1908 yard. Only pennies? 2nd time out with Vaquero

Chibuya

Jr. Member
Dec 8, 2006
57
1
Hollywood, CA
Detector(s) used
Garrett Sea Hunter, Tesoro Vaquero
Detected my sister's front yard of her 1908 home (back yard is fake grass, so I can't dig).
This is the second time out with my Tesoro Vaquero and I'm surprised that I've only found modern pennies and two wheats from the 40's.

I've had other detectors so I'm fairly familiar with ground balancing. Stock coil. GBed, set the sensitivity at 8 or 9. Disc tabs and super tuned the threshold after ground balancing. Found modern pennies, two wheats an old spoon and a cool Pokemon token. When I had the Ace 250 I pulled a few modern dimes out and a nice Long Beach, CA 1935 dog tag. There's got to be more here.

I know I still need to learn the machine. Should I be digging the faint repeatable "blips" as well?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Stacey
 

doverturtle

Sr. Member
Apr 23, 2010
398
233
York County, PA
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tejon; Garrett AT Pro; Garrett Infinium; XP Deus; Minelab Excalibur 1000
I would dig the faint repeatable blips. I have a house that was built in the late 1800s. So far, the only "old" coins I have found are wheat pennies and one war nickel. I get faint signals all over the yard and will eventually dig them all to see what is there.
 

OP
OP
Chibuya

Chibuya

Jr. Member
Dec 8, 2006
57
1
Hollywood, CA
Detector(s) used
Garrett Sea Hunter, Tesoro Vaquero
Thanks Dover.

What settings do you use? I'm wondering if my settings are correct. Maybe I should go all metal to clean the yard a bit.
 

cntrydncr1

Gold Member
Feb 23, 2007
7,806
777
Bradenton, Fl
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250, Minelab Excal II, ETrac, Infiniuim
clean out the trash and pennies and the good stuff will come up if it is there. and yes, did the faint signals.
 

Ism

Hero Member
Jun 17, 2009
642
207
Michigan
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Vaquero
Whites TDI
Minelab Sovereign GT
XP Deus
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If you are cherry picking with disc at close to max, try a brisk sweep (not fast). I have found that I gain up to 2 inches in depth using this technique with the Vaquero. I would use the supertune technique also. In the same manner that you get more falsing, you will sense deeper objects. The Vaq will clean up the false signals but will repeat on the good ones. "Air test my suggestion and see how it works for you". I'm not sure how it will work in highly mineralized soil, my guess is that it won't work as well and you will have to slow down. But in the mild soil where I live it works fine. Remember that your signal area on a deep coin becomes very small and its like finding a needle in a haystack. I went over areas a couple times in different directions and found objects that I missed the first and second times, without changing my settings.

One other note, I found a lot more pennies than silver at the few old homes I searched. I had the opportunity to search a house built in 1875 that saw a lot of activity. I never found anything other than (or) older than indian pennies and mercury dimes. I figure that unless fairly wealthy, most people that dropped currency would search for it much like we would a lost gold ring. I found about 6-8 mercury dimes near a "mother-inlaw-house" that used to be a chicken coop. I always wondered if it was part of a busted cache. The house was aluminum sided and hindered my ability to search next to the foundation.

Hope this helps
Randy
 

OP
OP
Chibuya

Chibuya

Jr. Member
Dec 8, 2006
57
1
Hollywood, CA
Detector(s) used
Garrett Sea Hunter, Tesoro Vaquero
Thanks everyone!

I guess I'm not familiar with what a faint signal sounds like. Is it considered a "blip" or is it a solid repeatable tone that is much more quiet than something closer to the surface?

As far as finding coins, I would be happy with an indian head at this point.
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
It would help to remember that at the bottom of the coils field the area might be only like 2" in dia. So your sweeps have to be exact to get that small area over a target way down there. The house might have been built back in 1908, but the ground was there longer than that. :coffee2:
 

doverturtle

Sr. Member
Apr 23, 2010
398
233
York County, PA
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tejon; Garrett AT Pro; Garrett Infinium; XP Deus; Minelab Excalibur 1000
Chibuya said:
Thanks Dover.

