E-Trac vs. E-Trac - Got my butt kicked by a newbie - Also found a WWI Dog Tag

[Dr. Ace]

Hi Everybody,

drodda777 and I got out for a hunt today. The weather was perfect - nearly 70 degrees and sunny. Drodda777 is new to detecting, having bought his first detector, a Minelab E-Trac, barely three weeks ago (what a way to start!). In all fairness, I got mine at the same time, but I have an extra year and a half detecting experience with my Ace 250. Since we live only 20 miles apart, we decided to get together and compare notes and do a hunt together.

We headed out to a nearby town that has an old school building. It was built in 1929 and last used in the mid 1940s. We knew it had been hunted quite a bit before, but we thought it would be a good challenge for our detectors to see what else there was to find. We spent about three hours scouring the grounds. drodda777 found three wheats and two 1950s era nickels. I managed one wheat and two memorial pennies.

It was 1:30 and we decided to head to a nearby town for lunch. The closest town only had a convenience store (no restaurants), so we picked up a couple of expensive sandwiches (three bucks each for two slices of bread with one slice of processed cheese and a few slices of turkey between them). After our delicious meal, we decided to head into town to see if there were any parks to detect. We found a couple, but nothing that looked very promising. One was a small city park with a modern playground, and the other was across the street. It was probably the smallest park I have ever seen. The total park couldn't have been more than 50' by 100'. It had a small gazebo/band stand and a flag pole. (75% of the park is shown in this picture. Almost all of the coins were found in the area pictured.)



We thought we might find a few dollars in clad, so we decided to stop for a few minutes and check it out. I immediately found a clad quarter and a harmonica reed. drodda777 soon found a wheatie, followed by another. By now, I was feeling pretty low. He was up to 5 wheaties for the day, and I only had one. After a bit, though, I started finding wheaties. First one or two, then more coming regularly. Just when I started feeling good about things, drodda777 announced he had found a Mercury dime. This changed things. Then he found a second Mercury. I continued to find wheaties, but anything else eluded me. I tried varying my discrimination settings, changing my sensitivity, deep on - deep off, normal soil - difficult soil. But still I was only finding wheat cents. After awhile, drodda777 did the happy dance and came over to show me a very fine V nickel he had plucked from the ground. The best I could do was to find a few more wheaties. When it was time to go, we tallied up our finds. drodda777 had 7 wheats, two Mercs and a V nickel. I managed 12 wheats ('16, '29S, '34, '39, '41, '41D, '44, '44D, '44S, '45, '46, '50D) and about 50 cents in clad.



I'm not complaining, this was three times more wheats than I have ever found in a day, so it was a good day for me. But drodda777 was on fire. I had been tromped by a novice!!

It was a good chance to learn our detectors better. I learned that I need to dig more signals. drodda777 was digging anything that was repeatable. I was going more for the sure thing. He dug a lot more trash than I did, but he also got more goodies. The other thing I came away with is that I need to get a pinpointer. drodda777 has a Sunray X-1 probe, and he made good use of it. A couple of times I called him over to help me find a problem target, and he was able to do it easily with his probe.

Congrats to drodda777! I look forward to going out again with him soon. Look at his post and pics of his finds here http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,232994.0.html.

One other thing. I found this disc.



It has a person's full name on it and 'U.S.A.' underneath. Does anybody have any idea what this could be? It is probably circa WWII era.

Thanks for looking!

HH,

Dr. Ace

 

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[Dr. Ace]

Re: E-Trac vs. E-Trac - Got my butt kicked by a newbie

The person who finds the most "oldies" is the winner after a day's hunt. That's the way we compare each others' finds over here. When I say oldies, I mean any wheatie or earlier for the copper, any silver coin, or any tokens or older relics dating before WWII. I know we'd rather find the silver coins over the wheats, but that's just the luck of the swing. The skill is how many can you find.

Thanks Dan. I knew there was some way to look at this to come out the winner But we both had a great time. But drodda777 had a great day - and I'm sure he will continue to make many amazing discoveries. I think he is really hooked. I know I would be with the great finds he has been making.

Thanks for all your help and advice, my friend.

Good luck on your next hunt!

if you cant find the next of kin maybe you could turn it over to the local historian
never know when thay can be of help finding great places to detect

Thanks fmerg. That is a good idea. I'm going to research his obituary that drodda777 found a reference to. If that doesn't pan out, I'll go from there.

Looks like a pretty nice hunt on both sides....
Always nice to make new friends...rivals...etc....

lairom, you are exactly right. It is always fun to have a good detecting partner. Spouses, etc. aren't always so interested in hearing all the details of a hunt, so it's nice to have someone else to share the passion (like everybody here on Tnet).

 

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[allen]

looks like you two had a good day of detecting ..

 

[Dr. Ace]

Re: E-Trac vs. E-Trac - Got my butt kicked by a newbie - Also found a WWI Dog Ta

excellent find and info on the dog tag

Thanks Sniffer. I appreciate it!

Seems to me that you guys had a great day. Forget the sandwiches. I wish I had someone to hunt with. It's so much more fun, than going at it alone. Congrats and keep it up.

You're right, acehunter, we did have a great day. I hope we get out again soon.

Good luck on your next hunt

Ace, I think you both had excellent finds, major congrats on the dog tag!!!!

Thanks Finman! I agree, the dog tag is cool. I had no idea what it was when I first dug it up. At first I was hoping it might be a half dollar, since that's the size it was. Then I realized it was aluminum. Then I could kind of make out some writing on it, but I couldn't read it until I got it home and cleaned it up.

You can try going over to the American Legion or the War Vets in that town
and, see if maybe they know any one from his family.
I'm sure they do. This way you can give it to his family.
They would love it.

p.s. I love my etrac too!!!

bluefin, that a good idea. I am going to the county court house today, and I'm going to stop at the veteran's affairs office and see if they have any advice to give.

Glad you're enjoying your E-Trac. I think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread! HH.

looks like you two had a good day of detecting ..

Thanks allen. Yes, we had a great day. The weather was perfect, so was the company, and so were the finds!

 

[Hardrock]

Drodda: Gotta love the E-trac,wow they are great,sounds like a fun hunt maybe we will hook up sometime and go head to head, Hardrock

 

[Detectingfreak]

Nice job on the WWI tag!

 

[moholedigger]

Some more INFO about Delmar.

Along with mother Francis and brother Willard, lived in Richland, Warren Co., IA in 1930. Born in Cardona. Mothers maiden name was Buttrey. Father's name was Mathias. Also had an older sister (Nora).

 

[STH69]

nice