Mid-tone Targets

[harvdog42]

Hello All,

With the price of gold what it is now, I think it may pay to start digging more mid-tone targets. I'm as guilty as the next guy for passing up solid pull tab signals. I dig them every once in a while on a whim but mostly I pass them up.

This leads to a question I have for all you guys and gals. I've read many discussions about gold ring to pull tab ratios but I'm going to phrase this question a little differently.

How many gold items do you think are within detector range in an average size, average use, average age park or school (say one square block) at any given time. I know "average" is a vague term but that's the best I could come up with.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say "two."

What do you think?

James

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Gold rings are seeded everyday and those that investigate find them..Not much of an answer I agree but more than you think as most go for the coins with metered units and walk right over them. I feel to up the odds become a water hunter, swimming beach detectorist or perhaps sledding hils where cold weather and gloves on and off along with shrinkage of the fingers and might try sports fields where hand action where throwing , swinging and the like can cause rings to come off..All in all one good ring could make up for a week, month or even more collecting coinage
but it takes patience and a lot of digging and by the way a CZ with high freq. to go along with the low freq. does like gold rings...

 

[harvdog42]

Come on Dan...You can do better than that. Go out on a limb like I did and give me a number. I agree that the odds are better at swimming beaches and the like but I've found that although the ring count might be equivalent in those areas these days, a much higher percentage of them are junkers such as titanium and carbide. At parks and schools I really don't think there are many gold items in any particular park at any given time. I'm going to stick with my number which is "two." I'd like to hear from others as I have no special powers of observation other than just a gut feeling based on many hours of hunting. I'm sure others out there have gut feelings which may be different than mine. That's OK.

HH

James

 

[Flintstone]

I will go out on a limb and say that if a park is used by lots of people, in a big city, there are at least 10 to 15 at any given time. Unless it is hunted very hard. I know i use to find at 2 a week at big park that was use by 1000,s of people a week. I know i didn,t get them all, but you could go over the same area the next week and find one sometimes. You do need need to dig alot of trash, not just pulltabs but foil bits of cans anything that makes a good beep, and sometimes not so good beeps. Good Luck and DIG DIG DIG. Flintstone

 

[Gene]

I am thinking there would be much more than 2.
The foil area is the one I like to key in on as there
are many nice rings there. Most probably don't
dig foil signals on land but I think the odds are
better digging foil signals then pull tab signals
when searching for gold rings on land. That's
what I have found where I hunt anyhow.
Good hunting to you !

 

[Mike Hillis]

You can't look at it that way, James. There is much more to it than just digging trash if you want to be consistant in your gold finds on inland sites. You have to be able to read them.

Who uses the site? What age? What for? Where? How often? Do they wear gold? What size? Will the site hide the losses?

Answer those questions first, then focus on those conductive targets. For example:

Who uses the site? - Girls
What age? - Teenagers
What for? - Soccer
Where? - the open quad area for practice, the left corner for staging.
How Often - 3 nights a week and Saturday mornings.
Do they wear gold - sometimes.
What size? - small rings and bracelets
Will the site hide losses? - yes - the quad is grass. Gets mowed on Mondays.

So based upon that information....are you going to find gold by digging pull tabs? Not very likely. Will you find gold by digging foil? Very likely. Are you going to find gold by digging foil in the areas where the girls don't play or practice? Not very likely. Will you find gold by digging foil on and around the quad area? Very likely. Will the gold be replenished? Very likely.

That is how you find gold consistantly in inland sites. You trend the site and then focus on a specific conductive range.

Good luck,
Mike

 

[Gene]

Some believe that if they dig all pull tab signals they will get most of the gold rings.
I really would like them all to believe that as I continue to dig the foil signals they
pass right over. You dig pull tab signals and I will dig foil signals. Bet I know
who would win on that deal. I have the gold to prove it !
You put it much better than I could Mike but I couldn't agree with you more.
That's my 2 cents on the situation. Good hunting to all that read this !

 

[harvdog42]

Great post Mike,

Let's use your very specific example of the soccer field with the girls for further discussion. By the way...I wasn't intending for this to be a discussion about foil vs pulltab hits. They are both mid-tone and I agree your odds might be a little higher with the foil hits. The rings in my pouch vouch for that.

I agree with you that finding gold is not just about digging trash.

I'm going to be a little stubborn here so bear with me. Let's take your hypothetical soccer field, how many gold items would you guess are within detector range at any given time in that field? I think you already know my answer.

James

 

[Gene]

I hunted this football field next to a Middle School for 3 seasons.
Recovered a 10K or 14K piece of jewelry for each 3-6 hours of
hunting time. All registering foil on a CZ. This is a place where
the coin hunters hit first as I normally only got 6-10 coins for each
3 hour hunt. That was O.K. with me as they sure didn't like to dig
that foil. Foil and gold, foil and gold. Whatever works I guess but
I would think that a pulltab signal would be a fairly large ring which
someone might be able to find if they had an idea where they lost it
and looked for it right away. The small rings I dig in the foil range
are a different situation. Once dropped they are easily lost and very
hard to find without a detector. I might be wrong but in most places,
on dry land at least, there are more gold rings that read as foil than
pulltab. Now on the beach is a different story but on dry land that's
the way I see it. This is what I practice every time I go out and not
something I am repeating that I read somewhere. Works for me and
has for many years. Good hunting to you all !

