Laurel Hill State Park

[elkco]

Went to Laurel Hill State Park and checked with the office, as I read all the various posts about whether it was allowed or not. They had me fill out a basic information paper and gave me a copy, afterward. The info they want is your name and address and vehicle information. Along with that, you are only allowed to use a screwdriver, ice-pick or other narrow digging device. If an area (group campground, or tent camping lot) is occupied, you are not allowed to search there.

We went to a group campground and just started searching. Found a quarter, 5 pennies, a dime, and an old 'T' handle valve. The most that was gained, though, is the experience. Gave me a chance to get familiar with good signals and bad and also made the area I was searching a lot CLEANER. lol Many pull tabs, however, I started learning when NOT to dig.

[Joe(TX)]

It would help if your machine has a notch control so you can eliminate the pulltabs but still find the nickels and gold rings. Also use your all-metal mode to determine if the signal is coin width or not! So then you can bypass all the very wide signals such as pop cans , etc. HOPE THIS HELPS........

[elkco]

Ok, I'll try notching out the pull tabs......I'm still getting used to using it, so thanks a lot for the pointer! That's what us newbies need!

[Wyatt Earp]

If you notch out pull tabs...you'll lose some gold rings also. There are 3 predominant pulltab styles where I have been hunting. Even those are getting few and far between now.

Wyatt

[Joe(TX)]

OK, sure you will lose a few gold rings if you don't dig all the pulltabs. Now this is a personal choice, If the pulltabs are just a few I would dig them but if we are talking about 100's and 100's, I would notch them out! Also it depends on your location, at the beach I would set up the detector to ignore nails and then dig all the positive signals. Also if you have a depth meter or depth blanker you can bypass all the pulltab signals down to about 3 inches or so And then dig all signals deeper than that. Hope this helps......

[elkco]

ok, can you explain why pull tabs aren't going to be more than 3 inches down? Is that because they are so light and since coins are heavier, they'll 'sink' further down? Thanks for the tip! Ya know, I'm very surprised at the old style pull tabs that were on beer cans and how many of them I've been finding. They look like they're new, too! Quite a shocker for me.

[Joe(TX)]

OK, some pulltabs will be deeper than 3 inches. It depends on the terrain and any heavy overfill! What I meant is that if you focus on the deeper, fainter targets the pulltabs should diminish and the more valuable coins and artifacts should surface! Of course a true TH'er would dig any questionable target. Also don't try to cover a whole football field in 20 minutes. Subdivide this area either with visible markers or mental ones and work each area from several different directions before moving on to the next section! Patience helps but if an area is unproductive do what the Fisherman does..... move to a new location. HOPE THIS HELPS.....