So frustrated, about ready to quit.

[voodoo]

at least if anyone bugs you about detecting a public place you can tell how much trash you are cleaning up in the neighborhood. I always say "a bad day digging is better than....mostly anything." It's about the time you spend in the fresh air, the walking, the exercise, being in nature, meeting new folks, sharing what you find be it trash or treasure. My favorite part about detecting is (solitude if I'm alone) spending time with friends, family and teaching people about our hobby. And hey IF you find something really cool well that's just icing on the cake. That's the perspective I take anyway. just my humble thought. By the way if you are still focused on the stuff you did or didn't find here was my awesome last hunt of 2013. (I left out the tin cans, caps and pull tabs. We all had a good laugh and it gives people something to tease you about. good for a laugh. (the two loonies were surface finds. I didn't see them as they were under leaves no digging required so they kinda don't count.)

 

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[voodoo]

So don't quit, take a breather and keep at it. Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[justdon]

Its up to you if you stay with the hobby.But as the saying goes you are gonna dig trash.Get over it.And coin wise what you found in a day i have not found total that amount in the last 3 weeks.Right now iam going to take a break from it for about 3 days and go back refreshed.As far as it goes i think we all get frustrated from time to time.HH

 

[ilzho]

I'd play the lottery. It's about the same luck. It's a hobby. Have fun and be grateful what you find. Do you think all of us find coloinal stuff or civil war items, or gold?? No we dig pull tabs, nails and other items. Our backs hurt, we get dirty, but we love it.

 

[worldtalker]

If you have not Patience don't even pick one up!!

GOD Bless

Chris

 

[Escape]

Sometimes when we put in alot of effort and it doesn't work out its disappointing. But its important to make it a little disappointment cause theres's always the next time.

 

[releventchair]

Been going out dirt digging for the last 4 days for hours at a time and am finding just crap. found a whole 2.76 in clad, a hotwheels car from 1996 and 2 1/2 pillow cases of shredded beer, pop and metal cans, sparkplugs, 2 files, and 1 lock part. I used my Erotek pro, my F2 and Ace 250. the F2 found the least then the other 2 detectors. I used to do better last year in one day then I do in 4. Really getting fed up digging trash. Today I hit 2 parks and 3 private properties, 1 school and 2 old buildings.

Maybe try only one site and one detector per day/outing for awhile. Clean a small area thoroughly each visit so you can eventually punch through the layers of recent time and "crap" to the oldest stuff your detector can reach. Then very slowly and methodically cherry pic an hour or so on the rest of the site. Then quit swinging and if you won,t leave off hunting do research only till next day/outing to avoid digging burnout. Files make great knife blades when worked right. For a big switch ,choose an item,swing coil over it,adjust settings and leave every thing else except same items. Good practice for looking for specific lost items like a key,a ring.or a single earing. Not as easy as it "sounds", ignoring solid clad signals and others.

 

[Nobluecircles]

I've got about 10 hours MD'ing in 2014 (very snowy and cold winter) and found enough iron in that time to make my own suit and become a Super Hero. It is part of the process of MD...the point is not to get disheartened or discouraged.

Digging trash, iron, and junk is part of the 'unknown what's down there' and the majority of the hobby.

Voodoo's post above also sums it up well.

Keep at it and persevere...embrace the junk...you are cleaning the Earth as you search for the big value...but even that is valuable in itself.

-NBC

 

[Salura]

You can always do what this guy does. Or contact him and send him your trash finds. See That Pile Of Old Junk? Well, What This Guy Turns It Into Blew Me Away? Seriously, WOW.

I've only been doing my own yard. I've found all kinds of trash items. The way I figure it, if it beeps in my yard, I want it out of the ground.

Some things of concern are the 7 15Ft lengths of rebar and the yards upon yards of barbed wire and metal fencing I've found, just buried under the surface.

If someone were to hit that with a mower, or ride over it on a bike, or step/trip on it, there could be serious injury.

Eventually a combination of things will happen (I'll become better at metal detecting, I'll have cleaned out the trash in my yard, luck) and I will find something cool, maybe even something that has value.

I'm already ahead of the game and can't complain. This time last year I found my Morgan after 4 days of rain, just sitting on the surface of where I had been landscaping. Now I run my detector over my flower beds and stuff before I start digging. Since a lot of people, myself included, have a bad habit of using bare hands in the garden, this may just save someone from a nasty injury.

I've also taken this experience to research the history of my property. Who owned it, when, what structures have been on it, where were the roads, trails, paths, etc. I've learned some really exciting things about the history of this little patch of land and it makes me even more proud to be the owner/caretaker of this patch of Earth.

And it's just great to be out in nature, getting exercise. I've lost 41 pounds in a year just digging around and landscaping. This year I'm going to modify my diet and lose even more.

I hope this encourages you. But if you're just in it for easy finds of monetary value, you will continually be disappointed.

 

[Salura]

Encouragement for the trash diggers

You can always do what this guy does. Or contact him and send him your trash finds. See That Pile Of Old Junk? Well, What This Guy Turns It Into Blew Me Away? Seriously, WOW.

I've only been doing my own yard. I've found all kinds of trash items. The way I figure it, if it beeps in my yard, I want it out of the ground.

Some things of concern are the 7 15Ft lengths of rebar and the yards upon yards of barbed wire and metal fencing I've found, just buried under the surface.

If someone were to hit that with a mower, or ride over it on a bike, or step/trip on it, there could be serious injury.

Eventually a combination of things will happen (I'll become better at metal detecting, I'll have cleaned out the trash in my yard, luck) and I will find something cool, maybe even something that has value.

