Barnhole & site - 7/12

[Trooper Bri]

Took a ride with my friend Nate and his missus to metal detect what you guys identified as a barn hole this morning. Another nice Saturday to be in the woods. I'm getting spoiled. My buddy Ron was along too, swinging his unused Bounty Hunter that got me interested in detecting.

Hiked down a skinny dirt road that divides 2 wooded properties. After a bit we came to the start of a rock wall that eventually intersects another wall that runs off into the woods. Next to that you can see the old road to the site. Follow that a bit and we got to the barn. Hoping this was virgin ground, but appears to be a bust. Found evidence (including dug iron items) left behind. A couple obviously tossed in the woods as I happened on some on the surface in my travels. Rotten buggers. So much for private property.

Found what appears to be the house site, a square of stones. Down a gentle slope from the barn foundation opening, then into what must have been a flat yard area curved around the rise the barn is built into, and finally the square of stones a bit further where the hill starts sloping off more. Maybe a few hundred feet away total.

Place was picked out pretty well. I wandered through the fields with nothing to show but old shotgun shells and some modern casings. My only find was an old spoon between the house site and barn. Ron had fun finding ancient beer cans from hunters and a ton of crunk around the barn. Told him to swing in the old road as we headed out, and he dug his first 2 oxen shoes, and a really old pocket knife.

Other issue besides being detected already, was the mineralization in some areas. My 350 would simply dummy up, or blurt out random stuff. Pinpointing with it is a bust too. Tried working the house site, but the detector never made a peep once I get within maybe 40 feet of it walking from the barn. Ron's was mostly quiet too in those areas, but seemed speak up for hot rocks where mine wont. Down the hill from the house was a bust too.
The detector did it last week at the place Dan took us, but I thought it was because my batteries dumped 1/2 way. Nope, it's just the detector not liking those grounds.

Oh well. 2 1/2 hours with friends in the woods was fun. Hole hunt #3 complete! Also took a woods selfie to update my avatar. We may wind up back at the place to explore, it's a large property. Thanks for reading, and on with the pics!

Here's the back wall of the barn. Over 5ft still. That's Ron in the pic for reference. The wall below where I'm standing and across from me are falling in.
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Some of the springs Ron dug up in the barn (maybe 6 or so?). Off a buggy maybe?
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What looks like the house site. I added lines to the pic as it's hard to see the stones. It's not exact, the foundation is bigger. Ron's actually walking in the direction towards the barn.
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And behind me from the above pic, a bit down the hill, is this pile of stones. No idea what it is, and is in the "detector doesn't work" zone.
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My only keeper of the day. No idea how old. Has some identity it it, guess I gotta find a spoon site. The mark to the far left looks like a club (like on a playing card). If it's silver plated, I suppose I got my first silver finally! :lol:
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[Bell-Two]

It is indeed plated. The initials epns mean electro plated nickel silver. There are degrees of silver in epns, if letters a 1 follow it is a higher silver content to the plate. Clean it better there are sites to find out manufacturers etc.

[coinnut]

Any day in the woods is better than working:yes: There are two ways to basically run any machine...smooth, with a lower sensitivity or hot with the sensitivity cranked. Both have pluses and minuses. In the heavy iron areas, run sensitivity low, since all that iron is going to sound off or be discriminated and nulled out, (if that is how your machine is set) and will help you separate any good targets from the bad ones. But when you enter a quiet zone, crank the sensitivity up and put up with the chirping sounds that come from a high sensitivity setting. I recommend you go over the manual after each hunt and see if there are any settings that may help you the next time out. That is how I learn. After each hunt I think of what went bad and what went good and why. I adjust for the next hunt. Hope this helps.

[Timewarpdigger]

It looks like and awesome site wish you the best of luck. Safe & HH

[Trooper Bri]

Today was my first trip doing that actually. Turning it down around the barn, and while wandering through the fields turned it mostly up.

These lower end Garretts don't have a lot in the way of settings though, and the instruction manual could be printed on a Rice-a-Roni box. 10 discrimination notches, and a few presets that only seem to eliminate certain ones and doubt they're unique programs for relics or coins like higher end detectors can accommodate. But, looking at the manual again it does recommend turning the unit down if you suspect mineralization. I know I turned it up a bit when we got deep into the "no detect" zone.

I do reflect back as well. What piece of gear,clothing, etc is working, needed (headphone cord is priority one after today). It's a lot easier with the assistance you guys have been offering, very much appreciated.


Any day in the woods is better than working:yes: There are two ways to basically run any machine...smooth, with a lower sensitivity or hot with the sensitivity cranked. Both have pluses and minuses. In the heavy iron areas, run sensitivity low, since all that iron is going to sound off or be discriminated and nulled out, (if that is how your machine is set) and will help you separate any good targets from the bad ones. But when you enter a quiet zone, crank the sensitivity up and put up with the chirping sounds that come from a high sensitivity setting. I recommend you go over the manual after each hunt and see if there are any settings that may help you the next time out. That is how I learn. After each hunt I think of what went bad and what went good and why. I adjust for the next hunt. Hope this helps.

[Twobit]

Bri..I was beat to the punch but I'll give my $.02 anyway. I have had the same issue with my 350 a few times. Each time I forget what I know about the machine and swing away like an over zealous blockhead, knowing that more power is better...

It happened to me again today. I finally turned the sensitivity down (three or four bars down) until it was no longer acting bi-polar. Bam, it was like someone found my glasses and I could see again. I started hitting targets accurately and could tell with much more confidence what was under there.

i only turned it back up when I got a faint hit and wanted to be sure.

