Saturday in the park (the good bad and the junky)

[Paulmarr]

Hi everyone

I'm a newbie so pretty excited about finding anything let alone $$ and artifacts - hope I am not boring you!

My son and I (sa_bogan) visited a few parks this morning and between us over two hours this is what we managed to find

$12.55 - a hot wheels and a heap of junk! We had a ball - and I really enjoy detecting with someone else - had quite a few laughs along the way. Bogan found an unusual button

That was my third time out detecting - Wednesday we went to the beach but didn't find much ...

And I have come to the conclusion that I must be doing something wrong! I have been reading posts on this forum about finding $67 in 90 minutes - I reckon that's a hundred plus targets.... Not only can't I find that many but I don't think I could squat down a 100 times in 90 minutes - must have had a back ache!

Can any of you experienced guys help me out? I'm using a Garrett Ace 350 and Bogan has a Minelab 705 - are we missing targets or something? All advice is appreciated!

Paul

 

[Ramjet]

I reckon that is a pretty good haul
I think the guys finding large amounts are pretty experienced.
Plus you cant find what isnt there
It takes 50 to 100 hours to learn your machine.
I'd say by then you will be able to dig only the treasure and leave the trash in the ground.

You are boring no one.
We all like to hear and see what others are finding. Also encourages the newbs.

Nice work.
Cheers

Ramjet

 

[kleinman98]

At least you wont pick those ones up next time and you got enought for a couple of cheese burgers and beers.

 

[Nugget]

That's not a bad haul for a couple of beginners, the more you learn those machines the better your treasure to trash ratio will become. Adjusting the discrimination settings will help to eliminate some of the trash, especially those nails. You could use that trash to help you work out the best discrimination pattern to use.

I've done heaps of beach detecting and can tell you that finding $67 in 90 minutes doesn't happen very often, in fact I would consider that more of a one off for most people. My 2-3 hour average on some fairly worked Newcastle beaches is around $6 - $20, but I have come home with less than $2 for my efforts.

There's so many variables when it comes to beach detecting such as how soft the sand is, when it was last combed or detected, how active it's been, etc etc. And as Ramjet said, you can't find something that just isn't there.

 

[Paulmarr]

Thanks guys ... Yes you are right Nugget - the first time out I was digging a lot of foil so I discriminated that signal and haven't dug anymore since - I am just afraid by discriminating that I am going to miss something good. The nails, etc found on the beach was because it was so clean I dug anything just so I had something to do!

I've dug every denomination except 20 cent pieces which makes me think I am discriminating them out. What rule should I use when selecting signals to discriminate? For example bottle tops and $1 & $2 coins seem to give me a similar signal - so I would be all the poorer to discriminate those. I try to ignore the ferrous side of the scale but when it registers around the 5 cent and pull tab signals I am unsure of what to do. Also - how deep is too deep?

 

[CreviceSucker]

did yiu test that button for silver content ? it has that patina about it

 

[Sa_bogan]

Not sure how to test it for silver, I have a mate with an XRF machine but I don't see him heaps

 

[Silver_Fox]

I'd be happy with that haul any day! My best day would be around the $20-$25 or $50 for the weekend. That would have been something around 8-10 hours hunting.
Did you figure out what the button is?

I went out for an hour or so today with my son (went to his primary school), found $16.45 and a signet ring sterling silver .925 with a garnet. I had no expectation of finding any silver, it just popped up!
However, being the Silver Fox, I do expect to find at least one silver item each hunt

SF

 

[Pete_The_Prospector]

The best learning curve when starting out is to dig every signal. Dig dig dig, its a pain in the back, knee's, arms and just about everywhere else you can think of, but by doing this you are learning how to drive your machine. Listen to the different tones and look at the lcd screen to see what its telling you about these tones, then dig. Soon enough you will know what the target is before you dig it. My kids think I'm super human because I can tell them what coin I have found before I dig it out of the ground. But its pretty easy to tell once you have used a certain machine after a while. My biggest park find was sheer luck more then anything. Lucky that I found a playground that had not been detected before, even though it was a fairly new playground, I still managed to pull $67 out of the wood chips. The majority of these coins come from an area no larger then 3 metres X 2 metres, and the coins were stacked on top of one another. Yesterday I went to another area that I thought would pay well, and all I found was 20 cent coin that had been bent by a mower :/

 

[Paulmarr]

Thanks for all the advice - we decided to have another go this morning and we hit quite a few parks today - here is our haul without the junk targets I dug as I am sure you have seen enough of them!

$14.40 of modern coins, a couple of keys and another foreign coin displayed on the grand daughter's artwork cause it was laying there. My son wanted to show how his Minelab xterra 705 outperformed the Garrett Ace 350 (or should I say how he outperformed his old man) . The foreign coin is a USA penny 2012-d mintage

My shoulder is sore so I reckon we detected for 4 hours today! A blast!

 

[Ramjet]

Another great day out Paul.
Plus another lesson. By that I mean more time learning your machine.
Go the old guys

 

[Bushranger]

You guys have had an awesome weekend. I'm new to detecting myself and love finding junk! I'm sure that will wear off quickly. It only takes one target to make your day.

 

[Goldandsand]

Some nice finds , keep at it

 

[Sa_bogan]

You guys have had an awesome weekend. I'm new to detecting myself and love finding junk! I'm sure that will wear off quickly. It only takes one target to make your day.

I can agree with finding anything to start with as a good feeling when it has been there awhile until you come along and unearth it. The thing that kills me is 5c and 10c read very close to a pull tab on the 705. I know experienced people tend to go for the higher values coins but I'm trying to hit 100 coins as my first target. Currently at 76 coins. The other is that he is sucking up the gold with the garrett leaving me to find the smaller stuff

 

[Paulmarr]

Ok.... I admit it... I have been bitten by the bug ... So I took out the Moke at lunch and hit a park near the train station

And dug up a couple of goldies....

I know I left targets due to my inability to see the target when I dig - really need a pro pointer!

 

[axeman]

Nice finds, beats my junk collection. That mope is a real chick magnet.
Mick

 

[kleinman98]

Ok.... I admit it... I have been bitten by the bug ... So I took out the Moke at lunch and hit a park near the train station

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k52/paulmarr/F4B1BE6D-2F51-4E4D-9B6B-B599809A0B6B_zpsemkhjbxk.jpg

And dug up a couple of goldies....

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k52/paulmarr/00BEEC0B-1789-43BE-937C-E68307A95D6A_zpsntallbwq.jpg

I know I left targets due to my inability to see the target when I dig - really need a pro pointer!

Now that brings back memories! I had a Moke in the early 70s. Great machine.

 

[Silver_Fox]

Would love to have a Moke!
My best mates parents had one in the early 80s... argh the memories...

 

[Paulmarr]

Yup .... I have a few of them.... 12 months ago a few of us drove our Mokes from Adelaide to Cape York via the Birdsville and Bloomfield Tracks ... Had a blast!
[
Here is my 1980 Californian

And here is the one I was driving today 1976 ...

On our trip...

 

[Roscoe]

They look like a lot of fun those mokes. Looks like you look after them. The mags look good on that blue one.