What settings do you use? I'm wondering if my settings are correct. Maybe I should go all metal to clean the yard a bit.

It depends upon my mood. If I want to clean out all of the metal in my yard (a seemingly daunting task!) I will search in all metal mode. If I want to try to find coins, I will set my second descrimination to just above pull tabs (this is for my Tejon). I have found many large pieces of iron in my yard, so I need to eventually remove them anyway in case they are masking coins.
 

fwcrawford

Full Member
Jan 7, 2008
139
4
Virginia
Detector(s) used
Minelab X-Terra 50, Minelab Musketeer Advantage, Tesoro Vaquero, Minelab Sovereign GT
I would continue to hunt the way you are doing now as long as you are finding coins and then when the good and loud signals are long gone, then change your tactiques and slow down and listen for and check any sound you get.
I have a site that a couple of friends and I hunted to death until we couldn't hardly get a signal and then I went back and found an 1892 barber dime at a mere 2" in the ground that gave an iffy signal.
I also found an 1896 Indian head cent which was the last coin I found here until I went back last summer to try out a new detector.
I hunted for an hour an a half and only found one coin.. a 1903 indian head cent and it was only about 3" deep!
It gave a very good signal and I don't see how we could have missed it on previous hunts, but yet it was still there.
I have found that the older coins usually don't start showing up until all of the good signals are gone.. maybe I'm hunting too fast or not listening for the faint signals.
I have quite a few sites that are still giving up good finds after much hunting and surprisingly they are not that deep.
Keep hitting that site and you will be rewarded.
Good luck,
Felix
 

filthyflyer39

Sr. Member
Oct 18, 2009
374
2
Illinois
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Cibola, Minelab Safari
I've been using a Tesoro for about a year now, and I've learned that if anything repeats, dig it. I've found my best coins lately by digging beeps i would normally never try
 

MaineRelic

Bronze Member
Mar 9, 2008
2,220
904
MAINE
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Tesorso's, Minelabs, Garrett's
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Chibuya said:
Detected my sister's front yard of her 1908 home (back yard is fake grass, so I can't dig).
This is the second time out with my Tesoro Vaquero and I'm surprised that I've only found modern pennies and two wheats from the 40's.

I've had other detectors so I'm fairly familiar with ground balancing. Stock coil. GBed, set the sensitivity at 8 or 9. Disc tabs and super tuned the threshold after ground balancing. Found modern pennies, two wheats an old spoon and a cool Pokemon token. When I had the Ace 250 I pulled a few modern dimes out and a nice Long Beach, CA 1935 dog tag. There's got to be more here.

I know I still need to learn the machine. Should I be digging the faint repeatable "blips" as well?

Any suggestions? Any repeatable two way signal is a sure dig no matter how faint. I have found that faint one way signals are usually a waste of valuable digging time , of course there are always exceptions. I believe the 14 kz line of tesoro detectors vaquero, cibola , absolutely love copper and brass, also does quite well with lead , and peweter. I do believe they are a little less forgiving on silver . MaineRelic

Thanks,
Stacey
 

birdman

Gold Member
Jan 28, 2005
7,458
2,393
Choctaw Beach Florida
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800 and ORX, tesoro Cibola with garret,whites and minelab pinpointers
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I used my V in an old yard where I used to live and found 100 plus old coins. Your sisters yard may have been hunted or maybe just not have had a whole lot of activity there. Old close lines are real productive. I have pulled gold rings from old close lines areas. The key is to dig everything above the iron setting.
 

Swartzie

Hero Member
Mar 15, 2009
791
52
Tuscarawas County, Ohio
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tejon
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Chibuya said:
As far as finding coins, I would be happy with an indian head at this point.

The indians I have found have hit below tab. Maybe like between nickle and tab. Try turning your disc down a bit.
-Swartzie
 

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