Cherry picking

[bottlecap]

How many of you cherry pick when detecting? By cherry pick I mean only go after more "desirable" targets. You that have been detecting for a while probably know what I mean. For instance with my detector I can usually quite easily tell by my signal if I'm abut to dig up a Zincoln or a quarter or whatever, you get the idea. Just thought I would share the other night I reverted back to digging basically everything and it was kind of fun to see what I came up with although I didn't find anything valuable. Share your thoughts. Thanks.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

reply

How many of you cherry pick when detecting? By cherry pick I mean only go after more "desirable" targets. You that have been detecting for a while probably know what I mean. For instance with my detector I can usually quite easily tell by my signal if I'm abut to dig up a Zincoln or a quarter or whatever, you get the idea. Just thought I would share the other night I reverted back to digging basically everything and it was kind of fun to see what I came up with although I didn't find anything valuable. Share your thoughts. Thanks.

I do it all the time in junky sites. Depends on the site. Some places you gotta hunt in "relic" or "beach" mindset (ie.: dig all above iron). Whilst at other sites, you need to be a little selective, and just angle for the older copper/silver. Like old urban parks, you probably don't want to try to "be a hero" and dig all the foil and/or tabs out. If gold rings are your objective, then what-the-heck are you hunting junky blighted parks for ?

Other times, I've used a cherry-picking to reject all coin signals, and ONLY go for mids and lows. That would be after beach storm erosion has littered the beach with SO many targets to choose from, that the LAST thing I want to do, is go home with 300+ penny/dime/quarters. And will instead hone in on all the mids & lows Mother nature has washed away all the aluminum in such cases, so ....... will try to up my odds at gold jewelry in cases like that

 

[SusanMN]

I have a cherry picking program for my Xterra. It excludes some, but not all pop tabs, and pennies. In a really trashy park it is just easier on my ears. I know I am leaving some things behind, including some gold rings, but sometimes you just don't have the time or energy.

 

[DDancer]

As Tom said it depends on whats coming up. Time and effort are on my mind when I go into an area. Time is usually limited and effort... well that speaks for itself

 

[Carolina Tom]

It depends the site, for me. Older sites, I "might" dig it all, as a cool relic may appear or IHCs or other unexpected keeper. When I get to some of the newer places, I exclude the zinc cents, because there are hundreds of them.

We argue about cherry picking, because you WILL miss good targets if you do it, but on the other hand, you may never get to the good target if you dig all those other holes. GL&HH!

 

[bill from lachine]

Well I've been doing this for about 20 years now and used to just coin shoot.....but as the targets got thinned out at my regular spots I pretty much dig everything above foil.

If I'm hitting a new site....to me I might be a bit more selective if it's overloaded with signals.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[TheHunterGT]

I've been doing this for about 20 days.

I'm digging everything right now since I am so new to the hobby. Figure at this stage I need to do at least a full month or 2 of just digging everything and then slowly work into discrimination.

Also my limiting factor is my machine. While I love my Scorpion since I am a prospector first and foremost....it is not the best discriminator as a everyday machine. If I cut out foil it will also cut out anything smaller than a quarter. Still bangs hard on pull tabs and rings. So I would feel pretty good going for a "quarters/rings/tabs" type of day. But I like pennies and dimes too!

Cutting out iron seems to work ok in tests as it will pick up everything else....but like I said I just don't trust myself yet with any discrimination other than bench testing or backyard testing.

This newb digs it all still.

 

[OBN]

Like above said, Location and the target history.. And the allotted amount of hunting time, have places you can only hunt the beach from 6 am to 9 am...

 

[TroutBumDave]

I have two detectors in my trunk: GTI 2500 and a White's Coinmaster 5000/d -- the old dog. About every other hunt I break out the White's simply because it forces me to dig every. single. beep., and that has been a lot of fun. I find a lot of jewelry when I do this, and it's the only time I ever dig nickles. For instance, yesterday I was out swinging for four hours with the Coinmaster and dug a fanny pack full of nails, foil, pop tabs, tent stakes, trash, etc., along with four coins -- all nickles. I also had two very sore knees, back, and wrists. The thing is, I also found a beautiful silver necklace pendant, one silver loop earring, and four pieces of a charm bracelet scattered over a ten yard area. I have hit this area extensively with my GTI with most of the trash disc'd out, or in Coin mode and have missed all of those targets at least ten times.

Yes, I cherry pick. No, I don't.

It depends on the day and the machine. (I hate the GTI, btw -- getting an AT Pro STAT)

 

[bottlecap]

I have two detectors in my trunk: GTI 2500 and a White's Coinmaster 5000/d -- the old dog. About every other hunt I break out the White's simply because it forces me to dig every. single. beep., and that has been a lot of fun. I find a lot of jewelry when I do this, and it's the only time I ever dig nickles. For instance, yesterday I was out swinging for four hours with the Coinmaster and dug a fanny pack full of nails, foil, pop tabs, tent stakes, trash, etc., along with four coins -- all nickles. I also had two very sore knees, back, and wrists. The thing is, I also found a beautiful silver necklace pendant, one silver loop earring, and four pieces of a charm bracelet scattered over a ten yard area. I have hit this area extensively with my GTI with most of the trash disc'd out, or in Coin mode and have missed all of those targets at least ten times.

