OOOooohhh, and I am especially envious of the pulltab on the upper left. How deep was it ?
And here I thought you'd be more enthralled with my snazzy in-situ pics
I know you're just bustin' my stones because of the novel I wrote over a key, Wheatie, and small ring, but since you asked
...
That pulltab was an annoyance because it was actually pretty deep - about 7 inches - and rang up as an ideal candidate for an old nickel. You see, it's no stage stop, but this park does have an interesting, worthwhile history, and I've dug several silvers, IHPs, and other older items from the 6-8" range in my recent visits, so I dig all signals that come up "deep" there. The headless beaver tail was the same kind of deal as the pull tab. It rang deeper (because of size), and I was hoping for an older nickel even though it rang slightly low. The bent/rusty nails were calculated, known risks on iffy signals.
Skippy, let's be totally honest here : You know that there's environments where "digging all the zinc penny signals" will get you
what ? ZINC PENNIES (99.9999% of the time). Right ? I can take you to urban blighted junky parks, turn you loose to dig zinc penny signals all day, and guess what you will dig ?
Thus, yes, If I'm deep-silver-hunting at a junky urban park, then yes, I'll pass shallow zinc. Might I miss a shallow silver ring ? SURE !
Versus other venues/locations like A) beaches after storm erosion has washed out all the light stuff (including light-weight zinc). Or a stage stop location in the middle-of-nowhere, that was totally abandoned after 1870, and no habitation since-then.
Thus, the TID (zinc or tab or penny or whatever) is only a small part of the equation. The much bigger part of the equation is: Location location location.
Sure, "location location location" is definitely key, and digging
every signal in any park, regardless of its historical pedigree, is not my cup of tea. In this particular park, I almost always skip anything below a US penny signal other than the nickel range if the signal also appears shallower than about 6" inches. If a target is repeatable, has reasonably solid tones and VDI as I circle, and shows depth as 6" or more, I'll dig it as long as it rings up as non-ferrous. As can be seen in the picture, it keeps my trash pile pretty manageable. Plus, as I mentioned in one of the posts above, digging the occasional penny signal breaks up the monotony of the barrage of trash signals. Sure, it's usually just a Zincoln as advertised, but I'm personally okay with the limited rate of return when that occasional ring or other goody pops out.
I'd rather be hunting a stage stop, old Victorian home, or a ghost town site turned farm field, but for now, I'm not going to be doing any door knocking for new permissions, so I'm going to be excessively reliant on parks until Ohio's shelter-in-place is lifted, especially while my free time is short. For me, I don't mind occupying myself by digging some Zincolns in between the deeper signals for the possibility to nab a couple rings - but I also understand that others would rather stay home and do something else.