Looking for some quick help!

[Phillip_in_NM]

Due to my detecting partner having to back out of our weekly Thursday hunt, I'm going to go by myself to one of the worst iron infested areas that I know of, a place that he absolutely hates! All I have done thus far with the Racer has been parks and tot lots. I could sure do with any pointers anyone can offer on how best to set up the Racer for hunting in this iron-rich environment. This area is not just nails. It is mostly rusting cans in various states of deterioration.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

 

[3RINGER]

Phillip as you probably already know, I would go with the 5" and do not try to overpower with high sensitivity. If it is that trashy in there most people probably cannot find the targets that are right up top. Start out with a low discrimination, I like to hear all the targets to snipe out the good targets mixed in. with that many targets under the coil slow and easy is the key. Don't be hung up too much on numbers vs mainly going off of tones. again with that much trash your numbers can be off a great deal.

Another thing that I have found is just because you sweep one direction, say run a pattern north to south does not mean that that area has been covered. Go back east to west, zigzag etc. multiple trash targets has a way of masking good targets and coming in from a different direction just may be the key to finding it. Depending on how much chatter is heard you may want to come up more on discrimination. Do not be afraid to pull in some iffies,they sometimes turn out to be the best targets lol. I like three tone in those trashy spots but that's just me.

Good luck on your hunt and let us know.

 

[Tom Slick]

I'll be taking my Racer with 5" OOR coil out to a ghost town over here in AZ tomorrow. I'll start by running the gain at about 30 because targets here in the west don't really sink or get covered over by vegetation. I'll start with the Filter or disc set at 10. This low setting helps the detector hit on masked targets better than higher settings. Sometimes as the day progresses and I start to tire of hearing soooo many signals, I'll start to increase the disc to 23, on a rare occasion I may even go all the way to 40. I use 3 tone and dig any target that breaks into that higher tone for sure and I also dig any good mid tone. Usually if you get an overload, raise the coil and swing over the target again. Iron will disappear and non-ferrous targets will still give a good hit.

Good luck
Tom

 

[Monte]

3-Ringer's is, too, but I hunt almost the same as Tom with the Makro Racer. Almost always in 3-Tone mode, almost always at ID Filter of '10' until the abundance of nails pesters my think-cap and I bump it to '23' to just barely reject iron Nails. I do sometimes reduce the Gain a bit, but I also often bump the Gain to '85', and often I just leave it at the default '70.' It's a personal choice.

Of utmost importance, in my opinion as well as that of many savvy users, the little 'OOR' coil [size=small](the 4.7X5.2 DD)[/size] is a must-have for the trashy-site hunting you're likely to encounter at older sites.

Monte

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

on the racer of course use the small coil find a clean area to GB turn your power to about 50 even a bit lower to start slower sweeps I love two tone with audio tone on 5. You kind of have to find what is hiding between the iron look for numbers that are higher then the nails most of you nails should grunt. You may want to turn up the disc since your not looking for depth. Some iron could be old rusted locks and keys and parts of guns so don't run from iron. I dig iron in the 40 and 90 range and I find some cool relics I would have missed. I hunt like I work...Hard work a lot of labor but if you can go back to the area don't kill yourself try and enjoy the hunt and come back a lot. when it gets really wet a lot of the iron dust will start to stick togeather and it can get really hard I like a few days of dry weather after a rain... and take photos or video and share with all of us..

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Wow! Great stuff, guys! I will let you know how I do.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

OK, guys. First off, sorry about the pictures. I'm going to figure out posting pictures at some point, but obviously it won't be today.

Now as far as how the detecting went...

I found it VERY encouraging. Only found 2 coin-like targets - the ones in the tiny picture. One I can make out is an Indian head. The other is smaller in diameter than a cent and somewhat thinner. It's so crusted I can't even make a guess. I will clean it this weekend and let us all know. I would guess dime were it not for the green color. Never seen a dime do that.

Love the Racer in the iron. It has a "dig me" sound like no detector I have ever encountered. I dug some iffy signals, but all turned out to be trash. The solid signals all yielded something interesting whether it was a fired bullet or ammunition brass or the two coins. I'm reasonably confident it will become my go to detector for the ghost towns.

