Too many targets?

Cracks me up...1 target every 3 feet.
Try hunting sites with pieces of metal within inches of each other...everywhere.
Here is the junk from one site for one hunt when I was first trying out a new DD coil.

PicsArt_1440003256532_zpssqopkukt.jpg


I don't do this anymore, don't need to because I learned ways to avoid digging most of that trash.

Experience will help you too, 5 hunts does not an experienced hunter make but we all get better at this stuff over time.

In an effort to help let me give you some advice about dealing with those pop tops.
You use an AT Pro, that one has a DD coil coil and it is pretty easy to ID and avoid most of these that you come across once you learn a few things.
Digging everything when you are new is recommended, it is the best way to learn so you need some patience in this hobby while learning but eventually you want to avoid as much trash as you can but still not miss the better targets.

Many deal with pop tops in different ways, depending on the detector you use there might be specific techniques and sometimes distinct "tells" in the audio or behavior using some models that makes dealing with these things quick and easy.

Then there are techniques that are common to and work pretty well on most detectors of any type or brand.
A few of these below.

I pulled my reply from another thread where a new hunter was having issues with pop tops.
The technique I usually use when hunting in pop top infested sites with DD coils is something called wiggle and pull back...it is the same method I use to pinpoint targets without using the pinpointer.

Get a target and use some quick, short side to side swipes to get it under the center of the coil.
Many pop tops will mimic high tone coins.
Keep swinging over the target and begging pulling back the coil keeping the target in the center area.
As the target passes by the front rim of the coil it will drop out so that is where you need to dig.
When dealing with pop tops one more thing will happen before the signal drops out...the tone and numbers will drop low, sometimes to the foil to nickel area but most times all the way down to iron.
If you hunt with high disc this effect will not be noticed.
A few other ways to get that drop is raise the coil higher while swinging over it, rimming either side edge of the coil over the area and some even place middle of the front or back edge of the coil over the target and slide the center part of the coil over it...that drop should still happen.
Over coins, rings and other good targets you will not get this noticeable drop.
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As far as pop tops...they are my arch enemy.
I hate them, so many of my sites are awash in a huge number of these things at some of my older parks and many of those sites have a huge amount of good high tone targets I want to dig so a blanket of these things at different depths really slows me down.
Using concentric coils they are fairly easy to spot, the numbers aren't usually coin numbers at all and usually jumpy.
When I switch to a DD coil that changes and the numbers come way closer if not right on dime and quarter numbers a lot...even into some pretty solid 90's numbers from time to time.

I have divided these up into a few categories because this is the different kinds of behavior I have seen and this is how I deal with each of them.
Always looking for a fast and efficient way to recognize them and avoid digging them with no "what if" feelings in the back of my mind and these techniques seems to be working for me pretty well so far.

These things are made of different materials depending on age and manufacturer, and exactly how they are laying in the ground seems to affect the way our detectors see them and behave.


1. The jumpy ones...These might come in at all numbers from the 60's to the 90's and even mimic coin number areas but no matter how I move the coil over them they jump in the numbers more than 2 or 3 and even sections a lot of the time.
Raising the coil over them while swinging will usually show a dramatic number drop also, and "rimming" the target running the edge of the coil over them, any edge but I use the front, you will see a big drop in the numbers and sometimes even down to iron just about every time.


2. Stable ones...Sometimes the numbers are pretty right on where coins fall, the numbers don't hardly jump at all which is the case with most coins.
I don't do that coil raising thing much in any of these situations because that rimming thing usually is faster for me.
On these types a few quick swipes with the rim of the coil and a number drop and I just move on confident I have not left a good target in the ground.

3...The ones that fool you...Some of the older steel ones that are rusty and flattened and especially laying flat in the ground will just come in like a coin at good numbers with no change in the numbers, sections or tones by raising the coil or rimming.
Quick side to side swipes they might also stay very solid and stable and in this case you just have to dig them and see what they are hoping for a good target.
Luckily, these are the rarest type I come across...they are out there but not in the huge volume of the other types.
A few of the modern crimped aluminum ones could act this way especially if they are flattened, but most times they fall into one of those first two categories.

There might be other clues to differentiate the more difficult ones and tell me they are trash and not good targets, but if there is a technique for doing that I don't know it yet...so I dig them.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Great advice and re-post. Thank you so much! And everyone else, so helpful! This forum, true to its name, is so helpful. I'm also a member of a very similar California firearms forum, and it is very cutthroat and attacking. Thanks, everyone for your time.
 
