How deep do you go?

[Sandy21872]

Hi all. I am new to detecting. I have made mostly unremarkable finds such as old beer cans and pull tabs. On my second trip out, I did find a huge cache of old bottles. I assume it was some sort of dump site due to the varying ages of the bottles.
Anyways, today I went out to the woods on a slope and got a really strong beep which read as iron, aluminum, and coin at the maximum level of my depth indicator. So I dig and sift until I am 24 inches deep and my detector is still giving me the same readings at the bottom of the hole. I gave up after about 6 more inches. So my question is how deep do you pros dig before you give up?

 

[Syd BC]

Well now that just depends on what you're looking for. That big target might be interesting. A few years back, my detecting buddy dug a big signal until he uncovered what appeared to be the gas tank of a motorcycle. When he couldn't remove it from the ground, he kept digging until he recovered the entire bike. A call to the police revealed that it had been stolen many years before. You just never know until you dig it.

 

[Bonel]

Hi Sandy,
In my cases, when I have an incline signal, often the target is miss-pinpointed by the machine. If you have a pinpointer, the problem is mostly solved.
I did find myself in the position to dig a big hole and ended up finding the target next to my hole, at the surface.
Maybe the experience helps in this cases.

Don't be disappointed and keep digging, you never know when luck strikes you

 

[pasttom]

It would help to know what size coil you are using. Like Bone! said, could be in the side on the hole- a pinpointer would show that easily. A really big target can be deep, but 2 and a half feet is both very rare and quite out of the range of most detectors no matter what. There comes a time to walk away. I hate like anything to give up on a target, but sometimes its a matter of management and resources. Might be worth coming back with a bigger shovel or maybe a crew.

 

[ramairnut]

Obviously, it depends on where I am hunting. Public parks and private lawns require stealth plugging so I won't go much deeper than 6-7" unless the private lawn owner gives me permission to go deeper. If you do your research on areas before you hunt, you should already have some idea of how deep you may need to dig. In this hobby, professionalism goes a long way and makes all of us look good.

 

[pierre87]

Wel it depends on the amount of métal, the humidityof the soil, the type of métal.

Exemple a little coin of 5ct (17mm, 2grammes cu 92% al 6% NI 2%) with very humid black ground, i pickt up the signal at 30cm!, another rainy day (no détails but very interesting find in silver) 100gr silver at 60cm deep(with the 15"" wot). Normal weather, i find my coins at 25cm and in a plouwing the deeph is round 15cm (sorry for the spelling). My coils are 15"" coiltek 17,5 KHz and the two of the gold pack

 

[Syd BC]

Hi Sandy, I agree with everyone who has cautioned about digging plugs on lawns or fields that the public are using. I usually don't dig any deeper that 6 to 8 inches and then try to return any loose dirt to the hole before replacing the plug so that there is no trace of digging. A good tip that I learned on this forum is to carry an old Frisbee and use it to collect any loose dirt. Pour the dirt back into the hole before replacing the plug. As for digging way out in the woods (like my friend who found the motorcycle), you may have found a place with some nice artifacts. The 705 with even a 9 inch coil will detect a large target at considerable depth. If you have a chance to get out there again, widen out the hole on that big target and go a little deeper. With that bottle dump you may have found the site of an old cabin. I know someone who found coins in an old kettle and a few years ago I dug a cache of silver hidden in an old ammo box. Let us know what you find...Syd

 

[Digger]

Anyways, today I went out to the woods on a slope and got a really strong beep which read as iron, aluminum, and coin at the maximum level of my depth indicator. So I dig and sift until I am 24 inches deep and my detector is still giving me the same readings at the bottom of the hole. I gave up after about 6 more inches. So my question is how deep do you pros dig before you give up?

I can think of two distinct possibilities as to why you weren't able to retrieve the target. One...it is HUGE and Deeper than you were digging. But more likely, depending on the diameter of the hole you dug, you may have simply missed the mark. To help determine if it could be one or the other of these two possibilities........when you say you got the same readings at the bottom of the hole, did you actually have your coil in the bottom of the hole?

If you were getting a "strong beep" which read as iron, aluminum and coin, that has me puzzled. If it were multiple targets, you would be getting multiple beeps. Not just one strong beep. If it is one target, you shouldn't be getting such a variance in TID numbers.

If I were to get a signal such as you described, I would switch to Sizing Pinpoint and find out what the size and shape of that target was. Then I would dig where the target was actually located.....which leads into my second "theory", in that you were digging in the wrong spot. Keep in mind that the coil detects targets that are perpendicular to the surface of the coil bottom. If the ground is flat, the target will be located directly under the center of the coil. But if you were hunting on a slope and dug directly below the center of the coil, you may have miscalculated the targets location. Lets say for example that you were walking up the hill when you got the signal. So you X over the target with the coil flat on the surface, and dig your hole straight down. Again, that makes sense on flat ground.....but not on a slope. If you were scanning the coil flat to the surface of the ground while walking up hill, the coil is tilted to the same degree as the slope of the ground. If you dig your hole straight down, directly under the center of the coil, you are digging "downhill" from the target because the transmit signal was actually being projected perpendicular to the coil, which would be (in this case) a little bit up the hill slope. The steeper the hill and the deeper the target, the farther "up the hill" the target signal will be projected, when compared to a target on a flat surface. JMHO

 

[foiler]

I once found a school bus.