3 year Newb needs advice on ghost town hunt

[OZARKS]

I have permission to detect an old ghost town. The main area I will be hunting was where one of the first buldings was in 1881. This town was established around 1860, and was gone by 1940 or so. All that is there now is some remnants of foundations. I have been detecting for three years, so I am not going into this blindly, but I do have a question on "what would you do?"

Since this is a fairly large area, I was curious, should I first hit it with my 8 inch coil on the F2, or should I mount the 4 in sniper? The thing is, when I detect larger areas I like to use the 8 inch coil, and I do pretty good with it. Reason for using the 8in coil in a larger area like this is because with the smaller coil I tend to drift from my grid more often, and I tend to get overwhelmed feeling like I have to try and cover such a large area with a 4in coil. With the 8 in coil in my soil I tend to have minimal if any chatter, and I have done well with the 8in coil. I understand how the sniper and 8 in coil are different, and what their strength and weaknesses are, but I just wanted to hear some trains of thought from others.

My plan right now is to have the 8in coil mounted, and the sniper coil in my backpack with me... anyway, what would you do?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and thoughts!

 

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[Spectre]

I would first start with the 8 to get a more generalized condition of the ground and cover more area first. Remember to not allow bias to influence you into switching to the 4'' to soon. Areas such as up against the foundation, within the foundation area, or possible trash dumps could convince you (incorrectly, too soon) to switch to the 4'' and lower the amount of ground you can cover.

For general, all purpose, 'getting to know the area' type of detecting, I think a 7.5-9'' is ideal unless you have any prior or first hand knowledge of the area that would suggest otherwise. I don't have any experience with Fishers but this is a good standard to go by for any detectorist. Don't feel the need to dig the first good target you find, and first, when you're initially checking the area, use small flags to mark potential targets. Once you've spent an hour doing this, you may get a much more detailed picture of the area simply by looking back and seeing the visual patterns/concentrations of the flags you placed that could point out or eliminate more heavily trafficked areas or trash dumps that would warrant your neeed for a 4'' coil.

Otherwise, I would try to stick with the 8'' as much as possible for coverage sake. And it's not like it's difficult to switch out coils if you find you're having such a difficult time by using the 8''.

I'm planning to hit alot of old farm fields in the area and plan to start off with a 10.5'' coil for coverage and depth sake. I have no problem digging iron in alot of circumstances as those little bits of iron can give you some valuable clues as to what was being used in the area and the general time frame (based on corrosion or item age) that the area had been used for or what was in the area at that time. While iron is considered 'trash' compared to silver/gold, the information you gleen from such items is invaluable.

 

[OZARKS]

GREAT Response... I actually like your idea about using flags. I actually have some that I haven't used yet, and think that this is the perfect place to tet them out! I have a better idea of how to go about this, and appreciate your advice! Thanks!

I would first start with the 8 to get a more generalized condition of the ground and cover more area first. Remember to not allow bias to influence you into switching to the 4'' to soon. Areas such as up against the foundation, within the foundation area, or possible trash dumps could convince you (incorrectly, too soon) to switch to the 4'' and lower the amount of ground you can cover.

For general, all purpose, 'getting to know the area' type of detecting, I think a 7.5-9'' is ideal unless you have any prior or first hand knowledge of the area that would suggest otherwise. I don't have any experience with Fishers but this is a good standard to go by for any detectorist. Don't feel the need to dig the first good target you find, and first, when you're initially checking the area, use small flags to mark potential targets. Once you've spent an hour doing this, you may get a much more detailed picture of the area simply by looking back and seeing the visual patterns/concentrations of the flags you placed that could point out or eliminate more heavily trafficked areas or trash dumps that would warrant your neeed for a 4'' coil.

Otherwise, I would try to stick with the 8'' as much as possible for coverage sake. And it's not like it's difficult to switch out coils if you find you're having such a difficult time by using the 8''.

I'm planning to hit alot of old farm fields in the area and plan to start off with a 10.5'' coil for coverage and depth sake. I have no problem digging iron in alot of circumstances as those little bits of iron can give you some valuable clues as to what was being used in the area and the general time frame (based on corrosion or item age) that the area had been used for or what was in the area at that time. While iron is considered 'trash' compared to silver/gold, the information you gleen from such items is invaluable.