Lets say you are hunting and not finding anything.... Now what to do?

[Elmy]

Lets say you are hunting and not finding anything.... Now what to do?
Try this ....throw a quarter down where you are hunting right on top of the ground...
Now sweep over it...does it read like it should ? The etrac should hit an 11-12-13 fe
and a co of 46-47-48-49....if it doesn't it is time to move to a different area maybe 20
foot away and try the same test. If the quarter id's as it should ...hunt...if not move again.

Have you ever seen a quarter or dime on the surface and couldn't pick it up? I have, many times!

Depends on how your pattern is set up....it will hit all over fe numbers and a lot lower co numbers.

 

[jkline]

Is this an e trac thing or does it apply to all det's?

thx

 

[Elmy]

Is this an e trac thing or does it apply to all det's?

thx

all detectors....if you have never had it happen...,..it will .... for a test , set the discrimination at 45 co up for a quarter and throw one on the ground...it will happen...
andy s pattern will get it but at a much lower reading than a quarter.....a tighter pattern will null out....another masking thing happening more often than you think.
It just makes it more difficult to detect know target id numbers...like a 44 for a clad dime and a 47 for a quarter.

 

[IDXMonster]

One of the effects of other conductive targets mixed with coins CAN indeed be a lower reading. I again ran into one just this past Wednesday hunting an older ballfield on my afternoon off. I was using the CTX. Normally, a silver quarter up to 9” deep will still ID at 12-47/48 in the Ferrous Coin target separation option. My pattern was open down to 35 Conductive, so basically Indians and up. I got a solid and unwavering 12-40 at 9” deep on the meter. Since this site is old, and I will dig wheat cents, I dug the hole. At very close to 9” deep was a clod with...a 45 Washington. I knew immediately it wasn’t going to be a “single target” situation...it’s not what happens. The pinpointer was still screaming right below where the clod came from, and out comes a head stamp. They were a couple inches apart to start with, and the signal got down averaged 7-8 numbers.
The quarter on top of the ground is experiencing this same effect...other garbage is down averaging it out of the disc pattern.
Well explained Elmy, this is incredibly frustrating, particularly for a new hunter to run into!

 

[Elmy]

So we are back to the 40 and up co....except for the dimes....they will go even lower than 40 co in this situation...if we go 8 under ...we get a 37 for a silver dime or so...
now about indian pennies ....geez !...We are around 25-26 co and up. And Now we are back to digging trash again.
And that is why we never get it all !

 

[jkline]

Which is why I pretty much dig everything in AndyS' program. Most of the time, it just sucks... but every now and then one hits paydirt. Thinking of a few years ago when there was a zinc at 3" and a Rosie at 7".

There is so much trash everywhere I hunt, I rarely ever get textbook signals... 'cept for today: a '54 Rosie at 2"-- a screaming 12 45. A nice way to end the season.

 

[Elmy]

Which is why I pretty much dig everything in AndyS' program. Most of the time, it just sucks... but every now and then one hits paydirt. Thinking of a few years ago when there was a zinc at 3" and a Rosie at 7".

There is so much trash everywhere I hunt, I rarely ever get textbook signals... 'cept for today: a '54 Rosie at 2"-- a screaming 12 45. A nice way to end the season.

supposed to turn warm again....you have another chance yet for another class book 45 signal.

 

[floodplaindetector]

I think these are very important points that Elmy and Kevin made above that a new hunter should pay close attention to. Over the years I have hunted with a few people who wanted to learn the etrac from me and hands down the biggest
thing I noticed when they had limited hours was how hung up they were on the ID numbers rather than the sound.
This thinking was causing one of the hunters to be digging nuts and bolts, thinking they were coins and getting super frustrated;
Not noticing that the signal would spike to 12-50 when turning on it. With one sweep and hearing the sound, I could tell his signal was not a coin.
Hunting public sites 99% of the time, I don't run into textbook loud signals that often anymore because most all of those signals are long gone. Most of the signals left are either very deep, close to Iron or skewed by being mixed.
An obvious example of a mixed ID I can recall was last year when i hit a 10 inch deep 12-33 signal that I dug. It turned out to be a Walking liberty Half Dollar and a 1942 War nickel in the same hole.

Dave

 

[Elmy]

I think these are very important points that Elmy and Kevin made above that a new hunter should pay close attention to. Over the years I have hunted with a few people who wanted to learn the etrac from me and hands down the biggest
thing I noticed when they had limited hours was how hung up they were on the ID numbers rather than the sound.
This thinking was causing one of the hunters to be digging nuts and bolts, thinking they were coins and getting super frustrated;
Not noticing that the signal would spike to 12-50 when turning on it. With one sweep and hearing the sound, I could tell his signal was not a coin.
Hunting public sites 99% of the time, I don't run into textbook loud signals that often anymore because most all of those signals are long gone. Most of the signals left are either very deep, close to Iron or skewed by being mixed.
An obvious example of a mixed ID I can recall was last year when i hit a 10 inch deep 12-33 signal that I dug. It turned out to be a Walking liberty Half Dollar and a 1942 War nickel in the same hole.

Dave

Dave...
Great point....after a few years of using the etrac, your ears will be trained to that coin sound coming thru in the trash. No matter what coin you are hitting, a very distinctive coin sound will be burnt into your brain that will tell you there is a coin there....and like Dave put it, one sweep over the target and you will know if a coin is there....and it is not the saying as most tell you....it will come in time....it is listening to the tones of the etrac... it is every signal, every hunt that makes the difference.....LISTEN TO YOUR ETRAC.

 

[714 Metal Detecting]

Love all the info and input everyone gives. I take this advise seriously. Thanks to everyone. I am still learning my E-trac but getting better at all the numbers it throws

 

[Elmy]

Lets say you are hunting and not finding anything.... Now what to do?
Try this ....throw a quarter down where you are hunting right on top of the ground...
Now sweep over it...does it read like it should ? The etrac should hit an 11-12-13 fe
and a co of 46-47-48-49....if it doesn't it is time to move to a different area maybe 20
foot away and try the same test. If the quarter id's as it should ...hunt...if not move again.

Have you ever seen a quarter or dime on the surface and couldn't pick it up? I have, many times!

Depends on how your pattern is set up....it will hit all over fe numbers and a lot lower co numbers.

I did the same test... had the ultimate 13 on....couldn't get a good sound from the quarter...just a tick every 4 or 5 swings...
Then I Put a sef coil on and got a good diggable sound from the quarter...this was the 15 x 12 sef coil...much larger than the ultimate 13.
Would I have dug that target with the ultimate13 coil....no....But the sef coil was a dig me.... coin id and tone.