Hunting with the Tejon (a little long)

[Canewrap]

I used to have a couple of Tesoros. In fact, I started with a Cibola. It was a great little detector to learn on, but ultimately I traded it away because I felt I was still digging too much junk and almost no goodies. I had started to hear the crackle of junk vs. the sound of good stuff, but I felt like I was still wasting a lot time digging stuff I should have been better able to identify. I also picked up a umax Eldorado that I liked, but never really hunted with as it was my daughter's machine for the few times we all went out as a family.

I'm in the process of picking up a Tejon as a dedicated relic machine because I've come to realization that I really need to be digging everything anyway, once I've located a site, since a lot of stuff either registers as iron or is an iron relic. My question is, how long does it take Tejon swingers, on average, to get proficient enough with the subtle differences in that one tone, to cut back the amount of trash, to where its practical to hunt with the Tejon most of the time?

I still like my X-terra 705, but I think its better as a coinshooting machine and maybe a relic site locator, since a light TID machine is almost a neccesity when trying to cover a lot of ground and figure out where a CW camp might have been. I might feel differently after I've used a Tejon for while. Not ruling out possibility that I might like it for a lot of my hunting, just trying to maximize the time I have, since I only get out to hunt a couple times a month when the conditions are ideal.

 

[morelic55]

Just as with any other Tesoro for relics, set the disc to break up on nails. I set the disc 1 to just below iron and disc 2 a hair below foil. Some people swear by setting the tone at the 3 oclock position helps ID iron break-up better, but by doing that, you give up the VCO pinpoint. Dig everything with repeditive tone in all directions. Even at these settings, you wil still dig round washers, harness rings and nuts that are larger than 1/2 inch. As far as coils, the stock 8x9 is ok, but the 5.75 DD & the 5x10 DD are killer for seperation in trash. I found a 11" DD that I have yet to use that I hope will be good for pasture stubble. Run the sens as high as you can stand it, even if it pops & crackels and you will get great depth. Ground balance is the most important feature on the Tejon. If you don't set it right for your conditions, you will suffer in the depth department. Just bob it up and down until you get a SLIGHT positive increase in volume on the threshold. Remember the threshold knob is like a volume knob, right to increase and left to turn it down. Good luck wit it, mine is not going anywhere,as I found my first plate in 35 years with it....................MO

 

[Scully]

One of the important things to keep in mind with the Tejon, is that it has a very subtle language and with practice, you will be able to tell big iron from a good target, just by the sound. But, you need to have hi-end headphones so you can hear those subtle changes. Iron tends to have a crisp "snap" to it, sort of a sharpness to the audio, whereas good targets have a nice, smooth repeatable sound to them. If you have cheap headphones, you will not hear these subtleties. Some big iron will occasionally fool me, but I have gotten to the point where I can pretty much tell when its iron, or, if its really questionable, I will dig it just to be sure. Masking can and does have an affect on good targets near iron, so sometimes you got to get the iron out of the way before you hear the good one. Keep your disc just below nickle and above foil, and dig everything that sounds good, solid and repeatable.

 

[tvr]

If Scully gets fooled by some targets you can bet every one gets fooled by targets.

Big iron, along with the sharper edge to the beep, has kind of a bong or echo sound. Even shallow soda cans that audibly saturate the circuits when the coil is swept over them don't give the same bong / echo thing big pieces of iron give.

Use the pinpoint to trace and size targets. The quick retune on the Tejon pinpoint means you have to work the coil movement a little quicker than you may sweep when in discriminate and are directly examining a target; or at least I need to speed up some in pinpoint when sizing.
tvr

 

[Neil]

Just as with any other Tesoro for relics, set the disc to break up on nails. I set the disc 1 to just below iron and disc 2 a hair below foil. Some people swear by setting the tone at the 3 oclock position helps ID iron break-up better, but by doing that, you give up the VCO pinpoint. Dig everything with repeditive tone in all directions. Even at these settings, you wil still dig round washers, harness rings and nuts that are larger than 1/2 inch. As far as coils, the stock 8x9 is ok, but the 5.75 DD & the 5x10 DD are killer for seperation in trash. I found a 11" DD that I have yet to use that I hope will be good for pasture stubble. Run the sens as high as you can stand it, even if it pops & crackels and you will get great depth. Ground balance is the most important feature on the Tejon. If you don't set it right for your conditions, you will suffer in the depth department. Just bob it up and down until you get a SLIGHT positive increase in volume on the threshold. Remember the threshold knob is like a volume knob, right to increase and left to turn it down. Good luck wit it, mine is not going anywhere,as I found my first plate in 35 years with it....................MO

Nice find there!

I agree, I keep mine in the vco mode also and the audio is great.
like scully and tvr say, the iron gives a little more of a sharper sound, its distinctive.
I run mine with disc 1 set just at iron and disc 2 all the way up which is good up to a zinc penny. I mostly hunt for jewelry on the beaches with it so thats a great way to tell if the target is in the range Im looking for. the dual disc is a great feature.
make sure and get some widescan coils for it, it helps alot with the target seperation and they get good depth, especially the 12X10......

 

[jhettel]

Your Tejon will definitely pick up the iron. But that is good.

If you hear the echo like sound that others mention then you can bet that it is big iron, maybe a horseshoe. The echo sound will be heard after the detector passes the target. I sometimes go over a target fast and then stop and listen for the echo, if it is there then I don't dig it, although in some instances I should have dug it. The point is that you want to analyze all signals by going over the target a few times to find out how large the target is. A minnie ball or coin will have a small target area, however a small gun tool, or other neat object will appear as iron but will be small targets. A nail will usually break up in tone. I have found four gun tools, and a pistol hammer at a site in Missouri and an Enfield rear gun site in Mississippi that came out of eloctrolysis really good, and I found all of these by checking the size of the target. My friends who use White's and other machines don't find these neat relics.

In time you will be able to tell a horseshoe, nail, minnie ball, and a good iron target. You will of course dig a lot of junk, as everyone does. You can also find coins, I have found many half dimes at civil war sites with the Tejon, however, for coin hunting it can and will drive you nuts while your friends with coin machines are digging coins. Some say that it is great on coins, however, this is a relic machine and is hard to beat on relics. One thing for sure, if the soil is wet, or even saturated you will have amazing depth. These machines seem to really like wet soil.