I hunt the waters edge where all the weeds and duck droppings are i use a minelab se pro and chest waders with a duel field works for me i mostly use my se pro i dig everything that isnt iron it will rust away the rest should be picked up

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take a few of those bottle caps and a few coins, then use your iron audio button over each one and learn the differences between the coins and the bottle caps. You can easily distinguish between coins and bottle caps and will eliminate many of those targets. Just takes time. Keep digging all those pull tabs if you are interested in finding gold
 
sheesk, I guess I'm missing all the fun. When/if I get an inkling for gold rings, I just angle the beach. I can even recall one eroded beach where, .... after netting 5 gold rings that day, my total count of aluminum was zero. Why ? Because all the light stuff (aluminum, zinc, etc...) were washed out. Leaving only heavy stuff (coins, sinkers, rings, etc....).

To those that say "go to junky blighted parks and dig aluminum till your arms fall off, lest you miss a gold ring", is .... in some cases, .... going to be a recipe to insanity.
 
sheesk, I guess I'm missing all the fun. When/if I get an inkling for gold rings, I just angle the beach. I can even recall one eroded beach where, .... after netting 5 gold rings that day, my total count of aluminum was zero. Why ? Because all the light stuff (aluminum, zinc, etc...) were washed out. Leaving only heavy stuff (coins, sinkers, rings, etc....).

To those that say "go to junky blighted parks and dig aluminum till your arms fall off, lest you miss a gold ring", is .... in some cases, .... going to be a recipe to insanity.

On the other hand if you get smart about it, learn a few things, understand your detector and how gold behaves it just might be possible to go to blighted parks and not dig your arms off, not go insane...and maybe still find gold.
Definitely could have fun trying.
Not you if course, other smarter more open minded people.

I told you every time you post on any forum this ridiculously shortsighted advice, especially when you try to tell a newbie where to hunt and how to hunt using your narrow rules for the right and wrong way to do this hobby, that I would be there to refute it.

I love digging in blighted, trashy parks, I have found gold... I am not insane as far as I know.
 
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There are some considerations to take into account as far as digging things that aren't obviously "coin" type signals. I just posted a video on Coinshooters and Relic Hunters regarding this...having NO discrimination on will help so you can hear the drop off,if you're not looking at the screen. This works on many many machines,if not all modern ones to some extent. Taking the time to analyze the target before digging just keeps a person from digging unnecessarily. The technique in the video is well known to some,completely unknown to others,so I posted it. Hopefully it's another tool in the toolbox for some of us out there...
 
I tell you what BB, Consider this a good thing!...You get good at hunting heavy trash and the Detecting World is your Oyster! Many a beachsweeper will walk miles with no pings under coil...Many a noob parkie will quickly give up on this Sport on account of the 'trash' they find ..It discourages them, thinking every target under coil should be a gold/silver coin like the marketing dept. told them...

If you want to get good at this Sport, Like REALLY good, You just stay at it and figure it out like we had to do and everyone here mentioned...learn to love and hunt the trash!...It takes some time afield and all of a sudden, everything just clicks!

Becoming a good Trash hunter is the Future of this Sport...a lot of multidenom coin stack/slants/spills give off a trash signal....You are off to a good start, just keep pulling targets and pay attention to all the subtleties of the signal you are learning...

Read a lot of posts by the trash hunters here, pattern their style and settings and whatnot for a quick education...Develop a speedy retrieval method...Or else give it up and go hunt a beach somewhere, guaranteed, you will miss not hearing a bottlecap ping after a few miles...
Mud
 
.... I told you every time you post on any forum this ridiculously shortsighted advice, .... I love digging in blighted, trashy parks, I have found gold... I am not insane as far as I know.

Oh yes, I forget. You have mastered the ability to tell gold apart from aluminum, to the extent that the ratios are not that punishing. So your net result pix would not look like the OP's here. Hence all he, or anyone has to do, is not turn up their disc, but rather: Learn the subtle tonal differences between gold and aluminum. Right ? I remember that topic/threads.

Anyone I have EVER had make this claim, .... when we actually arrive at the junky park in question .... their claims go strangely silent. I would LOVE to see the person show this supposed skill as telling aluminum apart from gold (even if only on a 1 to 25 or 1 to 50 ratio). But alas, we have had this conversation before.

If my advice is "short-sighted"(because the newbie risks missing a gold ring) well so too have I seen newbies follow the "dig everything till your arms fall off advice", only to see them get disgusted and hang the machine in the closet. Or.... they have 100 holes in a field, all within 8" or a ft. of each other, and .... some passing gardener or cop shuts them down. Ie.: if you've dug 100 holes, versus 15 holes, which do you think is less conspicuous ? Not saying that "a person shouldn't do lot of digging" or that "a person should expect zero junk" or "a person should dig few holes", but ... just saying ... I can think of places where you would end up with a difficulty leaving zero trace, when effectively strip-mining small areas.

