The constant struggle for more depth...what do I do?

[OregonMike]

Hi,

It's been several outings since White's re-did my whole detector, correcting a coil problem and replacing most of the "innards" in the box as well.

Yesterday's trip has caused me to scratch my head a bit. I was on a vacant lot (with permission) and the first thing I found was a 1959 license plate tag at 4 inches. I thought "that means two things...this area hasn't been hunted previously, since license plate tags in Oregon were fairly big and would likely have been found by even a beginning detectorist, and...unlike a wheatie that might have been dropped in the 1970's or 1980's, nobody carried around license plate tags for decades before dropping them, so that means there's got to be other things from the 1950's in here."
So my logic isn't perfect...of course someone could have missed the tag in an earlier hunt, or someone could have dropped it in, say, 1983, but the odds of either one of those is not that great.

I hunted that lot for 3 hours, using the 10 inch DD coil, the Coins and Jewelry program with a couple tweaks related to audio, trying hard to stay in straight lines going north and south, which wasn't easy, because once I got on the lot, I discovered it must be the toilet area for all the dogs in a three-mile radius.

In all that time of hunting, there was not one other diggable (meaning a coin, not a nail or other undesirable target) signal deeper than 4 to 5 inches, and no other items near to the 1950's. The total finds for the day on a good-sized vacant lot were 3 Washington quarters (the oldest was 1965), 2 clad dimes, and 5 memorial copper cents.

I've had my v3i detector since they first came out in 2009, so I'm not new to this, but this has been the trend for pretty much all of my recent hunts this year, both before and since White's did the repair work.

Logically, to me...there are several possibilities:

1--There were actually no coins deeper than 4 inches and the hunt was executed correctly (possible but hard to believe, especially with that 1959 license tag popping up so quickly)
2--There is still something wrong with the equipment (not likely, since White's did a top-to-bottom tune-up just a few weeks ago)
3--There is something wrong with the way I'm hunting (if so, why am I catching things at 4 inches but hardly ever at 5?)
4--Some other mysterious thing is going on

I think 4 is the best answer, although I'm open to a discussion of any of the others, or to even more answers if you have them.

Please--what do you think is going on, and what, if anything, do you think I should do?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[burlbark]

You may have no deeper targets there. When I first got my detector I went to a school field and found a signal hitting one way 82. It would break up a little but pinpoint told me there where 2 targets below my coil. I dug and dug and gave up and walked away. I did this 3 times on the same hole and on the last try I found a 1953 quarter at 8"+ in the hole with a large nail a couple inches away. This was with the coin and jewelry program. I find that I dont see many targets below 5-6" in areas that there should be plenty. However occasionally I will put a larger coil on and find targets at the 10"+ range.

From a scientific standpoint I have found all my gold at shallow depths and found all my trash, like axe heads, very deep. I think that smaller targets often migrate toward the surface from gophers and burrowing animals and this layer will eventually sink but only if it remains undisturbed from environmental factors.

I would recommend that you run in best data and go slow using the 5hz band pass and try the 7hz filter if you are getting to much falsing.

Try using relic mode and dig a deep iron target to see how deep actual targets are.

My etrac found some deep coins but is not the answer for me. You have the right detector.

 

[Critterhunter]

One word...12x10. Don't know how well it does on your machine but it's done wonders in both more depth and better separation on the Minelabs, mine included. I can tell you my "lowly" GT is getting just as deep and unmasking just as well as my friend's flagship computer model Minelab, comparing many deep or badly masked coins undug in the field as he or I find them.

Also, like he said, some sites just don't let targets to sink much and so are well within the range of any cheap machine. You've got to go to better soil, or even bad heavy clay soil but with heavy moisture (low fields) that allow coins to sink out of the range of most detectors. In the areas I know coins are limited to say 8" or less, no sense on looking for deep classic clean silver signals. Time to dig the iffy ones on edge or masked. Save the deep/clean stuff for sites where coins could sink deeper than the range of most machines. At a site where coins are limited in depth by heavy soil, or a lack of moisture, or a clay sublayer, waste of time to find the clean/deep-ish coin signals. Those are gone for the most part. Dig the iffy one way stuff and such. Save the hours of wandering for deep stuff (say past 8" or so) for sites where coins can seek deeper and be out of the range of other machines or your sloppy hunter. Why wander at those sites for hours looking when you could be digging tons of iffy coin hits? Those sites still were around for me say 7 years ago but those easy somewhat deep coins ( 8" or less ) are gone at most sites these days, as many machines can hit those depths. Might as well dig the iffy/one way ones at those sites.

A good way to judge how deep coins can sink at a site is the depth of round tabs. Up to about 4" or so max and the coins are probably shallow. Round tabs say around 5 or 6" or more and coins can sink deeper, as tabs are lighter than coins in terms of surface area.

These are just rules of thumb though. Some spots a round tab could sink 6" fairly quick, but stops due to a harder (say clay) sublayer. You've got to judge sites on your own, but round tabs are always a good indicator. Another is screw caps. If I'm digging them say 5 or 6" deep then I'm pretty sure old silver could be much deeper, but then again once again a deeper sub layer of clay or rock might stop them even if they sank quick.

There is no rhyme or reason. You must judge the target depths. I've hunted hard clay where coins were super deep, only because the soil held a lot of moisture/water and so got soupy and sunk stuff fast even though it's not in fine soil.

