Gold finds for this year...

[REVIER]

I use 3 different detectors and have a great time using every one, but I do tend to use the F2 more than others because it just seems to be a little more lucky for me most of the time.
I try to learn something new with every detector or coil I use on every hunt and I always strive to get better and better at all phases of this hobby.
As far as I am concerned the learning part of this hobby never ends.

It is still unbelievable to me that people consider the F2 only a "starter or beginner" model.
Unlike some other brands that have lower end models that are nothing like their up-line cousins, I consider the F2 a top line unit that is just missing a few bells and a couple of whistles that its much more expensive relatives have.
Sure it would be nice to have all the features in the world and I am not so silly to think the greater depth and other abilities of higher end models doesn't matter at times and at some specific sites, but even so that little F2 of mine and I seem to speak the same language and I am always trying to get even more fluent on every hunt.
Finding clad galore, silver and other older coins, relics and more seems to be very easy for my Fisher, and every time I hunt it somehow manages to surprise me on some of the great things it can find.

This year I set a goal to find 12 pieces of gold...one for every month of the year.
A lofty goal for sure, gold is such a rare thing to find for us dirt hunters, but why not shoot for the moon?
This is month 9 and so far I have found 8 pieces of gold, my best year ever, and hard as it is to fathom I still have a chance to hit this almost impossible goal...and I am thrilled.

The pic below is every gold target I have found this year and except for that ring I found in August with my Vaq and my new 5.75 coil every one was found with my F2 and the sniper coil.
Unbelievably I still have a shot to hit my crazy goal.
With my F2 at my side I just might make it there yet.

 

[mudpuppy]

Dude! Thats really great to see...I just got back from "Reviering" some Basketball courts and picnic areas and soccerfields..going after the gold targets and thinking about what you've been tying to teach me about dirt gold...no gold for me today, lotsa clad and strange finds though, I was attempting to meet with a little of the success you have in the dirt, I know theres a lot of gold in the dirt that gets missed, not by you though! . Outstanding!
Mud

 

[REVIER]

Thanks Mud!
I don't find it all the time and I really do consider luck as part of the equation and I might be a little more lucky than most, but I do work for it.
If I kept all my trash it would probably fill up a dumpster.

 

[Trailduster]

Thanks Mud!
I don't find it all the time and I really do consider luck as part of the equation and I might be a little more lucky than most, but I do work for it.
If I kept all my trash it would probably fill up a dumpster.

Hockey players have a saying that is boarder line creed when someone questions lucky goals in a game where that goal was the game winner.

"Hard work breeds good luck." "Practice hard, play hard, and the more lucky bounces turn your way."

Keep up the hard work REVIER. It shows.

 

[REVIER]

Thanks Mud!
I don't find it all the time and I really do consider luck as part of the equation and I might be a little more lucky than most, but I do work for it.
If I kept all my trash it would probably fill up a dumpster.

Hockey players have a saying that is boarder line creed when someone questions lucky goals in a game where that goal was the game winner.

"Hard work breeds good luck." "Practice hard, play hard, and the more lucky bounces turn your way."

Keep up the hard work REVIER. It shows.

Thanks and will do.

I am going back to the park where I found my last piece of gold in a minute and hope to find more.

 

[jim tn]

Nice gold year Revier. I have no doubt you will achieve your lofty goal. Nice group gold, indeed.... and good luck for the rest of the year. HH jim tn

 

[mudpuppy]

You know...this is a good post to reflect on. With all the many subsets of detecting available to be mastered, Relics, Silver, Clad, Water, etc...here is REVIER knocking down some great gold with an F2 and a coil the size of a hockey puck...

Did you all see his video? Post it again REVIER please...definitely location specific, retrieval skills quick and simple, and he does it consistently...big class rings, little 2 grammers, chains, medallions, and everything in between, a fellow cant just right this off as a fluke and a lot of luck, thats too much gold to be pure luck, and that coil is too small to chalk it up to covering massive ground....a special subset unto itself, dirt hunting for gold in the trash...might be a good thing to do next season, I'm interested....
Mud

 

[REVIER]

You know...this is a good post to reflect on. With all the many subsets of detecting available to be mastered, Relics, Silver, Clad, Water, etc...here is REVIER knocking down some great gold with an F2 and a coil the size of a hockey puck...

