Your heart is pounding! Your metal detector is giving you signals that you know from past experience resonates with gold coins. Could this be a long forgotten cache of valuable coins buried here hundreds of years ago? Perhaps by someone who hoped to return and simply never found their way back. You know that amazing treasures like this have been found by other metal detectorists, so it’s very possible.

Now, you need to start digging to uncover this great treasure. However, you have to be careful because the owner of the property was very clear that whilst he would grant you permission to hunt, he wasn’t too keen on you digging any large holes and making dents in his ground. He gave you explicit instructions to leave the place as you found it.

What do you do now?

Don’t worry, all is not lost, you can still recover your valuable find. There are two less invasive ways to dig up your targets if they are not too deeply buried. These are very useful techniques that also prevent damage to your target object in the ground.

Technique 1: The Probe Method:

This technique requires a long, thin piece of metal to act as a probe. Any number of items will do, but a long screwdriver does this best. Firstly, you must pinpoint the exact location of your target by using a small search coil. Once you’ve pinpointed your target you slowly push the screwdriver into the soil and then gently rotate it so that the ground is pushed open and loosened. This should provide an opening in the soil large enough so that you can search the soil by gently digging with your hands. If you still don’t find anything, push the probe in further until you feel something then rotate the probe again to loosen the soil. If you can get the probe just below the target you can use it as a lever to lift the item to the surface. Once you’ve got your treasure you must remember to pat the soil down again so that it looks just the same as it did before you began digging.

Technique 2: The Plugging method:

The plugging method also makes use of the screwdriver probe or a sharp knife will also do the trick. As with the probe method, use a small search coil to determine the approximate location of the target item. Then sink the probe gently into the soil and try to locate the target by feel. You don’t want to damage the item, so be careful. Using the probe you can estimate the depth of the target and then cut a square block of soil around the target. Lift the block from beneath the target and then recover the treasure you’ve found. Now all you have to do is carefully replace the block of soil, pat it down and it will look as if you’ve never been there.

These two techniques will help you retrieve targets with very minimal impact on the surrounding area. Regardless of which property you are on, it is always good ethics to leave as little trace as possible.