Finds from Hunted out Sites

[BuckleBoy]

Although some hunts just stand out in my recollection--amazing relic finds or old coins--some finds are quite special to me because of the lengths at which I went to in order to coax another item or two from a "hunted out" site. Now, I'm not talkin' about those places where there are still occasional targets. I speak of those sites where my metal detector is absolutely silent for swipe after swipe. I dug a nice cavalry spur from the side of a steep hill at a Civil War site that was hunted to death. The slope was so steep I couldn't even stand to detect. I went to an old "poor farm" in Virginia that had been hunted by at least three other detectorists. After an hour and a half in the yard without a remotely desirable ping I decided to crawl around on my hands and knees beneath the sprawling bushes in the side yard. There I got one nice signal: a beautiful 1903 Barber dime. The last experience I had was in West Virginia at a hunted out churchyard. Without any luck in the yard itself, I worked outside of the fence row to recover three Indian cents that others had missed. These finds have always been great ones for me, because to find something in a heavily hunted site is, in a sense, to prove one's self. Hunting "outside" the area, using very low discrimination, crawling around under bushes or over rough terrain. These types of techniques seem to be what it's about. Please feel free to share your experiences. Have you nabbed a fantastic find that countless others have missed? Is there a coin or relic that you worked super hard to find?

 

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[Blind.In.Texas]

Congrats on the Barber.... I haven't grabbed any nice finds. New clad and junk. My area is concreted over and not much to find. Still looking for those places. Great idea, though, hunting outside the 'box'. Gotcha come nice finds that way.

 

[EDDE]

this 1872 sheild 5 cent peice from a historic home
on the main drag been there dozens of times
never got anything old till today

 

[hollowpointred]

hunted out sites are my specialty . ( not by choice but from necessity). i have found quite a few things in hunted out sites. large cents, a barber dime, silver mercs and roosies, lots of wheaties ( i think guys skipped over them back in the day), jewlry. around here virgin sites are almost impossible to find unless you are doing private yards. if you are persistant, go slow, and check the areas others may have forgotten, you can sometimes coax a keeper or two out of a hunted out spot.

 

[Sandman]

Sites are never hunted out. Just watch other detectorists swing the coil like a grass whip and not over lapping and you'll understand why so much stuff is left.

HH,
Sandman

 

[BuckleBoy]

Sweet Shield Nickel. Found many other things, but not one of those. Lots of V nickels though. Old nickels seem to be the things that get left most frequently...sometimes deep silver half-dimes too. In regards to sites never being hunted out, I think that depends on who did the hunting! Obviously anyone with the "weed eater" approach is gonna miss a lot of targets. But when I classify one of my sites as "hunted out" that means that I have been there at least four times, using all the techniques and ideas mentioned in my original post, without finding anything old during any of those consecutive hunts. It also depends on the size of the site too. Many Civil War sites are inexhaustible. If you go four or five times without so much as a bullet, on the sixth time you happen across a little area that everyone (including yourself) has missed and dig a few three ringers or a button. So I guess the only sites I have classified as "hunted out" have been some church yards and private yards. Sometimes if I am up to the challenge I return to sites on my "hunted out" list, especially if I have a friend in tow. Two detectors are better than one in this case as the pickins get slim, plus a friend might have some ideas of their own. We're all different. I try to avoid being a creature of habit when I'm on a larger site. Often I pick an area and work it thoroughly. I always keep a diggin' diary so that I know about how long I've spent at each site, where I hunted, what my discrimination settings were, and what I found. This helps guide my future hunts there. It also helps me remember where I recovered all my artifacts. I keep research, leads, maps, photos, newspaper articles, and other information in there as well.

 

[daytondigger]

You're on the same wavelength as I am. I automaticly head for the"fringe" areas in parks and often make some finds. Wooded slopes in local parks produce old coins, flat lawn areas typically do not. As close to fences or on the other side are good. Gravel parking areas are good. One of the nicest Standing Liberty Quarters I've seen came from an overgrown gravel parking area at an old country church. It was under a couple inches of grass and a couple inches of gravel. If so-called hunted out sites are too slow for you, ask to hunt private lawns in your home town. They can produce nice finds and getting permission is easier than you think

 

[AQUA]

I hunt in the woods a lot....and have had great success with it....my 2 biggest coin producer spotS are heavily wooded.... it is slow going ... but most people just don,t bother with it.

All the better for me. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Yes, I keep finding wheats & silver coins from my "hunted out park". It's heavily wooded, and FULL of pull tabs and screw caps. I put the 5x8 coil on my ATP and go at a crawl. This area is so large it would take several lifetimes to hunt.

Some memorable finds have been:

One Barber Half, two Walking Liberty Halves, One Franklin Half, two Barber Quarters, lots of Washington quarters, several Barber dimes, many, many Mercury & Rosie Dimes, and a sock full of wheat pennies. One lonely Indian Head cent. It's getting tougher & tougher every time I go...but I still manage to coax stuff out of the ground. My "secret" is to move my coil very slowly. Most of what I'm finding now has been masked by junk, so I dig all the "questionable" targets. The cherry picking was done a long time ago.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

I know it's a common mantra that "no site is ever hunted out", but think of it fellows: If any of us md'rs can go to any site, and find more goodies, then by logical definition, the site was NOT "hunted out".

So when someone posts that no site is ever hunted out, and proceeds to give an example of a site which gave up more goodies, then ... that is only showing that that site was not "hunted out".

Other sites can indeed get "hunted out", in cases where depth is not the issue (all coins are well-within range, on account of hardpan or bedrock or whatever), and masking wasn't an issue (on account of no buildings/structures ever stood, to introduce iron, because they were only picnics abandoned by the '20s, or whatever). I can think of some sites where we strip-mined to the point where ...... you can no longer even get a signal.

 

[Jeremy S]

"Hunted out" can have a few meanings.

1. Someone else is telling you this because they want to deter you from "their" park.

2. All of the easy targets have been found. What remains are all hidden under layers of trash or is very deep (faint, un-repeatable signals).

I found my first silver quarter (47 Washington) at the base of an old stump at a "hunted out" park. That is the only old coin that I found after hours of searching there.

 

[Rusted_Iron]

This is one of my favorite subjects. I have found some cool things at places other people gave up on, and like you & others have observed, a lot of them are old nickels. I have hunted a couple of old church areas that were like detecting a desert... just nothin', but the occasional nail. You know those were hit pretty hard.

Come to think of it, most of the coins and relics I found were a lot of work, because they were places where others found the easy stuff already.

When people say "hunted out", obviously there are not many places that are totally cleaned out, but to me, "hunted out" means the easy, good stuff is long gone. At least that's the way I think of it. The one old church area I detect sometimes is about as close to "hunted out" as I've ever seen. The only coins I think I ever found were ones I dropped while detecting. I have to dig thru some of my old posts and see if I ever bothered to post about this one area... what a place. Every time I went over it, I could not believe it had been so thoroughly hunted. I think every metal detector guy who drove by it since 1970 had hit this place.

BTW, I thought my own backyard was hunted out by someone else, but he didn't get it all... not hardly. In fact I think I'm gonna start postin' some finds again........

R.I.

edit... oh yeah, just noticed this was a way old post, originally... but people are replying lately. Looks like it's a perennial subject that we all know & love.

 

[Swartzie]

I recently pulled a tombac button (4th one) from an early 1800's home site that I have been hunting on and off for the past three years. I've been flipping iron and hitting the fringe areas that are terrible to work in. Oh, and I have slowed down and really take my time. The site has given me many terrific finds in the past so I always enjoy my visit even if I come home empty handed.

-Swartzie