Did you all see his video? Post it again REVIER please...definitely location specific, retrieval skills quick and simple, and he does it consistently...big class rings, little 2 grammers, chains, medallions, and everything in between, a fellow cant just right this off as a fluke and a lot of luck, thats too much gold to be pure luck, and that coil is too small to chalk it up to covering massive ground....a special subset unto itself, dirt hunting for gold in the trash...might be a good thing to do next season, I'm interested....
Mud

Thanks again, Mud...you are too kind.
I started hunting when I lived in Birmingham Alabama...some of the worst soil in the country due to not only the heavy mineralization but all the veins and bits of iron that permeate a large amount of the soil in that area of the country.
Several hunters there do well, they knock on doors and think outside the box to find sites that hold great targets like silver coins and other bits of history.
I worked that area as well as I could at the time, being a newbie, but it was very frustrating to me trying so hard to discover sites that held the older stuff and actually get down deep enough to actually dig something great with only the pitiful depth that most hunters in that area could manage.
Even my Vaquero with a large DD coil could barely penetrate the worst of that devil dirt, and since it got about the same depth as my F2, which was purchased as a back-up guest detector only, I started using that one more than I ever planned on and found that switching between them was fun and kept the boredom away so over time I got pretty good with both, but for some reason I really clicked with that F2.
One day I discovered a dream site to hunt, an old school site that was historical but permitted hunting and that used to have a school on this site that went back to the 1840's.
Not only that, but one of the original headmasters of this school, the one that was in charge around the time of the civil war, was some sort of officer in the southern army and troops used this site as a campground during the war, too.
I drove miles and miles to get to this site 3 times and all I ever found was modern trash and modern clad.

That was it, I had to make a decision.
Either I had to invest in a PI unit to actually have a chance to get down deep enough to reach the quality targets I know were at sites like this or totally change to a different kind of hunter.
I changed...I became a jewelry hunter because that sort of target can be everywhere and anywhere and usually it wasn't very deep so all my detectors could reach most of that stuff easily.
I still managed to find a ton of clad, some relics and even a few older coins and other cool older targets after that, but I spent most of my time and energy from that point on becoming the best jewelry hunter I could.
Now that I live in Kansas I have much better soil to hunt in and an area rich in history, but old habits seem to die hard and I find it difficult to switch out of jewelry hunting mode, sometimes.
I do venture out and look for other types of targets like relics and old coins, but it seems hunting for jewelry is in my blood, especially gold, and I still find it easier to use all that knowledge I have gathered about picking sites, using specific coils and digging the type of signals that might get me more.
I also share all these things I have learned and many have listened, tried my techniques and ideas and found some great jewelry targets for themselves which thrills me to no end.
None of these things are secrets, I learned them mostly from others on the many forums I read like this one and also through my own experimentation and experience, but I do seem to have gathered a nice bag of tricks that really work for me, especially when it comes to jewelry hunting.

That's about all there is to that, and to this day I still try to learn as much as I can on every hunt and I still manage to find enough of all kinds of targets to keep me happy, satisfied and extremely grateful that I got into this great hobby.


[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuklvGoeuZM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUpjgKU3qrKYB57QV5wB3yog[/video]

 

[Ed Steinhoff]

Thank you for showing your hunting in progress, both the good and the junk!
I hate the videos that only show the hole open after the find, and seldom the junk.
If you want to help fellow hunters get better, show the whole thing, swing speed, patterns, pinpoint and retrieval, etc.
By the way what were your settings in the video?
HH Ed in co.

 

[REVIER]

Thank you for showing your hunting in progress, both the good and the junk!
I hate the videos that only show the hole open after the find, and seldom the junk.
If you want to help fellow hunters get better, show the whole thing, swing speed, patterns, pinpoint and retrieval, etc.
By the way what were your settings in the video?
HH Ed in co.

