Do you dig 'em?

[GotSilver?]

Hello everybody!! So I only have about 5 hours on the AT Pro. For all of you that have more - who are most of you I'm sure - what signals do you dig by practice? For example, I spent some time (Pro Zero, Disc 40) in a park this weekend, filled with trash, and was passing (prob stupidly) on some short, high tones (quick ones too, almost a chirp) that didn't register a VDI # - just the tone. Some were marginally repeatable, some were not. What are some of the practices you all are finding success with? Do you dig ALL repeatable tones, regardless of VDI? All deep signals? All high tones? What is your "digging philosophy?" Any advice to become more succesful would be, and is always, much appreciated. Thank you for sharing your experience !!

 

[John-Edmonton]

I suggest you continue doing exactly what you are doing. Learning which junk targets tend to follow the same audio sound and VDI numbers is just as important as knowing most copper & silver coins read in the 80's. The more targets you dig, the more surprises you get, the more skill you develop using a screwdriver / digger, the faster you get the targets out of the ground therefore the more targets you get per hour. You really don't start getting a good grip on your machine until you put on 100 hours, which can happen very quickly. Good luck! I bet you have an excellent year.

Below is the junk I dug up on a hunt last year. Most people dig lots of junk.....they just don't post it because it's ugly, and for some some, there's a stigma attached to digging lot's of junk because they think that it makes you a lousy hunter. Nothing could be further from the truth!

 

[grumpysrb]

It Depends! Am I coin shooting, or relic hunting. Or Both. When looking primarily for coins, and I look for jewelry as well, I dig solid tones that I recognize as coins and signals that are solid and I don't recognize. And that has worked well for me. I have found 5 or 6 silver rings, three stainless rings, several pieces of cheap jewelry, foreign coins. While relic hunting, or if not sure what I am looking for, I dig all solid signals. If I am hitting a lot of items I don't want I will either raise the Iron disc. or ignore them.

Play around and develop your own style. I find more silver rings than old coins and that ticks off my hunting buddies a little. But they find more old coins, so it all works out.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yep...magic words are targets/hr...the more you can identify and harvest in the shortest amount of time will make you a very good user of this product quicker than the average bear.
Mud.

 

[fongu]

The deeper the target, the lower the sound and it may not show on the DVI. If it's consistent and a good tone, I dig it. I dig a lot of trash, but you have to dig trash to find the good stuff. I started out in the standard mode and now use mostly the pro mode in coins when I'm in the water.

 

[firstring]

"Some people will tell you to dig it all and that is nice until you find yourself in a junk yard. Once that happens the honeymoon is over and the frustration begins if every signal has to be dug. Personally, I would prefer to miss some gold than quit, which is what would happen if I had to dig it all."

For me, this quote from someone more smarter than me gave a new direction in metal detecting. Having a philosophy is an individual thing I would guess. At a site you have described, I am willing to dig those signals I can identify first. Starting with my Sniper coil with lowered sensitivity for more stable VDI readings and then work on up the line to the other coils and higher sensitivity. I don't have a one size fits all mentality. I reckon to each their own, if the intended results are realized then it's good enough. One thing for sure, a site is never hunted out until there are no more beeps.

 

[Johnny Cache]

Some of the best silver I have found was deep, and was the slightest high chirp...sometimes only registering from one direction! When I started detecting back in 2010, I dug EVERYTHING. I am getting better at deciphering, but I still dig a lot of crap just in case.

 

[Diggin-it]

Dig everything above 35 for awhile to learn what it is telling you. Also dig those deep no VDI signals, you never know. I say 35. because I have dug tiny gold below 40. You will dig TONS of trash, but it will help you to learn the machine. I have over 300 hours running the AT-Pro and the machine still amazes me some times with questionable signals that turn out to be good targets. Thus my user name...I am Diggin' it.

 

[sparkster]

First things first. If you only have 5 hours on the machine you probably do not know the difference in a good target or a junkie target. I recommend that you take one of each type of clad coin, silver target, and a gold target, along with some bottle caps, pull tabs, nails, crumbled up aluminum foil. Throw them out in your yard. Start detecting for them. You already know what's there, see if you can first figure out what you are hearing, then verify it with the VDI on you pro. That's the way it works. Pull tabs usually read the same most all the time. So do penny's, nickels, dimes and quarters. Gold is a little more if'y. Silver is usually above 87, but not always. You should always be digging repeatable targets in this range anyway. It's not as hard as it all sounds, just go for it. Good Luck-------Happy Hunting.

