Advice for a seeded hunt

[The Felderhoff]

I am going to be going to the Charles Garrett Memorial hunt next month and wanted to get some advice for a seeded hunt. There are going to be between 200 and 300 people and I will be using a Garrett AT Pro. My question is mainly about what coil to use and what setting with the number of people that will be there. One hunt is civil war items, another will be a silver hunt and a couple other regular hunts. I am still new to the hobby and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WaterWalker]

The best advice is: know your detector. And that only comes with use. Speed is essential as is your technique.

As for settings...there are so many variables, no one can tell you the best until after the hunt.
How deep, what material, size, are the targets? Are there tokens and coins, again what material.
Some hunt I have been to even use bottle caps, iron washers, aluminum foil, pull tabs, dog tags, you name it for tokens.
So it is usually dig all, unless you are told something like all targets are pennies.
Do not waste time looking at the ID readout or using a pin-pointer, know how to pinpoint rapidly and precisely, and be fast at unearthing the target.
Interference between detectors can be a problem, know how to shift frequencies on the fly.
It is personal preference as to coil size, the larger coil covers more ground, a smaller coil will be easier to pinpoint with and be lighter to swing for so many hunts. That bring up being physically fit to do all the getting down to dig a target and getting back up. You will need to be in shape for 4+ hunts.
Most planted hunts do no bury targets too deep, usually within 4 inches.
Good luck and most of all enjoy the hunt and what the other detectorists have to offer and shared advice.

 

[HaloEffect426]

I know a couple tricks from. Waaaaay back in the mid 80's...in Versailles (spelled?) Ohio.....during a whole week end of awesome hunts. Although it could be different as to how they may bury the good targets like silver coins and $10 tokens.
TIME IS EVERYTHING .....the less you need to recover ea. Target....the better.
I ddnt waste any time oggeling over any targets put em up n go! Go! Go!
You can awe over em after the gun goes off to stop the hunt.....

Didnt even have much time for target recovery BUT. They used a ....kinda....dandelion getter..to push the silver halves n. Barber quarters into the
Ground. So it was as simple as ......pinpoint...good?....reach down with one or two fingers into the angled slot ....grab coin...stomp on puffed up ground....go!

Sometimes the silver halves and morgan dollars actually
had a small cone shaped plug.....so.....ppoint...good?... Pull grass....hope for.plug..grab coin...plug back...stomp...go!

Tokens were similar...i remember these were wheat pennies in a paper coin holder painted silver on one side of them...ten buck ea one! I got 9 of em....=$90.00 dollars. !...slot or plug usually...grab go !!
N then they tossed buffalo nickles on top of the.ground so...easy to snatch up...
I took 1st place( trophy.).. in the teen hunt.( Ages 13 to 19. I think)....i was 16 at the time..... for most good targets successfully recovered in one hour.
Cant remember how many i dug but i remember ...I WAS FEELING LIKE NOODLE ARMS ! After that hunt.....lol

Anyway....just a few things that might just be helpful. To you....

And. yes.....ENDURANCE. Is the.word......work on building up your. Hunt time.accuracy. and speed of recovery


...oh and by the way....that was the days of fast swinging detectors...i also have.the.ATPRO...and im pretty sure you could swing fast and get a good or bad tone in two quick pass overs of a target...((( anyone please correct me if i'm wrong about this???)))

..the response time of the atp can handle faster sweeping.than you are supposed to..((although you shouldn't. In real life hunts due to the faint targets....deep ect... ))) .i still swing too fast just outta the 80's habit..it hard to break..... It still hard for me to get used to a slow swing...but ur gonna have ta swing as fast n safe as you can during the hunts...

If you want alot in your pouch.......


you will get the hang of it quick....practice with the atp w faster swings n targeting w just ur ears.....you can go bk to slower sweeping w ya get bk home!...

You will do great....best of luck!! Wish i could go to that one.....
HH
HaloEffect426.

 

[The Felderhoff]

Thank you both for the great info! Can't wait for the hunt and will start practicing more at my local park

 

[HaloEffect426]

n/t