Secured permission to hunt again this year...1st silver...UPDATED PICS.

[Deerhunter24]

Well I have been itching to get out this year. I got out for about an hour on January 1st this year. Found 5 pennies and 2 dimes in my own driveway. It was desperation to detect, but one of the goals I have this year is to find at least 1 coin each month of the year. Usually I only really detect from about April to August. I'm a huge deerhunter, so once September comes I'm concentrating on that...preparing for the upcoming season which runs from October 1st-January 1st for me. Either way, I did find a few coins in January.

Come February, I really didn't think I'd get out at all. It did warm up at the end of last week, but I was working so I didn't get a chance to get out. Yesterday was my first chance. I also shoot on 3 pool leagues, one of which is on Sundays during the winter and pool started at 1pm yesterday. Either way, I wanted to get out and hunt a little.

I wanted to secure permission at a field that I have hunted the past few years. There was an older lady who lived there for years and she had no problem that I detected out there. Anyway, she passed away in late 2009, so last year I had to get permission from a different family member who now lives there. They seemed real nice last year. Anyway, this field will be planted by May so I figured I'd kill 2 birds with one stone. I was gonna try to secure permission to hunt the field this year as well as get and hunt for an hour or two before I had to go to pool.

I showed up at about 10:30 am, secured permission is about 5 minutes. and headed over to the field. Now I don't have to stop there every time I go, I can just go hunt. This is a nice spot for me because its only about 10-15 minutes from my home, plus I can go there if I'm short on time to hunt. The bonus of this type of field hunting is the quick recovery time. Of course, I fill holes like all good treasure hunters should, but its not like someones yard. When hunting in peoples yards, I dig VERY precise holes, and they honestly look pretty much the same after I recover the target. Most homeowners agree that they cannot even tell I dug a hole at all. Obviously this is the goal in that type of scenario. But in a field like yesterday, you can dig a little more sloppy and fill it in a little more sloppy in a way. I mean, the field is gonna be plowed up. Again...I still fill holes and they look decent, it just doesn't have to be perfect. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, the reason I'm interested in this field is because there was a schoolhouse there from the 1870's to either 1965 or 1966. So basically any coins you find are almost guaranteed to be "Good Finds" at least a wheat penny. My friend and I have probably found close to 100 coins in this field. Only one was not a good find...a 1962 Penny.

Usually we only go out there a few times a year and usually only for 2 hours or so. We really haven't hunted it that hard. But the last hunt of last year in the field, which was the day they planted it, I found a Buffalo Nickel, a wheat penny, 2 Indianheads, and a Canadian Large Cent...all with the Explorer. I was starting to make some good finds, and older finds, so I've had the itch to hunt this field again since last year.

Yesterday was the day...however my Explorer is getting checked out at Minelab right now. I'm simply just not satisfied with the Slimline Coil. It seems very inconsistent. I have made some good finds with and some much deeper than my Garrett GTI 1500 ever came close to finding. However, its not consistent. I'm hoping Minelab will upgrade me to the ProCoil if they find the Slimline is faulty.

Anyway, I was forced to take the GTI 1500 on yesterdays excursion. Keep in mind, I really haven't used the Garrett since 2007. I've used the explorer for 2008-2010.

The first few targets I came across I was unable to dig...ground just a little too frozen. I went a little farther into the field...and got a nice belltone at about 3 inches. what I found out was that it was only about the Top 1" of dirt that was frozen...below the 1"-1 1/2" mark, the soil was extremely soft. So the top inch was the pain. Either way, this target turned out to be not only the first silver coin for me this year, but also the first silver coin I've found in this field. I saw the glimmer of silver. Of course I was hoping for seated or barber. But it turned out to be a Roosevelt. Which hey...its my first silver coin of the year...I'll pretty much take anything. ha ha. A few minutes later I found a 1944 Wheat Penny. Also found a 30-30 shell casing and a few other odds/ends. Not bad for an hour hunt though. There still must be some silver out there cause that's the first one I have found. My friend found a Roosevelt Dime and a Barber Dime out there a few years ago. But we have found 10+ Indians out there.

