Too many targets?

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.


I've also done this with all 3 machines I have and it works really well. It's somewhat surprising,especially with the EX2,how much of this a guy can get away with. I'm sure I'm passing up some 7-10" stuff but 6" and shallower are just gobbled up. If nothing else it's something to give a shot.
 
Digger 27, chill out. By putting out our views doesn't make me anymore the pope of md'ing, than you putting out a contrary view makes you the pope either. So chill out. It's ok.
 
Digger 27, chill out. By putting out our views doesn't make me anymore the pope of md'ing, than you putting out a contrary view makes you the pope either. So chill out. It's ok.

Realistically and more relating to the OP's post, we don't all have beaches we can hop on down to or detectors that can easily handle such an environment. The OP was inquiring about an AT Pro and it's use at parks. If that's the only options readily nearby available to hunt, then he has to learn to be able to hunt such environments successfully. Unfortunately, digging trash is part of being able to hunt such places successfully (especially in trashy parks). It's practically unavoidable in such an environment, unless you are very selectively "cherry picking" and then you are guarenteed to miss good stuff.

Heading to a beach is a good option, but only for those that are able to do that. I think that's where the flak set in.
 
It's practically unavoidable in such an environment, unless you are very selectively "cherry picking" and then you are guarenteed to miss good stuff.

.




True , but we all miss stuff every time we go out there. In tough trashy ground , even if you clean all the trash out you aren't guaranteed anything. When you look at it that way , cherry picking isn't such a waste of time and if you want a better chance of returning home with something to show for your time than a bag full of scrap.... then cherry picking could be a better way of spending that time. Of course I am talking about tactics for extremely trashy ground only , ....on an average hunt in better ground this could be wasteful. Being ready to set up your detector according to conditions of that particular site , and being versatile with with your methods can be a lot more productive than digging everything.

Not disagreeing with you , just adding a little....
 
..... I think that's where the flak set in.

Mr. Novice, thanx the kind mediating conciliatory words summing up. I'll be the first to admit that I can be overly strong on talking about md'ing. Or thinking some priority or strategy of mine is necessarily the way someone else thinks.
 
True , but we all miss stuff every time we go out there. In tough trashy ground , even if you clean all the trash out you aren't guaranteed anything. When you look at it that way , cherry picking isn't such a waste of time and if you want a better chance of returning home with something to show for your time than a bag full of scrap.... then cherry picking could be a better way of spending that time. Of course I am talking about tactics for extremely trashy ground only , ....on an average hunt in better ground this could be wasteful. Being ready to set up your detector according to conditions of that particular site , and being versatile with with your methods can be a lot more productive than digging everything.

Not disagreeing with you , just adding a little....

You're absolutely right. It depends on how much effort you're willing to put into a place and how much time you want to invest in it. Different objectives and varied hunting styles will determine how you hunt. My style is to clear as much as I can (everything, even iron) from the top layer and hunt deeper upon returning visits. But the several parks and elem school playgrounds I hunt, are over and over and over again. Most of them, I can now run full sensitivity on the AT Pro (since I have cleaned it multiple times) and have few targets to pull each hunt. New surface drops BLARE through the headphones running so high, but they are guaranteed now and exactly what I am hunting for. I still hit deep targets and deep iron or cans, but leave them after doing the coil lift and sweep. And I'm positive there are still masked targets there, I'll never get it all.

The OP did seem to be getting a little frustrated at digging quite a few junk targets in such a small area, which is pretty common. Great advice has already been given about lowering sensitivity and sweeping the first few inches to make it more productive. "Productivity" is a relative term while hunting as well though. Being productive to my style of hunting IS getting all those junk targets out of the way. I'm happy if I come home with a ton of trash dug, it means I can raise sensitivity next time to get a little deeper and can then pick up those tiny targets that I missed also.

BTW, I took my son out to an elem playground today for an hour just to get out of the house. I still chased 4 huge high signals because I forgot to raise the coil high and sweep. They were targets I had left in the dirt prior, because they were deep and large. Figured this out after digging 6 inch down and pinpointer was going berzerk within the top inch...then stood up and high sweeped, sure enough all pinged with coil 10 inches above the top soil and still had a depth reading of 6 inches...:dash2:
 
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Here is abt a month worth at the pond i hit alot
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I would like a couple spoonfuls of that myself.
 
Mr. Novice, thanx the kind mediating conciliatory words summing up. I'll be the first to admit that I can be overly strong on talking about md'ing. Or thinking some priority or strategy of mine is necessarily the way someone else thinks.

No problem brother, we ALL have varied hunting styles. Hell, when I'm tired or bored of hard hunting... I have a huge practice soccer field I hunt and only dig for quarters/high silver to break up the monotony. I can still pull $5 easy in an hour and it brightens me up.

You're only bearing sometimes because you are passionate about the hobby, nothing wrong with that brother! We all do it sometimes! Everyone's personal experience is appreciated though, and you have a wealth of knowledge to share and I'm grateful for that.
 
I used to go to parks and schools looking for gold. After years of digging so much on a hunt I could barely get up off the ground, I gave up looking for gold for the most part. I found two pieces of gold in two years digging my ass off in trashy areas.
Ever since I gave up the hunt for gold my silver coin count and coin count in general has skyrocketed. I don't go home completely exhausted either. As far as I'm concerned that trashy ground can keep it's gold. I find this hobby much more enjoyable since I gave up looking for gold.
Don't get me wrong in certain areas I still dig it all but those places are usually on sports fields not blighted parks. I crack up when people say they will dig it all. I guess they have never detected around the BBQ pits at that big park in Terrell TX off highway 80. Or some of the older schools in Greenville TX. Good luck with that strategy. I just couldn't take it anymore I would quit this hobby before I would go back to digging like that.