And also don't forget: There are vast differences in "turf" and definitions of "blighted". I too can think of turf where I might indeed angle for gold (putting up with whatever aluminum it requires). But I can think of junky parks where ... forgive me, ... it would be a recipe for frustration.
 
sheesk, I guess I'm missing all the fun. When/if I get an inkling for gold rings, I just angle the beach. I can even recall one eroded beach where, .... after netting 5 gold rings that day, my total count of aluminum was zero. Why ? Because all the light stuff (aluminum, zinc, etc...) were washed out. Leaving only heavy stuff (coins, sinkers, rings, etc....).

To those that say "go to junky blighted parks and dig aluminum till your arms fall off, lest you miss a gold ring", is .... in some cases, .... going to be a recipe to insanity.

Tom, some of us don't have the luxury of having beaches to hunt. Our bodies of water may be limited to a few muddy rivers, farm ponds and private community lakes where detecting is not allowed on their swim beaches. Your situation is not universal.
 
Oh yes, I forget. You have mastered the ability to tell gold apart from aluminum, to the extent that the ratios are not that punishing. So your net result pix would not look like the OP's here. Hence all he, or anyone has to do, is not turn up their disc, but rather: Learn the subtle tonal differences between gold and aluminum. Right ? I remember that topic/threads.


Anyone I have EVER had make this claim, .... when we actually arrive at the junky park in question .... their claims go strangely silent. I would LOVE to see the person show this supposed skill as telling aluminum apart from gold (even if only on a 1 to 25 or 1 to 50 ratio). But alas, we have had this conversation before.

If my advice is "short-sighted"(because the newbie risks missing a gold ring) well so too have I seen newbies follow the "dig everything till your arms fall off advice", only to see them get disgusted and hang the machine in the closet. Or.... they have 100 holes in a field, all within 8" or a ft. of each other, and .... some passing gardener or cop shuts them down. Ie.: if you've dug 100 holes, versus 15 holes, which do you think is less conspicuous ? Not saying that "a person shouldn't do lot of digging" or that "a person should expect zero junk" or "a person should dig few holes", but ... just saying ... I can think of places where you would end up with a difficulty leaving zero trace, when effectively strip-mining small areas.

And also don't forget: There are vast differences in "turf" and definitions of "blighted". I too can think of turf where I might indeed angle for gold (putting up with whatever aluminum it requires). But I can think of junky parks where ... forgive me, ... it would be a recipe for frustration.



Same garbage you always spew....just keep going back to where you say the exact same thing over and over and over.
Time to pull out that old chestnut about the park you buddies hunted and kept meticulous numbers of everything you found layer after layer and when you were done you declared none of it was worth it.
Your opinion about what sites to hunt, what amounts are correct to dig, what numbers of treasure targets we should find to be happy and make it worth the effort and how exactly everyone should do this hobby to enjoy it is all everyone needs or wants to know...right?
Because you are the Pope of metal detecting.

I never said I "knew" how to tell gold from aluminum, or foil or anything else, you never read that part every time I have said it or it never registers on you because you are so sure you are just so right about everything that you just ignore everything else.
I have said I wade into sites with huge amounts of trash and dig the solid signals since every one of my gold targets came in that way so far.
I avoid digging 80% of the trash, I never dig till my arms fall off, I have a fantastic time doing it and from time to time I find gold doing it that way.
I have found a lot of gold doing it that way.
But you never got that, never understood that, don't have the ability to understand that and never will because you are so ridiculously narrow minded to believe your way is the only way that you will never understand it or even seeing my statements for what they really said.

"Go to the beach to find gold...only
Don't waste your time digging in trashy parks...ever
Anyone that even tries is a hero
The only way to find gold in the turf is to dig it all"

Have you taught your parrot to say all these dumb things, probably easy because you say them over and over and have for years and I think you really do believe that everyone has access to beaches, believes digging in trashy parks is a waste of time for everybody that picks up a detector and any anyone who actually has fun doing it is stupid.

I don't really care how you do it, you have mad skills and are good at what you do and successful.
For the most part your advice is logical and sound but when you tell newbies not to waste their time, not even to try to do this hobby in a way that you wouldn't enjoy so you know they wouldn't either you cross a line.
You are not the Pope, God or anyone else that has the right to discourage anyone from doing this hobby anyway they choose to do it...even if you don't see the sense or logic in doing it that way.

If someone goes into a site and digs to their arms fall of and don't like it they can figure that out quickly for themselves without your help.
If they want to go in to that same site and not dig everything like I do you can't know what they will find, how much fun they will still have even though you couldn't and might consider that a great way to do this hobby like I do...or not.
It is not up to either of us to decide for anybody else how to do this...any of it.

