WOT for Deep Turf Silver Hunting, Even in Trash . . . :detecting:

[Cal_Cobra]

I spied this article a gentlement wrote using the WOT for deep coin hunting in parks using the WOT on the Explorer XS, but I figure the same concepts should apply to the Sovereign.

He claims iron, nails and trash are no problem because the WOT loves silver (goes as far as to say he dug silver that was fused to rusty nail). He basically says the trick is to use zero discrimination, nothing notched, and dig every signal 8 inches or deeper (this might be tricky since there's no depth meter on the Sov)

Here's the article (it's not long):

WOT Deep Coin Hunting

What do you guys think (Mythbusters comes to mind - Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed) ??

 

[Rick(ND)]

The reason for this is you have to run all metal which you can on the Explorer, but the Sovereigns as low as you set the disc it still disc. iron and feel you will null out the coin more than the Explorer would. I have got coins in with iron with the stock coils where the rust is still on the coins too, but something you get to know from experience with the Sovereign and its tones.
I have tried a couple of the WOTs on my Sovereigns and Explorers and feel they work different from one another and not the same. I find the WOT and bigger coils are made more for the areas that targets are far and few like some beaches where targets are not that close together. I found that the S-12 and the X-12 does a better job in area where there is more targets as it will separate better for me and those I let try the WOTs at. The WOT maybe a great coil as we have seen, but feel it is more for the area like the beach where as the parks and such the S-12 and the X-12 of Sun Rays do a great job as they are only 12 inch coils and not 15 inch ones. I also found that the 15 inch was harder to swing and the weight was too much to use very long.

Rick

 

[RLOH]

Rick, I bought a S-12 from you probably six or seven years ago and I used it on xs2a pro. I hunted a park that held a hotel in the late 1890's and is now a playground-park. This place is trash city and has been hunted hard since the 70's. A fellow I know showed me a cigar box of silver coins found with a Whites Coinmaster many years ago.They all came from this park. Seated, Barbers, Mercs, and later silver. With the stock 8 inch coil, I would find a wheat penny or silver roosie. When I got the big Sunray from you, I took it to this park and started creeping it slowly and hunting a 50 foot by 50 foot area. It would take me two hours or so. I would check all signals from all angles and what I started finding was amazing. In certain sections, I would find a couple of Barber coins and as many as 6 or 7 IH's. These coins were deep. Most were 10 inches plus. I used no disc and manual sens at about the 9 oclock postion. That big coil was capable of park hunting, but slow and slower was the word. I wish my physical abilities would allow an Explorer or Sovereign, but twenty minutes is about all I can take. I tried swingy things and other assisted swings, but I hate them. I feel like I have an IV needle hooked to me. I have an Xterra 70 with the 10.5 DD coil and with what I learned many years ago, I can use the biggest coil for the xterra in a trashy park. After reading this article, I got to believe this guy has things figured out. The best thing any coin hunter can do is start digging signals that bounce or are iffy. Don't wait for the perfect, locked on signal. There are too many people who hunt with top of the line equipment that are digging "for sure signals" Just my two cents. R.L.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

First, like Rick says.....
Two different kinds of machines.

Second.........
How much trash? What kind of trash? How deep is the trash? How deep are the different kinds of trash?
The article is about an old town park .....never built on, no doubt.....So the massive amount of nails will be absent.
Massive amounts of other larger iron trash will be absent.
Much of the shallow trash will have been removed by other detectorists.
How do you define trashy? Places I call fairly clean would be called unhuntable by some.

You get a big hot coil like a WOT or the larger Detech coils in lots of trash with a Sov, you can kiss it off.

HH

 

[Cal_Cobra]

It sounds like unless you're a real pro with the Sov, then the Sunray Intruder or smaller coils would be the way to go.

As to defining trashy, I'll be hunting an interesting area this weekend, but I know it's different for every site.

