Need Opinions on buried Cache

I would like your opinion on what type of signal is most probable:

1.  Large coffee can filled with gold jewelry
2.  Buried 35 years ago
3.  Depth unknown
4.  Soil type, primarily shale

5.  detector:  xlt  ....  9.5 coil

I was taken by the person that buried it.  The search area was approximately 10 by 30 yards. No solid signals in all metal mode.
    Thanks for your thoughts.

If the depth is a bit more than you think, possibly the signal might be less solid than you think. It could be at the fringes. 

You might wanna try renting a two box detector for that job.

ask what he buried it with to get an idea of the depth. The can has most likely rusted away by now but should give a halo signal, probably all broken up and sounding like trash. I would expect the rusted can to  mask the jewelry. Has the ground been disturbed by man or nature? Expand your search area if you turn up empty handed, memories are not always exact. Is/was there a marker to locate the cache? Also what was his age at the time? a nine year boy old may not dig as deep as a 29 year old man.

I doubt the can has rusted away in only 35 years.  There are still rust-covered
intact food cans all over that only give way when you mash them and some
are over 150 years old.

good luck & keep us posted

Chances are the can is still intact, just rusted pretty good.  Set your XLT for "Relic" hunting.  You want to increase the sensitivity and decrease the discrimination.  If the can IS intact and not broken open by farming actions,  the can will be the only thing the detector will pick up.  Treat it as a rusty old relic "thing" and you'll probably have better results.
Good Luck.

      I'd like to hear a little more of the story . Is the jewelry real gold ? Why was it buried & left all this
time . Has the person who buried it tried to find it before . Real gold jewelry would be valueable . Why
doesn't the person remember how deep & a little smaller search area ? If it's costume jewelry buried by
a child I could understand the confusion . Interesting story , just curious .

I have good news for you. Large old rusty cans are very easy to detect at a depth in all metal mode/large search coil. I have the older Garrett GTA 1000, used with a 10 inch Hot Head coil, it will detect even crumbly large old cans better than aluminum pop cans. Just max out your depth, no discrimination either. Good luck!

Wow....thanks for the feed back.

Additional info. 

The cache was buried by an 8 year old girl.  She remembers using a shovel to make the hole.  The can was laid in sideways ( less digging ).  Most probably the original depth slightly above the can.  However, at the time there was yard work being done (grading).  She tells how severe the incident was at the time by her parents reactions.  She believes the jewelry to be real gold and not costume jewelry.  Her parents frantically looked but never found it. 

I have been using a detector since 1979. I just wasn't sure what signal a rusty can with gold jewelry would give.  I have ordered a 15" coil. Anyone use 15" on xlt.  What program do you use?

All things considered I believe the story has better than 95% chance to be true.  At worst a rusty can filled with costume jewelry!.  What a fun hobby.

Thanks again for your input.     

Rebel8

This calls for a gridding strategy. I would make myself a map of the back yard using engineering graph paper and grid in any existing structures (trees, shed, etc.) and then systematically search areas of the grid and shade it in on the map. This will take a while, but from the sounds of it, the payoff should be worth it. At the same time I would pick her brain on areas that she liked to play in when she was a kid and make them first priority if you use a gridding strategy.

8 yr old diggin + required placing the can sideways = shallow target
Large can for an 8 yr old girl probably smaller to an adult.

You should not have any problem finding it with the regular 9.5" loop.

The best way to find caches is to differentiate it from small targets.  To do this you have to size your target.

example:

a quarter buried at 3 inches will cause SOUND while passing the loop over it of aproximately  10 inches or the size of the coils magnetic field. This obviously does not mean the quarter is 10 inches big.  Do the same with all metal mode or the trigger pulled (pinpoint) and look at the screen. The moment you get a Max. reading, or in your detectors case the shallowest reading, when passing the loop over the target is when the aproximate edge of the object starts. Keep passing the loop over the target and notice when the reading number starts dropping, this is the other edge. Repeat in 180 degrees oposite and you have the shape and size.

This is a good trick, remember sound means nothing for size.

The only time I have found the actual object size to be larger than the measurement performed with this technique is when the target is deep, I mean in feet. Even then not by much.

The can will still be there, if you use discriminator you will get a junk signal if any. I recomend you use all metal mode and the technique above.  You will still dig a lot of unwanted metal, but much less than if you dont size the target.

If not there, expand search area as mentioned above.  If you still can not find it in all metal mode, I ll bet it is not there anymore.

Good luck,

Gilbert

Was any treasures found yet?