Let's discuss hunted out spots giving up more goodies.

HighVDI

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So, there are the obvious reasons why some people walk into "hunted out" places and pluck out more good finds but what are the overlooked ones?

I have a particular spot that comes to mind when thinking about this topic. I literally spent a dozen hunts on this one 150'x150' area and the only thing found was flat buttons and a couple of other period items. One hunt out of the blue I got this phantom high tone and it was undoubtedly a deep coin signal. Bang, 8-9" large cent. About 30 minutes later another non ferrous signal but this one was all over on the numbers but sounded tight and clean. Must have been almost on edge because the pinpoint was way off. Once again another mid 1800's large cent. A couple hunts later in that same localized area one more crazy dig me signal.....and the third and last largie.

I can't squeak any more non ferrous signals out of that spot but it still makes me wonder what the heck happened there to make these signals all come out within a couple days of each other. The weather wasn't extreme either....very fall like. Not too much ground heaving going on. Only thing I can think of is iron above or in close proximity to the coins. Once removed they were detectable.

Has anyone experienced this sort of thing at an older site? Very interesting and eye opening to me.
 

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HighVDI

HighVDI

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Also.....there were two other machines over this same exact spot a couple times. An AT PRO and a MAX.
 

oldkoot

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Sounds like the back yard of a house I owned in Ohio I 3/4s of an acre of land I spent my whole time while living in Ohio do nothing but detecting that one property going over the same areas with two different detectors and just when I would start thinking I had dug everything I could something else would come out so my personal opinion I do not believe an area is ever really truly hunted out I spent a total of four years detecting the same property 7 days a week approximately 6 to 10 hours a day during the fall,summer and spring forget winter and still to this day I feel there was more there especially in the crawl space under the house which is where I found the best find of my life so far, just never got the coil over it in the rite position just my opinion though
 

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HighVDI

HighVDI

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Sounds like the back yard of a house I owned in Ohio I 3/4s of an acre of land I spent my whole time while living in Ohio do nothing but detecting that one property going over the same areas with two different detectors and just when I would start thinking I had dug everything I could something else would come out so my personal opinion I do not believe an area is ever really truly hunted out I spent a total of four years detecting the same property 7 days a week approximately 6 to 10 hours a day during the fall,summer and spring forget winter and still to this day I feel there was more there especially in the crawl space under the house which is where I found the best find of my life so far, just never got the coil over it in the rite position just my opinion though

That's crazy.

Speaking of coil over target. I wonder how amplified that gets the deeper the target is. A 2 inch large cent would probably be detectable on the outer edge of a coil let alone underneath. So, an 8 inch coin the same size and conductivity could have a 1" x 1" square surface area the coil has to hit just right to get the signal since the signal is cone shaped.......from the graphs they post up. Who knows if that is true but it sure makes sense.

Then, I wonder about a coin that deep on edge. Could make the target surface area even smaller! Lately I've been more focuses on overlapping my sweeps. Takes more time but probably does pay off in the end.
 

oldkoot

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The way I hit my yard for the first three months I hit it with the AT PRO simply because the AT PRO did not see the deeper targets I cleared the yard of all shallow targets with it I know most will be saying in their heads how does he know the AT PRO did not see the deeper targets but I will tell you it does not I know this because my wife used it ahead of me both of us detecting her with the AT PRO and me with the X TERRA 705 she would go over the same area ahead of me I would get a beep on a target and before digging it I would have her come back with the AT PRO and sweep the target and the AT PRO would not see the target if it was deeper than 6 inches I was hitting targets with the 705 that the AT PRO would not hit but any how what we did was clear all the shallow targets first then we re hit it but we used stakes and that orange tape surveyors use and we grided off the yard and hit every inch of it multiple time over a four year period I threw all the clad in a plastic 1 1/2 gallon jug and kept the silvers and other items we dug separated out we ended up digging over $300 in clad out of that yard but I still to this day feel there was more to be found there like I stated we just never got the coil over it or it was to deep for either detector.
 

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Rookster

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In My area ground mineralization is very moderate and my Pro with the stock coil will go deeper than 6"on small coins and buttons. With the NEL Storm on, it is super deep. I think different machines read mineralization differently. With all the different soils spread out over this country it's stands to reason some do better in one place rather than another. Good luck to all.
 

Tom_in_CA

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....Has anyone experienced this sort of thing at an older site? Very interesting and eye opening to me.

High-VDI, good topic. You are challenging the "no spot is ever 'hunted out' " notion. And challenging the assertion of "hunted out", based on examples of places deemed to be "hunted out" that ...... drum roll .... gave up more targets. Hence supposedly disproving the notion that any place can be "hunted out".

Have I understood the tone/intention of your post so far ? If so:

Then if someone could go back to a supposedly "hunted out" spot and get more stuff, then guess what ? It wasn't really "HUNTED OUT" in the first place. So the mistake is in allocations/definitions. NOT in the question of "is any place ever 'hunted out' " or not.