You are very welcome,
I have a few more hours at this one site that I will edit and make a longer movie soon to show the F2 owners exactly how I hunt with mine because many have asked to see that.
I too like those kind of videos, the ones where they show everything from acquiring the target to retrieval so that is the kind I am going to do.
Once I get better at editing, (and pointing the camera correctly...but there is an app for that), I will post more like this and longer ones.
The editing software on my GoPro will actually let me slow down the speed and also zoom in on the screen on any frame so that will be the object when I film my hunts with my F2, to show what is happening there when I get a signal and why I choose to dig the ones I do.
My F2 videos will hopefully be entertaining but also they will be all about teaching or at least showing how I do this because there seems to be some interest in that out there on a few of the forums that I post on.

This site had a little iron and I believe my settings were my normal ones when hunting sites with too much of that...Sense on max, only iron knocked out.
Sometimes I do leave iron in and hunt in what passes for all metal on the F2 because that sniper coil can let me isolate all targets and there are some cool things that do come in at iron like an old Zippo type lighter I found one time.
Specifically, at sites like this one which is a favorite of mine, an older basketball court, there is another reason to hunt with the sniper coil and iron in...chains.

I have found many decent sized chains using my F2 and the 8" coil, also many with my Compadre, the best chain finder I have ever swung, but when you put the sniper coil on the F2 it might not be 100% as good as the Compadre at finding those really teeny tiny small and thin chains...but it is very close.
The problem is the clasps on these extremely small chains will come in at iron, and that would be on both silver and gold.

Below in the pic are just some of the better silver chains and one other gold one that I have found in about the last year or so.
Most of the bigger ones were found with the F2, the 3 thinnest ones at iron were found with the Compadre.
If you use the F2 and the 8 or 10" coil, and I suspect the DD coil too, these 3 small chains and clasps are all but invisible.
Throw the sniper coil on the F2 and it will now pick them up fairly easily.
This is another reason to use sniper coils, not only is the separation ability in trash better but the sensitivity is ramped up quite a bit, too, and this is something I know is a fact and will be true using most detectors.

This is a big reason why I use snipers so much, and why I do go through the trouble of digging iron at sites where I suspect there might be a high percentage chance of finding jewelry.

 

[zeekeys]

I am watching you Revier.
Here is a warning. If your getting such great results why would you want to get a different detector? I think it was in one of your post saying you were thinking about getting a different detector? Of course at my age I sometimes get things mixed up? I have gone that route of new detectors and it just didn't work out and if you look it hasn't worked out for a lot of the guys on the forum. I think the more simple the better. Why do you want to spend your time analyzing targets when you can get it dug up and on your way with it in your pouch already. My partner has a super detector with all the good stuff on it and weighs in at around 4 lbs. I usually end up with more coins and it always confuses him? Every time I look over he is swinging that detector over and over and over the target, looking at this or that. I have already picked up a few more targets before he gets to dig it up.
The F2 is working super fine and your digging technique is the biggest key going for you. Like you I have watched many videos of guys digging targets. Their retrieval just isn't there. You have a very neat retrieval method. Good work! I learned some good tips from your video here and I thank you for the good information. It will only improve my hunting results. Thank you again. Happy Trails ....Z

 

[REVIER]

I am watching you Revier.
Here is a warning. If your getting such great results why would you want to get a different detector? I think it was in one of your post saying you were thinking about getting a different detector? Of course at my age I sometimes get things mixed up? I have gone that route of new detectors and it just didn't work out and if you look it hasn't worked out for a lot of the guys on the forum. I think the more simple the better. Why do you want to spend your time analyzing targets when you can get it dug up and on your way with it in your pouch already. My partner has a super detector with all the good stuff on it and weighs in at around 4 lbs. I usually end up with more coins and it always confuses him? Every time I look over he is swinging that detector over and over and over the target, looking at this or that. I have already picked up a few more targets before he gets to dig it up.
The F2 is working super fine and your digging technique is the biggest key going for you. Like you I have watched many videos of guys digging targets. Their retrieval just isn't there. You have a very neat retrieval method. Good work! I learned some good tips from your video here and I thank you for the good information. It will only improve my hunting results. Thank you again. Happy Trails ....Z

Well thanks for all that, all good sentiments are truly appreciated.
My recovery techniques have developed over time, trust me I was nowhere this efficient and fast at the beginning.
I don't know where or when it happened but one day I didn't kneel down to dig I just bent over at the waist and dug a shallow target and that was so quick and went so well that I kept doing that and now on most targets that are 5-6" or less in depth I just do that naturally and only kneel down when I need to go deep.

