What Do You HATE To Dig?

It's a complicated question...I REALLY hate digging harmonica parts. They sound really good and are usually deep. You (at least) think you got a nice button. It's complicated though because when I'm at a new site and it's the first thing I dig I'm happy to see them because they date the area as being 1800s....but other than that I HATE THOSE BUGGERS!!! :lol:
What do you hate to see in a hole (other than the normal bottle caps and cans)?
P.S. rifle cartridges are in the same boat!

Hate to say it but....ox knobs (only cause they sound really, really good). Second on that list would be can slaw or the whole can.

I've dug alot of tarp eyelets this past year some even look like a ring and I get some excitement till the dirt falls away

Ox knobs sound like coppers but after the initial disappointment I still like the knobs :)
I did forget about the gosh darn tarp eyelets....they sound just like coins!!

I hate digging clad which is why I don't dig on the beach or in parks. I know that there are very nice and valuable finds to be found in beaches and parks but I just can't dig it. I've mostly hunted woods and fields for my entire detecting career with the occasional old standing home. It's funny but I don't mind digging clad at older homes because I know the good stuff is usually deeper and I need to get it out of the way.

MEMORIAL PENNIES:hairpulling:

20th century small aluminum livestock ear tags at early colonial sites. :disgusted:

I 2nd Cooper with those tarp rings. Especially the ones made of copper as they sound like silver dimes on my Etrac. Always a let down digging them.

Ants

A go along with those tarp eyelets. Also hate what sounds like big silver, chasing it a foot or more deep in hard clay and ring a flattened soda can. Also really hate those beaver tails that ring up exactly like a nickel, and other trash masquerading as good targets.
And yeah, I'll go along with ants too, plus anything angry that has a stinger

Yep, there's lots of disappointing stuff to dig...Chris and Dave reminded me of this past fall when I dug into a yellow jacket nest and got the first stings of my metal detecting career. Thankfully I only got four. I left my $75 digger there...luckily the frost came a week later and I retrieved it.

Oh ! there are so many things I hate to dig up at 200 year old home sites :lol:

but just to name a few of the really discouraging ones .....


Lincoln memorials (had one of these this past Sunday in the frozen mud at a 200 year old cabin site :bangahead02::hairpulling: )

A leather harness copper rivet ( these often sound just like coins :angry:)

Metallic hunter tree tacks ( these are tacks with a reflective metal head that hunters push into a tree to mark a trail or use as a yardage marker from their tree stand , but often they fall from the tree and land in the leaves and they sound like a deep great target:mad: )

Wasp or yellow jacket nest ( Oh I've been there done that !:shocked03:)

Large round rusted iron washers ( these sound just good enough to dig every time that you can't pass up :ticked:

Beer can ( These are often shallow and are quite common at old sites as hunters use cellar holes to set up an ambush the deer but occasionally drink to pass the time , just wished they'd pack up their garbage :bangshead01:)

Shotgun shell (also by our hunters)

And of course the "ye olde ox knob" ( the scourge of cellar sites )

Green patina shotgun shells (look just like buttons at first), slaw, bullets. These three are my enemies!

Couple more things the green patina comment reminded me of. One is that old copper flashing, the other are those old copper roofing nails that ring up like dimes. Even found those still embedded in chunks of mortar.
Don't know if this counts, but I really hate digging for a nickel and eventually finding out it's a high metal stone.

Since I dig similar places that Dan, Drew, Donnie and Jeff do, I'd agree on many of those. But if I had to pick one, my personal nemesis, it would be those slotted brass collar nibs that went to old scythe-like farming tools. I've got like 2 handfuls of those darned things, and they ring up just like an LC (80-84 VDI). :ticked: Being old they're often deep as well, adding to the foolishness when you work so hard just to see another one.

John

YES! They all stink! John...I forgot about those things...they really have you believing you have a coin!