First time out in New Year - VERY unusual day out

[doninbrewster]

Went out the first time this year and had a very unusual day. 28 Nickels! I've been detecting for 35 years and never found so many in one day. I started out hunting a house built prior to 1757 that I had hunted many times before. Figured I'd give it another shot. I did find a musket ball and old skeleton key, but the ground was quite frozen and digging was tough. I figured I'd head to a local school yard that had been pounded by many TH'ers. I knew all the easy stuff was gone and decided to hunt it slow and go for the deep stuff and maybe pull a gold ring if one was lying around. The school yard isn't that big either being an elementary school and less than the size of a football field. The result of going for the gold was 28 nickels including one war nickel and 3 buffalos. I also got a couple of deep silver dimes and 11 wheaties. To give you an idea how hard this place has been hunted, I didn't dig a single clad. Normally I wouldn't even both to post these finds, but the 28 nickels really surprised me. Made me think how many people are passing over the gold. Good rule of thumb, go slow and listen carefully.

 

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[pong12211]

Looks like a good day to me. Thanks for sharing.

 

[FragFox]

That was better than my day. Yes, I am new aka a newb. I am sore from jumping on the shovel, trying to break through the frozen morning ground. As the day went on the digging got easier. The finds did not. I use a military canteen pouch for my finds. It is overflowing from the crap i dug up. A long tiring day but I am ready again today! Just one coin would have been nice yesterday but I am not discouraged. I just have to readjust some strategy and spend more time on the new MD.

Congratulations on your day though!!!!

 

[doninbrewster]

That was better than my day. Yes, I am new aka a newb. I am sore from jumping on the shovel, trying to break through the frozen morning ground. As the day went on the digging got easier. The finds did not. I use a military canteen pouch for my finds. It is overflowing from the crap i dug up. A long tiring day but I am ready again today! Just one coin would have been nice yesterday but I am not discouraged. I just have to readjust some strategy and spend more time on the new MD.

Congratulations on your day though!!!!

Don't get discouraged Frag. I dig lots of junk too, but with practice it gets easier. Listen closely to the signals you get and learn from them. You'll also learn that those large signals are usually junk and start avoiding them. If you don't like jumping on the shovel, try finding some woods to detect near old houses. The woods freeze last. The leaves act as insulation. You might find that even though you don't find as many targets, the chance of finding the older coins are much better. Most schools and parks have been detected for years and there's not much left in the old coins. You can use them for practice on the newer stuff.

Please remember, when you finish digging a target that you leave the hole so it's hard to tell you were ever there or dug a hole. Try and dig a neat plug and push all the dirt back in when you are finished. Practice in your yard if needed. There are some towns that have banned metal detecting because someone went in and left ugly holes. When detecting in the woods you don't have to be as neat, but you still have to fill your holes.

 

[Trezurehunter]

I like the silver dimes & skeleton key.

 

[beez0404]

I think Mr. Roosevelt would be upset if he were to find out that you wouldn't have posted if it hadn't been for all the nickels. He's shiny, silver, and found from a hunted out school. So while they're just plain old silver dimes, your prowess with that CTX allowed you to find them where everyone else had missed them. That in itself is worthy of a post. Great Job!

 

[dirtlooter]

pretty impressive on the nickles, I am very surprised that you didn't find gold with that many

 

[Ahab8]

Yup I'm amazed at how many people don't dig those signals. Crazy in my opinion and I've dug so many good buttons and other things in that range. But hey it's more for us right. Very nice hunt bud

 

[CityDigger]

Right when I think I've got a good grip on this hobby, I read something that makes me scratch my head. Please explain to me why you would expect to dig something gold when digging that many nickels. Do both show up in the same number range?

 

[Argentium]

I get pretty happy if I'm in a park or athletic field (school ball field ) and I'm finding lot's of nickels - It's a decent indication that
if the place is getting hunted regularly , the people detecting it are discriminating out the nickels and the gold rings too.

 

[Ahab8]

Right when I think I've got a good grip on this hobby, I read something that makes me scratch my head. Please explain to me why you would expect to dig something gold when digging that many nickels. Do both show up in the same number range?

Yes that's exactly right. Gold will normally come up in a very similar range to a nickel signal.

 

[CityDigger]

Thanks guys. I don't hit the parks at all and focus strictly on CW and Colonial sites so digging the mid-range is the norm for me. Didn't realize that people would be disc-ing out up that high.

 

[Ahab8]

Thanks guys. I don't hit the parks at all and focus strictly on CW and Colonial sites so digging the mid-range is the norm for me. Didn't realize that people would be disc-ing out up that high.

Yeah it blows my mind that people don't just dig everything over iron but to each there own

 

[RobRieman]

I love it when there's only nickels left! Nobodies been huntin the gold there.