You can ignore all the trash and only dig the good stuff right?

[Andy Sabisch]

The use of SELECTIVE discrimination in most areas is required based on the sheer volume of trash in the ground. I've hunted sites pretty much around the globe and I hate to say it, with only a few hundred years of history in terms of cities & villages, we do have way more trash in the ground than countries where they have 1,000's of years of history behind them. Sites dating back to before Christ I've been to in Spain, England and Africa had far less junk than say a 50 year old park here is the States . . . .

So, even with running with some level of discrimination and listening for the "right sounds", the question is do you still dig trash?

Well, I thought these photos would be worth posting and show what I've dragged home from most of my hunts over the past several months. Yes, it's a heck of a pile and the question is, did digging them pay off? Many of the silver and older coins I've found were in sites that were trashy to the point most local hunters simply ignored them and looked for easier ones to search . . . to be honest, there were times that my mind was not fully in it where I could not spend more than 30 minutes or so at these sites but there is still stuff worth digging if you have the time, patience and use the proper settings.

So . . . here are some of the "fruits of my labor" from these sites - the bucket was overflowing so I decided it was a good time to take a photo . . . . and I have the blisters to back the photos up! To put it in perspective, the trash is spread out on the rear mat from my SUV.

Andy

 

[tab-nabit]

I just got back from detecting - If there is not a convenient trash can when I'm out, I'll bring the trash home to can. I sure don't save it.
It just seems endless, and spots where I got a lot of trash, folks like to ensure it's replenished.
That's quite a haul you have there.

 

[tvr]

Nice bucket of trash there Andy.

I sort and save the tabs, aluminum, copper, brass / bronze and lead; and then pitch the rest of the iron and pot metal stuff. The tabs go to the school and students get educational day trips donated for enough tabs. The other saved metal, when I have some large buckets collected, goes to the metal recycler for cash. It adds up.

Thanks for showing the pile for inspiration!
tvr

 

[ohio fred]

n/t

 

[Andy Sabisch]

As several have posted, the reason I wanted to post the trash finds photos was so that newbies that are getting a pouch full of trash and not a pocket full of old coins and jewelry are not doing anything wrong . . . . the days of finding site after site where you dig nothing but all stuff are long gone (not to say there are not virgin sites left, just that you need to work to find them . . . . heck, in the 60's when I started, my brother & I hunted the local elementary school and on a slope we all used to play on, pulled over 300 Mercury dimes and we gave it the name "Mercury Dime Hill").

A few tips on finding the good stuff . . . . . . and it may seem real basic to some but worth repeating:

1) You need to hunt sites that were in use during the period the type of targets you are hoping to find were in use. If you want to find Indian Head pennies or Barber silver, hunting the school or park that did not go into operation until the 1940's is probably not going to give you what you are looking for.

2) With the amount of trash in the ground, hunting in all metal and digging every signal is not really an option unless you are hunting a site that is being developed or you want the site to be closed due to the holes being made. Use the technology that exists today - detector and coil selection is critical - and decide how much digging you and the site can tolerate. I have several older sites that I've hunted yet know there is still stuff there . . . as detector technology improves, I can re-hunt them and see what else I pull out.

3) You need to be in the right frame of mind when hunting the trashy sites. If you find yourself getting frustrated with each piece of junk you find, it's time to leave and find an easier site to hunt or simply something else to do. Heck, yesterday morning I was out with a friend that wanted to trashy site I had found a few months back and pulled some great stuff out from. I had 100 others things to do the day before and got to bed at 1:30 . . . and he picked me up at 6:30 . . . . . tired, I was not really into the day's hunt and it showed. I wasted time on forced signals and then got frustrated at the junk I was digging. Hardy on the other hand pulled out a silver half and other stuff . . . . . not my day and after 2 hours, we threw in the towel.

Look at the finds others post and let that motivate you to find good sites to hunt. Realize that most of the photos and stories do not tell you what they dug that went into the trash bin . . . . .

P.S.: The V3 has reduced the amount of trash I've dug thanks to the use of the Analyze screen . . . . . with more in-field time, I can see this being reduced even more.

Andy Sabisch

 

[woodchiphustler]

More folks should follow your example.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Too many people expect the detector to make it easy to find ONLY good targets. The machine never lies....it only reports that something is in the matrix below it. The operator's portion of this game is to use whatever bells and whistles along with his own gained experience on a metal detector are available in a metal detector, to increase his/hers probability of getting a good target. And all those iffy signals don't cost you anything to dig up, so dig them up anyways. You just might be surprised.

 

[Carl-NC]

If you've ever had someone come up to you and give you a hard time about hunting a public area, it's a Good Idea to have a decent handful of trash in your pouch so you can show them that you are providing a beneficial service. A few rusty nails, some nice sharp slaw, even some broken glass is nice to have on hand. Ask them if they'd rather you leave it on the ground. I usually try to leave some trash in my pouch so I have it available as soon as I hit the ground.

If you save all your trash like Andy, then if you ever have a situation where the city/county council wants to ban detecting, you can show the council-folks exactly what Good Things metal detectorists are doing.

- Carl

 

[Andy Sabisch]

Even more often than the good stuff . . . it is a great visual when trying to get access to a site or showing legislators whet we do to the area in terms of cleaning things up

Andy

 

[tab-nabit]

Another good point:
The more trash dug, the less masking the area becomes.
If I didn't dig up trash, I wouldn't get as many stop breaks.
If I didn't dig up trash, I'll miss more jewelery and other neat strange items.
If I didn't dig up trash, I'll work a area to fast and will have to go find another spot.
If I didn't dig up trash, and don't find good stuff - what will the wife think I was out doing

 

[david.di]

and apart from showing them your contribution to keeping an area clean with your trash finds, offer to anyone who is TRULY responsible, concerned and caring with matters regarding the well being of a site that you are detecting in , a cleanup doggy-do-bag and/or trash litter bag or two, that you carry a few spares around with you.
You can hand them around to anyone who is REALLY concerned about any of your activities and truly spread the burden of responsibility by simply suggesting that they to help clean up and keep the area tidy along with what you are doing.
I haven't ever had anyone question me again about what I am actually doing(some just do NOT understand this hobby) especially after I have made this suggestion. Rarely do they say yes on the idea of helping to picking up any doggy do's that have been left around. Rarely do they take you up on helping to clean up a public area.
The ones that do take you up on the offer , usually do so for a very short time and also seem to do so.....very reluctantly.


Seem to shuts em right up......quickly.