Big Boys Hobbies

How am I missing things?

Magicmantx

Magicmantx

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
265
Location
Cherokee Village AR
I frequent a small lake beach close to where I live when I don't have a lot of time and want to get in some detecting time. The sand part is only about 50yds by 20yds. On each side of the sand is a grassy area with a picnic table under a shade tree. Obviously every time I go I find a small amount of clad in the sand and the two times I've been in the water there I've found a couple costume jewelry pieces and a bit of clad but the real puzzler is the grassy areas around the picnic tables. Its not a large area at all maybe 150x150 ft so Ive passed every angle different speed swings different coils adjusted ground balance sensivity you name it I've tried it. So sunday I had a couple hours to kill so figured I'd at least hit the sand . Like always a bit of clad and some trash. Decided to hit the grassy areas to see if there were any fresh drops since its been a couple months since my last visit.After a few minutes I hit on a quarter at about 6" the a dime then two nickels and a couple pennies at 8" so none of the coins were shallow. Then the real kickerI hit on what I figured to be a dime but turns out to be a thin but really nice small .925 ring. How have I continually missed these things??? I've been over that spot probably a dozen times. I've been there with similar ground conditions dry moist and wet. My ground balance usually runs around 85-87 in that spot and Ive hunted varying up and down from those numbers. I bet I could go back tomorrow and find something else lol. So far I've pulled assorted clad probably 2$ or more in varying denominations, a small gold ring a few pieces of costume jewelry and now a .925 ring. It's puzzling to me. its such a small area and I've been over it so many times and I dig anything that rings over 35. Its the cleanest beach in the country. I rarely find a pull tab there anymore LOL.I've gone over every inch from every direction. Scratching my head makes me feel like I'm missing stuff at better sites.
 
Magicmantx said:
Scratching my head makes me feel like I'm missing stuff at better sites.
Click to expand...

I think it is safe to assume that we are all missing stuff. There are just too many variables. Rarely is an area completely hunted out. Just have fun knowing that there is always another awesome signal that you have overlooked for you to stumble upon.
 
How are you missing so many things, why do people go into heavily hunted out sites and still find things so many missed in the past, simple....it's all about the numbers.
Read this article by Bill Revis, a well loved very successful hunter that passed away a few years ago.
The numbers are eye opening.
http://www.thetreasuredepot.com/tdmag/issue5/coinshooting.htm

If you have hit every inch of any area in any site just because you have gone over it many, many times from several directions or in all kinds of soil conditions and think you have found it all you are just fooling yourself.
On top of that there is just more to the matter of changing directions and soil conditions.
I have hit sites dozens and dozens of times and new targets still pop up on every one...the first time or the 20th.
I had the same skill set every time I hunted so that was not the issue.
I have found new targets by changing directions slightly, hunting in dry moist and wet soil, changing to different coils and changing to different detectors.
I have found good targets in heavily hunted sites after switching from lower end detectors to much higher end but I have also thought I was done with sites after scouring them with higher end detectors and found more after hitting them with lower end much more simple detectors.
People have warned me off of sites because they had been hunted for years by them and their buddies and were positive there was absolutely nothing left to find but I proved them wrong every time.
Many others have had those same experiences.
I have read posts from hunters that have searched large areas like parks and say they covered it all in a few hours and are sure they found everything possible so they left and never came back because they considered them done.
This is just laughable, I always ask for the locations of these sites since I never consider any site 100% completely hunted out...ever!
Even the smaller sites with much less area to hunt.

I have read other articles and posts from some other very successful hunters about this stuff and here are some more interesting numbers for you and a question.
How long should it take to hunt a 10X10 area to do it thoroughly?
A half hour, an hour?
According to the experienced it should take several hours...many, many hours going slow, overlapping efficiently and doing it all several times from many directions...and even then you will still probably miss targets no matter how careful and thorough you are.
The tools we use are not the most efficient for what we do by a long run, if you really want a shot at finding it all in any given site, even in a very small area, you need to get a shovel and a sifter...then start digging.

This is a hobby about numbers, once you understand those numbers and how they really affect us and what we find things start to make much more sense.
 
Last edited:
I think this happens to everyone. I have a certain yard on a farm I detect that I have been swinging over for 2 years. For the last year I have been digging the iffy signals because all the clear signals are gone. I typically walk across this yard to get to the fields after the crops are harvested. In early spring I came out of the field and was casually swinging on my way to the car and got a clear bright fabulous signal that stopped me in my tracks. I turned a few different ways figuring it was a false signal, it was not. It turned out to be a silver Washington at 6 inches! I bet I spent 50+ hours in this 50 x50 ft area over 2 years, I could not believe I had missed that. Last Thursday it happened again and I found an old "drink milk" pendant. seems it is true, we never get it all!
 
I like to hit spots from multiple directions. I do believe you can miss good targets by not getting a good swing over it, especially if the coins are on edge. You may hit a dime going horizontal that you wouldn't have hit going vertically, and vice versa. Certainly just a small part of the hobby, there are lots of other variables. Thats my theory FWIW :laughing:
 
We all miss things. It is easy to do. Last July I very carefully detected a section of salt water beach working the slope. Decided to go back to my starting point and detect the other direction as I had hit an area where targets were non existent.

Just walking down the beach I hit a target in an area where I had covered It was only a dime but it slowed me down Less than 20 feet later I hit another target that turned out to be a 14k ring with a 6/10 carat diamond.

I had missed a danged nice target that showed up when I was going in a different direction.

