Took Compadre for another walk

[Rick in Pa]

Got off work a little early yesterday and was close to a soccer field I have been hitting the past several weeks. This field was also used for a volleyball tournament the end of summer. There must have been at least a dozen nets set up for the tournament. I. find a handful of coins and plenty of trash when I am here but no jewelry. It doesn't look like this field was hit much if at all by other detectors. Just wondering why no jewelry.

 

[REVIER]

Got off work a little early yesterday and was close to a soccer field I have been hitting the past several weeks. This field was also used for a volleyball tournament the end of summer. There must have been at least a dozen nets set up for the tournament. I. find a handful of coins and plenty of trash when I am here but no jewelry. It doesn't look like this field was hit much if at all by other detectors. Just wondering why no jewelry.

Even though some people have found lots of great jewelry around soccer fields and volleyball courts, I myself have never found all that much to write home about unless you want to talk about pins. (see pic)
I have done very well, however, around basketball courts in the grass where players sit when they take a break.
2 large and thick silver necklaces and 3 gold rings this year at those kind of sites.

The Compadre will pick up small thin chains but they might come in at iron, and of course gold can come in anywhere from iron to zinc.
I assume you also know that chains, even silver thicker ones, can come in above iron but still way below top end like from foil to zinc.

There is a possibility that there is not much to actually find at this site, but more logically there is so much area to search you just have not swung your coil over anything good...yet.
I go back to sites over and over and grid for awhile then wander around hoping to get lucky when I get bored with that.
Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't but I still give it my best shot.
I always go back and start where I left off the last time and grid again going very slow and with heavy overlapping when I return.

I see you have had many detectors but I don't know your experience with your Compadre so a question here about your settings and what you dig...like what are they?
Also how fast do you sweep and how much do you overlap?
I have been using the Compadre a lot in the last few weeks and even though it is pretty fast, if you go real slow you can acquire even more targets.
I am talking about 1 foot per second sweep speed if not slower.
Also what I mean by heavy overlapping I am talking about Maybe 2 inches of movement at a time.
I have a 7" coil on mine and even though I found much since I first got mine, when I switched to this slow sweep and heavy overlapping method I found much more...even though it takes a long time.
I am in no hurry though, this is not a race for me.
I find what I find and I am happy with it.

 

[Rick in Pa]

I keep the discrimination just below foil. I try to overlap but not always. Sweep speed not fast but not real slow. I am not sure how long this soccer field has been here. Most of my finds are near the surface but I do get targets down about 5-6 inches occasionally. I do have another soccer/baseball field I hit near my house. I have taken about a dozen rings out of that area. Not all gold and silver. That field I normally use my Cortes and cleans weep coil. My Compadre is kept in my work van and doesn't get used very often. Maybe I just need more time with it.

 

[REVIER]

I keep the discrimination just below foil. I try to overlap but not always. Sweep speed not fast but not real slow. I am not sure how long this soccer field has been here. Most of my finds are near the surface but I do get targets down about 5-6 inches occasionally. I do have another soccer/baseball field I hit near my house. I have taken about a dozen rings out of that area. Not all gold and silver. That field I normally use my Cortes and cleans weep coil. My Compadre is kept in my work van and doesn't get used very often. Maybe I just need more time with it.

Ok the ring you see in the pic below came was right on the L in foil when it came in.
I never hunt turning that knob up till it fades out, I always go past and slowly thumb down to see where it comes in for more accuracy.
This is a small ring and hardly fits my pinky, but it counts.

If you lower it down you are going to be picking up a ton more tiny can slaw and foil and even though I usually am a dig it all guy, lately I have gotten sick of that so I set mine about where yours is so I can still pick up smaller gold rings like this one.

If you swing decently fast you actually might be missing some signals and if you don't overlap heavily you are just missing a lot of area which is fine if that is how you want to do it but some of that area that you miss might have a nice ring sitting in it so you either have to make your piece with it or just slow down and try hunting smaller areas more thoroughly.
you just got to do it the way that makes you happy, and then come back and hit a few areas with your bigger coils and see if you missed anything.

