When To Walk Away....

[Tiftaaft]

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 2:17 AM, Goldpick said:

Unfortunately when people post their finds on forums, they rarely offer up the amount of junk that they retrieved in order to obtain all their good targets.  On our local forum some of the more experienced detectorists do post their junk targets, mainly to help those new to the hobby to realise that the junk to coin ratio isn't always that favourable.  If I had a dollar for the number of dodgy targets I dug that turned out to be an unexpected surprise, I'd be a rich man.

Great thread and a lot of good information... as a refresher and things to make me think on my future hunts. 

Based on Goldpick's comment above... I thought I would post my finds from a 2 hour hunt last night.  I was searching for a token that was planted at the beginning of the year by my local club... and was unsure the material of construction so I was digging most repeatable signals above foil.  I ultimately did find the token (ID'd as a pull tab at about 6 inches, and was planted with 3 pull tabs at varying depths around it), but you can see the amount of trash compared to desirable targets in this particular park, honestly, this park is much cleaner than many others I have been to - so the ratio only gets worse from here in my experience.  (My particular new 'favorites' are the condiment wrappers that for whatever reason have started sounding sweet on my explorer).

And to the other comments above, I tried to call each one... it is the only way to improve your "game".  you can never stop learning when detecting.  Tim.

[Mike Hillis]

Now I see the issue.   That picture looks normal, Tiftaaft.    Looks to me that you are doing good.   Add a bunch more foil to the picture and it could be my pouch we're looking at.  The stable TID targets are the icing on the cake.  All iffy jumping around numbers, ie, the trash are the  "could have been's".   Could have been gold, could have been old, could have been neat....

Some of my neatest finds have come from, "could have been signals.

I'd say you are doing it right.   You could cherry pick solid high conductors but you'll miss nice things like that watch in my avatar picture.

HH
Mike

 

 

[Tiftaaft]

6 minutes ago, Mike Hillis said:

Now I see the issue.   That picture looks normal, Tiftaaft.    Looks to me that you are doing good.   Add a bunch more foil to the picture and it could be my pouch we're looking at.  The stable TID targets are the icing on the cake.  All iffy jumping around numbers, ie, the trash are the  "could have been's".   Could have been gold, could have been old, could have been neat....

Some of my neatest finds have come from, "could have been signals.

I'd say you are doing it right.   You could cherry pick solid high conductors but you'll miss nice things like that watch in my avatar picture.

HH
Mike

 

 

I agree Mike, this was a targeted hunt.  I knew the item in question wouldn't be an iffy signal once I got the coil over it.  My normal "trash take" has about 3x the trash and includes foil and bottle caps that I specifically and manually (with my brain) discriminated.  Just trying to show that even targeting "good" signals... you are going to dig trash.  It is the nature of the beast!!  :)  Tim.

[Swampstomper Al]

23 hours ago, Tiftaaft said:

...My particular new 'favorites' are the condiment wrappers that for whatever reason have started sounding sweet on my explorer...

Tim.

Good one..! I failed to mention condiment packs when noting trash items that mimic good targets.. Numbers mean nothing here (because different detector's readouts) but they hit as sweet repeatables above nickles and below zinc..

Something else on the sweetly repeatable 'hit' parade that sounds off just slightly below condiment packs is this thinner pog-type inner safety seal being "cardboard" one side w/ tightly attached metallic flip.. I assume they must belong to a new(er) drink product that comes in a wide-mouth glass bottle.. They started showing up on the beach right at two years ago..

Swamp

[Steve Herschbach]

When I got my first detector in 1972 discrimination did not quite exist yet. You dug it all, but aluminum trash did not exist yet either, and so I actually dug less trash back then. Now every year they invent more trash to find, and the people who think the ground is a garbage can are always in endless supply. It would help a lot if the government did not get into the garbage business by making zinc pennies! I hate those things. Half are so corroded you literally have to throw them in the trash. But my plain gold band wedding ring reads just like a zinc penny!

[GB_Amateur]

On 10/26/2017 at 3:30 PM, Tiftaaft said:

My particular new 'favorites' are the condiment wrappers that for whatever reason have started sounding sweet on my explorer.

I got one of those last Sunday, 6 inches deep (don't know how it got down there...), strong signal and high TID -- between dime and quarter.  Had a nail right under it.  I don't remember if I went at it from multiple directions.  I know if it's hitting that high of a TID I'm digging, so don't always investigate so much.

[Swampstomper Al]

2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I got one of those last Sunday, 6 inches deep (don't know how it got down there...), strong signal and high TID -- between dime and quarter.  Had a nail right under it.  I don't remember if I went at it from multiple directions.  I know if it's hitting that high of a TID I'm digging, so don't always investigate so much.

Ut-oh.. Now you have me questioning my memory.. Maybe numbers do matter after all.. Welll, at least as far as remembering what scale goes with which machine that is.. I typed the above based on where things hit on an AT Pro using the number scale for an F-5, duh..

The safety seals are definitely a 44 on the AT Pro, which puts them below nickles.. But since seeing your post I'm really no longer sure if the condiment packs were 50, which is what I thought I remembered them as and would also put them below nickles too, or if they are a high conductor up 80-81 way right below dime..?

Plus, is it possible there is that big a difference between a really 'foil-y' ketchup packet vs the fairly standard industrial brand yellow mustard and pickle relish, which generally come in either all-plastic or a combo plastic-and-light-foil packet..? (Coincidence or otherwise, none of the packets I'm referencing were ketchup..) 

I'll try to get this straightened out, or at the very least get for sure correct readings / numbers.. Will take the VLF along with or instead of the PI next beach trip.. I wouldn't think it should be possible for a huge discrepancy between similar items, but who knows..? And if my packet reading is wrong as remembered, there should be no difference anyhow.. Gads..!

Swamp

[MontAmmie]

4 hours ago, Swampstomper Al said:

Something else on the sweetly repeatable 'hit' parade that sounds off just slightly below condiment packs is this thinner pog-type inner safety seal being "cardboard" one side w/ tightly attached metallic flip.. I assume they must belong to a new(er) drink product that comes in a wide-mouth glass bottle.. They started showing up on the beach right at two years ago..

 

OMG I hate those things.  They are a perfect 08 from every direction on the DFX.  Just like Hubby's 14 K wedding ring.

 

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, Swampstomper Al said:

is it possible there is that big a difference between a really 'foil-y' ketchup packet vs the fairly standard industrial brand yellow mustard and pickle relish, which generally come in either all-plastic or a combo plastic-and-light-foil packet..? (Coincidence or otherwise, none of the packets I'm referencing were ketchup..)

Mine was ketchup, and given its depth it may be 40 years old.  The spot I found it has produced oodles of ring-and-beavertail pulltabs which are that old.  So I wouldn't take mine as the norm.  And if the nail directly underneath was vertical, even though shielded some, that could increase the TID.

Yeh, I know those drink bottle seals you and MontAmmie are talking about, but I don't get many (thankfully).  They're big enough and have a thick enough layer of aluminum to really sound good, especially for a dig-it-all (non-ferrous) detectorist.