Relic Hunting advice

[Jaichim24]

Recently I began serious conversations with a friend at work who's neighbor owns 122 aces, a portion of which was used as an artillery firing range during the civil war. There is a large steep hill where theoretically the cannons were placed. At the top and back a ways are several cellar holes that I am dying to explore.


I posted a note about what I gear I should be using in the Friends and Finds section, with this post I'd love some advice on how I should hunt relics with my Explorer. My experience so far is limited as far as deep woods digging, and relic hunting. I wouldn't mind some guidance from some of the experienced relic hunters out there. I do tend to find lots of copper/bronze at the locations I have detected so far. Those unfamiliar with me, I live in a house dating back to the 1850's with tons of trash in my yard. Perhaps I'm more experienced in relic hunting than I realize. I have found some Civil War era artifacts, but this would be the first site I visit that I know was geared towards the Civil War.

I have an Explorer SE, with an X1 probe. I also have an FBS 10" and 8" coil at my disposal.

Should I still discriminate and only look for metals other than iron my first go around? Should I dig every bit of metal I find? I'm willing to bet those cellar holes have a fair about of junk near them. What are the best places to start to dig at a cellar hole?

What settings should I be using? I normally hunt in all metal mode with deep on, gain set to 7. Sometimes I'll remove nails/upper left hand corner.

Any tips and tricks to help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jai

 

[ihuntrelics!]

n/t

 

[BlackX]

n/t

 

[ihuntrelics!]

Hello Jai and everyone else interested, Here's some of the settings that I use here in N.E. Tennessee. Altho these work here you may have to tweak some of the settings to do well in your area as the ground matrix will most probably be different. I know you mentioned trash in your post and here's how I decide how much trash that I will dig to get to the goodies. The first thing that helps me decide is if I will be able to hunt the site in question as often as I want to. The second is have I found anything or does research tell me that there's goodies to be dug there. In CW relic-hunting there are all kinds of targets that are iron or will read on the Exporers as junk but rest assured if you only dig the signals that only sound or register good you'll be leaving lots of good stuff in the ground. Case in point.... I scanned all types of CW relics and recorded and memorized the digits and cursor positions only to find out later own through experimentation that I was leaving way to many relics in the ground and some of those being real nice finds. The reason behind this is because all targets will give different readings due to the things like depth, soil conditions, co-related targets, mineralization etc. etc.. In trashy areas you'll want to use a smaller coil ( smaller than the 8" you mentioned to get through some of that trash. Always try different size coils and settings and experiment and don't get stuck in a rut of using the same 'ole reliable setting as what works in one spot might not be optimum settings in other areas.
Oh well, enough rambling!! Here's some of the settings I use......

sens. mode usually manual but sometimes auto if the soil conditions are constantly changing
sens. value usually around 20-28 depending on stability
threshold volume somewhere around 7 ( just barely audible) on the EXP II and to about 16 on the SE
discrimination function either disc out nails only or iron mask ( EXP II= -10 to -16 all-metal) or on the SE (-26 to -32 all-metal)
volume max
gain usually around 7 to 8 unless the area is "hunted out" with no trash then I'll boost it on up to max
variability and limits usually set to max
audio sounds usually set on conductive but do use ferrous and constant some
audio response usually at audio 1 on the EXP II and long on the SE
recovery usually at deep unless I'm working a trashy area and will set to fast

These are some settings that have helped me recover a bunch of CW relics over the years and I adapt these setting to fit the conditions in the field for optimum results. Hope this gives you a starting point for setting up your machine in your area.
ihuntrelics!
Scott Morrell

 

[ihuntrelics!]

n/t

 

[D&P-OR]

THANKS A BUNCH SCOTT----I've copied those settings down!--I don't do that much relic hunting but you can believe I will use them when I do.---Between Bryce's settings for deep, difficult coins and your's for relics--well, that's some EXCELLENT INFO.---I for one really appreciate both of you sharing them.----Everybody--get your copy machines goin on these guys settings.-----Thanks again, Del

 

[BlackX]

Great info and much appreciated.

How do you hunt differently depending on 1 and 2?

 

[ihuntrelics!]

n/t

 

[ihuntrelics!]

if I have access to the site and can hunt it as often as I would like I will hunt it with little or with no discrimination. As for the knowing good stuff has already been found there or knowing there should be good stuff there I will use very little or no disc and I will scan it low and slow working the site thoroughly from multiple directions. I always seem to find more stuff when I use this approach because depending on the target size, depth, how it's positioned in the hole , soil conditions, mineralization and etc. etc. can cause the target sometimes to only give a good signal ( and sometimes just a little peep ) in just one direction instead of from multiple directions. I will also visit these same sites after some good rains and everything is more conductive which will enhance the depth capabilities of your machine but at the same time will magnify iron halos which can become confusing at times. I will add this too........ if it's a site that I will have a limited amount of hunts on or is a very large area I will hunt with more discrimination and cherry pick until I find some pockets of relics then I'll slow down and hunt it a little harder. Hope this helps.

 

[Jaichim24]

Great advice, thanks! I don't think I'll be able to visit this site much, so I'll probably have to discriminate. However, I only know how to discriminate iron out. I'm sure more experienced relic hunters will know what large pieces of iron to dig and what ones you shouldn't. I may just search for non-iron objects to start, and then look for/dig iron ones later in the day.