Like I said for the most part you know what your talking about but when it comes to hunting in trashy sites and still have fun doing it you don't have a clue and never will.
You have no skills to understand how to do it, set ridiculously illogical goals on what will or will not make a hunter successful if anyone tries and definitely don't have the patience either so for you the best thing is just stay away and do other things.

I won't stay away, I will do this always because I get great pleasure from doing it this way in sites exactly like that, I will find what I find including some great things from time to time and I will encourage others to try it to see if they might enjoy it too.
Many have...and do.
If they find it's not their cup of tea that is just fine and dandy.

Every time you try to discourage another newbie from doing this hobby in any way because you think it's wrong I will be there.
Claims go strangely silent...I think not because what you think you hear me claim or have ever claimed has never been true but when you think you are right you can't seem to hear or understand anything else but your own opinion.
You read words but they change when they enter your head and then you go off on what you think you read.
This has been going on for years.
Man you really hate when people don't agree with you.

In your case the emperor has no clothes...he just doesn't know it and I can see now he never will.
 
Tom, some of us don't have the luxury of having beaches to hunt. Our bodies of water may be limited to a few muddy rivers, farm ponds and private community lakes where detecting is not allowed on their swim beaches. Your situation is not universal.

if there are no inland swim lake beaches you can access, here's other places that gold jewelry will have better ratios than blighted parks:

a) sand volleyball courts

b) wrestle pits and mud bath or mud wrestle type places (yes I realize those are few and far between)

c) The grass directly adjacent to swimming pools (if pools are located in turfed parks, for instance). Like if that's the towel zone for the pool. Because people frequently take off their jewelry for "safe keeping". And lather up with slippery lotion , blah blah

d) certain types turf that dont' have picnicking or BBQ'ing. Because anytime eating (think "picnic tables") is present, then it's an automatic that you'll have foil, pulltabs, etc... And BBQ pits is another intro. for pain: molten aluminum nuggets for people who throw their cans on the fire, and people cooking in foil or aluminum pans, etc... Hence if you've got turf that's STRICTLY for athletic, then your junk ratio drops. Eg. soccer fields, football fields, etc...

e) A very "upscale" area, where people are not the type who litter (leave cans about). Because when lawnmowers hit cans, .... .their "slaw" can read all over the spectrum (except for those who claim to have mastered the ability to tell apart from gold :roll: ). So if you're in a very upscale park, perhaps no can slaw is present.

Hence my advice , to pick better areas in which to find gold rings (as opposed to blighted parks) need not be *only* ocean beaches.
 
Some enterprising detectorist could make a calendar with twelve shots of junk art. I don't know who would buy it. A club could use it in a fund-raiser or charitable event. It would be more interesting than the same puppy/kitten pics year after year.
 
if there are no inland swim lake beaches you can access, here's other places that gold jewelry will have better ratios than blighted parks:

a) sand volleyball courts

b) wrestle pits and mud bath or mud wrestle type places (yes I realize those are few and far between)

c) The grass directly adjacent to swimming pools (if pools are located in turfed parks, for instance). Like if that's the towel zone for the pool. Because people frequently take off their jewelry for "safe keeping". And lather up with slippery lotion , blah blah

d) certain types turf that dont' have picnicking or BBQ'ing. Because anytime eating (think "picnic tables") is present, then it's an automatic that you'll have foil, pulltabs, etc... And BBQ pits is another intro. for pain: molten aluminum nuggets for people who throw their cans on the fire, and people cooking in foil or aluminum pans, etc... Hence if you've got turf that's STRICTLY for athletic, then your junk ratio drops. Eg. soccer fields, football fields, etc...

e) A very "upscale" area, where people are not the type who litter (leave cans about). Because when lawnmowers hit cans, .... .their "slaw" can read all over the spectrum (except for those who claim to have mastered the ability to tell apart from gold :roll: ). So if you're in a very upscale park, perhaps no can slaw is present.

Hence my advice , to pick better areas in which to find gold rings (as opposed to blighted parks) need not be *only* ocean beaches.

All good suggestions, Tom, and many probably apply in many communities. Unfortunately areas like that are on private property in my area and are not available to hunt. I see your point and I am always on the lookout for places other than city parks to hunt. I don't want to singlehandedly produce a detector junk calendar.
 
Make the junk calander you will find your ring if you dont you get to be outdoors off the enternet hopefully finding happyness thats why i do it

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My pic of things i dug from my favorite pond are abt a months worth just not sorted out yet lots of goodies there

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Turn the sensitivity way down and discrimination way up in trashy areas , don't worry about depth in these places. What this does is minimize target masking , sort of like focusing the beam on a flashlight. You may get less depth but this will increase your ability to separate targets. Focus on the best sounding targets. It works for me. You may miss a few but you will dig less trash and be able to identify good targets easier.
 
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