What is going on with this hole?

I took a shovel out yesterday to check the hole (found out HF shipping is really slow, my pinpointer may be here Friday... almost 2 full weeks after I ordered it).
This appears to be my culprit...

It was about 8 inches down and 2 inches to one side of the hole. I still get a hit on the bottom of the hole when in pinpoint mode but I dug a section about 24 inches long by 8 inches wide, and 8 inches deep so I could swing my coil in the hole and it doesn't seem to pick up anything else in the hole in regular mode. I suspect the hit in pinpoint mode is a false positive so I filled the hole in. Hopefully the HF pinpointer will keep me from having this kind of problem in the future... at least until I can afford one of those Garrett pro pointers. What was weird was I checked the hole again before digging and the hit definitely appeared to be in the center of the hole still even though the staple ended up being in the side. I don't know if something about the shape of the staple was throwing it off or what (as the hole was almost 8 inches below where the staple was found so it shouldn't have been halo effect from rust in the dirt since the dirt wasn't in the hole at the time).

I would like to thank everyone for their advise in this thread. Being as I am new to the hobby I would expect to see more questions from me later.

I would hate to find one of those in a 8 inch hole.

Another thing to try is sweeping above the ground at different heights, 12", 6", 3", 1". That will allow you to judge size and depth. If you get a strong signal at 12" above the ground there might be a bulldozer buried there, while a signal at 6" it might only be a beer can. Keep in mind that a quarter at the surface can be detected 6" - 9" up as well, but you will get a feel for strength and size if you keep trying it.

I suggest you coin shoot at a public park when it is not crowded, dawn, or 10pm at night, or better yet a school tot lot deserted for the summer. You need to practice on coins, with foil and lower disced out. Learn the dime and quarter signals, then try to learn the nickel signals, without digging trash. Lincolns and zincolns will show up in droves. Do this for now as practice, and then you can do the right thing and dig every pulltab to find gold.

First you need a lot of practices shooting fish (coins) in a barrel (tot lot) to get your ear tuned for non-ferrous targets. Then you can tune your ear for trash, gold, relics, etc! Dig about 200-1000 coins first.

While I appreciate your feedback RyanChappell and I am sure it will help other detectorists, I am not primarily interested in coin shooting. I am leaning more towards the relic hunting aspects of the hobby I think (though I wouldn't mind finding some coins and jewelry). I don't feel that I have the necessary skill cutting plugs yet to dig in a city park. My plugs are getting better to be sure but I can still see where I have dug several of them. The F2 does a good job with tones to let me know kind of what is buried at a spot, but I am also trying to clean up my grandfathers place some by removing the trash. I figure by doing that I make the place here a little cleaner, and get more practice retrieving targets of various depths. The property has been in my family for 4 generations and I don't see that changing in the future so absolute worse case scenario I am making it cleaner and safer for future family decedents. Your advise seems excellent for coin shooting and once I get to where I feel my plugs are up to par (and I have my pinpointer), I will probably follow your advice at the baseball fields up the street. It's funny you mention a bulldozer though as there used to be one by the creek when I was a kid that doesn't seem to be there now... maybe I will find it with my detector some day.

Ya found it!

DIG IT ! Otherwise, you (and us) will never know what it is.
dig it and let us know.

LaenDrawoh said:

I am not primarily interested in coin shooting. I am leaning more towards the relic hunting aspects of the hobby I think (though I wouldn't mind finding some coins and jewelry). I don't feel that I have the necessary skill cutting plugs yet to dig in a city park. My plugs are getting better to be sure but I can still see where I have dug several of them. It's funny you mention a bulldozer though as there used to be one by the creek when I was a kid that doesn't seem to be there now... maybe I will find it with my detector some day.

Click to expand...

You would be surprised at the similarities between coin and relic hunting. Most relic hunters hunt non-ferrous for mid to high tones, the same tones that coins come in, but widen the range to encompass more middle tones for brass and bullets that in a park would be screw caps. But a lot of buckles and buttons come in just like old coins. Of course if you are looking for iron, you would want to do what you are doing. The main difference is that in relic hunting you are in fields that typically have not been used as a public trash can like most parks and yards have.

Practice the plugs in a yard more, then go to a park that is not kept as well, and practice some more. Bulldozer LOL. I am serious, clad coins are good practice, digging trash is a demoralizing way to learn.


Also every target comes in as iron when the targets depth approaches the detection limits of the machine. So a deep nail might be silver, etc, but is probably just a nail.

Looks like you found your culprit (target), but I wanted to add my two cents (since I was in the same boat when I started ths hobby). I totally agree with responses that said to keep digging. I've also have found cool things deep (ax heads, a stone mason's hammer, etc.) on our farm, and since it's my place, I could dig to my heart's content. The other thing that you could try (since it sounds like the hole may not be filled in yet), is sifting the pile before you put it back in. While you should see any metal atifacts with your detector, I've found arrow heads, plastic toys, ceramic buttons, etc. while sifting, and I have a neighbor with an impressive collection of arrowheads, stone ax heads, etc. It's time consuming, though, and can be disappointing when you spend an hour and don't find anything. Good luck! Curt