Depressing

[Smudge]

Man, lousy day yesterday.

First time I'd been able to go detecting in nearly a month. I had the park all scoped out. Plenty of good potential, isolated, long history, seemed perfect.

Well, someone else must have gotten the same idea because I've never been so skunked in my life. Couldn't hardly hit anything. Even junk. That park was so clean.

Went to another park I had great success at and only found a little, Finally called it quits and less than twenty cents in clad. Not even a quarter or a nickel.

I've been at this for six months now, mostly beach hunting, and haven't found squat. I've dug plenty of garbage, I'm not afraid of doing that. But in the last six months, I think I've had two "successful" hunts.

I've got to be doing something wrong. Ugh. Not whining, just a bit frustrated.

I'm going out three times next week since I'm on vacation.

There's gotta be some major bling just waiting for me. I know it.

 

[M-Taliesin]

Howdy Pardner!
Sorry to hear your hunts ain't productive. I have success on every single hunt I undertake.
You can check out a couple of my recent posts to see what I mean. And I ain't been on T-Net much lately.
My last forray gave up an 18k ring, and 18k post style earring, and a 925 silver bracelet.

So the question arises, what can you do to improve your odds? I hope to help you with that.

Since I have no idea how long you been 'tectin', I apologize in advance if this is stuff you already know.

First, focus on places that have high traffic. While it is good to scout out old sites where silver coins might lurk, it doesn't help much if you dont find anything. Going to a higher traffic area after a deflating episode like that can help bolster your spirits.

Schools are usually good because they have lots of traffic, every single day of the school year. Athletic fields are also great, along with spectator areas. Baseball fields, soccer fields, football fields, all can prove productive. Don't neglect those sidelines where players view the action, or farther out, where spectators sit to enjoy the games. Under bleachers can prove amazing.

One of my favorites is easements. That little strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street. You'd be amazed at what you can find in those. Focus on older neighborhoods. Find the oldest parts of town and hunt the easements there. You'll also find those islands of ground between lanes of a street or avenue can prove productive as well. Don't feel too shy about knocking on doors in them older neighborhoods either. Their yards, particularly if never hunted before, can prove amazingly rewarding.

As for that park you hunted without much reward, it may be that it got hunted by somebody else, but nobody ever gets it all. It is entirely possible that the place got re-landscaped and old soil was pulled out and new soil brought in, or new soil added to build up the soil already there. If that is the case, coins may have gotten removed or simply buried too deep to detect.

I'm hoping some of these ideas will help something click in your mind, so your next post will be boastful of all the gold and silver you found on your most recent hunt.

Blessings of the Season,
M-Taliesin

 

[m bryan]

Good post..........One of my favorite places around old house places is where they parked their cars. Getting in and out of cars they drop coins.....around where the front porch was is usually good....and under close lines...

 

[bigtim1973]

Do not give up at all......I been there alot. Heck i have not even detected this year due to some things that happened in my life but I am going next week. If I were you I would take the advice already given but also as far as old houses go, try to go out into the country and look for an old farm house or something. I know clad does add up for batteries and such but there is nothing like digging up an old mercury dime or indian head penny. The odds are better on the path less traveled and your chances of digging up some old silver is more promising. If you live in town and you think of a place that might be promising, odds are it has already been searched because someone else has thought of that before you did. Do not be afraid to check open fields and old abandoned lots in town either because alot of times that is where kids used to play ball and stuff. Do not give up just be a little more patient and it will pay off. Merry Christmas, Tim

 

[dogpound]

i try and hit beaches early or late evening, low tide and after storms when sand is moved, after busy weekends. same goes for the parks except for the low tide part finding good unhunted spots gets tough, research is key and think outa the box alittle on places to hunt.
good luck and HH

 

[m bryan]

Another thing about old home sites is you can usually find the garbage dump by how your detector reacts when you get around it. Broken and eratic signals usually means lots of trash such as lids,nails etc.(dont discriminate if you are hunting the dump). Garbage dumps were usually in the back of the house. The lay of the land can help. Usually houses were built on the higher spots. If the dump is on somewhat of a slope it usually means that the back porch was uphill from the dump, then look at the lay of the land an you can visualize where the house was and the front porch and where they parked their cars or buggies...