I'm already ahead of the game and can't complain. This time last year I found my Morgan after 4 days of rain, just sitting on the surface of where I had been landscaping. Now I run my detector over my flower beds and stuff before I start digging. Since a lot of people, myself included, have a bad habit of using bare hands in the garden, this may just save someone from a nasty injury.

I've also taken this experience to research the history of my property. Who owned it, when, what structures have been on it, where were the roads, trails, paths, etc. I've learned some really exciting things about the history of this little patch of land and it makes me even more proud to be the owner/caretaker of this patch of Earth.

And it's just great to be out in nature, getting exercise. I've lost 41 pounds in a year just digging around and landscaping. This year I'm going to modify my diet and lose even more.

I hope this encourages you. But if you're just in it for easy finds of monetary value, you will continually be disappointed.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

I disagree with those answers who are telling you to "just keep digging trash" and "this is normal", and "you can't dig goodies unless you dig that much trash", etc.. As if ... the recipe for finding good old coins is to "just dig trash till your arms fall off".

You are obviously in the wrong places if those are your trash ratios. Why are you in junky parks or blighted yards or farms, trying to be a hero digging all the aluminum like that? Find a place where human activity stopped by 1910-ish, and that'll be before the age-of-aluminum, and before electrical power, autos, etc.... Like a foundation or cellar hole that predates all such junk. Or an old town urban demolition scrape or sidewalk removal where they're down below the modern debri.

And if you really want to hunt parks, pick more upscale parks that are not in a blighted area/side-of-town. Up the disc, and shoot for just silver and copper coins. If you're that "hard-pressed to find gold rings", then why the h*ck are you hunting blighted yards and parks? Simply go to swimming beaches where the jewelry ratios are better (and digging in sand is easier).

Hence it's about location location location. Not "dig junk till your arms fall off" as some would want to you think.

 

[Papalittle]

I did 1 yard today for an hour or so and did find my first ring of the year. this house was built around 1890 and was very surprised at the lack of trash. The only trash dug was 2 screw on bottle caps and a few screws. NO PULL TABS!! the ring I found was a real cheap aluminum ring but it is still a ring. found a few clad coins too. BTW I left the Eurotek Pro and the F2 at home and only brought my old trusty Ace 250.

 

[Pointman]

The key is picking between the trash. I have metal detecting friends that will poke fun at me for finding a lot of aluminum, metal soda caps and pull tabs. I sometimes can avoid aluminum pieces and I will not dig those if I am getting a lot of can slaw in the area that I am detecting. Soda caps still read very close to pennies and pull tabs read with gold and nickels. Indian head pennies will read like aluminum can slaw on the CTX. The way I see it, if I am not digging those pieces then I am not finding the good stuff.

Earlier this year, I found a 7 gram 14k gold ring that sounded like a pull tab, and today I kept getting a low, iffy signal and I initially walked past it and then grided back around to it. It ended up being a 1918 Mercury dime at 7 inches. Earlier in the month I detected a lot that I totally hate because it is full of trash. I was desperate to find something and I pulled an old silver bracelet from out of the junk. In short, it is good to dig trash, frustrating-- HECK YES.

 

[MuckyBottles]

"If at first you don't succeed, try,try,try again. Then quit. There is no point in being a damn fool about it"
W.C. Fields

 

[beez0404]

This is just a suggestion. You're going back and forth between 3 different machines. Perhaps if you settle one just one as your go to machine, learn it's sounds/tones, and pay attention to what you're digging up (what vdi or tone) you will eventually start skipping over a lot of that junk and start recognizing the good targets. Just a thought.

 

[MetalHeadAJ]

I'm brand new to this hobby and would love to find the stuff you're finding. A Hot Wheels car would give me a good laugh if I found one. Keep it in perspective and good luck.

 

[Jeremy S]

Sometimes you have to dig all of the junk crap out of the way to find the good old coins that are hiding below it. I have been skunked on several hunts in a row before. It just makes finding that gold ring or silver coin that much better!

Welcome to the reality of metal detecting!

 

[cjrjr507]

5 days coin shooting so far this season;

130 clad quarters $32.50
89 clad dimes $8.90
10 nickels $.50
92 pennies $.92
$42.82 in change so far. not bad.
And some trash crap. And a little metal bear pendant.
This was all found at school grounds so far.
It's out there, you just got to keep plugging along.

 

[RustyGold]

If you want to dig coins, (Pennies Dimes Nickels Quarters) then you'll have a pocket full of change at the end of the day! But if you want to find the occasional gold along with the pull tabs,
then notch out the coins!
My 2¢

 

[Lifes A Garden...Dig IT]

Been going out dirt digging for the last 4 days for hours at a time and am finding just crap. found a whole 2.76 in clad, a hotwheels car from 1996 and 2 1/2 pillow cases of shredded beer, pop and metal cans, sparkplugs, 2 files, and 1 lock part. I used my Erotek pro, my F2 and Ace 250. the F2 found the least then the other 2 detectors. I used to do better last year in one day then I do in 4. Really getting fed up digging trash. Today I hit 2 parks and 3 private properties, 1 school and 2 old buildings.

We all dig lots and lots of the more undesirable things in the ground than we care too, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love what we do. To live in our beautiful country were we have the freedom to actually be allowed to go metal detecting and keep what we find, even the trash. Sunshine over head, clean air in my lungs, birds chirping, and me approaching many lost and long forgotten items right beneath my feet in the soil just begging for me to find it helps me overcome the fact of digging up enough pulltabs to link together and circle the Earth's circumference multiple times . Just two weeks ago I dug my first 10K gold High School class ring - class of 84'. I like to think it has been in the ground since that year, which would make it taking a dirt bath for the last 30 years, and I'm the lucky sum ***** to find it. Shoot, I'm even more pumped than ever. I haven't dug anything but trash since, and I'm loving it!!!