DetectorBase
02-18-2007, 03:50 PM
I've been hitting a local park that has been known as 'hunted out'. I found some good coins in 1995 with my Garrett (Indian head, old wheatie and buffalo). Since that day, I've never found a keeper there.
A few years later, I picked up the XLT and would hit it hard when I was running out of sites, and never found targets.
Since I picked up the SE, I thought I'd continue the tradition by returning to that same park and practice. I wanted a location where I could return.. and the environment would stay the same while I learn the machine. I think trying different parks, yards or locations during this phase will just frustrate and hinder my learning. Being able to come to a location where everything is the same, will give me the ability to focus on the machine and it's settings.
I know there are coins in this park. I know all the 'easy' stuff is gone, but it's by no means hunted out.
The first two days were brutal. Semi-frozen or sloppy wet ground on top of frozen made digging a pain. I started digging all sorts of targets to get a feel of what the machine is telling me. Dug a lot more pull tabs than I like to but was getting comfortable with the SE's smartfind screen, tones and pinpointing.. but no keepers.
Today, I thought I'd switch things up a bit. First off, I went with a SunRay 8" coil. Immediately, I was liking the faster response and less 'chatter'. Also, pinpointing was MUCH easier. I started playing with iron mask and ditched the stock discrimination and opened it up with the iron mask. This stopped some of the nulling, which I felt was hurting my recovery/response on the machine.
I think these changes helped, because I walked away with 3 keepers from a 'hunted out' park in only an hour and a half!
DB
A few years later, I picked up the XLT and would hit it hard when I was running out of sites, and never found targets.
Since I picked up the SE, I thought I'd continue the tradition by returning to that same park and practice. I wanted a location where I could return.. and the environment would stay the same while I learn the machine. I think trying different parks, yards or locations during this phase will just frustrate and hinder my learning. Being able to come to a location where everything is the same, will give me the ability to focus on the machine and it's settings.
I know there are coins in this park. I know all the 'easy' stuff is gone, but it's by no means hunted out.
The first two days were brutal. Semi-frozen or sloppy wet ground on top of frozen made digging a pain. I started digging all sorts of targets to get a feel of what the machine is telling me. Dug a lot more pull tabs than I like to but was getting comfortable with the SE's smartfind screen, tones and pinpointing.. but no keepers.
Today, I thought I'd switch things up a bit. First off, I went with a SunRay 8" coil. Immediately, I was liking the faster response and less 'chatter'. Also, pinpointing was MUCH easier. I started playing with iron mask and ditched the stock discrimination and opened it up with the iron mask. This stopped some of the nulling, which I felt was hurting my recovery/response on the machine.
I think these changes helped, because I walked away with 3 keepers from a 'hunted out' park in only an hour and a half!
DB