I used the 3 tone mode, filter at 10 and audio 5 (although I could use some clarification on the value of each of the tones). One thing I must mention: I hate, abhor, detest, loathe the overload signal. in areas with lots of iron just below the surface, it drove me crazy!!! I was ready to tear my earbuds out and run shrieking away. In the parks and tot-lots, it annoyed me whenever I heard that siren over surface coins and coin spills, but in this area, with so much iron just under the surface it was absolutely maddening!!!

If you can actually see the tiny little photo of the rusty cans and other debris, this is what much of New Mexico ghost towns are like. There's a couple I can think of where there are literally acres of this with almost no discernible bare ground. There've been several times when I've spent several minutes looking for a clean patch to ground balance on.

Now for the interesting and somewhat amusing part. While working my way down into a ravine, I spooked a group of wild horses at the bottom. I'm assuming they were wild since none were shod. I thought it was fun seeing them, but then I saw something way more interesting - very clear, very fresh mountain lion tracks. As luck would have it, the trail of human debris was everywhere so I could pretend I was detecting while I was actually following the tracks. There was a pretty clear game trail right down the middle of the ravine and the lion tracks crossed it occasionally. In some damp sand, I saw the very clear prints of the lion and noted that one paw on the right side left claw marks while the others didn't. This was clear in several strides of the lion. Shortly after, the ravine narrowed to a bottleneck and made a sharp turn to the left. The game trail was passing through the bottleneck, so I naturally followed. I was really getting into this - it reminded me of my younger big game hunting days. Anyway, as I turned the corner into the bottleneck, I saw something that made my blood run a little cold - a pile of brush beside and partly across the game trail WITH AN UNSHOD HORSE'S HOOF STICKING OUT OF THE BOTTOM. About that time, I heard a loud CRACK behind me and the trance was broken. A thousand thoughts rushed into my mind - I was alone and had stumbled onto a mountain lion's cache; the only gun I had was a 22 magnum with 3 snake shot rounds and three solids; the extended claws on one foot meant injury (and a consequently irritable lion); I was at the bottom of a ravine with fairly steep sides and I was at least a quarter mile from my vehicle; would my pick or my detector be better as a weapon, etc.

I booked it! I clambered out of that ravine, half crawling, half climbing and continuously praying! I made it back to my vehicle in what must have been record time, threw my gear in the back, climbed in and locked the doors (like the lion would have tried to open the doors!). It was probably 15 minutes before I felt steady enough to drive. I decided I would try detecting somewhere else and got the heck out of there. I still don't know what made the crack sound behind me in the ravine - whether it was a branch breaking in the ferocious wind that was blowing above the ravine or my water bottle or what. All I know is it may well have saved my life. My only other two encounters with lions in New Mexico was when they were obviously trying to put as much distance between me and them as they possibly could. I've heard and read that, besides being cornered, the only time mountain lions are really aggressive is when they are injured or guarding a cache. And here I was - trying to track one that might've been two for two.

Oh, well. Made for an exciting day.

 

[3RINGER]

That makes for an interesting trip lol. All we have over this way is the rattlers and chiggers with a dose of Ivey thrown in. Hunting a trashy area like that and pulling in 2 coins is great. Buddy and I are heading out this afternoon if the rain will stay out of the equation long enough. Let us know about that coin or token.

HH

 

[Tom Slick]

Happy to hear you had such a memorable trip and two coins can be quite an accomplishment in those iron infested sites. I didn't fare as well with just a buckle, an ornate piece that looks like it came off a jewelry box, and the assorted bullets and shells. As for the overload issues, the Racer has a lot of gain and will still get very good depth at very low gain settings. It will still hit a dime about 4" with the gain set at minimum 01. I'm thinking your coins were probably shallow like they are here in AZ. Another nice thing about running at lower gain settings is that the coil doesn't pick up adjacent targets as easily so in the thickest trashy areas, try dropping the gain to 01 - 10 and the target separation will be better and the overload signals will be reduced significantly.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Left to go grouse hunting this morning about 5 a.m. so didn't get the coins cleaned yet. Will let you know when I do and hopefully provide better pictures. Love the tip on the gain. Gonna have to try that!

Thanks again. Love the knowledge available here!