Yes, I cherry pick. No, I don't.

It depends on the day and the machine. (I hate the GTI, btw -- getting an AT Pro STAT)

I have an AT Pro and really like it, I think you will be pleased.

 

[bottlecap]

Sounds like most vary what they dig according to where they are detecting, and what they are hoping to find. I have to say I do that too but sometimes throw that all out the window and dig everything, yes I get sore knees and back, but I also find worthless but interesting things!

 

[Showtime2385]

I mostly hunt old cellar holes in the woods and when I do, everything above iron comes out of the ground.

 

[luvsdux]

I often cherry pick when I get tired of digging everything.
luvsdux

 

[here4themoney]

I have in the past dug almost everything, but I get less silver than everyone I know and I think it's all the time I spend on digging everything. This year I am gonna be more selective and only dig nickel and above signals, I might miss some thin gold, but I should still get most gold rings. It's a tough decision, most of the time I am just too curious to pass targets up, but I gotta quit digging so much foil , just too much time spent on it. I am gonna be more selective this year and hope it translates into more silver. Also I might start skipping those zinc pennies, I can tell almost 100% when it's gonna be a stinkin lincoln but the old me dug them all, thats a lot of time spent for a penny.

 

[SilverSeeker60]

BC...
I do Cherry Pick when I detect areas that I've hunted for years. I know what I'm looking for and with the White's V3i, I too can tell if it is a Zincoln or pulltab. In these areas I'm really just trying to find the last of the silver, but if a new or different target comes along, I will dig that too. I figure I will leave the newer clad coins for the kids who are just starting out. Who knows, maybe three hundred years from now, Zincolns may be worth a fortune!!

 

[Massieville Mike]

BC...
I do Cherry Pick when I detect areas that I've hunted for years. I know what I'm looking for and with the White's V3i, I too can tell if it is a Zincoln or pulltab. In these areas I'm really just trying to find the last of the silver, but if a new or different target comes along, I will dig that too. I figure I will leave the newer clad coins for the kids who are just starting out. Who knows, maybe three hundred years from now, Zincolns may be worth a fortune!!

Lol! Maybe some of the zincolns that are NOT in the ground may be worth something in 300 years, the ones that are in the ground won't exist, they will have long since been completely destroyed/corroded/rotted/wasted away..........poof gone! The soil around here is pretty mild, that being said, zincolns in the ground here are extremely lucky to make it 3 weeks to 3 months without some very significant corrosion. I've personally dug fairly new mintage zincolns that were reduced to pure crap, some filled with holes, some with really big holes festering with corrosion, and some reduced to just small fragments, pieces of what USED TO BE A COIN. Very sad that our modern coinage is not made from a metal that would indeed last 300 years!
In answer to the original post, yes I do "cherry pick". But not always, and not always the same way. Like mentioned in posts above, when, how much, and for what, depends on location, time, and items being searched for. I generally don't use a notch, maybe a very small amount of iron disc, but rarely any notching. I like to hear it all then choose what to dig or not. I reckon that's still "cherry picking".

 

[mrwilburino]

I'm always kind of annoyed by the term "cherry picking." It makes me think of some lazy slob...... blissfully swinging away....... recovering only the targets that his meter indicates are a sure thing...... leaving all those gold rings and masked silvers for the savvy, industrious, "dig-it-all" guys to find.

I guess some would consider me a cherry picker. I'm usually hunting for old US coins that fall into specific ranges: 5c nickel, copper, silver. I'll also go into the zinc/indian range if the signal is deep enough and the site is old enough. If there is a possibility of a target up or down averaging because of soil conditions or a co-located target, It will likely get dug. I typically hunt places that have been hunted many times over many years. A high percentage of the good stuff has been picked out while the trash continues to pile up. The cherries I pick are the deep, weak, jumpy, downright UGLY signals that that offer some hint of a clue that this may be a target worth digging. I've picked some nice cherries that way, yet never fail to wind up with my share of the pits.

 

[lcollins]

My poor old back can only take so much of just about any activity now days. So unless I'm detecting in a prime old area I pass on pennies and only dig dime and quarter signals in the public parks I detect in.

 

[s.c.shooter]

I usually skip the zincon signals to.

 

[bottlecap]

Well since posting this thread I got back to the basics and started digging nearly everything, it has been a lot of fun and paid off with a couple cool finds. One thing I learned is for some reason if there are several coins close together in a hole(coin spill) it really sounds like crap on the AT Pro, tonight I found 3 quarters, 1 dime and one nickel in one hole(no pennies!), the signal was broken and inconsistent. Also found this cool pendant I may have passed up, it also sounded a little broken but it was kind of deep. Says sterling on it so I guess I finally found some REAL treasure, not just costume jewelry