Too many people try to force a round peg into a square hole. Let the site talk to you based on how deep certain targets are. Digging zincs or clads at say 5 or 6" or more? Then good chance the silver might be twice that depth. But digging round tabs at same depth and no deeper? Suspect there might be a denser sub layer of soil. A trick I use for gold rings is to dig those "junk" signals deeper than the deepest of round tabs. Let the site tell you how deep stuff is, and how much deeper silver might be, and if you dig your deepest hole and hit clay or rock, chances are the silver is stopping at that level and not going deeper. If that depth (say south of 8" ) is within the range of most machines, stop wasting time looking for clean classic deep silver readings. Those are long gone. Start digging the iffy or one way coin hits most pass that could be silver masked or on edge. Even the best of machines to handle ground minerals max out at about 8 or perhaps 9". Beyond that it's digging the iffy stuff, and I don't care what machine you are talking about when it comes to some soils.

That's why I say take with a grain of salt depth reports. One machine in one place might easily hit a coin at say 9 or 10" or deeper, but at another site due to ground minerals 7 or 8" is pushing things. For years I owned many machines and the two best of those could only max about 7.5" on a silver dime in my soil. Sooner or later I did own a few machines that would go deeper in my soil, but even with those it's not common to dig a 8 or 9" dime with a solid hit all the time. Deepest coins I have dug with those are an 11" indian and v-nickle in two separate holes, but that was in prime wet ground conditions. At the same site in dry conditions I'm lucky to get a good signal on a wheat at around 8 or 9".

 

[oneon]

Dude do what i do. Get a dime bury it at 7 inches pull up a chair and play with your filters and settings till you can clearly peg the dime for the ground you are hunting. I start every new hunt this way until I get a better understanding of my ground. A dime at 7 inches should be no problem if it is call Whites and tell them it needs to go back.

 

[bigdad75]

i had the same problem ,good area no good targets it was driving me nuts then i changed filters to 7 band and 5 band for analysis to swing coil slower ,dropped sen's to 6 sometime use boost and changed tones 250 for +60-94 all else 50 that will give you just a clicking noise for iron ,most of my areas is high mineralization ,and i sometimes use the 4x6 coil don

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

One thing I have always noticed since getting my first V3 a few years back, and still with a new V3i purchased late last year is that no matter what setting I have for the coil size, targets often display depths shallower than they actually are. Many coins have read 4 inches and were actually much deeper. Of course in my area a dime reading at 4 inches can actually be a large colonial copper at 7 inches because the depth is calibrated for modern US coins,

Still, keep in mind that 90% of the coins fall into the 4 to 5 inch range, and rarely are they much deeper than 6 inches, even when in the ground for more than 200 years.

 

[Rob (IL)]

Nothing can be concluded from your story. There is no way to determine if any deeper coins were present. Friday were hunted a yard and I would say we hit it hard. We returned on Saturday. I found four more wheaties and a V nickel. My partner with A CTX did the same and found coins I had missed. The V nickel was a 1905 and was about 4" deep. Many of the wheats from the 20's and 30"s were 4-5 inches.

 

[Larry (IL)]

I have to agree with the test garden theory, that is the only way that I know of to get the maximum depth in your ground no matter what others tell you from other parts of the country. I know everyone means well but settings in one state might be completely wrong for the next state over.

Plant a dime and tweak, tweak, tweak........... a dime in the ground a long time should be detected at a deeper depth than a freshly planted one.

 

[OregonMike]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

Monday's hunt went better when I switched to the HI-pro program and found that the soil I was working over was clean enough that I could turn up the gain and even use transmit boost. Suddenly I was seeing 2-3 inches deeper. That program does use a different filter than C and J, so there is something to be said for experimenting with different filters. I guess it's obvious that if you can use the detector wide-open, you will indeed get deeper.

Sadly, even though I got deeper, nothing older than pocket change emerged, so I have nothing to post, but I have new hope and will keep trying. To me, one of the keys to successful treasure hunting is putting in the hours.

Thanks again to all who have replied.

Mike

 

[vx3 man]

Well I dug a test garden last night,put a dime 7 inches covered and scanned could not get a peep out of the vx3 settings were Sen 7-10 disc 85 am 65 and. 5 band pass filter but I think the ground is just to dry dug it again put it at 4 inches and it rang loud and clear

 

[Rob (IL)]

With the dime at 4" did you try increasing the sensitivity? Try bumping it to 90. The VX3 gets its depth from being very sensitive. Let us know if it helps.

 

[5900_XL-1]

Well I dug a test garden last night,put a dime 7 inches covered and scanned could not get a peep out of the vx3 settings were Sen 7-10 disc 85 am 65 and. 5 band pass filter but I think the ground is just to dry dug it again put it at 4 inches and it rang loud and clear

I have lost a lot of depth capability with my V3i over the dried out soil conditions. One thing about burying a coin though. You should really make a lateral notch in the the sidewall at the depth you choose and insert the coin into that, and pack the dirt back in with force. Digging a hole and laying a coin in the bottom and just refilling gives very little condictivity in itself. martin

 

[vx3 man]

I think its just way to dry here,cause I know the vx3 is a deep seeker earlier this spring I dug a penny at 9 inches.I haven't even mowed in 2 months grass crunches under your feet when u walk bone dry