Brian,

I'm sure there are many locations out West that are terribly dry and in need of a cool wet winter.

And it was so good to get out and hear those tones again. And I'm with you on the zinc penny / IHC dilemma. There is always the danger of leaving the one and consequently missing the other.

In this area, so far, the oldest coins that I've found have all come from beyond 8" in depth. I'm getting to the point of needing to remove the pull tabs; and the zincolns. I'm sure you can imagine what this entails. Ignoring the shallow targets is only 1 way to try and squeeze some missed targets from a site. A clean out is really the only way to get it all, but there are often too many trash targets to have that be feasible on a single trip. Over time, we can remove the trash revealing the treasure mixed within.

Audio. The tell tale tones of modulated audio is key to my hunting. There is so much information in those sounds. I would be lost without them. I guess it is what you learn on and become acclimated to. You don't seem to have issues with finds.

I'm hoping to get out again soon.. btw. You had a nice hunt yesterday, IHC and gold and more. Well done.

Rich