hints for first MD club hunt

mdless

I plan on going to the club hunt that the MD club I just joined is having this weekend a couple of hours away near Flagstaff, AZ. All they will say about the place is that it is a former work camp. Apparently a place where construction workers would come in and stay while working on some project.
They indicated that we should expect heavy trash/cans/nails.

As I've only been MD'ing for a month or so now and just tot lots, I was wondering if you might extend some tips on how I can dig something productive (providing it's there). These are seasoned vets and I really don't want to drive 2 hours and get skunked.

I will be using a White's MXT. Since there is so much trach do you think I should turn discrimination up or turn it down and dig everything. Since it's in AZ we will have mineralized rock whtih will give me lots of hot rock readings.

Looking for some tips.

Thanks

2bits

Im dont know how others work trashy areas, but I hunt in coin mode and reduce the size of my grids, and work each one all directions and dig everything until I get no signals. after a few grids I get a handle on whats what with the ID,VDI and graph,, and get a little more selective on my targets and what I dig and dont dig,

Each site has its peculularities .

Keep in mind if you turn up the disc, you could miss some really good stuff, Gold being one of them !!

Rick

Riccar

Did they give you any other info about the format... seeded (planted coins by the hunt coordinator), non-seeded, specific roped-off area, open range, ??? These would also affect your strategy...

If it's not seeded, has it been hunted before?

mdless

it's not a seeded hunt. It's a hunt on an apparently old work camp. I don't believe it's roped off at all, but they really don't tell you much about it before you get there in fear of someone getting to it before the larger group and hunting it. also it was my first meeting and this would be my first hunt with them so I didn't pry a lot.

BTW - I looked at your website. Nice finds. How do you clean your coins up so nice. I found a 1920 wheatie that I can't pick up the date on it unless I wet it because it's so corroded. I tried the infamous tater trick, but didn't weem to work. Wife told me to try Taco Bell hot sauce which just turned it into this nasty orange color.

Riccar

Thanks. For copper I use the olive oil soak method (let it soak for a few months) and that usually works as long as the coin doesn't have other metal specks sticking to the coin. For some coins that were so bad that I knew it was toast (coated by other metal and hiding any identity), I have used a copper wire brush to at least identify the coin (this is only for the real bad coins though). For silver, it depends... most silver comes out looking pretty good and I just use soap and water. But, if it has some of the bad, black corrosion, I've used a coin cleaning solution called E-zest. Everyone will tell you not to clean coins (especially key dates), but if it's not a key date, I like to clean it up a little since I don't plan on selling a fun find.

Concerning your hunt, I would want to know (when you get there) if it has been previously hunted. Of course a site is never cleaned out, but if it's previously hunted, you may want to target the "odd" spots in the area that may not have been hit by previous hunters. (most guys go right for the big tree, right next to the old building foundation, etc.) When I know a spot has been previously hunted, I like wandering past the areas where others say "oh, you don't want to go that far." Also, when you get there... imagine where the past inhabitants would have walked (paths to water sources, shade, etc.) Even the trashy areas could be good too since most hunters won't have the patience to go slow and dig everything in a small area to see if something has been masked.

Hope this helps... you may want to ask the club members more questions when you get there.
Looking forward to hearing your report after the hunt...

Rick

demodigger

i've worked a few sites like those. i would set the detector for minimum disc and dig everything. alot of people will try going for larger tones or signals and skip the lower ones. if you skip those, you'll be missing out on cents, nickels,tokens and gold. i always work the edge the areas first. if there is a sidewalk, concentrate on the very edge, where the dirt/grass meets the walk. if there are bushes, crawl underneath and look there. when you get there, look where everyone else going, and then go somewhere else. many people always go for the most obvious. train your self to think differently.

mdless

OK, here's the update...
It was an old logging camp from around the turn of the 20th century. Probably was there for about 10 yrs. or so. When we walked through the area it looked promising as there were ruins of about 8 log cabins and multiple piles of cans where apparently the chow halls were. We were all quite anxious to get started as it looked like a promising site.
However, much to our dismay, we basically got skunked. There were 8 of us and it wasn't unitl about 3:00 that someone actually found a silver coing (1907 Barber dime). I managed to find the back of an old pocket watch with the inscription Romantoir 10=Rubis which roughly means Stem-wind 10 jewels. It appears to be glod plated silver. Also found what looks like the very top of a lantern handle, but don' tknow for sure what it is.
The trash in the area was incredibly bad and since it was near flagstaff, az there were continual hot rock signals, enough to drive one batty.
I think it was a good learning experience for me. While I sept good overlapping swings, I was so bothered by the hot rock and trash signals that I kept moving to new locations hoping it would get better. Reflecting on my day, what I believe I should have done was find one small area and remove all the hot rock and trash items that the MD picked up and then rescan the area for more promising signals. I would not have gotten very far as covering the area, but if I was lucky maybe I would have found a good positive signal. There were so many overlapping signals that any positive signal was probably overlooked.
Additionally, to make it even worse, I lost my pinpointer. Couldn't find it. Now I need a new pinpointer which I don' t have the cash for right now...ugh.

Oh well rookie mistakes I guess!!!

2bits

Hi MDless

Sounds like a tough place to hunt !! but with one coin being found there are more !!

Hope you brought home some of the matrix to learn from ? most of time those hot rocks will hit the same all the time , its possible to learn to tell the difference with some time and effort with test boards and other methods, perhaps even custom program for them .

Rick

mdless

Sorry, not sure what you meant by 'brought home some of the matirx'?

Lamborghini518

Just turn the disc. up high enough to get rid of the hot rocks and trash, but no higher. another thing. Pay attention to the depth indicator. If it's more than a few inches deep, don't dig it. It will help you move a lot quicker. Then after the hunt you can go dig those deeper targets. Maybe you should make a suggestion for next years hunt. They do it at my club hunts. It's called trash cash. They put $1, $5, $10, $20, and a $50 dollar bill inside a can or taped to the bottom of a hot rock or other numerous combinations. It realy makes the hunt even more fun than it already is.

2bits

Matrix = Hot rocks, and other crap surrounding the coins beneath !!!

Learning tools !!!

Rick