 

[sparkster]

Forgot to tell you. I set my Pro on 35 iron discrimination, pro mode. Ground balance, go for it.

 

[hotrodzincoln]

For my first 100 hours on the AT Pro I would dig everything from 38 plus. I filled somewhere around a half dozen small waste baskets full of pull tabs, can slaw, foil and bottle caps. But I was also pleased because I was finding a decent amount of good targets in proportion. Two of my best finds, both 14k gold diamond engagement rings were found in this time period. As I mentioned in a recent post on the Garrett Users Forum I now dig everything 45 and above and estimate that I find gold for about every one thousand pull tabs dug. You could add a few dozen pieces of can slaw and wadded up foil to that total. Its worth it to me because I'd rather find one nice gold item every month or two than a pouch full of quarters. I'll to post some pictures of my gold finds for this year. Enjoy your ATP!

 

[firstring]

As someone new to the AT Pro, you can practice on any audio signal you want to hear. How you have your machine set up will determine the audio signal and VDI shown. You can follow the crowd and make their adjustments to use on your machine, or you can make those adjustments based on your unique ground conditions, sweep speed, coil used, etc. That is a choice. Whatever works, use it. The most important adjustment, I'm sure you have learned, to any meatal detector is ground balancing. The most common issue is not ground balancing over clean ground. You did say you are hunting a trashy environment with discrimination set at 40. What isn't stated and assumed is the trash you are referring to is aluminum type trash, not iron trash. If the aluminum is discriminated out with iron audio off and you are attempting to ground balance the AT Pro that way, then..... Once ground balancing is not done properly, well let's just say those symptoms you are describing can haunt a person with those erie audio noises. I personally made a list of the prime targets I wanted to find. I got those targets and practiced (starting with air tests) listening to those audio signals. Hearing the same audio signals over and over for a nickel, let's say, certainly helps identify them when you are hunting. Same thing can be said to non-zinc and zinc pennies, dimes, quarters, halves or any other desirable target you may want. There are many of these at shallow depths that need to be cleaned out before you get to the deep ones in a trash (park, school) filled environment. And you won't be discouraged with all the garbage you dig when coins are mixed in. Clad is good, especially lot's of it. And you just never know when one of those gold pieces of jewelry comes out of the hole on a nickel signal. Go slow, coil low. Happy hunting.

 

[GotSilver?]

Love this site and the great advice! thank you all...

 

[artman60]

I suggest you continue doing exactly what you are doing. Learning which junk targets tend to follow the same audio sound and VDI numbers is just as important as knowing most copper & silver coins read in the 80's. The more targets you dig, the more surprises you get, the more skill you develop using a screwdriver / digger, the faster you get the targets out of the ground therefore the more targets you get per hour. You really don't start getting a good grip on your machine until you put on 100 hours, which can happen very quickly. Good luck! I bet you have an excellent year.

Below is the junk I dug up on a hunt last year. Most people dig lots of junk.....they just don't post it because it's ugly, and for some some, there's a stigma attached to digging lot's of junk because they think that it makes you a lousy hunter. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Gotta agree with John, when you are starting out, and learning the machine, the trash you dig is as important as the good stuff. I bought my Pro in Jan this year, but have been detecting off and on for about 23 years. Found my first two gold rings ever, at a local town field, they were both in the mid 40's. Now after digging up around 40-50 of the round, foil covers to the creams you get from the coffee shop, and all of them ringing in at a nice sounding, solid 43, I no longer dig 43's at this field. As Firstring says, personal preference, I have established to myself that digging 43's here is not going to be a good target. I have had my hunts where I stopped digging anything in the 50's because I was tired of the pulltabs, could very well have left something good behind. Personally as long as I'm having fun, it's all good. Oh Yeah, Hi, and welcome from Pepperell Ma. Keep us posted on how you're doing. Artie