I am so frustrated when I watch many hunters use the Propointer in their videos.
It seems to me many just never understand how great this thing really is and what it can do for you to efficiently locate targets before you dig, and make smaller holes in the process.
That piece of metal I wear on my thumb slightly supertunes the Propointer by holding it naturally and makes it easy to supertune to the max to find deeper coin sized objects very quickly from the top of the soil or while it is in a hole one handed when needed.
I can locate targets that are coin sized up to about 5-6" deep using this accessory before I dig, especially when the ground is moist.
By the way someone commented about this vid and I do want to say you don't see this on film but every hole was stomped on as I walked over them so none of these were left with loose dirt.
Also the soil I have in my area of the country is great and on this hunt after a few days of rain the conditions were perfect for basically just sticking my digger in one area and prying up a plug without cutting all the way around.
It is not always like this but that day it was.

As far as using other detectors I always have the itch to upgrade because learning new toys and attempting to master them is one of the more fun things in this hobby for me because I have lots of patience.
However I am torn.
I have my Vaq and 3 coils to use in sites where I need major depth including a new sniper coil which makes it a whole new ballgame when I use it to hunt trashy sites.
I have my Compadre which I think is just jaw dropping amazing sometimes and I have gotten quite good with it and is so much fun to use, and then there is the F2.
I have 3 coils for the F2, also, including a 10" coil that seems to get great depth too in my very good soil when I use it, but the small coils just seem the more natural way for me to use on hunts considering I hunt some pretty trashy sites more often than not.
I do wonder if I can find so much with the Compadre and especially the F2, what could I do with a top end unit like an F75 or a V3i where I can spend time fiddling and adjusting settings and experimenting which is something I love to do.
Then I look at all I find with these "starter" detectors and ask myself why would I need something high end?
Just for the fun of it would be the answer, I guess.
I don't need them, I just want them because playing with new toys is just all out fun for most of us.

Maybe one day I will get another unit but for now the new sniper coil on my Vaq is surprising me on almost every hunt and keeping the boredom away and I am still finding a good volume of quality targets no matter what I choose to use so I guess maybe next year I will revisit this thought about upgrading.
Right now the tools I have and how I use them all seem to be doing their jobs nicely.

 

[mudpuppy]

Its been a lot of fun watching REVIER the past few years, pulling those big gold class rings out of the zinc tones. You are responsible for a lot of pennys getting stabbed my friend. And then theres the chains! A great case study for inland jewelry hunters to take to heart and try to pattern. I think you've only been hunting for what 3yrs or so? Good example of what some basic gear in the right hands is capable of in a short time.
Mud

 

[REVIER]

Its been a lot of fun watching REVIER the past few years, pulling those big gold class rings out of the zinc tones. You are responsible for a lot of pennys getting stabbed my friend. And then theres the chains! A great case study for inland jewelry hunters to take to heart and try to pattern. I think you've only been hunting for what 3yrs or so? Good example of what some basic gear in the right hands is capable of in a short time.
Mud

I started hunting on Feb, 15th 2010 and the very first hole I ever dug dug was about a foot wide, about 7" deep and I recovered my first ever target...a chunk of aluminum siding.
Before I filled it in I also noticed that there was a huge piece of jagged glass sticking out of the side of this hole and I was very lucky that my first recovery didn't end up with me going to the hospital for stitches.
I went to Home Depot immediately, bought some gloves and have used them ever since.
The detector that I used at the time was a hand me down Pioneer EX I got from my brother, and this thing had many problems.
A cross eyed coil that was impossible to pinpoint your target with by Xing, and it falsed on just about every swing on all sensitivity settings because it just was not calibrated from the factory to handle my extremely mineralized Alabama soil.
I struggled with this thing digging up only trash for 2 weeks before I ever found my first coins which added up to 59 cents dug up in my first visit to a tot lot.
For 3 more months I used this piece of garbage, adapted and was able to pinpoint targets better and listened to all the noise coming out of this thing on all swings but eventually learned to listen hard for the real and more solid tones that were good targets in all that mess, a totally frustrating learning experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy but in hindsight gave me some unique training in listening...really listening for good tones that most others never have and for that I am grateful because that training still comes in handy to this day.
At the 3 month mark I bought a Vaq, a Propointer and a Lesche digger with my tax refund and after 3 swings realized how bad that EX really was and that is when my career in this great hobby actually started as far as I am concerned.

