Vaquero Pockets Small Gold

[tiftaaft]

I had about 30 minutes at lunch today, so I ran to a nearby and very public tot lot. It was a bit rainy and chilly so I knew I would have the bark chips to myself.

About 3/4 of the way around the playground after finding $0.14 and a pocket full of foil, I got a scratchy but repeatable signal... similar to a foil candy wrapper. I had my disc set half way between iron and 5c on the Vaquero with ground balance just a hair negative, and sensitivity at about 8. And I was swinging the 8x12 widescan (left my 5.75 at home). Pinpointed solidly so I scraped around with my carrot and rolled out a child's 10k ring for my first Vaquero gold!.

I air tested this little ring on my etrac and it hit about every 2nd or third swing.. 13-01.... with an iron tone. No way I would have chased the target with the etrac...in fact it would have been disc'd out with any pattern except wide open. One of many reasons I am loving the Vaquero and Tesoros in general. HH. Tim

 

[REVIER]

Nice score on the gold!

Way back in 2010 I also found gold in a tot lot with my Vaq which had the standard concentric coil mounted at the time.
Maybe the second gold ring I ever found, the first 14k ring and the only gold I have ever found in a tot lot to this day.
Right behind a baby swing where mommy would be standing pushing her little rug rat.

I was in all metal at the time, I usually hunt these things in all metal not only to find the tiniest targets and chains but also to clean them out to make it easier for me on the next visit and also to get out any other dangerous shallow metal that might hurt the kids as a thank you for the privilege of hunting these things.

I hit it hard in disc too but it was crushed and came in low, at foil and the same exact place where gum wrappers, condiment packages and those hated round foil freshness seals on drink containers come in.
After I straightened it out repaired and opened it up it came in slightly higher at just below nickel.
For months before that I usually hunted in disc but set it at the area just below nickel because I had read that is where most gold at the low end should come in...but that was wrong.
After I changed and lowered that disc to between the N in iron and the F in foil to hunt I went on to find many more small gold rings in that area over the years...gold I would have missed with higher disc.

The Vaq can find small gold fairly easily if you understand gold, how it behaves and have the disc set correctly and have your wits about you if you roll over it.

 

[tiftaaft]

Thanks Rev,

I only had a short time to spend, so I bumped up the disc knowing I would miss some potential smaller targets.. but there is always the next time . I usually hunt with disc at the "o" in iron, but you make a great point about all metal. I was at a different tot lot recently and pulled several large galvanized nails out of the chips. I was more happy to pocket those than the few quarters I found that day... keeping the kids safe when they play. I feel the same way you do about paying it back. Good luck and HH to you

 

[REVIER]

Also don't forget about silver chains, they can come in very low too and a lot of them around foil or even below that.
And gold, I found one really thin gold chain down deep in iron.

This was the lowest silver one I ever found and it was with the Compadre.
Not sure if the Vaq would have seen it with bigger coils in disc but I assume so, using a sniper coil I know it could for sure.

On the Compadre it was there at the O in iron but at the N it was gone.
Tiny, thin...had to be a kid's bracelet because it wouldn't go more than halfway around my wrist and found in the dirt.

Plus a few of the other silver chains I have found.
These are weird and can fool many detectors.
Depending on whether you hit them on the clasp, balled up or spread out and just hit some links they can come in all over the place or in case you just hit a few links not at all.
If your disc was set at that foil mark between iron and 5¢ you would have missed the two iron ones but a couple of the others at foil in this pic came in below that too because of the way they were sitting in the ground.
Out of the ground better and higher when I air tested over the clasps but the universe usually isn't really that kind to us most of the time.

 

[tiftaaft]

Man, and I thought my little ring was small... that chain is tiny!! What a great find. I also have the Compadre with the 8" donut. In fact, it is what convinced me to add to my arsenal with the Vaq. Great combo between the two. I have had some issues with the Compadre chattering on movement, so I have it in the house at the moment until I can resolve that issue... but I need to do that. The Compadre would have hit on my little ring yesterday hard... I know that for sure. Tim.

 

[hatpin]

I never found anything in a tot lot . Way to go .

 

[Carlos (CA)]

Lots of great useful Vaquero info in this thread! Thanks Fellas