Jeffro
Silver Member
They say no site is ever hunted out, but for those spots you come across that are (or seem to be) just TOO good.... here's what I do.
1. Do a general layout of the site, looking for the areas where people may have congregated, just like the books tell you to do. Pictures help, if you can come across any. Concentrate on these spots first, doing a quick sweep. Recover any targets, be they trash or goodies.
2. Cover any other ground between these areas moving fairly quickly. I don't mean a jogging speed, of course, but I do move at a decent pace with a quicker sweep speed.
After this initial sweep, you should be able to tell where people hung out mostly, from the targets you recover. A lot of cents come up in this first sweep, fewer good coins, and a lot of trash. Most targets I recover will be 1 or 2 inches deep, and I'll be able to cover a lot of ground in a shorter amount of time. This will also give a little indication of whether or not you may want to pursue the site much further.
3. Go back over the trashy areas and the areas you found more coins in, going at your regular search speed. You should have alot of trash out of the way, and now deeper targets and better coins will come up. Most of the loud cents are out of the way, too, so the quarters and nickels you missed earlier will start to show, and maybe even a few dimes.
4. Using the info you have gathered in the first two sweeps, gauge the areas where the coins are. You should have a really good idea at this point where the hot spots are. Go over these areas extra slow, bumping up your sensitivity. Listen for the whispers and the deep signals and get the goodies.
I use these techniques at most older houses that I gain permission for entry, and some older parks that don't get much use these days. Of course this is time consuming, and I do this over the course of several visits. I find this technique maximizes my time in the productive areas, and minimizes my time in the non-productive ones. I hate sweeping slow for long periods of time with no results-
No site is ever truly "hunted out", but I do my best.....
1. Do a general layout of the site, looking for the areas where people may have congregated, just like the books tell you to do. Pictures help, if you can come across any. Concentrate on these spots first, doing a quick sweep. Recover any targets, be they trash or goodies.
2. Cover any other ground between these areas moving fairly quickly. I don't mean a jogging speed, of course, but I do move at a decent pace with a quicker sweep speed.
After this initial sweep, you should be able to tell where people hung out mostly, from the targets you recover. A lot of cents come up in this first sweep, fewer good coins, and a lot of trash. Most targets I recover will be 1 or 2 inches deep, and I'll be able to cover a lot of ground in a shorter amount of time. This will also give a little indication of whether or not you may want to pursue the site much further.
3. Go back over the trashy areas and the areas you found more coins in, going at your regular search speed. You should have alot of trash out of the way, and now deeper targets and better coins will come up. Most of the loud cents are out of the way, too, so the quarters and nickels you missed earlier will start to show, and maybe even a few dimes.
4. Using the info you have gathered in the first two sweeps, gauge the areas where the coins are. You should have a really good idea at this point where the hot spots are. Go over these areas extra slow, bumping up your sensitivity. Listen for the whispers and the deep signals and get the goodies.
I use these techniques at most older houses that I gain permission for entry, and some older parks that don't get much use these days. Of course this is time consuming, and I do this over the course of several visits. I find this technique maximizes my time in the productive areas, and minimizes my time in the non-productive ones. I hate sweeping slow for long periods of time with no results-
No site is ever truly "hunted out", but I do my best.....
