Iron Hell

[Anonymous]

We got out for a few hours today and hunted the yard of an old home. What was most interesting was the way the detector responded. It was

 

[Anonymous]

Cody,
One of the advantages of iron mask hunting is how quickly one can move in and out of the open screen. When hunting with an iron mask setting of -12, one frequently gets target hits that are right on the boundary of the mask setting. Almost always the target is rusty iron, but there could also be a deep silver coin that is either being pulled left by ground mineralization or is hiding next to rusty iron. I like to be able to hit the Iron Mask button to produce an open screen and then investigate the target more closely. Almost always the target migrates to the upper left corner and one can be quite sure that it is rusty iron.
My point is that this process is quick and easy when using iron masking. But, if one is using a non-iron mask discrimination pattern, then moving back and forth from the discrimination pattern to the open screen is awkward and time consuming. Do you have any thoughts on this.
HH,
Glenn

 

[Anonymous]

Not really, I hunt in digital and use the tones to work around iron with ferrous sounds as much as I can. If I have problems then go to iron mask to get a look with the mask at -16. There are times when the digital reading change so quick and with iron and silver together that I need to go to IM-16 to get a better look. That is when the buttons, displays and how we navigate is a little awkard in my opinion.
I don't want to make it sound like I hunt with patterns all the time as I often use the iron mask screen but duplicate one in the SmartScreen as I like the other features displayed on this screen. I then use the IM screen to set another mask. I kind of like you setting of -10 for a mask on the SmartScreen and then use the IM-16 screen as the other mask.
As you well know iron will really skew the good target to the left side of the screen and they are gone if the screen is black. If one goes after all targets in different soils and pays attention to the digital reading and where the target hit on the screen it is very interesting how much the soil matrix will change the readings.
HH, Cody

 

[Anonymous]

Almost every place I hunt were I live is like that.
There is a spot I am hunting right now that
even with a 5 inch coil you cannot get a threshold unless you hold the coil off the ground and wait.
and thats with the EX II in iron mask -10 It really #####thats why I hate the treashold I can never even get one either in auto or manual. Even down as low as 2 on the sens. I am thinking of try the
ferrous tones again with almost or no Iron mask.

 

[Anonymous]

That is a tough situation and hard to beat but I can hunt those sites in ferrous. I don't know of a way to hunt those sites other than with very little discrimination or using a pattern and open up the 31/31 area so you hear the iron and balance the iron and null so one can deal with both. That was the purpose of the heavy trash program I posted and it works nice. Another trick is to back the Audio Gain down to 3 or 4. Then set the threshold tone as low as it will go as this will be the tone for the iron. Since a high tone will sound louder than a low one at the same setting the iron now has a soft low tone but it is easy to hear a good target. The audio is modulated at 3,4, and 5 so one of them will work. Pick the one that let's you hear a deep target and then you will find it is at least does not beat your brains out with all the nulls or iron sounds.
I think some of those iron sounds are hot and cold rocks and I think what they call clinkers from burning coal. They use to use those to clear ice and snow off the walk and some were just thrown in the yard.
HH, Cody

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip I am going hunting now so I will try the settings

 

[Anonymous]

[No message]

 

[Anonymous]

Cody,
Many/most of the sites I hit are like that. Absolutely amazing how much iron is in the ground. I used to think all those iron sounds were from ground mineralization, but I have detected a couple of areas that were never built upon and there the threshold could be rock steady, move closer to where humans have been and it all goes to hell. Might be stuff as small as staples and who-knows-what-else.
Anyways, I do not believe there are any magic settings or patterns for hunting in these conditions. I personally hunt with open screen ferrous except with crown caps disc'ed out. My personal preference is to listen to all the low tones instead of a constant null, but that is only a preference as far as I can tell. Hunting in IM-14 or less probably would give the same results except you would probably only get a threshold 5% of the time.
The only time I use more discrimination is if there is lots of pull tabs and other modern trash that makes ferrous difficult. Then I will disc out the whole bottom two thirds of the screen and concentrate only on silver and copper. Or occasionally go to conduct and a little bit of iron mask.
I think that in high concentration of iron we are pretty lucky to pull out coins at all, probably leave more than we find. Only advice I know is to try different size coils, hit the area from many different angles, and slow down. It is always frustrating to hunt in high iron. But that is often where the coins are, in cleaner ground most of the goodies are long gone.
Chris

 

[Anonymous]

I could not agree more. Yards can be interesting to hunt and can give up some really nice finds. I don't have as much interest what pattern is best or if it should be all metal as in using ferrous and looking for ways to improve this.
My grown son and I hunt together and do very well and that is what it is about. We have a great time no matter how much or little we find and get to spend time looking for new sites and the joy of finding those old coins and other goodies.
HH, Cody