All metal with the Vaquero

[homebre]

I had some spare time and the weather was nice so I decided to go thru my fields and woods and hunt in all metal. This is not a trashy area. All I found was some old wire, a big bolt, and one rusted can, I was wondering, are there any reasons to hunt in all metal mode with the Vaq if you do not want to find iron? Is the depth substantially greater or just a 1/2 inch or so with all metal? It seems I should just use Disc above iron and below nickel. Comments?

Andy from Hillsborough

 

[kansa54]

Andy, I never use my vaquero in all metal. I suppose there's a time and place for everything but I've never seen the need for it.

 

[Monte]

Remember, these are just my opinions, but they reflect how I often hunt or the decisions zi make to hunt.

I had some spare time and the weather was nice so I decided to go thru my fields and woods and hunt in all metal.

Why? What were you looking for, and was there anything special about the site in the woods? Which search coil did you use? Just curious.

This is not a trashy area. All I found was some old wire, a big bolt, and one rusted can, ...

It sounds like you found trash as you didn't mention anything worthwhile.

I was wondering, are there any reasons to hunt in all metal mode with the Vaq if you do not want to find iron?

No, not really. I often search in a Threshold-based All Metal mode, even at many sites that have a fair amount of trash. The reason I do it is so I can hear ALL metal targets present. That lets me know if the site is barren, lightly trashy or very trashy. Also, when I encounter a target I use detectors that let me quickly access a Discriminate mode [size=small](with a toggle, touchpad or pushbutton)[/size] to check the located target, and also to work the search coil around the trash to see if there might b e a desired target close-by and partially masked.

You don't have that option on the Vaquero because you have to turn the knob and shift out of a Discriminate setting to go into All Metal, or shift out of All Metal and try to find a Discriminate setting that works for where you are. That's why my Tesoro's are an Outlaw and Bandido II µMAX.

If you know a site has some iron trash, and if you don't want to find it and/or hear it, then just select the Discriminate mode and increase the Discrimination level carefully, just to the point where you reject the more problem trash.

Is the depth substantially greater or just a 1/2 inch or so with all metal?

It can be a little greater in good ground conditions, or bad, depending upon the GB adjustment. Depth, to me, isn't such a big issue in the long run since I have found the bulk of my good targets from surface to about 4"-5". If you use the highest Sensitivity level possible, and the lowest Discrimination level on the Vaquero, the depth of detection most people would h4ar would be very close.

It seems I should just use Disc above iron and below nickel. Comments?

If you don't want to find trash, then use only enough Discrimination to deal with the most offending trash targets. Personally, I never use more Discrimination than just enough to reject iron nails. That's it. I wouldn't suggest a setting described as "below nickels" since that can be a very high setting and will also be rejecting small to medium gold jewelry, and cause more good target masking in a littered environment.

Go hunt it some more, but use your Discriminate mode, with only enough Discrimination to reject a nail or two placed on top of the ground. Then make sure you are Ground Balanced and remember to overlap at least 50% of the coil on each pass of the search coil.

Monte

 

[tabman]

I never hunt in the all-metal mode. The only time that I ever use the all-metal mode is to size a target or to compare it's audio response to that of the discriminate mode. The big red pinpoint button works just find for that. My modded Cibola has a trigger switch that will lock into the the all-metal mode by pushing it forward. I never use it.

tabman

 

[hatpin]

Coincidentally , I went to the woods today with my Vaquero and hunted in all metal.I used a 5.75 inch concentric coil just because I have hunted this area a lot with the stock coil and wanted to change up. It was cold and the ground was frozen on north facing hills. Thawed on south facing hills .I use all metal often in the woods , as long as it is not to trashy. One signal was faint , I kicked the debris out of the way switched to disc and the signal was still there. It was soft and not scratchy. I thumbed the disc up and it disappeared a little pass the tab mark. I dug it and about 6 or 7 inches down was a badly corroded Indian head penny. I usually post a photo of old coins bot this one was too ate up . This coin was in an area that I have hunted hard and have undoubtedly swung the stock coil over before.

To me All Metal will get more signals through forest floor clutter . I dont think I hear that penny in disc mode.

 

[HateTabs]

The only time I have used all metal is on the beach. In disc it will not pick up the smaller gold jewelry, especially small chains, hits them good in all metal.

 

[hatpin]

Rusty cans are usually high pitch loud. Then when you switch it to disc they are usually , quiet, scratchy or disc out fast. I dont dig more than one or two rusty cans an outing. Wire is usually hard to pinpoint when in disc it breaks up a lot . Big iron like rusty bolts or horseshoes I usually dig .