Over time I voraciously read this and many other forums and got many tips on how to do this stuff, tried it all in the field and dug thousands of targets learning and experimenting myself always trying to get better and better on every hunt and this is something I still do.
I love to read, I love to learn and I have always had the ability to recognize, organize and retain pertinent information about subjects that I am interested in and really enjoy and that ability has helped me in learning my Vaq, My F2 and eventually my Compadre.
Eventually I started posting about some of the things I learned on the forums to help others get over learning curves faster than my experience enabled me to do, and I still do that.

Yes I have come a long way in my short 3 1/2 years in this great hobby, but I am still learning and in my mind I am still a relative newbie compared to so many others with years more experience.
Be that as it may I think the reason I have come so far so fast is because I delve into things full bore and at about a 110% effort level in stuff that interests me and no hobby I have ever had thrills and excites me more than this one does.
The fact that I am able to put my thoughts and ideas into words that others read and use to make themselves more successful and happy is a big bonus and a wonderful discovery, also.
I never knew I had this ability but I do now and I am grateful.

No, you don't need a top of the line expensive flagship detector to have much fun in this hobby and find great things, I think I have proved that.
Just learn what you have in your hands as good as you possibly can and I am sure that great things will come out of the ground and surprise you just like they have done for me.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yes, you have a great gift for writing. I started in April of 2010 with the F70...I didn't know anything, ran in AT for the better part of that year watching the TID numbers. Went down to a boatramp parking area and got 7 cents..was carrying a tiling spade trying to chip signals out of the compacted gravel! Then one day I met an old guy on the beach swinging a CZ20 and he's the one who told me to dig 1000 pulltabs and dig 1000 pennies. I often wonder if that was meant to discourage or help me, but whatever it was, I set out to meet that goal as fast as possible. He showed me the screwdriver trick, and lots of other pointers like not looking at the screen...We are still great friends to this day and have stayed in touch. I have had a lot of hobbies in the past myself, up to this point, I really enjoyed Trapping the most, it also was a study of the environment, location, weather, etc. plus it PAID if a guy hit it hard and early.

Detecting fills that void, hunting for sign and paying something back. The main difference is Trapping the right areas with the right gear is almost a sure thing. Theres gonna be a muskrat coming out of this hole tonight, or a fox ducks under the fence right here, etc... Detecting is more subtle...A guy can work very hard at detecting and not find dink as we all know...Then I found these Forums, and was also introduced to youtube videos, both of which enabled me to gain years of experience in a short amount of time. I'm hooked on detecting, and especially gold hunting. They say "Flesh sharpens flesh" and that is true, with all the great hunters here of the many various detecting sub-sets, a guy can learn something everyday and apply it in field. Anyway, its been a great hunt so far!
Mud

 

[Mike Hillis]

This is a good thread. Thanks for sharing, Revier.

We hunt much the same way, only I use the Uniprobe instead of the Propointer.

Like the gold

HH
Mike

 

[REVIER]

This is a good thread. Thanks for sharing, Revier.

We hunt much the same way, only I use the Uniprobe instead of the Propointer.

Like the gold

HH
Mike

Why thank you Mike!
You are one of the guys that I make an effort to find all of your posts to read and learn from and recommend others do also.
Especially the jewelry ones and the ones on picking sites to find that type of target.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[REVIER]

Searching for info on settings to use on my new F70 I came across this thread.
Just thought I would update....

Up to 11 gold targets for the year...still in shock I have done this well in 2013, and have come so close to hitting that crazy 12 gold goal I set for myself way back in March.

It has been cold for the last week but now we have a few more good days before some rumored real bad weather rolls in.
Today I get the F70 and I will finish out the season swinging and learning this one and hope I get lucky and find # 12.

I will update if I do, or just listen for the loud scream you might hear over the next few days and you will know I found that last gold target.