But never fear, I'll forget it all and go back out at full power again. My detector will sound like an old dial up modem buzzing like mad and I'll stubbornly swing away at full power.

[Trooper Bri]

It only has 8 sensitivity levels, and I was running it at 5 when I found the spoon with nails and junk nearby on the main site. Out in the fields away from the site I turned it up to 7 bars and did fine. Nails, shells, casings, and my unmentioned find of 4 old school beer cans with small triangular holes buried under a rock. That was exciting for a second. SW of the the barn was where it got rockier and weird.

I'll turn it down to 50% and lower to experiment since I know the signs now, but for what I remember from the Pequot War thread, didn't Dan or someone have to buy a detector that could deal with the mineralization?

[del]

Great pictures Brian , definitely looks like an interesting site with lots of potential . I would recommend a few more trips out there if your able too.

[Twobit]

It's completely possible that the weirdness I've experienced is different than the mineralization you were onto. Perhaps there is another total pain I've yet to experience with mine. Tell you wha though, I'd go back like del said and experiment with settings more before buying something new! Either way, I get the feeling from my experiences at Maromas that it takes an awful lot of time to get really good at pulling stuff out of these old cellars. And like Kpmoose told me yesterday, "it's all a matter of luck if you swing the coil in the right spot."

[MangoAve]

I agree with George and Lou. Lou has the 350 like you, Bri, but most detectors act similar. I belive yours has automatic ground balancing. Mine does too, but also a mode where it doesn't give a depth or discrimination but has high power. I never use that mode but it says in the manual that it tends to drift. I think the fact there is more iron around the cellar holes and the fact the ground is alkaline in wooded areas causes the falsing. I was able to have a higher sensitivity in the park yesterday than I was in the woods Saturday. Just so you know, the times you get a few random numbers or readings, and some silent swings over the same area, are larger iron that bypasses the discriminator. The ox shoes are huge, so they can completely bypass and sound like a coin. Other smaller iron like nails have a tendancy to pop a few times into random readings and then back into a reading that is discriminated out. There is like a 'wrap around' for the newer digital machines. Think of a reading that is so low on the scale that it just comes around to an absolute maximum reading. The whole thing is to put the coil where someone happened to have dropped something which is a bit of luck, and to know if the machine is giving a good reading.

[Trooper Bri]

Mine is self balancing, and worked fine in heavy nail polluted areas already. And even the trashy field and parks I hit before then. The first place Dan took me to the detector was fine all day. And we moved around more than any of my trips since. The place we hit a week or so ago was fine in the first area and 2'nd area, but the 3'rd spot we hit my detector would dummy up (and occasional blurt fest) and refuse to pinpoint. I honestly thought one of the AA's in it pooped the bed and it was a low voltage coma or something as it went from full bars to half way on the charge, but nope, it acted the same this weekend.

I don't know jack about rocks, but the barn hole site in areas had a lot of them with what looked like quartz maybe. Even saw a white "stone" that was all crystalization probably. I could almost draw a line in the leaves where the detectors would work, then get iffy. And it seemed to coincide with the rockier areas we tried working.

Most of the rest I'm getting, but have less than 40 hours of detecting time yet. Parks and grass I'm learning fast what's below, but dirty and picked out cellar holes are a steeper curve. Managed a crusty horse tack (or ox tack) buckle in a polluted area, and even that spoon had stuff around it. It was banging a decent 3 which made me dig, and out of the hole is a 4 (below a nickel). Not expecting miracles early on.

Dan, I'd like to get back there as well, and can this weekend, but my host is only there on short trips. 2.5 hours on the site was 1.5 for me, and all that away from the barn after I saw it's been hit. 1/2 hour exploring with Nate, and time helping Ron since he hasn't bought a pinpointer. The next trip is likely shorter. Rather explore other options and fill my day more.

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

gotta be stuff there.sorry to hear about your machine actin up.keep goin back!

[BTV Digger]

Keep it up and try different techniques as the folks on here have mentioned. Agree there's probably stuff there. Go slow as well. Slower the better. Also try and identify where the privy area was. I've found some of my better stuff along the path from what once was the back door to the privy.

BTV Digger

[Trooper Bri]

I'll definitely get back there a couple more times with Nate, even if it's short trips. Don't think this weekend is happening now though.
Stick close to the barn this time. With the limited time available, and seeing evidence it had been hit, I wandered out to see what there was to see. And speaking of privy, I may have found it (didn't post the pic) already in my wanderings.

Across the road to the barn and down in the woods maybe 50ft I found Jimmy Hoffa's grave (that's what I yelled to Ron anyways). :lol:
About 6 feet long and currently 3ft deep. Reading nails around the hole as well. Whatever was over that hole wasn't all that large from what I was hearing around it. Spent 10 mins there, didn't find anything obvious, and moved on.

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[Twobit]

Bri, you are a hilarious dude. I'm still laughing about "blurt fest" because it so perfectly describes some of the times I've had.

Cellar holes are definitely a steeper learning curve. The sites at Maromas are so huge it seems impossible that people with older machines have pulled everything out of them but all I've gotten is an weird old tool, a horseshoe, an old wood splitting axe head, and a button. I feel like some of the pros here would walk out of there with amazing coins...

[OxShoeDrew]

Yeah, the 350 is a fixed GB unit. Some places will work better than others. Good looking spoon, it suggests there is more stuff there. :)