Metal Detecting Forum

Just thought I'd start a thread on this and see what opinions people have on their best spots for ring hunting on land. Try to be specific as to what areas in those spots (like say a ball diamond) you have found more rings at. I haven't done a super amount of land ring hunting (mostly hunt for old coins) but what better luck I've had has come from small tot lots around playground equipment. The area behind the kiddie swing where mom would push her kid is also a good spot. Plan to do more land ring hunting this summer and am looking for ideas to concentrate on.

Also, got a question for you beach hunters...On a fresh water lake where there is no tide to change water levels do you guys still have good luck hunting dry sand areas, like the beach towel zone, for rings? Wonder how these areas compare to hunting land (soil) spots for rings? I can wade waist deep by mounting my GT control box high on my chest so I plan to do more water hunting this summer but for those days when the waves are too high I want to hunt the dry sand if it's been very productive for some of you guys.

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Think I'm finally home after a lot of years searching for my particular needs. Custom 1.5 lb lighter Sovereign GT (easy to do by just "building" lighter shaft) & SEF 12x10 as everyday coil. 8" Tornado (actually 7.25") as super heavy trash coil (Very deep & separates better than typical 8/9" true size coils). 13" Ultimate for large fields/beaches on certain days I want to grid faster than even the 12x10's nice improvement over stock for that. Stock 10" Tornado stays on water rig (stock shaft). ProPointer. Owned 15x12 & SunRay S-5 (5.5") at one time. Loaned a prior 13" Ultimate & SunRay S-12 (12.5").

Some Oldest Silver- 1835 Bust Dime, 1842 "O" Seated Dime, 1855 Seated Quarter, 1858 3 Cent Piece, 1891 Seated Dime, & another Seated Quarter too damaged to read date. Highest Value- 3 Cent Piece, Seated Quarter, & now 1921 F-12 Standing Liberty. Oldest Coin? Got to give large cents a good look & see. 2013 so far- 1 Seated Quarter, 1 Barber Quarter, 1 Standing Liberty, 2 Washingtons, 1 Barber Dime, 9 Mercs, 3 Rosies. 1 War Nickel. 19 silvers in total, & 1 1872 key date Indian, 2 Bufallos, 1 man's 14K gold medium sized ring & 1 gold chain, with possibility of few 8"+ deep mystery coins being Indians after cleaning.

What matters in life is the journey and not the desitination. How you handle that journey determines if you were a success, not so much what you achieved if and when you finally get there, especially if you made it by stepping on people along the way...

In loving memory of my long haired (wooly) husky Sky. She taught me just how beautiful and pure a soul can be, human or not...

they say gold is where you find it and where ever i find it -thats my favorite spot..... i found a whopper 14k mans ring in a back yard of an old home..found a 10k with small stones on the perimeter of a basketball court ... found a 14k cladaw ring in grass between a baseball field and tennis court..... found a 10k onyx ring in a cornfield behind a trailer park.... found two 14k rings back to back at a fresh water beach in very shallow water in spingtime just before park opened up for summer.... found a 10k at ocean one time .... the few lakes that allow detecting near me dont allow detecting during summer moths...so come labor day its a free for all...the places get hammered hard in short order....im one of the only whackos who returns to hunt them during the winter months..if i find a stud ear ring or two im happy.... as far as taking the gt in the water all i can say is i have done it but really wouldnt recomend it...one slip and its all over....

I gave up hunting for gold in the turf. There is just too much canslaw and tabs scattered throughout every park I hunt.

On the FW beaches, you better believe I hunt the towel line. Lots of people take thier jewelry off so they won't lose it in the water and then forget. When they grab the blanket (or towel) they scatter the jewelry and sometimes can't find it again.

It seems as if sports fields are the better spots for jewelry hunting on land. But you have to contend with all of the bad targets which fall in the same range. Still worth it to me, especially with gold prices the way they are.