The Compadre works and works well and finds me lots of jewelry very easily that my other detectors might not, but you have to go slow,have patience and just let it do its thing...especially if you have one with that small coil.

 

[Rick in Pa]

Thanks a lot for the advice. Sometimes you forget the basics. I have to slow down and start overlapping more. I should actually get some of my wife's jewelry and check the settings. I did it for my Cortes but not the Compadre.

 

[REVIER]

Thanks a lot for the advice. Sometimes you forget the basics. I have to slow down and start overlapping more. I should actually get some of my wife's jewelry and check the settings. I did it for my Cortes but not the Compadre.

With that small coil, and the extreme sensitivity of the Compadre, if you do that it will find you plenty.

Here is a picture of that ring I forgot to post that came in on the L in foil, and other gold rings I tested with both my vaquero and my Compadre.
This should give you an idea of sizes and where they come in.
Keep swinging, have fun and good luck!

 

[tabman]

Wow, that's a nice assortment of gold rings. Foil caps discriminate out on my Compadre when the front half of the pointer is on the 'f' in foil . I adjusted the discrimination knob on my Compadre to discriminate out a nickel when the pointer is exactly dead on the five cent mark. I do that to all of my Tesoro detectors.

I usually run the discrimination at the iron mark on clean sports fields, but if I start digging too many foil caps, I raise the discrimination up the 'f'.

tabman

 

[tvr]

It doesn't look like this field was hit much if at all by other detectors. Just wondering why no jewelry.

Where I'm at, there are fields used primarily by youth leagues where the rules are absolutely no jewelry worn on the field. The policy is enforced and little jewelry makes it to the field. I have found very little jewelry on those locations, although some of the parking areas can turn up the occasional goody. Fields where adults regularly practice or play are more productive. Check near the sidelines and any posts where people may lay down their stuff while they practice or play pick up games. The lay stuff down areas sometimes produce pocket spills of coins and jewelry that are easy pickings; sometimes not. It can take a lot of hours hunting the entire field to maybe get close in totals to a little time focusing on the spill areas.

A little scouting of an area and some knowledge about what groups use the field may help focus where you spend your hunting time.
Cheers,
tvr

PS Yes the thin chains are tough to find. I've found a couple eye spotting that the detectors would not make a sound on.

 

[Dancer]

n/t

 

[atomicscott]

Great info, thanks so much for the research! I too have both a Compadre and Vaquero so it's nice to see the comparisons. It's interesting that the small gold piece just above the chain at the bottom doesnt register sideways on the Vaq, but registers on Compadre in either position. That's good to know!
Scott

 

[REVIER]

The Vaq and a sniper coil might pick it up but I don't have that coil...yet.
Doesn't matter...still got a Compadre!

 

[atomicscott]

The Vaq and a sniper coil might pick it up but I don't have that coil...yet.
Doesn't matter...still got a Compadre!

Ok, so by sniper coil do you mean the 5x10 elliptical? I do have the 5.75 widescan on my Vaq that i use about 95% of the time now!

 

[REVIER]

The Vaq and a sniper coil might pick it up but I don't have that coil...yet.
Doesn't matter...still got a Compadre!

Ok, so by sniper coil do you mean the 5x10 elliptical? I do have the 5.75 widescan on my Vaq that i use about 95% of the time now!

Any of the smallest 5.75 coils.
The same power that goes through the larger coils will make the smaller ones even more sensitive, as far as I am concerned.
A good theory, anyway.
Not to mention all the other advantages of using a sniper coil like less chatter and multiple signal confusion.

I love my Compadre and I also hunted with an F2 most of the summer and fall with a sniper coil mounted.
Now that is my favorite coil also, because I found so much and especially due to the fact I found much more at old sites I thought I had cleaned up well with larger coils and discovered I was wrong.