Digging old home sites with loads of trash

Never had an Eurotec Pro, but when you hit very trashy spots the small football or the 5 in round coils are necessary. I use the 5 in on my CZ and F75 and the 6 in on my ctx. Also with large iron i usually get an over load tone. I pulled a merc right off the edge of a door hinge with the CZ, i almost did not dig as i thought it was a high tone false off the end of the big iron.. But i went to pinpoint and with the 5 in coil i was able to hear the signal rise and peak then lower just a bit then back to really high pitch, telling me that there were two distinct targets next to each other. I would imagine with your machine the non ferrous items close to iron will lower your Visual ID so beware of skipping mid VDI numbers that seem like trash, you could be missing a good target. But it also depends how much you want to dig. If you tire of digging then only dig real high tones that are repeatable. Just some basic things you can do, also i do not know how much time you have on the machine but it takes many hours to learn a machine well. So do not give up, keep swinging and digging. Good luck!

Yes, most suggestions will say get a smaller sniper coil.
If you are really new at this you don't have the skills to really do well at this, especially with a big coil.
You will with experience but right now I bet you are super frustrated.
Try hunting other sites if our have them, parks and such to practice your skills.
You can try going really slow in those trashy sites if you insist on hunting there, some better signals might show up but maybe not.
Turn down your sensitivity because that might help but you might lose some depth so hopefully those coins you're looking for aren't really deep.

Even for the more experienced WITH sniper coils sites like you describe are challenging so other less challenging sites where you can hone your skills is recommended.
If you plan on hunting sites like this a lot a sniper coil will be a good investment somewhere down the line.

Inferno said:

I am fairly new to detecting and looking for advise on detecting old home sites. I have gone to a couple and there is so much big junk in the ground (corrugated steel, metal buckets, old fencing, etc.) that it seems impossible to find my target which is old coins. I use a Eurotec Pro with the 11" DD coil and because everything is so big it reads 90s in almost every swing and the ground is so littered with old iron the iron indicator stays on constant. I even try to cherry pick digging only the small targets I can find with descrimination set to max but there are so few going that route that I have found no success. Does anyone have any suggestions when hunting these ultra trashy sites?

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Turn your sensitivity down and start on The perimeter of the area (hopefully less trashy) and work your way in. A smaller coil will help but only after experience kicks in.

Experience in trash is key here, if you have the chance teach yourself in a park if possible. Learning in trash can be very overwhelming.

I have probably 80 to 100 hours on the machine. I believe some of it is the Eurotec and the larger coil set up I have. My opinion it works best for deep targets in fairly clean ground. I thought about getting a small coil but I have really been impressed with my dads Garrett Ace 400. So instead of spending more on this machine, I am very close to pulling the trigger on a Garrett AT Pro. It really seems like it has much better ability to separate targets and would probably work better in these type of sites. Just not sure though...

Inferno said:

I am fairly new to detecting and looking for advise on detecting old home sites. I have gone to a couple and there is so much big junk in the ground (corrugated steel, metal buckets, old fencing, etc.) that it seems impossible to find my target which is old coins. I use a Eurotec Pro with the 11" DD coil and because everything is so big it reads 90s in almost every swing and the ground is so littered with old iron the iron indicator stays on constant. I even try to cherry pick digging only the small targets I can find with descrimination set to max but there are so few going that route that I have found no success. Does anyone have any suggestions when hunting these ultra trashy sites?

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Don't feel bad.
Some good finds can't be found in some sites (like you are describing) by anyone really using 11" coil.

Smaller coil will help,,and remember,,part of this here,,,depends on the detector too.

Some detectors better cutout to hunt these kinds of sites.

Even a medium sized coil may help some.

Besides going this route,,the only other alternative is(if you want to be more successful in this site) is to,,start removing the bigger junk targets,,like cans,,horseshoes,,ect. Doing this might open up some of the ground,,where even your 11" coil has a chance to find something.

You could do this,,by clearing the more prone areas for coin drops,,,no guarantees though this will work,,,some times good coins are located not where a person usually thinks.

Best of luck.

I do enjoy hunting tough sites,,,but having the right tools helps.

Great advise everyone, I really appreciate your thoughts! Here is my plan.
1. Get the AT Pro and pick up 5x8 coil with it. (Maybe even smaller coil later)
2. Work perimeter in less trashy to most trashy.
3. Start weeding out the big trash I can get out of the way to find the better targets.