As far as fresh water hunting. Since there is no tide to move sand around, you have to wait for good weather and swimmers to come and go to determine when it is the best time. I tend believe that you would have better luck on beaches as opposed to sports fields because people will sometimes remove their jewelry before entering the water. Where jewelry lost on sports fields tend to be by accident. Good luck !

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2013 digs :

Silver - 3
Wheats - 11

Northern Minnesota
Minelab Explorer SE Pro
Garrett AT Pro

Open areas in parks where they play ball and such, but most of the good stuff seems to be off to the sides where the grass is a little thicker. My thought is that the items in the center beat down area are easier to find with sight and not so in the higher grass.

But like said above, have to dig a lot of trash to get the gold. But if your not close to a beach not much else you can do, one gold ring is worth a lot of coins clad or even silver.

Ron in WV

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Ron in WV
Retired May of 2010
MD'ing off and on since 1981

Dirt parking lots. Can't beat 'em.

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De-activated at members request

High,
I search beer gardens on Sunday mornings, before they open.
The owners get their 50% share of the profit after I sell, whatever I find.
I do find a lot of clad though and most of the time give all of it to the waitresses.
In return, they most always give me a free beer in appreciation.
The amount of pull tabs and crown caps is pretty much down to zero, since you´re not allowed to bring your own drinks on premisses and they serve their drinks in glasses.
Even the amount of foil, mostly from cig packs, stays within limits.

HH
skookum

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Whites XLT , Whites 6000 Di Pro SL , Whites Classic III Plus , Fisher 1270
Blue Max 950 and Bullseye 5.3 coils for the Whites
10,5 - 8 - 5 inch coils for the 1270
Garrett Pro Pointer

*** The only detector that can truly tell trash from treasure is a shovel ***

Quote
Smudge
Dirt parking lots. Can't beat 'em.

How do you handle the trash?

I've tried doing parking lots before, but the dropped garbage and interference from iron contaminated dirt was unreal. Not to mention the digging was extremely difficult.

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Currently running the Minelab E-Trac, Excalibur and Garrett Pro Pointer.

Thought these links might be useful to you guys on this topic of best spots on land for gold rings, as well as info on where they fall percentage wise on the scale, and a few other related topics to gold ring hunting on land...



Anybody ONLY Ring Hunt On Land?

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,1697343,1697343#msg-1697343

Why Did You Dig That Signal That Turned Out To Be A Gold Ring? (Or Some Other Good Find)

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,1708213,1708247#msg-1708247

Digging It All. Unmasking Silver Coins Or Finding Gold Rings & Other Good Finds. How Well Has It Worked Out For You?

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,1683120,page=1

Horseshoe Pitts

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,1717455,1718007#msg-1718007

And basketball courts

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,1711852,page=1

Splitting Hairs On Gold Rings. Some Rather Shocking Statistics On Just Where Most Gold Rings Fall. It Ain't What You Probably Always Thought!

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1720979

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Think I'm finally home after a lot of years searching for my particular needs. Custom 1.5 lb lighter Sovereign GT (easy to do by just "building" lighter shaft) & SEF 12x10 as everyday coil. 8" Tornado (actually 7.25") as super heavy trash coil (Very deep & separates better than typical 8/9" true size coils). 13" Ultimate for large fields/beaches on certain days I want to grid faster than even the 12x10's nice improvement over stock for that. Stock 10" Tornado stays on water rig (stock shaft). ProPointer. Owned 15x12 & SunRay S-5 (5.5") at one time. Loaned a prior 13" Ultimate & SunRay S-12 (12.5").

Some Oldest Silver- 1835 Bust Dime, 1842 "O" Seated Dime, 1855 Seated Quarter, 1858 3 Cent Piece, 1891 Seated Dime, & another Seated Quarter too damaged to read date. Highest Value- 3 Cent Piece, Seated Quarter, & now 1921 F-12 Standing Liberty. Oldest Coin? Got to give large cents a good look & see. 2013 so far- 1 Seated Quarter, 1 Barber Quarter, 1 Standing Liberty, 2 Washingtons, 1 Barber Dime, 9 Mercs, 3 Rosies. 1 War Nickel. 19 silvers in total, & 1 1872 key date Indian, 2 Bufallos, 1 man's 14K gold medium sized ring & 1 gold chain, with possibility of few 8"+ deep mystery coins being Indians after cleaning.

