Got permission to hunt a camp!!

DigDugNY · Sep 3, 2008

I just got permission to metal detect this camp that was started in 1896.Its in Pennsylvania, not too far from where i live, so thats good. It hasnt really been hunted except for another member on here who said he metal detected there 20-30 years ago. So im hoping there are a lot of goodies left for me

Tom_in_CA · Sep 3, 2008

If the site is no secret to the history books, and has a history of heavy usage, I doubt that only "1 person 20 to 30 years ago" was the only one to ever hit it. Unless your area of the USA just doesn't have many hobbyists, no good site goes un-hit. Even if the current owner or manager tells you "no ones ever md'd it before", could simply mean he just simply doesn't know, or it was hit before his time, or he just never paid attention, or it was someone else who gave the "ok" in the past, etc... But give it a whirl, you never know!

hollowpointred · Sep 3, 2008

Tom_in_CA said:
If the site is no secret to the history books, and has a history of heavy usage, I doubt that only "1 person 20 to 30 years ago" was the only one to ever hit it. Unless your area of the USA just doesn't have many hobbyists, no good site goes un-hit. Even if the current owner or manager tells you "no ones ever md'd it before", could simply mean he just simply doesn't know, or it was hit before his time, or he just never paid attention, or it was someone else who gave the "ok" in the past, etc... But give it a whirl, you never know!

even if 100 guys hit it i wouldn't get to upset about it. i have hunted in lots of "cleaned out" spots and have found silver in most of them! especially if the area is wooded heavily, its just about impossible to swing a coil accurately enough to cover all of the ground. in reality we probably are only covering a small fraction of the ground... on our best days! sounds like a winner of a site Bobby. I'm jealous! :wink:

The.Boomer · Sep 3, 2008

I know exactly what your talkin bout Bobby. Plenty of virgin places left. I find them all the time, even parks. Guess MDing just hasn't been as popular in our areas as it has been in other west coast areas. Good luck and HH, waiting to see some good finds posted. :thumbsup:

DigDugNY · Sep 3, 2008

Yea, im wicked pumped about it. I havent found any real old coins yet, so im waiting for that experience!!!! and i think this place will be it

The.Boomer · Sep 4, 2008

When you get there, the first thing to do is think of what looks like a likely spot. Then look for the unlikely spots and start at the unlikely spots. These are the areas that will tell you how heavily the site has been hunted if at all. There have been people good enough with their machines to cherry pick the gold and silver but not without digging the copper and aluminum as well. If you find wheat pennies or pull tabs your likely to find silver or gold. It's usually just a matter of time and effort. I like to hunt this one played out old park because I still pull silver out of it by hunting in unlikely spots. I'm convinced that sooner or later I'llfind that dream spot, a virgin park. There's so many around me it'll take years before I can test them all. For Instance in one 20 sq. mile area I counted 32 parks on my map. Some of these are really old and huge county parks. No matter how heavily they may have been hunted over the years there's just no way they've been cleaned out. Then there's the smaller little town and village parks. I went to one the other day that was so heavy laden with clad I was finding it on the surface so much so that I barely got to diggin any in the 2 hours I had to spend. when I did dig I found 2 Wheaties out of ten coins dug. I'm pretty sure this ones gonna work out to be virgin. P.S. also found a real nice silver ring with an uncut ruby center at the soccor Field in this same park. But then the kids started showing up for soccor practice so I called it a day. Can't wait to get back there, but I'm in no rush. It lasted this long I'm sure it will wait another couple weeks. One of the things that amateurs do is give up too early. See allot of times you have to really heavily hunt the same area to get allot of the trash and clad outta the way in order to reduce their ability to mask the older coins. Like I said Bobby can't wait to see what you find let me know if you need any help or tips.

DigDugNY · Sep 4, 2008

Since this place dates back to 1896, what kind of coins do you expect i should find and how old of dates should there be? I mean i dont know if the place was used for anything before that, but im talkin at least in that time range

hollowpointred · Sep 4, 2008

Bobby S said:
Since this place dates back to 1896, what kind of coins do you expect i should find and how old of dates should there be? I mean i dont know if the place was used for anything before that, but im talkin at least in that time range

its hard to say since sites don't always follow the rules but logic would say Indian Head pennies Barber coins, Mercs, Wheat's. one tip about hunting in the woods. waaay back in the day, before cars and TV and all of the other things we have for entertainment, people would sometimes gather at scenic overlooks, the tops of hills, to hang out, have picnics and just plain old socialise.if you can find such a place, the top of a big hill with a relatively flat area to hang out in, hunt it hard! :wink:

TerryC · Sep 4, 2008

Hunt every site like it's the first time for that site and like it's the last time you will get the chance! Remember, a site that has been "cleaned out" 20 or 30 years ago, hasn't seen today's better detectors.... a whole new ball game. Everytime someone tells me a site has been hunted out, I am inspired to prove them wrong... even if just one wheat is all I get. Different day, different detector, approach, attitude... no place is ever hunted out (except for the person who can't find anymore). TTC

DigDugNY · Sep 4, 2008

Ok, so i have the standard 9" coil for my minelab xterra 50 and also the 10" 7.5 khz DD coil. Im not as use to the 10" coil, and i cant bring both...so which one should i use for coin hunting?

The.Boomer · Sep 4, 2008

The 10" DD coil will help with target separation as well as better depth. As for where to hunt, again there is no real rhyme nor reason. Every time I hear someone state a hard and fast rule I cringe because i just know someone else will be finding what they are leaving behind.I've hunted the wide open spaces, the tot lots, the lakes, the edges, the woods, the trails, the hill tops, the hill slopes, the hill botoms, the entrances and exits. If you can name it I've hunted it and I gotta tell you, your just as likely to find good stuff at any of them. I'd say it's all just an odds game the more targets you dig the more good finds you'll make, yes it is that simple. If you really wanna find the good stuff then dig any solid signal, even the Iron signals because many deeper finds will read like iron. Most people who don't find the good stuff are usually at a location that never really had much or they just haven't spent enough time diggin targets, They dig a hundred pull tabs and then decide to Disc. them out. Could have been their ratio of good finds was 101 pull tabs for every one good find. Expect to find anything and every thing, I just saw a post the other day of a MDer who is hunting an allyway in Michigan and finds some Roman coins, crazy huh ?