How would you approach this site?

[TrpnBils]

I have the opportunity over the next couple of days to return to an old home site that I found a Civil War grapeshot ball and a 1930s padlock last year with my F5. I've stayed away from it since I got my Etrac because I wanted to get a better handle on the machine before returning because I know there is a ton of junk there...it's on a working farm now.

How would you approach this site, in terms of settings on the Etrac? I went in there last year hoping to find some old coins, which I still would love to find, but I only found a single wheat penny, a gilded button, and then found these two relics the following day. Other than that it was lots of trash. There is an old spring house just across the now-present dirt driveway from where the house had been, but it had 3ft tall grass in the area last year so I didn't get to hit it, but I'm hoping it might be clear this year.

I was thinking TTF might be the way to go here. I did some tests, and it's the only way the two relics showed up on my detector with any sort of discrimination was in the TTF modified stock relic program, but the lock was pretty sketchy with its tone and numbers, jumping back and forth between high and low. The ball was a solid low tone every time in that program.

Any suggestions?

 

[duggr]

I've only had my E-trac about a little over a month now...I find myself when I'm hunting an older place
that most of the time I use an Open screen "No Disc" to help with target masking and listen to the tones...
Forget what the meter is saying and just concentrate on the sounds. I have picked up more deep low conductors
in among Iron nails this way that were worth keeping, Lady's jewelry pins
and more by just getting those tones locked into my head...The tones should be the main way of
discriminating and the numbers or the bouncing numbers should just confirm what we are hearing..
There are those here on the E forum that are a lot more qualified to help you than I am....but maybe
you will find a crumb out of what I have said that might help you out a little...By the way! TTF is one
of my favorites....

 

[TrpnBils]

Thanks for the advice - sounds like we got ours around the same time... I think mine was early/mid May also!

 

[BryanM362]

I agree with duggr, run an open screen if you can. It will slow you down a little, because you are hearing and checking many more signals, but it eliminates the iron falsing, and allows you to really analyze each potential signal. This is especially helpful when you have several iron signals in close proximity to a good target. In a discrimination screen you might miss the good target all together. An open screen also get you more depth.

 

[utahshovelhead]

This is how I hunt sights that are really good if I have plenty of time or can come over several visits ( which is how I like to hunt my best sights)
First let me say this; If you have no worries about digging holes in nice lawns then you can open it wide open and dig everything, but if its a nice yard or digging carefully is important then I:

1. Go over the area with your favorite program and the one you are the most used to. this will cherry pick AND more importantly give you some indication of where the "spots" are and what is in the ground. While hunting with your favorite settings you will want to look for ways to get the most sensitivity ( and areas where you cannot run it as high or higher) and you will want to gain good stability and depth.
Once you dialed in a good "feeling" for where your best spots are and trouble spots with good targets then" 2. Go over those best spots with an open discrim mode. I use 2 tone only as the last resort and in areas where there is lots of iron bits. check the iffy signals carefully before digging in lawns, if dirt, just dig em up and get a feeling for what they are.
3 then hunt everything else with the open screen, and which ever mode suits you best. I personally like more info than two tones and that is why I use it last and only in lots of trash.
If items are deep then try to keep the sensitivity up but just under the unstable performance. ( this can change in 10 feet) Use deep on in open areas, and Fast on in the trashy areas but be sure to go over them again with these setting both on and off as they tend to cut the signal up a bit and not as stable...important with relics and iron, so use them both ways on good spots.
The Discrimination I would base solely on that particular area, and only block what I cant stand to keep hitting on, esp for relics.

I do this more as a method than a set up and Im able to hit the best areas and get the most out of them first. The truth is I will go back to my best sights and try new setups with open screens very last. If your finding great stuff, you will want to go over it from different angles, go over it when its wet, and go over it when its cooler or the temps change. Then I come back in the fall and spring and check it more. Ive been surprised enough to know that nobody gets everything no matter how good they are.

Now that ive said everything you probably already know....good luck.

 

[Will1877]

Im no master and am still learning my machine as well but what MR. Shovel head mentioned above is how I would do that site given you are able to go back. I love TTF but my primary hunting pattern some Etrac vets let me in on is disc out every thing below the 26 Fe line and use the wonderful tones the machine gives you. I got into the habit of only using TTF but found my self on short hunts not covering ground and chasing things. By learning the tones you can cherry pick better and sometimes that's all I have time for. One thing I find critical with this setting is move your thresh hold pitch up to 27 28 to really get the most out of those tones. This is not a program to find everything in the ground by no means but is a good start to cover area and belive me this setting picks up quite a lot of targets. Im primarily a coin shooter though. Also I run deep off fast on ground difficult multi conductive in this program. Good luck buddy

 

[DiggerODirt]

I would go in with a weed whacker first, if the land owner lets you...Then hunt in a normal coin mode if the site allows you to. That or TTF or the trashy park pattern if you get too much nulling....

HH,

 

[etrachunter]

TTF..for me. I pretty much hunt that way with an open screen most of the time.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

I always hunt those types of sites in 2TF with a small coil ( 6" max.).
Then after I hunted the entire area and got to know the ground conditions - I'd go back over the areas that were not to junkie - with a bigger coil and look for deeper targets.

Good Luck !

 

[TrpnBils]

Been away for a few days - thanks for the replies. There is no restriction on what I can do in terms of clearing junk brush and all that. It's family property on a discarded region of 500+ acres, and I plan on going in with something if I can get up there for a couple of days....spend a day clearing and a day hunting or something. If i go in with a weedeater, I'll need to get a blade for it because there is very, very little in terms of "weeds" in there. It's mostly 1" thick shrubbery that has popped up over the decades, and lots and lots of larger trees (although not large enough to have been there when the house was there...there are 6" diameter trees growing within the cellar hole). I went back there about two weeks ago for only a couple of hours and found lots of spoons (no forks or knives, just spoons!) and a couple of wheats, but nothing much of interest. I will keep going back, but I think late fall, early spring might be my best bet.