06-15-2014, 03:07 PM
Hit that spot yesterday for the experiment. Was a beautiful day here in NJ. Now...
The whole purpose of the 'experiment' was...
1. To see just how much is masked by being located around junk/iron. After digging a piece of trash/iron, will there be another good signal that my detector didn't pick up on?
2. To see how many good targets were reading as junk since they were located near junk/iron
3. To see how many good signals read trash/iron because of their extreme depth
Truth be told, I'm normally one of those hunters that dig extreme signals anyway. I'd say 90% of what I dig is AT LEAST 5+ inches. Normally more. This of course is in a modern trash spot. Due to fill, sinkage & the places being heavily hunted over the years, you might dig a shallow old coin one time out of 1,000. It happens, but, it's rare. Woods hunting, or an old spot with little modern trash, I dig EVERY signal above iron. So, I already had a fair amount of experience 'digging it all'. I also LOVE digging shitty, borderline signals, because those are the ones other hunters pass on, however...
I wanted to take one hunt and do it in a MODERN TRASH spot, which I've never done before. And guess what???
It is a major PAIN IN THE ASS!!!
This spot has been active since the mid 1800's. Lots of activity. The ground is more or less the same ground that people walked on 160+ years ago. This is good for obvious reasons, however, it's also bad, due to the amount of modern trash. I've dug seateds, largies, barbers, Indians, mercs, and numerous other old coins and relics in this place. High tones (at least clean, easy ones) are very hard to come by.
I started in an area where I've pulled most of my keepers from at this spot. Let's start...
I was 'stuck' in one little area, maybe 4 feet by 4 feet digging every hit I got. The first hour and twenty minutes I must've dug a good 50 pull tabs, beaver tabs & foil. Ugh, foil
Little, tiny bits of foil were driving me nuts...especially that my Garrett pointer isn't working 100%. At this point, I was already wiped, but, made a commitment to carry on until I just couldn't do it anymore. Forget clean plugs, it was impossible. Close up the hole and a quarter inch away was another hit. The ground looked like a blind 13 year old boys face after shaving for the first time 
I obviously filled in all my holes, but, so much digging in one little area is tough to do and make it look like it's never been dug. Did about another half hour (and countless more pull tabs & foil balls to fill a football arena) before I started going mad. Decided to change strategies & dig JUST straight iron tones, or signals that could've been coins, but we're reading all over the map like junk/iron normally does. Oh yeah, I pulled two wheats out of one hole that had a pull tab in it, and gave off a shitty signal. This was a win!
For the next hour and a half, I dug a fair bit of iron. The giant spike with the rusted glob at the end in the pics below took me a good 15 minutes to get out of the ground! Best iron find was the broken horseshoe. Additionally, I also pulled a buffalo nickel that was in the hole with a nail, another win! Now, I only hunt in all metal, since I like to hear everything in the ground. So, my Safari doesn't null over any type of junk/trash.
After 3 hours of all this, with sweat dripping down every part of my body, my eyes burning from the sweat that got in them, and my hands hurting from dislodging deep pieces of iron, I was broke. I decided to go into cherry picking mode since I was at one of my favorite spots, and that's when I got the merc in the pic. After about a half hour, I was spent & called it a day. So...
Based on yesterday's experiment, and coupled with all of the other years I've been hunting, the question is???
Does it pay to dig it all in a modern trash spot? I'm sure a lot of the answer to that question is decided on a persons personality, what floats their boat. For me, not my cup of tea. I'm playing the odds, like in a casino. Could you hit on a hard 17 in Blackjack and get an ace, two, three or four to better your hand? Yes, although it wouldn't be wise to do so, since the odds are stacked against you, you'd most probably bust. If you dug everything in a modern trash site, no doubt you'll uncover a few keepers that were hidden amongst the junk, but, is it worth it? For me, no.
Another personal opinion, I think the bigger culprit we as hunters face is depth, not masking, in terms of missing goodies. I've dug thousands of holes, and I can definitively say that the times that there was a good target in the hole with junk is VERY low. Maybe 2% of the time. Now, I'm not a scientist, nor are these numbers I'm throwing out there exact, so, this isn't to be taken as a thesis. It's simply my opinion. And on THAT note...