If someone can give an example of a supposed hunted out spot, that, .... in retrospect .... gave up more targets, then by definition: That merely means: It wasn't "hunted out".



I can think of places where you WILL INDEED knock yourself silly for NOTHING.
 

cudamark

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To me, it isn't so much as being hunted out, as it is, quality of find vs. time spent finding it. Sure, I return to sites where I've had success in the past, but, when the finds get few and far between, I look for less hammered sites where I get more or better finds per hour hunting.
 

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HighVDI

HighVDI

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High-VDI, good topic. You are challenging the "no spot is ever 'hunted out' " notion. And challenging the assertion of "hunted out", based on examples of places deemed to be "hunted out" that ...... drum roll .... gave up more targets. Hence supposedly disproving the notion that any place can be "hunted out".

Have I understood the tone/intention of your post so far ? If so:

Then if someone could go back to a supposedly "hunted out" spot and get more stuff, then guess what ? It wasn't really "HUNTED OUT" in the first place. So the mistake is in allocations/definitions. NOT in the question of "is any place ever 'hunted out' " or not.

If someone can give an example of a supposed hunted out spot, that, .... in retrospect .... gave up more targets, then by definition: That merely means: It wasn't "hunted out".



I can think of places where you WILL INDEED knock yourself silly for NOTHING.

You make a good point. I should rephrase to hunted hard, multiple times.
 

Loco-Digger

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The angle of attack can make all the difference as well as slowing down your sweep and coil choice. Some of those targets were probably being masked due to the direction you swung over in previous hunts or you ignored it since you may have got the chirp at the end of a quick sweep and wrote it off as a false signal.
 

Normsel

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I hunt a lot of places I consider hunted out but many of them are parks and soccer fields that replenish themselves every year. In other hunted out places I may go back just to see what has been missed but more of than not I am only able to pick up a few clad coins under a $1 worth. I often go to hunted out places with a different detector to see if I missed anything with my go to detector which happens to be my etrac and I compare the finds with my V3i to my etrac. There isn't much difference but the etrac usually finds more
 

IDXMonster

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High-VDI, good topic. You are challenging the "no spot is ever 'hunted out' " notion. And challenging the assertion of "hunted out", based on examples of places deemed to be "hunted out" that ...... drum roll .... gave up more targets. Hence supposedly disproving the notion that any place can be "hunted out".

Have I understood the tone/intention of your post so far ? If so:

Then if someone could go back to a supposedly "hunted out" spot and get more stuff, then guess what ? It wasn't really "HUNTED OUT" in the first place. So the mistake is in allocations/definitions. NOT in the question of "is any place ever 'hunted out' " or not.

If someone can give an example of a supposed hunted out spot, that, .... in retrospect .... gave up more targets, then by definition: That merely means: It wasn't "hunted out".



I can think of places where you WILL INDEED knock yourself silly for NOTHING.

Definition of “NOTHING” please!:icon_scratch:
 

smokeythecat

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You are all correct, and this topic is great. Vferrari and I went to a hunted out spot in Virginia today, it's a Civil War spot that is on all the maps from the time period, well known to detectorists and absolutely HAMMERED since the 1960's. It is hard to get a non ferrous signal out of it. HOWEVER, being as cat hardheaded as I am, I warned him he'd be lucky to get one or two items. We first went along the one drive, nothing there. Then we went over to a fallen hut chimney and moved probably 500 pounds of rocks out of the way and some are hot rocks, and ran the pair of Deus's over the area. I snagged a CW underwear button and a Eagle button back quickly. Hugh was at the other end of the rock pile and snagged our only minie of the day and a triangle from a CW knapsack. One most days at this site, this would be called a successful hunt. We then went to the "trash" area. There are millions of bits of ration cans down there. The red Virginia dirt is dark brown, there has been so much CW trash thrown in this area it is discolored. He got a near complete but smashed ration can, two sections to a bullseye canteen, camp lead and a back to an eagle button. I got a complete eagle button w shank, a brass kepi buckle (only my 2nd ever), a small 1" iron roller buckle, camp lead and a really cool CW scissors.

The stuff is there, but we went to extreme measures to get it. Had to move all those rocks, then carefully remove 3" of soil to get extra depth and removed at least 100 more pieces of ration cans and nails.

Hunted out is not totally accurate, unless you go down to the subsoil level and screen everything, but getting the stuff is challenging. Is it worth it? Well, for me, it's the chase, not the totals at the end of the day. And I LOVE the chase!
 