We really haven't hunted out there enough or done any methodical searching. We just zig and zag for some reason at this place.

Sorry this is such a long post, but its the first of the year. I'm excited to get out there.

Deerhunter 24 (Chuck)

[postalgriff]

sweet finds and great post Chuck!...gives us a good picture of your huntin! congrats on pullin some silver early in the year! Sounds like a good spot....looking forward to more of your posts this year! ....HH, Griff

[Mike from MI]

Nice going on the silver! looks like Abe has a fro on that cent!

[fistfulladirt]

Good luck in the field this year man! How many deer did you take this last season, and did you get Bullwinkle?
I haven't taken a deer in 3 years, as I gave up most of my other activities and immersed myself into dirtfishing. That and raising a couple kids takes up alot of my time.
I told myself that this year less detecting and more time doing other things I've neglected.

ffd

[postalgriff]

I told myself that this year less detecting and more time doing other things I've neglected.

ffd

haha...I'm gonna hold you accountable to this!

[fistfulladirt]

I told myself that this year less detecting and more time doing other things I've neglected.

ffd

haha...I'm gonna hold you accountable to this!

Is it too late for me to back out?

[tsabeach]

Nice! Sounds like you have a great area. Good luck this year

[Atlanta Mi Dave]

Great finds! I'm a zig and zag guy also, works for me. Gloria my wife is a pattern hunter and I can't do that all the time.

[Deerhunter24]

Thanks for all the replies.

Postalgriff...I deer hunt like I treasure hunt. I'm looking for the good ones.

When I treasure hunt, I'm interested primarily in the old spots. I'm trying to find old coins. Don't usually spend much time on tot lots/playgrounds. I'd rather spend all day searching and only finding a few old coins than dig 80 coins that are all clad.

Don't get me wrong, I know there is a lot of clad to be found. And sometimes I do go out try to rack up the clad, but usually its only once a month during my treasure hunting season which equates to 4-6 times a year that I'm out trying to rack the clad.

Anyway, I deer hunt about the same. I spend a lot of time in the woods. For instance, I missed 5 evening deer hunts between October 1st and December 6th. I also hunted 22 morning hunts and a few mid-day hunts. So I had over 80 hunts in before I shot the buck I wanted. I passed up some small ones.

So I only shot 1 buck this year (My 23rd Buck overall)...but it was a decent one. It had a 16" Inside Spread. Also had two-9" G2's & two-8" G3's.

It was a nice buck. Shot him off my knees at about 65 yards. Dropped him in his tracks. It was cool because it was one of the longest waits I had during a season to get a buck. But it was well worth.

Its like finding old coins. Once you start finding the old ones...you want to keep finding them.

Once you get a taste for a few big bucks...you start hunting them and nothing else.

This was my 3rd straight season with a 16" Inside Spread Michigan Whitetail.

[Deerhunter24]

The buck this past year will be my 8th deer mount as well.

Anyway, here are a few pics.


Here are a few mounts of mine. The buck on the right had an 18 3/4" Inside Spread when I shot it. The buck on the left had a 17 1/2" Inside Spread.

[Deerhunter24]

Here are the bucks from 2008 and 2009. Both were 16" IS.

[Deerhunter24]

Here is the buck from 2010.


This one had some big tines.


Thanks for looking and all the comments.


DH24

[Michiganne]

I'd rather spend all day searching and only finding a few old coins than dig 80 coins that are all clad. I agree!

Congrats on your first silver of the year. Field hunting rocks.

Nice deer too.

HH

[Deerhunter24]

Thanks for all the nice comments.

I was able to make these pics smaller so that they are more easily viewable.

Thanks to Postalgriff, Diggin The Past, and Mike from MI for your input.


DH24