Found my first coin today...old farmhouse question.

[DaneMom]

I got permission to dig an old farmhouse site. The house burned to the ground a few years back. There were SO MANY signals! I dug tons of nails, and other "house" parts. Any pointers on digging such a trashy site? As I was leaving I went around the oldest tree. I found my first coin! It isn't anything worthy but BOY was I excited when I saw that coin!! It is a 1942 penny. I also found a bullet. I think it is modern.

 

[Scrappy]

Use a small coil. Don't swing too fast. Maybe up the discrimination if your machine has it to avoid the heaviest iron.

If that doesn't work remove every nail

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats on scoring your first wheatie! It took me a couple of months to find my first. Make sure that you save that one.

As far as hunting a trashy site, it is tough. Unfortunately, the best way to hunt it is to dig the trash up and get it out of the way, so that you can hear the good targets. This can be a daunting task, and should only be used at a place that has proven potential to yield good targets.

Another thing that might help you is to bury some targets (test garden) and listen to them, so that you get an idea of what the good targets are supposed to sound like. You can bury some trash too, as well as co-located trash and good targets.

Good luck out there!

 

[cruiserkev]

A sniper coil on your 250 might help, it forces you to go slow as well. At first, I dug a ton of nails with my 250. The thing that helped me the most was learning the tones. After that I'd ignore the display and just dig by ear once I had those tones down. Nails usually give a little grunt at the end of the coil pass, coins won't. Good luck!

 

[Loco-Digger]

Congrats on the permission. I maintain low expectations when I dirt fish. A wheatie is a win in my world. Read the previous posts they all gave good advice.

 

[RustyGold]

Congratulations on your first score! A Wheat Penny is always a welcome find! Remember iron (ferrous) will mask (cover up) the good signal of a valuable object, so listen for multiple sounds that are near or on top of each other!
When locating a target that's interesting, swing the coil North & South then East and West over the target for more signal information and listen if it loses it's signal or if it remains the same. If a good strong signal both ways then investigate!
Best of luck out there!

 

[46Wheat]

Congrats on your first coin . My first was also a wheat (46Wheat LOL) . Just go low and slow an listen to what your machine is telling you . In those type of spots you usually end up digging a lot of trash to unmask the good stuff underneath . After you learn more of what you are hearing your machine saying it will get easier . But when in doubt dig it out ... only way to know for sure and you will get a pleasant surprise once in a while

 

[guardez]

Congrats on your first find. Carry this penny with you, it will now bring you good luck. Hope you find some gold coins.
GL and HH

Steve Guardez

 

[DaneMom]

I was using my 5 x8 small coil on the AT Pro. I had my iron disc on 22. I have been searching in Pro Zero mode. Should I use standard until I get better at the signals?

 

[DaneMom]

Well, it has never been dug but the house was really old. I would say 1900's . The owner came out when I getting ready to leave and walked around the property and gave me a better idea of where to focus. The owners wife lost a lot of jewelry in the fire. The jewelry box was on the second floor. The floor collapsed and the fire fighters found some pieces . Would the fire have melted most of the jewelry? I sure hope I can dig up some of his wife's stuff. That would be just awesome to be able to return that to her. I got 3 signals in the 90 range and pinpointed and dug. I didn't find anything. But boy I got excited when I got those high numbers!

 

[Carolina Tom]

I was using my 5 x8 small coil on the AT Pro. I had my iron disc on 22. I have been searching in Pro Zero mode. Should I use standard until I get better at the signals?

Your profile indicates that you are using an Ace 250. The AT Pro will do the trick, especially with the small coil. Pro zero is the way to go, it gives the most information. Listen for the high tones, repeatable high tones, and dig those signals. Make you a little practice garden, so that you know what target you are hearing.

It takes a little while to get used to pro zero, it sounds "busy" at first, but there is a lot of information in all that noise. You just have to spend some time practicing... the more you do it, the better you will get at it.

I look forward to seeing your finds. GL&HH!

 

[qaela4]

Congratulations on your fist Wheatie! I consider any hunt that gets a Wheatie or older for coinage a success. If no coins, than anything with history or that I think is cool does the trick. It doesn't take much to make an MDer happy.

 

[BigWaveDave]

I have hunted a similar site like yours twice, and I learned the best way to attack that type of site. Through the owners info, identify the exact footprint of the house, and work the outer perimeters, working closer to where the house was. Hopefully you will get several chances to hunt the site, and you can get practice discriminating out the trash as you get closer to the house site. Good luck!!!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Great first coin find! Congrats!

The more you know what your detector is telling you the better!

 

[DaneMom]

I have hunted a similar site like yours twice, and I learned the best way to attack that type of site. Through the owners info, identify the exact footprint of the house, and work the outer perimeters, working closer to where the house was. Hopefully you will get several chances to hunt the site, and you can get practice discriminating out the trash as you get closer to the house site. Good luck!!!

I am very lucky it is literally 4 houses down from mine. So, I can go as often as I can get the time to go. I looked on google map and it gave me some better clues too.

 

[villagenut]

If the farm house burned completely down, there will be a ton of nails and you may find yourself overwhelmed with masking problems. I would first take advantage of the permission by searching other good points of interest there first. As Dave said, the perimeter is good, especially where the porches were. Also look out back, where there would have been a clothesline strung between trees. If you got a couple trees twenty feet apart, search all around and in between. Mix your search areas and see what produces.

 

[RobRieman]

Cherry pick it first on the repeatable signals to get the easy finds and then work your way down the scale. The gold jewelry is going to come in low like most of the trash but any silver should ring up nice and high like a coin. If the place collapsed dig out all the cellar hole to get to the dirt and go through just about any signal above iron. If they haven't dozed it all your jewelry should still be waiting for you. Good luck!