 

[Toby1858]

I know how you feel Smudge. 99 percent of my hunts turn out maybe 1 percent of good finds!! Sometimes I get mad and blame my M6, or stop in the middle of a hunt and think ''What the freak am I doing here!! There is'nt anything here!!'' That's when ''It's not in the finds but the finding'' phrase comes to mind and if it did'nt I might go nutty!! Keep at it and hope you dig something good on your next outing!

 

[miamidave]

where do you live and what kind of machine do you use?
I used to live in polk county and might be able to give you some spots to hunt if you are in that area

 

[LM]

When this hobby really 'took' in the 1960's and into the 1970's (probably due to advances in size and costs associated with MD technology) the early pioneers had the entirety of history, up to that point, full of stuff to dig up. They had all the jewelry anyone who ever swam that particular beach ever lost... They had all the coins anyone who ever played in that park ever lost.

This dynamic is a large part of the reason why Treasure magazines prior to 1980 are just so fun to read. Man, what prime pickings it was, back then. There was that one guy- Arnie Something-Or-Other- featured in treasure mag ads in the late 70's and early 80's (for Whites, I think) who completed a set of Mercury Dimes with a MD- including the 16-D... Actually met the dude. He had a home in St. Augustine, my old hometown. Went to a garage sale he was having where he was selling off a lot of his finds from over the years. Meeting him and seeing his ridiculous successes first-hand and up close was actually what initiated my interest in land metal detecting, years ago...

I think a lot of the paradigms in this hobby have shifted, yet people still insist on plying the old (and outdated) MD strategies. Perhaps PI might re-open some old territories, but other than that, wandering around beaches and parks hoping to swing your coil over the one spot where someone recently lost something valuable is like throwing darts at flies. To some, it pays off just enough to keep them interested- certainly, forums like this and the claims made of fantastic finds definitely keep the fires stoked... To others, though, it's probably worth reexamining where you hunt and why you're hunting there. If you're just out for the exercise or to kill time, then sure, go swing wherever will have you, but for people who kinda-sorta want to find decent stuff, there might be better places to look than beaches or parks that have been beaten to death.

 

[M-Taliesin]

Howdy Amigo!
Hope your holiday is going just fantastic.
As for finding decent stuff, I do so on nearly every hunt.
Last time out before yesterday, I found an 18k gold ring, and an 18k gold post earring.
Yesterday I found a 10k gold ring, a 14k gold ring, and a 14k gold earring.
Along with that, I also found a silver ring.
All together, I found 6 rings and a whole mess of clad.
Point being, people lose stuff every day. Finding it is just a matter or figuring out where they were.

Amazing as it may seem, last year while hunting with my pardner, I found an 1889 Morgan dollar at an elementary school tot lot. It was an inch down in wood chips, and when I found it, I was thunderstruck. Why it would be on a tot lot is anybody's guess. How it got there, a matter of conjecture. But there it was, much to my great delight. And it is in real good condition. It was obviously a recent drop, but I felt no need to over-analyze the situation. I was simply happy to have it. My pardner, who witnessed me finding that coin, ain't been right since! I might go so far as to describe his reaction as flabbergasted.

I go out on every hunt expecting to find gold and silver. Rarely am I disappointed. Some folks don't believe I find what I do, but that doesn't matter one little bit to my bank account. So long as I keep finding gold, I have no regret other than I wish I'd started detecting much sooner than I did. I've been hunting now for 3 1/2 years, and score gold and silver with alarming regularity.

While the fertile fields of yesteryear may have been amazing to hunt, I don't feel shorted none so long as I keep finding gold and silver on nearly every hunt. Do I sometimes come up dry? Sure. Do I get skunked on a hunt? Never!