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HighVDI

HighVDI

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You are all correct, and this topic is great. Vferrari and I went to a hunted out spot in Virginia today, it's a Civil War spot that is on all the maps from the time period, well known to detectorists and absolutely HAMMERED since the 1960's. It is hard to get a non ferrous signal out of it. HOWEVER, being as cat hardheaded as I am, I warned him he'd be lucky to get one or two items. We first went along the one drive, nothing there. Then we went over to a fallen hut chimney and moved probably 500 pounds of rocks out of the way and some are hot rocks, and ran the pair of Deus's over the area. I snagged a CW underwear button and a Eagle button back quickly. Hugh was at the other end of the rock pile and snagged our only minie of the day and a triangle from a CW knapsack. One most days at this site, this would be called a successful hunt. We then went to the "trash" area. There are millions of bits of ration cans down there. The red Virginia dirt is dark brown, there has been so much CW trash thrown in this area it is discolored. He got a near complete but smashed ration can, two sections to a bullseye canteen, camp lead and a back to an eagle button. I got a complete eagle button w shank, a brass kepi buckle (only my 2nd ever), a small 1" iron roller buckle, camp lead and a really cool CW scissors.

The stuff is there, but we went to extreme measures to get it. Had to move all those rocks, then carefully remove 3" of soil to get extra depth and removed at least 100 more pieces of ration cans and nails.

Hunted out is not totally accurate, unless you go down to the subsoil level and screen everything, but getting the stuff is challenging. Is it worth it? Well, for me, it's the chase, not the totals at the end of the day. And I LOVE the chase!

Well said
 

Tom_in_CA

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Definition of “NOTHING” please!:icon_scratch:

I can think of one place that gave us about 150 coins. It was a picnic site that had been in use from the 1880s to the mid 1920s. So the NEWEST coins we got were mid 1920s. It had never had an structures there, so nails was not an issue. And since it pre-dated all aluminum, clad, etc.... there was nothing to stop us from strip-mining. And depth was not an issue (so having a "deeper seeking" machine is not going to net more targets). It has just been cow-pasture chaparral land since the picnics discontinued, so the ONLY "junk" was an occasional bullet.

When we first researched it out, we'd each get 4 to 7-ish coins each (barbers, early wheaties, V nickels, seateds, even a $5 gold popped up). As time went on, it went down to 2 to 4-ish coins each. Then eventually down to 1 coin each. Finally .... it started to be very hard work (the entire center grounds were silent and sterile). So we'd have to work further into the peripheries to find outlying flukes. Pretty soon THOSE areas became silent and sterile. Eventually, we began to come back empty handed. It simply wasn't worth it anymore.

So to me, that's "nothing". It simply gets to the point where your time is better spent elsewhere, finding new sites. I would pity the poor fellow who finds the same mention in the history books that we found, and researches to find this site. They would be mystified as to the utter silence.

Or how about beach erosion cuts ? They have a defined # of targets in them. And once they're worked out, you have to wait for another day's tide/swell to come scour our more sand. If you're Johnny come lately (and someone else beat you to the cut), you can hunt all you want, but the available deposit by mother nature that day got cleaned up.
 

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Tom_in_CA

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BTW: I would not disagree that some places will never be "worked out". Example: Old stage stops that are a bed of iron nails that mask. Or parks where a layer of foil, zinc, etc.... blankets the top. And/or parks where there's an un-ending depth strata of deeper and deeper coins (such that each generation of "deeper seeker" machines gets a "bit more" and a "bit more".
 

IDXMonster

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Well said above Tom. I’m of the same thinking...the better the targets I’ve found at a place the more leeway I give it till I move on. I think that’s about everybody,to varying degrees.
5 dollar gold you say? Someday man...someday. And what a day that will be!
 

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HighVDI

HighVDI

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This is a list I have witnessed or heard can have an impact on finding new signals in worked over areas.

EMI changes- I have a site that I can not got over 50% sens. on my machines during the week but can go full throttle on the weekend with the businesses being shut down for 2 days!

Different machine/coil/detector settings- This one I'm sure comes to everyone's mind.

Ground conditions change- coins on edge that turn when soils move can then be detectable. Cultivated field brings deep targets up to suface and or moves non ferrous target away from trash. Ground with loads of nails will tend to false more when ground is wet but more depth with the lack of such iron. Opposite with dry soil.

Swing angle/speed/coil on the ground.

Then the I heard.....

Moon phases? Lol. Never know.

Masking/silent masking- hard to know what you're missing if you don't know it exists in the first place.

Can anyone add more to this? Could be something for people to try and change up at old sites.
 

Tom_in_CA

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Hi vdi: the factors you mention in post #19 are factors in cases where more depth is needed . Such that minerals and/or emi affect and thus prohibit you from reaching. But there are locations to which getting "more depth" is not reaching additional targets. Ie.: nothing is beyond, say ... 6". (like in a desert or dry terrain). And where a given machine is AMPLY reaching the depth.

And you also mention nails/iron masking. This is a true factor when such conditions exist. But there *could* be some hunt locations where nails/masking isn't an issue. Because perhaps there was never a structure or building @ the location . Like the beach, or a country picnic site, etc....

As for moon-phases, I dunno. I'm not a superstitious type, haha
 

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