I will be more than happy to go back to my cherry picking mode starting next hunt, although I'm going to be concentrating on researched spots more, and well as digging more for some relic action
Joe
The whole purpose of the 'experiment' was...
1. To see just how much is masked by being located around junk/iron. After digging a piece of trash/iron, will there be another good signal that my detector didn't pick up on?
2. To see how many good targets were reading as junk since they were located near junk/iron
3. To see how many good signals read trash/iron because of their extreme depth
Truth be told, I'm normally one of those hunters that dig extreme signals anyway. I'd say 90% of what I dig is AT LEAST 5+ inches. Normally more. This of course is in a modern trash spot. Due to fill, sinkage & the places being heavily hunted over the years, you might dig a shallow old coin one time out of 1,000. It happens, but, it's rare. Woods hunting, or an old spot with little modern trash, I dig EVERY signal above iron. So, I already had a fair amount of experience 'digging it all'. I also LOVE digging shitty, borderline signals, because those are the ones other hunters pass on, however...
I wanted to take one hunt and do it in a MODERN TRASH spot, which I've never done before. And guess what???
It is a major PAIN IN THE ASS!!!
This spot has been active since the mid 1800's. Lots of activity. The ground is more or less the same ground that people walked on 160+ years ago. This is good for obvious reasons, however, it's also bad, due to the amount of modern trash. I've dug seateds, largies, barbers, Indians, mercs, and numerous other old coins and relics in this place. High tones (at least clean, easy ones) are very hard to come by.
I started in an area where I've pulled most of my keepers from at this spot. Let's start...
I was 'stuck' in one little area, maybe 4 feet by 4 feet digging every hit I got. The first hour and twenty minutes I must've dug a good 50 pull tabs, beaver tabs & foil. Ugh, foil
Little, tiny bits of foil were driving me nuts...especially that my Garrett pointer isn't working 100%. At this point, I was already wiped, but, made a commitment to carry on until I just couldn't do it anymore. Forget clean plugs, it was impossible. Close up the hole and a quarter inch away was another hit. The ground looked like a blind 13 year old boys face after shaving for the first time I obviously filled in all my holes, but, so much digging in one little area is tough to do and make it look like it's never been dug. Did about another half hour (and countless more pull tabs & foil balls to fill a football arena) before I started going mad. Decided to change strategies & dig JUST straight iron tones, or signals that could've been coins, but we're reading all over the map like junk/iron normally does. Oh yeah, I pulled two wheats out of one hole that had a pull tab in it, and gave off a shitty signal. This was a win! For the next hour and a half, I dug a fair bit of iron. The giant spike with the rusted glob at the end in the pics below took me a good 15 minutes to get out of the ground! Best iron find was the broken horseshoe. Additionally, I also pulled a buffalo nickel that was in the hole with a nail, another win! Now, I only hunt in all metal, since I like to hear everything in the ground. So, my Safari doesn't null over any type of junk/trash.
After 3 hours of all this, with sweat dripping down every part of my body, my eyes burning from the sweat that got in them, and my hands hurting from dislodging deep pieces of iron, I was broke. I decided to go into cherry picking mode since I was at one of my favorite spots, and that's when I got the merc in the pic. After about a half hour, I was spent & called it a day. So...
Based on yesterday's experiment, and coupled with all of the other years I've been hunting, the question is???
Does it pay to dig it all in a modern trash spot? I'm sure a lot of the answer to that question is decided on a persons personality, what floats their boat. For me, not my cup of tea. I'm playing the odds, like in a casino. Could you hit on a hard 17 in Blackjack and get an ace, two, three or four to better your hand? Yes, although it wouldn't be wise to do so, since the odds are stacked against you, you'd most probably bust. If you dug everything in a modern trash site, no doubt you'll uncover a few keepers that were hidden amongst the junk, but, is it worth it? For me, no.
Another personal opinion, I think the bigger culprit we as hunters face is depth, not masking, in terms of missing goodies. I've dug thousands of holes, and I can definitively say that the times that there was a good target in the hole with junk is VERY low. Maybe 2% of the time. Now, I'm not a scientist, nor are these numbers I'm throwing out there exact, so, this isn't to be taken as a thesis. It's simply my opinion. And on THAT note...
I will be more than happy to go back to my cherry picking mode starting next hunt, although I'm going to be concentrating on researched spots more, and well as digging more for some relic action
Joe
