Thisoldgoldchaser
New member
I have found rings for people the same way. And I used little discrimination because I didnt want to miss anything. But both times I knew the ring would be on the surface so it was a no brainer. One ring took me about 20 minutes, because they werent sure of the spot, ended up findng it about 20 feet from where they thought it was, the other took just 2 or 3 minutes because it was lost in the sand on the beach but they knew almost the exact spot. That one I could have found just using my sand scoop without the detector. But of course I used my detector so I could take credit and look good. <laugh> Especially since the gal was really good looking. <grin> And I got a hug and a kiss out of it. 
The thing of it is, searching in a park, just generally, you arent usually going to find gold anyway. Where you find gold usually, other than raw gold, is likely going to be in swimming locations, where they are going to get their hands,fingers wet and rings can just slide off. Now in those areas is where you dont want to notch out pull tabs. I dont anyway. Of course, in the water and wet sands, I am going to be using a PI detector so wouldnt be any discriminattion anyway. In dry sand I would use my Xterra 705 or maybe one of the other detectors, Omega 8000 or Safari. But I cant say on those yet because I just havent had them long enough to make a judgement. Prior to getting them..I would have used my DFX if there was alot of mineralization. If it was light, I would have used my GTI 2500. The garrett was a great beach machine because of the discrimination and the target ID. Of the two in light soils, I much prefered the garrett. The target ID was great on it.
In parks you dont have as much of a chance of someone losing jewlery as you do in other locations. Exception being the playing fields..baseball diamonds, vollyball courts, etc and their edges. If you use too much discrimination then you are not going to find gold. Plain and simple. And discriminating out pulltabs will cause you to miss alot of gold. There are exceptions. But ask any long time expert and they will tell you the same. Now, if you are finding one type of pulltab at a location, and you notch it out,...lets say at 11. And a gold ring comes in at 12, or 10, then you would find it. Or would you think it is just another pull tab coming in under or over and thus notch 10 and 12 out too? If you notch the range out, then you are notching out alot of gold and you WONT find much, if any, gold.
But it is whatever works for you and what you want to find. One of the tenants of this hobby is that if you want to find the best stuff, you have to dig alot of the worst stuff. 10 times more than the good stuff. But I nor anyone else can blame you or lecture you about how to set your own machine. You dig what you want, just as I and anyone else will. Thats the beauty about this hobby. Its all up to you. I know a guy that digs alot of gold rings. He has a knack, or a gift, or whatever you want to call. He just finds alot of gold. But he use all metal...ALWAYS. One thing he does do though is when he gets a hit, he will use reverse discrim just to get an idea of what it might be before he digs. Most of the time, he does dig, sometimes he doesnt...but he finds so much gold I think he can smell it. I can search the same area and find nothing...or maybe one ring. But he has the knack, gift whatever.
The thing of it is, searching in a park, just generally, you arent usually going to find gold anyway. Where you find gold usually, other than raw gold, is likely going to be in swimming locations, where they are going to get their hands,fingers wet and rings can just slide off. Now in those areas is where you dont want to notch out pull tabs. I dont anyway. Of course, in the water and wet sands, I am going to be using a PI detector so wouldnt be any discriminattion anyway. In dry sand I would use my Xterra 705 or maybe one of the other detectors, Omega 8000 or Safari. But I cant say on those yet because I just havent had them long enough to make a judgement. Prior to getting them..I would have used my DFX if there was alot of mineralization. If it was light, I would have used my GTI 2500. The garrett was a great beach machine because of the discrimination and the target ID. Of the two in light soils, I much prefered the garrett. The target ID was great on it.
In parks you dont have as much of a chance of someone losing jewlery as you do in other locations. Exception being the playing fields..baseball diamonds, vollyball courts, etc and their edges. If you use too much discrimination then you are not going to find gold. Plain and simple. And discriminating out pulltabs will cause you to miss alot of gold. There are exceptions. But ask any long time expert and they will tell you the same. Now, if you are finding one type of pulltab at a location, and you notch it out,...lets say at 11. And a gold ring comes in at 12, or 10, then you would find it. Or would you think it is just another pull tab coming in under or over and thus notch 10 and 12 out too? If you notch the range out, then you are notching out alot of gold and you WONT find much, if any, gold.
But it is whatever works for you and what you want to find. One of the tenants of this hobby is that if you want to find the best stuff, you have to dig alot of the worst stuff. 10 times more than the good stuff. But I nor anyone else can blame you or lecture you about how to set your own machine. You dig what you want, just as I and anyone else will. Thats the beauty about this hobby. Its all up to you. I know a guy that digs alot of gold rings. He has a knack, or a gift, or whatever you want to call. He just finds alot of gold. But he use all metal...ALWAYS. One thing he does do though is when he gets a hit, he will use reverse discrim just to get an idea of what it might be before he digs. Most of the time, he does dig, sometimes he doesnt...but he finds so much gold I think he can smell it. I can search the same area and find nothing...or maybe one ring. But he has the knack, gift whatever.
But its not one that you are going to make big bucks at, though you can get lucky and find some nice stuff that can buy you a new detector once in a while. Or build up your wife's jewelry collection. Like the last ring I found. My wife grabbed onto it faster than a squirrel grabbing a fresh nut off the ground. Before I even had a chance to get a photo of it. <sigh> Been waiting for her to tire of it and put it in her jewelry box then I will grab it and get some photos of it. Right now though she wont let me touch it. Not that its a fanatanatastic ring. Just a plain gold 14k, had a date of 1947 in it, I think it was. The farmstead I found it at was abandoned sometime in the 1960's. At one time it must have been a nice place. Found the ring after about an hour of searching. And I left after I found it. Started raining. But that property has more trash than any place I have ever detected. ALL kinds of iron. Not surprising since it was a farm. I used the Omega there and is what I found it with. But I will tell you, I was digging alot. But not pull tabs. Found just a few pulltabs and most of them near the front door. But I was digging alot of iron/steel. Was using standard coin/jewelry selection on the Omega. But the iron/steel had been in the ground so long that particles were all over. 