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I used to go to parks and schools looking for gold. After years of digging so much on a hunt I could barely get up off the ground, I gave up looking for gold for the most part. I found two pieces of gold in two years digging my ass off in trashy areas.
Ever since I gave up the hunt for gold my silver coin count and coin count in general has skyrocketed. I don't go home completely exhausted either. As far as I'm concerned that trashy ground can keep it's gold. I find this hobby much more enjoyable since I gave up looking for gold.
Don't get me wrong in certain areas I still dig it all but those places are usually on sports fields not blighted parks. I crack up when people say they will dig it all. I guess they have never detected around the BBQ pits at that big park in Terrell TX off highway 80. Or some of the older schools in Greenville TX. Good luck with that strategy. I just couldn't take it anymore I would quit this hobby before I would go back to digging like that.

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Good post Chris. We all want old silver. Yet we all want gold. And in *some* hunt environments, there might be reason to angle for one versus the other.

I know a guy in my city who does indeed get gold from turf (yet rarely any coins I'd call real old). He knows exactly which turf he's going to hit. Especially soccer fields. One in fact that's only ~20 yrs. old (so it post-dates the extinction of round tabs). And by golly, yes, he's gotten nice gold rings. Because he knows the demographics (cultures/nationalities) that use these particular fields, their habits of what they wear, where they set their stuff down, where they make diving moves towards the goal posts, etc...

Yet I would not call that "blighted turf". And he does tune out very small foil (hence kiss smaller ladies rings goodbye). But he rationalized that soccer is a man's sport, and ... odds are, it'll be men's rings there. He said his trash ratio is tolerable (50 to 1 ?, and of course, the obligatory clad). So he might go 3 or 4 hunts, and many many hours before ever getting a gold ring. But he has done it.

This same hunter would not try the same thing in other certain parks here though.
 
Too many targets

Hi,
This all very interisting here in my area(Miramichi NB Canada) there are several City Parks that haven`t been been checked out with a Metal Detector and once the snow goes Iam going to give them a swing and see what I get, now speaking about the sea shore Iam with in easy driving distance of Northumberland Strait, so the plan would be to go there at low tide?
There are miles of beaches there along the Coast of NB, and the best part of this is its all Crown Land, but what would you take to sift wet sand?
Miramichier
 
... but what would you take to sift wet sand?
Miramichier

Miramichier, what makes you think no one's ever hunted in your parks there before ?

As for what to dig / sift wet sand, you need a "sand scoop". There's lots of types (long handle, short handle, foot-peddle, etc....). Here's a type I made. But the bottom you will see, is the sand scoop basket part of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY0hgdwcD9A
 
I guess you could say that I Cherry Pick. We don't have beaches like that here in Kansas and most of our parks are trash ridden. I would rather turn up the discriminate and find coins than dig trash all day. Telling newbies to dig everything is the surest way to discourage them and have them give up the hobby.
 
You all can keep cherry picking i will follow and pick up all the treasure left i scraped 230 bucks worth junk metal sorted brass copper and alliumunum and 12 grams worth broken gold jewelery found in trashy parks just matters where in the park you look

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re.: inner-city urban parks for gold:

There was a retired elderly guy in my city who .... in his older years, had slowed down enough that he wasn't able any longer to do any exotic hunting, or long drives, or very strenuous lengthy hunts. But he loved md'ing enough that he wouldn't give it up, till his very last days when he simply couldn't physically get out anymore.

And for that last several years of his hunting, he was simply going to all the sandboxes, tanbark boxes, etc.... of all the parks and schools around our city. He had a route, where .... in a month's time, hitting 3 or 4 spots, for a few mornings per week, that he'd eventually hit them all, all over town. And then start over the following month to repeat. Such that he kept them "cleaned out".

He and I were shooting the breeze one day gabbing, and I played the devils' advocate and said "... but you're never going to get any old coins doing that" . To which he said his angle was for jewelry. And he proceeded to show me all the gold statistics, in his record keeping, year by year, of doing nothing but sand and tanbark. And by golly, he was getting some gold on average about 2x or 3x p/month or whatever. Sure, maybe just trinkets or charms, and an occasional ring. But by the time he'd have it all added up by the end of the year, it was about 20 quality rings, other gold misc., a smattering of silver items, etc.... And then throw in all the clad he'd accumulate, and by the end of the year, it amounted to a fun sum.

But this guy was not trying the same tactic in the turf. Which would require all that sod-digging (risking the ire of the park's people) and instead preferred the sand and tanbark. Which was fast action easier digging, and perhaps simply more suited for "frolicking motions" of the hands, etc... in his opinion.
 
To the newbies: Trash often=treasure , gunna dig trash, gotta dig trash. The good stuff is there too, just be patient. HH to everyone and gl in 2017!
 
You all can keep cherry picking i will follow and pick up all the treasure left i scraped 230 bucks worth junk metal sorted brass copper and alliumunum and 12 grams worth broken gold jewelery found in trashy parks just matters where in the park you look

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Different strikes for different folks. It could be argued that you did all that work for about 2 cents per hour or less. $230 is sweet , but you might have got $2300.00 had you maximized your time by cherry picking a little. You are not wrong , but there is another side of the same coin you chase.
 
Agreed but gold is what i am after i have quite a few nice gold finds those i keep unless they are to damaged the clad and other scrap i keep just to clean up alittle the mess others left behind and scrap it after a year or so just how i like to roll i do think all beginers should dig all at least till they begin to predict the target nothing wrong with learning the machine
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