Trashy yard questions

[jpdane]

Hi all. I was just given the privilege of hunting an abandoned old house and barn area. He said the house had been in his family since built in 1860. Part of the old barn was a house built by Squire Boone, Daniel Boone's brother. He said it had never been hunted. I found this place by accident while buying some fresh produce from him and noticed the house back in the middle of a field. I about wet myself when he said go ahead, any time you want. I'm from Kentucky (just outside of Louisville) and my ground balancing #'s are running in the low 40's to mid 50's. Noise cancel is usually 0 to 2. Anyway, I went there today and all I got was dududududududfleep dududududududfleep. There was so much trash in and around the old house that I couldn't tell what was what. Even when I used pattern 1 I got that fluting double tone that usually tells me aluminum can or something. There was a lot of tall grass around the house so I couldn't hunt it very well. He said he would bush hog it for me, so when I go back, I'd like to be a little better prepared for all the junk in the ground. I tried ranging my sensitivity from max down to 20. All I have is the stock coil that came with the Xterra 70 so I don't have the option to change. I would like to buy another one but am laid off right now so the money is tight. That gives me plenty of time to swing but my inexperience is troubling me.
My questions are what do you guys do when you're in a really trashy area? Constant neg. #'s on the screen. -6 and -8. Even he said that there has to be something out there.
Am I running the sensitivity too high?
Am I wasting my time with the stock coil?
I've been doing this for a couple years now so I'm no pro. I'll take all the advice I can get.

 

[mapper65]

With the stock coil, you may want to try and run the sensitivity down as low as 9 and see what that does for you. Obviously you'll lose some depth but it might help you out a little. Also, make sure you aren't ground balancing in the trash. Move to an area close by that's not so trashy and ground balance there. I either read or watched video that they recommended running the sensitivity down to 9 in trashy park type locations.

This is the perfect scenario for the 6" HF DD coil. I have found that it allows me to single out targets much better than any of my larger coils. Sounds like you are going to have to make due for a little while with the factory coil and find out what settings and/or technique works best for you.

 

[7centsworth]

I live about 50 minutes from lousville . I would slow my swing way down to a point you think you are going to slow. I also turn my sensitviy down also . Most people swing there detectors to fast an miss good targets. I hunt alot of real trashy areas , so I got the 6 inch dd coil. That is a really good coil for the trash. Just go slow slow slow.

 

[jabbo]

I was in a situation like that today. An empty lot in an old neighborhood that has to have silver in it. Trash galore, couldn't separate the beeps, had to ignore about 100 signals for each dig. Came out with a clad quarter, it was not surrounded by trash and so it gave a nice signal. Also 2 memorial pennies.

 

[Terra1959]

Hi,
sounds llike a great site
Tall grass is not easy though and definetly go back when mowed
If Sens at max is too high (lots of falsing), try bringing it down to 24-25 and slow down swing it may help the signals
Standard coil will find stuff but doesnt seperate as well as a DD coil would.
You are just gunna get lots of iron at old sites like that so null it out and swing slow.
you also get iron TID in the high 40's and these ones can be confused with silver - though the iron is usually a bit higher
I would go back acrooss the site from 90 degrees if possible ( grid it )

Also i would look at any old trees still about.
I have sites like this that I have done ok at with my Xterra and they are so promising that I kept them to myself
I am returning to them with a 6" DD coil or the Etrac now and finding more amongst the iron so keep in good with the landowner and have fun.
looking forward to seeing what you unearth - Best of Luck to you

T59

 

[jpdane]

Hi 7centsworth. I live in Taylorsville. Are you close to by. Thanks for all the advice guys. This has been a great place to learn. Hopefully I can get that 6" DD and do better. I really appreciate your advice more than you know.

 

[KurtB]

In trashy areas like this you might try a couple of things. Find a good place to ground balance and turn tracking off. Also, in areas like this, I run with very little or no discrimination. This allows you to distinguish the iron from good targets better. Since you only have the stock coil, just raise it a couple of inches off the ground. This will give you less depth but your detector will see less ground and have a smaller detecting field. Start digging a bunch of the iffy signals and recheck the hole regardless of what the target was. There is a lot of masking going on in areas like this and the more trash that you can remove the better.

Good luck

Kurt

 

[Digger]

Minimal discrimination, multiple tones, raise the coil and maybe even try running a few points toward the negative GB. (that means making a proper GB and then raising the number a few clicks) Not much else you can do until you find enough coin to buy that small DD coil. And by the sounds of the place you found to hunt, it might be sooner than you imagined! HH Randy

 

[wayne_etc]

n/t

 

[Snoopy36]

Because the machine will ground balance to the trash if you are on tracking mode which could potentially mask out the good targets that you want.

 

[7centsworth]

I live in hodgenville. Not real far away.

 

[wayne_etc]

Makes sense. I got in the habit of using Tracking ON for all sites, even the junky ones while using the small DD coil. I'll have to go back with Tracking OFF.

w

 

[TURNMASTER]

Sometimes I do better with traking on, sometimes with tracking off. When I find a good target I will leave it in the hole then check it with traking on and off, I did this test in a couple old home sites. My feel for things is that in Iron I get better depth with tracking on, and in heavy trash with tracking off. If any body else is getting the opposite results please do share. Seems to work out kinda like running in heavily mineralized soil that varies a great deal. This is my theory anyhow. Well... someone else suggested running tracking in the Iron so not an original idea.

Has anybody mentioned turning down the Sens yet, or saving up for a 6" DD coil? Just kidding

Jeff

 

[David]

Anyway, I went there today and all I got was dududududududfleep dududududududfleep. There was so much trash in and around the old house that I couldn't tell what was what. Even when I used pattern 1 I got that fluting double tone that usually tells me aluminum can or something. There was a lot of tall grass around the house so I couldn't hunt it very well. He said he would bush hog it for me, so when I go back, I'd like to be a little better prepared for all the junk in the ground. That gives me plenty of time to swing but my inexperience is troubling me.
My questions are what do you guys do when you're in a really trashy area? Constant neg. #'s on the screen. -6 and -8. Even he said that there has to be something out there.
Am I running the sensitivity too high?
Am I wasting my time with the stock coil?
I've been doing this for a couple years now so I'm no pro. I'll take all the advice I can get.

You can also try a custom Pattern and eliminate(knock-out) all numbers below about +36 or +38 or so and become a silver(and clad) only hunter(including some pennies with silver dimes and above). Yes you will lose all gold and some other good targets but this will make it easier on your head in extremely trashy old house sites. You will get some masking of more that one target under the stock coil at the same time until you get the round 6" HF DD. You may also dig only solid numbers(that jump no more than 1 or 2 places up or down) from both sweep directions(90 degrees), and avoid more erratically jumping numbers.