding a property will give you the most bang for your buck. It may take a bit longer but its the only way we can be sure to cover every inch. If we were to just walk around ( If that's your style then have at it. Its a free country.) we will obviously find targets but not as many as you will while gridding. It doesn't take much to miss a coin.

IMHO taking the time to grid and walk a straight line is almost pointless if you don't have a good swing. You need to " Paint" the ground. Its too easy to get in a hurry and skip over spots. Ive started half lapping my swing just to assure I don't miss anything. It may be slower but i feel more productive.

 

[Chipk]

At most hardware stores you can find reflectors mounted on a metal rod for a few bucks. Get two and put one in the ground as you start and the second as you start your return route. Stay on the right side of the one you're headed to! Or you can find small traffic cones.
Actually a couple of beer cans work too!