 

[mudpuppy]

I've been thinking the same thing...with the price of gold and all...the range gold falls in from heavy rings to chains sure makes it a challenge. In a target rich environment, just how many targets you can retrieve in an hour makes a lot of difference too. Pinpointing, probing, and retrieval skills before a fellow tuckers out is crucial, thats where Hillis' advice comes into play...try stabbing a small foil hit that is a fine gold ring is tough, a chain, and just about forgetaboutit, and a guy cant be digging holes in some soccerfield, or diddling around for five minutes on a gum wrapper...I'll tell you what, theres a soccer field Ive got 7 silver rings out of in the last year, now you know thats no challenge, since they pop up like a dime, but they were not surface at all, and since I've cleared out all the easy change, I'll whack at some of the foil, tabs, and zincs from now on and let you know. To answer your question, Harv, a fellow HAS to believe the gold is there to really concentrate on finding it. so I'd say 5!

 

[tmattei]

Hey James,this is perfect timing for me.I have been working under the bleachers of a large high school.I "retrieved" over 700 tabs,before my first piece of gold.(18k medallion) I say retrieve,because so many tabs are just lying on top.It's like a friggin carpet of tabs,foil,screw caps.The next piece of gold came much quicker,maby 200 tabs(a ring,also 18k after the acid test) I use a 5" coil and "peel it apart" in layers. First the coins and visible crap,then the tabs and foil.I have yet to dig gold that hits in the foil range,but it's prob there. The digging under bleachers is simple, because there is no grass.Those two finds last month made me $110. I think it would take much longer, digging coins only in a junk free spot to make that kind of $. If you want gold you have to dig lots of junk,but some junk digging is much easier (beach/under bleachers) than the rest. HH.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yes, a veritable carpet of riches awaits...last summer, whilst greedily grabbing clad, I banged my noggin on a crossmember, knocked me down, and opened my head right up like being scalped...I crawled over to the portacrappers, and packed a bunch of buttwipe up under my hat to staunch the flow, and to keep the blood from blurring my vision furthur!
But thanks for the reminder, TM...I'll go crawl under there again and give that a go too!

 

[tmattei]

Mudpuppy sorry about your bloddy head,but even my wife thought that post was funny as hell ! About 12 years ago, I was hunting a spot in Pennsylvania.I was finding amazing things Spanish silver,large cents,NJ and VT coppers,seated dimes,etc. I was so excited when I got there one day, I locked the keys in the trunk by accident.This was before I had a cell phone,so I decided to walk the four miles to my parents house.At exactly the half way point,it starts pouring.About 10 minutes later a police car pulls up beside me,I explain the situation to him . The cop tells me someone called about a suspicious car(my red mazda miata) and it was towed! Sometimes detecting can be "an adventure" HH

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Never, ever, pass on a foil to nickel bouncer, I've dug some of my best gold on those signals

 

[harvdog42]

OK There has been some great information put forth in these responses in regard to finding gold such as:

1. Gold is constantly being re-seeded.
2. Your odds are likely better in the foil range.
3. Never pass up a foil to nickel bounce.
4. Increase your odds by hunting areas that are high in activity and ground cover.
5. Increase your odds by hunting near water, sledding hills and sports fields.
6. Hunt under bleachers if you can tolerate getting your head split open.
7. Retrieval skills are important.
8. You have to believe it's there to find it.
9. Study activity to focus on a conductive range.

BUT:

Only three people answered my original question which was:

How many gold items do you think are within detector range in an average size, average use, average age park or school at any given time?

Flinstone: 10-15 (mega park)
Mudpuppy: 5
Harvdog: 2

Cal_Cobra ?
tmattei ?
Mike Hillis ?
Gene ?
Dan-PA ?
TVR ?
Therover?

 

[tmattei]

This is a topic where people are looking for a "work smarter,not harder" cure all. Truth is, you have to work harder and smarter to find gold with a detector. Numbers? I have no clue. Do like I did with my bleacher experiment,start digging and counting. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Gene]

I would say 10 for an average age school going by where I hunt.
No idea about a park as I don't hunt any.
Sorry, I got carried away and lost track of your original question.
Good hunting to you and I hope you keep finding the gold !

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Great thread for those looking for gold rings...and you have to dig to find...
As far as answering the question don't have a prayer as too many variables to consider but those that investigate excell.
I will add CZ foil facet just goes too low and will pick up even the smallest piece of foil and if your in a foil infested park you will never get off your knees...Other manufacturers in most cases have a foil range closer to nickle and farther from iron which is condusive to better odds when digging foil...
In addendum in my local park which is quite large may be a dozen or more gold rings at any given time and every year our local club gets their share...

 

[Mike Hillis]

In my scenario above, if I was the first one to hunt it, I'd say there would be about 15 to 20 peices of jewelry, of which maybe a quarter might be gold if I was lucky, so around 2 to 4 pieces of gold jewelry. Some locations the odds are better, some locations the odds are worse.

HH
Mike

 

[ElginTim]

Mike's application of statistical likelyhood fits very well. Also offers the possibility of higher odds. My impression was the original post asked for a number in an unknown range of areas. Too many variables. Heavily used park greens? Near picnic areas? 100 * 100 foot section?

Since we've been in this house (1989) I've recovered 11 gold rings in the schoolyard outback but the distribution was overwhelmingly in the soccer/football field with the totlots second except for chains/charms. I am certain I've missed a lot only because someone else has been hunting it very thoroughly over the last couple years with the chase for gold on their mind.

In a nearby park I hunt regularly the gold rings have all come from the playground despite my digging mid tones in the grass but I have not done the digs thoroughly or with enough discipline such as gridding and clearing a given area. I've found gold buttons and pins in the grass that were mid tones and lots of silver rings.

There is also a huge spike in changes in demographics. The school became the spanish language elementary school for the district several years back and the gold religous pendants, bracelets and chains just took off upward. Same demographics/change in finds applies to totlots/schools in every neighborhood in town.

Has anyone noted that in the foil category, with the gum wrappers there will be a quicker change in the depth reading than with a gold ring that falls in the category? Unfortunately chains also look like wrappers so unless you're gonna dig it all you'll miss them.