What matters in life is the journey and not the desitination. How you handle that journey determines if you were a success, not so much what you achieved if and when you finally get there, especially if you made it by stepping on people along the way...

In loving memory of my long haired (wooly) husky Sky. She taught me just how beautiful and pure a soul can be, human or not...

Quote
ZOFCHAK

Quote
Smudge
Dirt parking lots. Can't beat 'em.

How do you handle the trash?

I've tried doing parking lots before, but the dropped garbage and interference from iron contaminated dirt was unreal. Not to mention the digging was extremely difficult.

No gold rings in dirt lots but silver rings and a gold chain along with clad. I turn my sens well down on my AT=Pro since around here the fine crushed limestone doesn't allow fresh drops to get much deeper then an inch. Anything deeper is the old trash they put the limestone down over. Works good for me!

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Garrett AT-Pro, Minelab E-Trac, 2 Pro Pointers and a probe rod.

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good. ~ Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

(This message does not contain any text.)

Quote
ZOFCHAK

Quote
Smudge
Dirt parking lots. Can't beat 'em.

How do you handle the trash?

I've tried doing parking lots before, but the dropped garbage and interference from iron contaminated dirt was unreal. Not to mention the digging was extremely difficult.

Iron contamination is not a problem for me. My soil is pretty mild.

Some parking lots have soil so compact its almost like concrete. I typically don't those, preferring loose dirt parking lots.

As far as dropped garbage goes. I dig plenty of it. But thats the price you pay if you want gold. No way around it, I'm afraid.

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De-activated at members request

I have spent most of this past Spring detecting a parking lot/ dirt dump. True it is many times like concrete but the targets are usually very shallow. I have managed a couple Merc dimes and tons of clad at less than 2". Also no ticks in the parking lot, lol! HH. Matt

Don't know if this was mentioned (been a while since I read this thread) but another potential hot spot is jogging trails. If they are blacktop trails in parks then hunt along the sides of them as the ring will probably roll or bounce into the surrounding grass or soil. Even better would be dirt jogging trails. I must admit I keep planning on hunting jogging trails but keep forgetting to give it a try. But, just the other day I was hunting in the woods and came across a dirt jogging/hiking trail that looked old due to the exposed roots sticking way out of the trail having had the dirt worn away around them by foot traffic. I read somewhere that's a way to tell if a trail is old, because foot traffic will wear away the dirt and expose the roots a good bit higher than the surrounding soil.

Anyway, hunted it for about a half hour digging any signal above iron. Got a buffalo and a pendent from a neckless that looks old, but is junk metal. Just confirms that jogging trails should be a hot spot for rings, as people run or jog along them. Even if they are just walking, on a hot day as they work up and sweat and swing their arms in walking motion a ring could easily slip right off a finger. I need to go back there in a day or two and work that trail some more. Not just for rings, but because that buffalo tells me the trail is old enough to have some silver coins laying around.

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Think I'm finally home after a lot of years searching for my particular needs. Custom 1.5 lb lighter Sovereign GT (easy to do by just "building" lighter shaft) & SEF 12x10 as everyday coil. 8" Tornado (actually 7.25") as super heavy trash coil (Very deep & separates better than typical 8/9" true size coils). 13" Ultimate for large fields/beaches on certain days I want to grid faster than even the 12x10's nice improvement over stock for that. Stock 10" Tornado stays on water rig (stock shaft). ProPointer. Owned 15x12 & SunRay S-5 (5.5") at one time. Loaned a prior 13" Ultimate & SunRay S-12 (12.5").