This weekend I'll be hunting an old Victorian hotel area that has the potential to have some good finds, but it has a lot of recent iron trash, occasional buried beer cans, wire, that type of junk. It's not everywhere, but there's concentrations of it in good hunting spots. The area is built in a highly mineralized alkali desert (basically like hunting salt sand), so I think the Sov will do some good things that other detectors may not be able to due to the soil. In places that might be promising, there's even been a sand dumped, increasing the land surfaces by 6"-8" in areas. I also just landed an 8" Coinsearch coil, so I was thinking I'd try the Sunray first, and then see how the Coinsearch does. I saw another post from james1969 where he had success hunting in heavy iron by raising the coil off the ground so the Sov could see above the iron, but I believe that would only help if the coin/target was above the iron.

 

[Rick(ND)]

The best thing any coin hunter can do is start digging signals that bounce or are iffy. Don't wait for the perfect, locked on signal. There are too many people who hunt with top of the line equipment that are digging "for sure signals" Just my two cents. R.L.[/quote]


I agree with this 100% and one of the things you learn with the Sovereign for those deep signals. You got to try to get the signals to repeat and even though they cant quite make it to the correct tones and numbers on the meter they are the ones where you will find those deep good targets others pass over if they can hear them at all.
That S-12 coil of Sun Rays is a great coil even in moderate trash and some even heavy, but like you say you have to go slow and listen. I have done well with the S-12 with the deepest coin around a old merry go round in a old park was a Barber quarter at 14 inches that had a V nickle with it. Had to go real slow and listen for that slight threshold change and work it and try to get it to repeat. I know it took around 1 1/2 hours to go completely around it. Got 6 or 7 Wheaties, 2 mercs, 3 Buffalo's and the barber quarter/ nickle around this well worked park and not one of those signals were a lock on coin signal, but those trying to climb and repeatable. For a bigger coil the S-12 for the Sovereign and the X-12 for the Explorer seem to do OK in trash and like you say you have to go slow and work the tone changes.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

RL the park you hunted sounds a lot like the place I'll be hunting this weekend, it was a prominent European style spa play ground of the rich and famous of norcal from about 1870-1930, except it's now an abandoned, and trashed place. The good news is it hasn't been been hunted to death, so I'm hoping for a few old keepers (and I can bring a shovel, so it'll be easier to recover targets then digging on a manicured park lawn).

I went out tonight after work to try the 8" Coinsearch coil at our local high school, those darn pull-tabs sound awfully sweet when you hit them

What is it when you hear the threshold change, but it doesn't really null ? It might change from low to high, or vice versa, but doesn't go silent/null.

 

[Jeff (IL)]

Cal_Cobra,

In regards to the pulltabs, were you using a meter? Curious as to what they we coming in at on the meter...

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Hi Jeff,

My meter is at Sunray getting repaired, so just ears, and completely new ears to this machine The pull-tabs come in nice and strong (especially the newer ones) and sound (to my untrained ears) just like a clad quarter. The older beaver tail pull-tabs do sound a bit different, but not wanting to loose out on gold, and being new to the Sovereign I've been digging them all.

I am starting to notice how trash will move around when I switch from disc to all metal mode to pinpoint the target (especially foil, which definitely has a unique sounds, although some of it seems to sound off like nickels, and also rusty nails).

Also what is it doing when there's just a slight threshold hum change (not really a null, and no other sound, the threshold hum just kind of pitches up or down)? Should I dig, is it telling me there might be something deep ?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Art (NWOH)]

A threshold shift in pitch with no other kind of audio usually means one of two things........
A very weak hit that needs to be played with to see if you can bring up some audio.
Or.....just a jump caused by a noise spike.

HH

 

[Jeff (IL)]

Cal_Cobra,

It does take a little while to get used to them tones! Sounds like you are definately on the right track. Best of luck.

Jeff (IL)

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Thanks Jeff. I suspect once I get my meter back from Sunray my learning curve will increase, but it sounds like for the deep stuff to dig everything. I'll give that a shot this weekend and see what treasures await me

It sounds like with the meter, if you can get the reading to try climbing, even if the tone isn't where you'd expect it, it's still worth digging.