It happens to all of us.
.
 
I would say the way the soil and ground compared to the gear you use make a difference.

I use a BH tracker IV and a tesoro compadre I am sure someone comes with a $1,000 dollar machine you're going to get deeper depths. So if you go back over areas a cheap detector was used your probably going to get the signals at a deeper depth.

Which that's how it should be or else why buy a $1,000 dollar machine compared to a $100 dollar machine if they did the same thing right?

And then there is the obvious if you don't swing over it and accidentally skip over then of course stuff is still there.
 
I hunted a front yard about 60 x 30 and on the 5th visit I found a Franklin half at about 5 inches. it is easy to miss stuff. Also, when the hunting gets tough most people move on to easier pickings.

If I get on a permission and it is apparent that it has already been hunted, I switch gears. I pull out the V3i, put it in deep silver mode and slow down. I start listening for the stuff that most likely was beyond their reach because.....they did not get it all!
 
Conditions, conditions, conditions is maybe the biggest factor. I hunt a property and it’s small and each time I go I can find silver. I scoured the grounds from every direction. But moisture content makes a huge difference for me. I hunt right after rains and find deeper stuff and get better signals.
 
It's been said already, but I wholeheartedly agree. Ground conditions make a huge difference in "detectability" of materials. Moisture even from a week prior, can make it's way down into the soil and change the conductivity of the object. Remember too, that the longer an object is in soil, it creates a bit of a "halo" effect around it. You may not be able to air test an object at 8", but time and soil conditions will let you hit it with a detector. The metal halo leaching out of the object into the surrounding soil is easily disturbed when digging... so you may dig the object, get close to it, and then it "disappears" on your rig. This is where a pin pointer is invaluable.

Cheers,

Skippy
 
Go over it with another Brand of detector and you'll be surprised again...and again.
 
I am sure we all miss stuff when we hunt. I have gone over and over some sites and continue to find targets I had missed. The totals are not nearly as good but I still am finding coins and other things The moisture in the ground does make some difference if I had hunted there before when it was dry. I just found a .925 sterling ring that I know I had missed. Was over that area many times. I do direction changes and gridding too.
 
Missing stuff in your local turf, is just saving it for later. I suggest digging some trashy signals; not only some of those turn out to be good targets(sometimes REALLY Good!), but any target you pull out might just unmask a nearby goody. I regularly unmask stuff that wasn't detected at first. Occasionally, something good turns up.
 
If it's clean I'll run in all metal and dig every little beep...may be quite a bit of loot deeper than 8 "
 
thoughtful reply - thanks

DIGGER27 said:
How are you missing so many things, why do people go into heavily hunted out sites and still find things so many missed in the past, simple....it's all about the numbers.
Read this article by Bill Revis, a well loved very successful hunter that passed away a few years ago.
The numbers are eye opening.
http://www.thetreasuredepot.com/tdmag/issue5/coinshooting.htm

If you have hit every inch of any area in any site just because you have gone over it many, many times from several directions or in all kinds of soil conditions and think you have found it all you are just fooling yourself.
On top of that there is just more to the matter of changing directions and soil conditions.
I have hit sites dozens and dozens of times and new targets still pop up on every one...the first time or the 20th.
I had the same skill set every time I hunted so that was not the issue.
I have found new targets by changing directions slightly, hunting in dry moist and wet soil, changing to different coils and changing to different detectors.
I have found good targets in heavily hunted sites after switching from lower end detectors to much higher end but I have also thought I was done with sites after scouring them with higher end detectors and found more after hitting them with lower end much more simple detectors.
People have warned me off of sites because they had been hunted for years by them and their buddies and were positive there was absolutely nothing left to find but I proved them wrong every time.
Many others have had those same experiences.
I have read posts from hunters that have searched large areas like parks and say they covered it all in a few hours and are sure they found everything possible so they left and never came back because they considered them done.
This is just laughable, I always ask for the locations of these sites since I never consider any site 100% completely hunted out...ever!
Even the smaller sites with much less area to hunt.

I have read other articles and posts from some other very successful hunters about this stuff and here are some more interesting numbers for you and a question.
How long should it take to hunt a 10X10 area to do it thoroughly?
A half hour, an hour?
According to the experienced it should take several hours...many, many hours going slow, overlapping efficiently and doing it all several times from many directions...and even then you will still probably miss targets no matter how careful and thorough you are.
The tools we use are not the most efficient for what we do by a long run, if you really want a shot at finding it all in any given site, even in a very small area, you need to get a shovel and a sifter...then start digging.

This is a hobby about numbers, once you understand those numbers and how they really affect us and what we find things start to make much more sense.
Click to expand...

When you get a permission then you should keep many of these things in mind. It is important and slow down an work this permission and change up your hunting style with these many factors in mind. Even then someone coming in behind you has a good chance and even maybe a better chance in finding deeper coins since you have removed a lot of trash.
 
What probably happened is small piece of iron trash eventually rusted out enough to allow the good signals to come through in discrimination mode. Try hunting in all metal and digging everything there's probably more good things there. You already know there are good things there in a small area so its the perfect spot for an all metal dig.

I know for sure those ferrous crowncaps eventually rust out and when they do they crumble. It's worth rechecking old parks with such bottlecaps periodically. I once found a deep barber quarter that was nestled right inside a crusty crowncap.
 
How do we miss things? Let me count the ways...

For me, it depends hugely on my state of mind. Sometimes I am in "the zone" and I find things in places I've detected dozens of times before.
 
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