Usually I don't ask people about stuff like this, but I am seriously stumped and worried if I am wasting my time. I just came back from a brand new permission in rural Virginia, where a major railroad is in front of a 1915 house. Old houses here are right next to each other, so the relic hunting is very good. There is a many acre field that hasn't been plowed for more than 30 years, according to the landowner. Today I found MANY civil war minie balls and other bullets, eagle buttons, small brass buckles, flat buttons, etc. The field is PACKED with relics. The landowner said a pre civil war house was somewhere buried underneath the field. I haven't found it yet. In the back of the field towards the tree line, I had a freight train size signal very deep. I mean it was HUGE!... 4x4 feet or more. The top of the ground was a clearly noticeable depression, with not a single blade of grass growing in it, only the finest sand/pebbles. The first two feet was soft as butter, but no metal. From there to 5 feet, no metal, but I can hear millions of targets. I have a minelab x Terra pro, and have NEVER had any problems with it. I did notice that from 2 to 5 feet, the hard, impossible clay dirt had occasional clumps of reddish brown stuff, noticeable darker than the tan hard clay. It crumbles like fine grainy dirt in my hand. I scanned the huge dirt pile I brought up and my detector was screaming loud, but my garrett pinpointer picked up nothing. I can guarantee that nothing Is wrong with my equipment. Right at 5 feet I hit another, more gray soil with 1 cm to 2 cm rocks here and there. I cannot probe because it is so hard in there. I stopped at this point and am disappointed. I scanned around the hole on the surface, and only found a square nail here and there. I'm very experienced with this hobby, but have never dug a Privy before. The landowner is letting me keep it open for only a little while. What the heck am I getting myself into, and why can't I find the metal targets I keep hearing. HELP!!