I thought I'd start by saying that I'm new to Urban Prospecting, which I see as metal detectorists that are looking primarily for gold. Now that the Summer heat blast is over, I feel like I can finally go for the gold without melting in the heat and humidity. I'm also micro-jewelry hunting, which I am learning is challenge all by itself! Still, if you want the gold, micro-hunting shouldn't be excluded from anyone's list of possibilities. But you have to have the patience for it, to be sure!
The detector I am using right now is the Fisher Gold Bug Pro. I bought it with the two coil package: the 5" round and the 5x10" elliptical. I'm hoping to add the Gold Bug 2 really soon (yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment
). Right now, the only places I will hunt are tot lots, volleyball courts, beaches, and any other place I feel like people are likely to gather and drop jewelry. But there needs to be open sand/dirt. The only areas I won't attempt this micro-jewelry hunting is grassy areas. Take a look at the picture below and you'll see why.
[attachment 247745 IMG_0086.JPG]
The small bits of foil I am going to dig just does not make digging through the grass I good idea. My first hunt (above) was in a nearby park with three volleyball courts (all sand). This was my first outing and I had no expectations of success. Good thing, because I mostly just found junk. I did not find the penny in this photograph. I only included it to give an idea of the size of the bits of aluminum I was digging. The nail and steel pin were pretty bad when you think about it. Talk about the valuable public service we provide: better in my pouch than someone's foot! The second hunt was in a tot lot not far from my home. I have hunted this place many times, and again, I had no expectations of finding anything. The results are below.
[attachment 247746 IMG_0087.JPG]
On both hunts, I was using the small, 5" coil. I think this was a mistake. There was too much ground to cover and I think the 5x10" would have performed better and gone deeper. I did not find these areas to be so trashy that the small coil was needed. Since I have both mounted on their own lower rod, I intend to take both with me next time (something I should have done this time!).
I ran the detector both times in All Metal mode and ground balanced at about 55. I ran the gain at about 75% (or the 3 o'clock position) the entire time.
Here is what I have learned:
If you intend to gold hunt and micro-jewlery hunt, All Metal is the best way to run if you can manage it. You still get a target ID that lasts for about 3 seconds and you will hit more potential targets than in discriminate mode. Some small targets I checked in discriminate mode I have to admit, I might not have dug had I run in discriminate mode (FYI: I usually run my discriminate at about 30).
Before long, I began to avoid certain targets that were almost always trash. For example, on this hunt, anything that fell between the 10 and 20 range on the scale was always very deep and very large and not worth digging. If anyone has dug any good targets in that range, I'd love to hear about it!
A sifter with fine holes is critical. There were several occassions where the targets I was pursuing were so small my pinpointer (the Garrett Propointer) was almost useless. A sifter was something I quickly wished I had with me but didn't. It would have made target retrieval a lot faster.
Don't avoid signals just because the target id is jumping around. That large costume earring was found at the base of a slide and the target was jumping from 30 to 100 to 30 again. Because the numbers it was jumping to was so consistent, I dug the target anyway and I'm glad I did. As note, the earring was far enough away from the slide that I do not believe the slide was affecting the signal.
All the foil came in the 30's and the 40's. This is the same place I have been told time and again is where fine gold comes in also. So learn to make foil your friend.
If you get a sharp high tone, dig it, no matter what your screen says. All the coins I dug gave that reading, as well as that small length of chain (3 links only) which I think is silver.
Hopefully I will have some better items to show in the coming weeks. I mainly posted this just as a reminder how tough gold jewlery hunting really is. I've heard it said many times you have to dig a ton of trash to find one good gold piece. That may be true, especially early on while I'm still learning the sounds and the scale. But as long as I keep to sites where I am confident gold can be found, I know these early lessons are going to pay off.
Happy hunting to everyone.
The detector I am using right now is the Fisher Gold Bug Pro. I bought it with the two coil package: the 5" round and the 5x10" elliptical. I'm hoping to add the Gold Bug 2 really soon (yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment
). Right now, the only places I will hunt are tot lots, volleyball courts, beaches, and any other place I feel like people are likely to gather and drop jewelry. But there needs to be open sand/dirt. The only areas I won't attempt this micro-jewelry hunting is grassy areas. Take a look at the picture below and you'll see why.[attachment 247745 IMG_0086.JPG]
The small bits of foil I am going to dig just does not make digging through the grass I good idea. My first hunt (above) was in a nearby park with three volleyball courts (all sand). This was my first outing and I had no expectations of success. Good thing, because I mostly just found junk. I did not find the penny in this photograph. I only included it to give an idea of the size of the bits of aluminum I was digging. The nail and steel pin were pretty bad when you think about it. Talk about the valuable public service we provide: better in my pouch than someone's foot! The second hunt was in a tot lot not far from my home. I have hunted this place many times, and again, I had no expectations of finding anything. The results are below.
[attachment 247746 IMG_0087.JPG]
On both hunts, I was using the small, 5" coil. I think this was a mistake. There was too much ground to cover and I think the 5x10" would have performed better and gone deeper. I did not find these areas to be so trashy that the small coil was needed. Since I have both mounted on their own lower rod, I intend to take both with me next time (something I should have done this time!).
I ran the detector both times in All Metal mode and ground balanced at about 55. I ran the gain at about 75% (or the 3 o'clock position) the entire time.
Here is what I have learned:
If you intend to gold hunt and micro-jewlery hunt, All Metal is the best way to run if you can manage it. You still get a target ID that lasts for about 3 seconds and you will hit more potential targets than in discriminate mode. Some small targets I checked in discriminate mode I have to admit, I might not have dug had I run in discriminate mode (FYI: I usually run my discriminate at about 30).
Before long, I began to avoid certain targets that were almost always trash. For example, on this hunt, anything that fell between the 10 and 20 range on the scale was always very deep and very large and not worth digging. If anyone has dug any good targets in that range, I'd love to hear about it!
A sifter with fine holes is critical. There were several occassions where the targets I was pursuing were so small my pinpointer (the Garrett Propointer) was almost useless. A sifter was something I quickly wished I had with me but didn't. It would have made target retrieval a lot faster.
Don't avoid signals just because the target id is jumping around. That large costume earring was found at the base of a slide and the target was jumping from 30 to 100 to 30 again. Because the numbers it was jumping to was so consistent, I dug the target anyway and I'm glad I did. As note, the earring was far enough away from the slide that I do not believe the slide was affecting the signal.
All the foil came in the 30's and the 40's. This is the same place I have been told time and again is where fine gold comes in also. So learn to make foil your friend.
If you get a sharp high tone, dig it, no matter what your screen says. All the coins I dug gave that reading, as well as that small length of chain (3 links only) which I think is silver.
Hopefully I will have some better items to show in the coming weeks. I mainly posted this just as a reminder how tough gold jewlery hunting really is. I've heard it said many times you have to dig a ton of trash to find one good gold piece. That may be true, especially early on while I'm still learning the sounds and the scale. But as long as I keep to sites where I am confident gold can be found, I know these early lessons are going to pay off.
Happy hunting to everyone.