Thanks again for your input!!!

I hunt with the AT PRO also and have used it one year. I purchased the 5X8 coil and made a big difference for me. I've been in super trashy areas and wished I had a sniper coil but with practice and patience I learned how to use that coil in super trashy areas also. I've found my most coins in a single day with that coil. Good luck


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Some ideas.

Here's what I would suggest:

1. Clean out as much iron as practical. In order to get the loose nails, screws, etc. you might get a very powerful rare earth magnet, stick it on a rake and make a "nail broom" to sweep the area with. That should pick up all the loose surface iron, and might be strong enough to pull some shallow iron out of the ground, depending on its condition.

2. Turn the iron volume OFF on the ETP, I believe it is volume setting 10 (max volume for non-ferrous, zero volume for ferrous).

3. Set discrimination to only block ferrous metal.

4. Ignore the VDI number, and just detect by tone.

5. Experiment with different sensitivity settings to see if turning it down helps any. If you have large iron all over, it may help to run on min. sens. to detect around it to keep from picking it up.

6. The ETP has very fast recovery, so it should be a good machine to use in your situation, but as others mentioned, a small sniper coil would help you get in between the big pieces of iron to seek out the other targets.

Keep in mind though, that just like with business, the secret to successful metal detecting is location, location, location! If the targets aren't there to begin with, having the best metal detector in the world won't put them there. And if you can't clean enough iron out to metal detect, then your only recourse might be to go full-on archeological dig, and shovel and screen the dirt for artifacts. That is actually better, as you would be able to pick out the non-metallic artifacts, too.

Good luck.

I don't use the same machine but I do hunt trashy home sites. I have found that you will QUICKLY learn your machine by hunting these kind of sites. You will probably not find a lot of keepers at first but you will find them, and then one day you will find keepers regularly.

Some things to keep in mind:

When I hunt in heavy iron and get a high tone I test it with a pinpoint. If the machine does not pinpoint where the high tone seems to come from, it is likely iron. This effect is more pronounced with a small coil. I find that iron typically will pinpoint to the side of where the high tone seems to come from. Even then, when you dig the iron will likely be in the side of that hole! A coin, by comparison, will pinpoint where the high tone appears to come from in motion mode. Of course, there are exceptions to this such as a coin on edge.

Good targets in trash will give jumpy signals but they usually are consistent in the way they jump. For example, the high tone will generally be within a tight range while the jumpy low tone will probably be all over (ie: high tone 83-85, low tone between -35 and +25). This is a good indication of a coin next to one or several nails or other junk.

I like to go over trashy homesteads first with a big coil and cherry-pick high tones. After that is done, the work begins. Pick a spot and dissect it with every coil you have.

Another thing I have learned hunting in predominantly iron trash is that good targets do not always ID reliably. Once you start dissecting a spot you should be digging ALL targets with a target ID above iron. You will be amazed when you pull a Buffalo or V Nickel that sounded like weak foil and don't forget that IHP's sound like a screwcap or even less in iron.

Once you have dug all of the targets above iron, start digging small deep targets that you cannot reliably ID with the machine. Once you get to this point you will be using All-Metal Mode to make the determination to dig or not.

Dig out the big trash targets, too. They will hide targets not only under, but around them, too.

Good luck and HH!

Very good advice everyone! I really appreciate it. I am going to try some of these suggestions. I feel there should be something worth finding at my current site if I can just get past some of the big junk. There is a good size tank I can use to start throwing the alternators and rake parts to clean it up a bit. I found the old well dried up too. Does anyone ever try to check those? It's about 6-8' deep. I did find some old mason jar lids as well and kept hoping to find a jar attached. Not yet... Thanks for taking the time to give your suggestions!

A place like that...find the old ashpit/outhouse and dig it up...hunt the trail going to and from the house...look for off to the side away from the junk shade areas...nearest swimming hole?...The guys that dig up old privey holes find some amazing things that will help you age a place...

Here's an example of a "pro" detecting a high-iron site.

You might pick up some tips watching this video. He isn't using a ETP, but it is a Teknetics, the T2.

Thanks for posting that Crackerjack! That is very similar to the place I am speaking of. I have my AT Pro with 5x8 coil coming this week. I think that will be the difference maker giving me the ability to hunt it more like the guy in the video. I will have much better control on reading targets than my current set up. That video gives me renewed hope!! Good stuff!