There is great stuff to find out there. Everywhere I've ever been, I've found something to keep my hunts interesting. Last year I stopped at Colby Kansas while passing through on a trip back east. I hit a local park so the dog could get out for a stretch. Got out my detector, and bam!!! I found the place infested with coins and jewelry! I had a terrific hunt and cleared over 100 coins in 45 minutes. Nice!

On a trip through Oklahoma, again stopping to let the dog do his thing, I got my detector out and started swinging just to kill time. This was at an old school on the east side of Oklahoma City. While the dog worked through his decision making process about where to do his business, I got a hit that looked to be 6 inches down. I dug it up and was pleasantly surprised to find a 1942 war nickel. It was the first of several targets I found, and I'd only been swinging like 3 minutes.

Up in Brighton Colorado, where I work, I found an 1895 'O' Barber dime. I'd never seen one before and didn't even know what I had. When I told a friend about it, he was beside himself. He explained that I'd found a key date coin worth nearly $400 bucks. I found it in that strip of grass between the sidewalk and street in an older neighborhood in Brighton.

Wherever I go, and everytime I detect, I find something excellent, and that's why I keep detecting.

The whole point being, the stuff is out there. Silver coins are still out there. Treasure is still being found. Guys and gals are still coming up with old coins every single day. Those old days when silver was plentiful don't detract much from how much was lost and still awaiting recovery. And the beauty is, I look forward to every hunt knowing I'll bring home something outstanding. If not today, then certainly tomorrow.

When I first was looking at detectors, the local dealer told me that 10% of the guys who hunt find 90% of the good stuff. I decided right then and there that I'd be one of those in the 10% range. I believe in myself, my machine and my techniques. And the result speaks for itself.

So don't lose heart, my friend. Try different places, different times, different perspectives. Be alert to gatherings that draw large crowds to parks and other locations, and hunt them before anybody else after the event. Sombody was bound to lose something.
Try those easements and research older neighborhoods. The stuff is still there, but we work a bit more to get it these days.

Good luck to you, and happy hunting!

Blessings,
M-Taliesin

 

[Smudge]

Thanks for the encouragement everybody. I appreciate it and the advice.

I do use a PI detector, but only at the beach. On land, I like a little discriminating capability because retrieving targets isn't as easy.

Right now my primary land detector is the simple Tesoro Compadre and I have no complaints with it at all. It's really sensitive to small targets and it also hits on anything good less than 6", which is plenty deep for me right now.

I guess everyone's point is the easy days of metal detecting may be over, but there's plenty to be found, which I wholeheartedly agree with. I guess I just need to get a little creative in my thinking of where to go.

Merry Christmas to everybody. Hope Santa was good to you!

 

[dpitt8]

*hugs of encouragement for Smudge* and here is something to lighten your mood.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

there are many other funny sites linked from that one so have fun exploring them.

 

[Iskuli]

Smudge - everyone has already given great advise on this thread. I would just add getting to know your machine is a great way to gain confidence! Tot lots, schools and city parks are a great place to practice because you will always find coins, jewelry and surprises. I have been hunting for 4 years. I just turned in all my accumulated gold for over $3,600 dollars. I told my husband my hobby is netting almost 1,000 per year. I have been finding about 100 rings a year. I never get skunked because I have my hunting spots figured out, my techniques work for me, and I know my machine. The biggest problem I see with people just starting out is that they swing the loop to fast and do that horizontal happy face. Slow down, don't waste the swing in the air to the right and left and until you are confident, go ahead and make a detecting grid. It's not rocket science, and you can absoutley have hunting success! Hang in there, follow the advise below and you'll be crowing about you finds in the new year. merry christmas.

 

[mud dog (aka) Salty Dog]

Don't go throwing in the towel just yet....Try hitting the tot lots at elementry schools and parks,sometimes you have to get creative on where to tect,soccer fields around basketball goals give up lots of goodies as well as clad,just a few places that work rather well for me!

 

[mrwilburino]

Only dig 3 inches or less, till you find a hiney spot.