Some Oldest Silver- 1835 Bust Dime, 1842 "O" Seated Dime, 1855 Seated Quarter, 1858 3 Cent Piece, 1891 Seated Dime, & another Seated Quarter too damaged to read date. Highest Value- 3 Cent Piece, Seated Quarter, & now 1921 F-12 Standing Liberty. Oldest Coin? Got to give large cents a good look & see. 2013 so far- 1 Seated Quarter, 1 Barber Quarter, 1 Standing Liberty, 2 Washingtons, 1 Barber Dime, 9 Mercs, 3 Rosies. 1 War Nickel. 19 silvers in total, & 1 1872 key date Indian, 2 Bufallos, 1 man's 14K gold medium sized ring & 1 gold chain, with possibility of few 8"+ deep mystery coins being Indians after cleaning.

What matters in life is the journey and not the desitination. How you handle that journey determines if you were a success, not so much what you achieved if and when you finally get there, especially if you made it by stepping on people along the way...

In loving memory of my long haired (wooly) husky Sky. She taught me just how beautiful and pure a soul can be, human or not...

After re-reading this thread and re-freshing my memory, I'd have to say my best spot thus far for rings is in yards. Not too many people oddly pitch tabs, foil, and other junk into their own yard, and they've had plenty of time doing yard work or playing in the yard for years to pitch off a ring. Regardless of if I'm only old coin hunting or not (which more often then not I usually am only coin hunting), I'm always eager to dig each and every signal above iron out of a yard in the hopes of a ring. Rarely is there enough trash in a yard to make that a job, so your trash to ring ratio is very good. In fact, last year I hunted a yard and heard a nice smooth "round" warm tab signal. I passed it by and continued to hunt for silver. Still, something in the back of my mind kept saying go back and dig that. Not that it was about the only tab signal in that yard (which it was), but it was the "quality" of the audio signal that kept bothering me. So, later, I went back and dug it up. Sure enough it was a ring. A plated ring, but never the less a ring. It's wierd but I wasn't all that surprised it was a ring. Something about the audio told me it was going to be, even if that thought was only in the back of my mind. It wasn't that it was about the only tab signal in that yard. It was the audio that kept me harkening back to that signal, and made me almost half expecting it was going to be a ring. Dig those ring signals in yards! I'll take a yard for ring hunting probably over any other place on land, except maybe a volleyball court if I *knew* for sure it hadn't been hunted in months or years. Of course you can't be sure of that in public places, so I'll take a private yard any day.

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Think I'm finally home after a lot of years searching for my particular needs. Custom 1.5 lb lighter Sovereign GT (easy to do by just "building" lighter shaft) & SEF 12x10 as everyday coil. 8" Tornado (actually 7.25") as super heavy trash coil (Very deep & separates better than typical 8/9" true size coils). 13" Ultimate for large fields/beaches on certain days I want to grid faster than even the 12x10's nice improvement over stock for that. Stock 10" Tornado stays on water rig (stock shaft). ProPointer. Owned 15x12 & SunRay S-5 (5.5") at one time. Loaned a prior 13" Ultimate & SunRay S-12 (12.5").

Some Oldest Silver- 1835 Bust Dime, 1842 "O" Seated Dime, 1855 Seated Quarter, 1858 3 Cent Piece, 1891 Seated Dime, & another Seated Quarter too damaged to read date. Highest Value- 3 Cent Piece, Seated Quarter, & now 1921 F-12 Standing Liberty. Oldest Coin? Got to give large cents a good look & see. 2013 so far- 1 Seated Quarter, 1 Barber Quarter, 1 Standing Liberty, 2 Washingtons, 1 Barber Dime, 9 Mercs, 3 Rosies. 1 War Nickel. 19 silvers in total, & 1 1872 key date Indian, 2 Bufallos, 1 man's 14K gold medium sized ring & 1 gold chain, with possibility of few 8"+ deep mystery coins being Indians after cleaning.

What matters in life is the journey and not the desitination. How you handle that journey determines if you were a success, not so much what you achieved if and when you finally get there, especially if you made it by stepping on people along the way...

In loving memory of my long haired (wooly) husky Sky. She taught me just how beautiful and pure a soul can be, human or not...