Have you ever truly given up on a site?

[DiamondDan]

Went to a spot yesterday that I have hit countless times before. It's the picture perfect spot. Ancient city park, turn of the century houses, massive old trees... I never find anything there. Maybe a crusty zinc or two, but I cannot bring myself to give it up! No doubt it has been pounded for decades, but there has to be something there! I always leave disappointed, though. I'm extremely stubborn.

Does there ever come a time when you throw in the towel on a site? I'm reaching that point, but it'll be kicking and screaming.

 

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[caretaker]

been hunting the same 4 sites for 10 years, and when I think they are done giving, up pops something good, went back to a spot last Saturday, just for the exercise, Bamm, out pops a 1853 LC

 

[DiamondDan]

been hunting the same 4 sites for 10 years, and when I think they are done giving, up pops something good, went back to a spot last Saturday, just for the exercise, Bamm, out pops a 1853 LC

That is what I'm hoping will happen. To be fair, the park is pretty close to my house, there's never anyone there, and it is huge. I just keep thinking "what if"? That's what keeps me going back. Man, it can be rough going when nothing comes outta there, though. On the other hand, there has GOT to be something still in the ground that will blow my socks off.

 

[SD51]

Know what you mean... I'm going to predict there's some real keepers hiding there next to some nails or other trash. Go super slow with your E-TRAC in a very small area and dig every signal, especially the deep, iffy ones and see what happens.

 

[SD51]

Sorry, had to add this... set the E-TRAC for difficult ground and high trash so when it sees trash next to a coin, it will show the coin. Also, as you probably already know, the deeper the coin, the higher the fe number will be. It won't be "12" but can be in the low "20's" due to all the mineralization between the coil and the coin.

 

[DiamondDan]

Sorry, had to add this... set the E-TRAC for difficult ground and high trash so when it sees trash next to a coin, it will show the coin. Also, as you probably already know, the deeper the coin, the higher the fe number will be. It won't be "12" but can be in the low "20's" due to all the mineralization between the coil and the coin.

Thanks for the pointers. Yep, I always run the settings as you describe them. I've only been using my Etrac for just under a year I think, so I'm still learning it. It's a great machine. My challenge with using it is slowing down lol. When I get tired of creeping along sometimes I'll grab my m6 out of the car and get in my speed-detecting fix

 

[SD51]

Dan, I know the E-TRAC goes deep and works best when I go slow so try this technique....

When we all get to a huge park (as an example) we want to cover as much ground as possible. Forget about covering the park and pick a very small area where there's trees. Pick a path to a tree of about 50 to 100 feet and very slowly cover every square foot all the way to the tree. Then go back to your original starting point, move left or right 6 feet and repeat working the entire path to the tree. This will force you to concentrate on every signal. It's a killer way to cover the ground and don't be afraid to did every pulltab signal and Gold will surface for you. Don't be in a big hurry!

 

[djackson7348]

I would keep looking, slow and steady. You may be at a site that has been landscaped back when and now everything has more cover due to fill dirt being added. If it has been a park for many years, stuff is there. Best of luck.

 

[DiamondDan]

You guys have restored my confidence. Patience is a virtue, although it's not my strongest suit! I'll take your advice and keep after it. Thanks!

 

[VTColonialDigger]

People may have detected it before, but they had to leave at least a few things. Also detectors have advanced so much in the past few years, even if it was detected in the 90's, the machines then were far less sensitive than today's detectors. There has to be some stuff left there for you to find!

 

[SD51]

People may have detected it before, but they had to leave at least a few things. Also detectors have advanced so much in the past few years, even if it was detected in the 90's, the machines then were far less sensitive than today's detectors. There has to be some stuff left there for you to find!

VT is Dead On! Most people cheery pick and leave the best stuff!

 

[SD51]

Don't want to beat this to death but I'm trapped indoors...

The time I decided to dig every pulltab signal in an open park field, here's what happened;

This guy surfaces, sterling ring


After about another 20 of these;


This guy says, "Thanks" (sterling);


About an hour and 25 more pulltabs, I get another classic pulltab signal and got a huge surprise;


yup it's sterling;


then the best surprise, another pulltab - NOT;


The sterling rings and the bracelet read just like a pulltab because they were laying in the ground with a narrow section facing upward so there's not much surface area detected. Dig those pulltabs the next time you go out. I only had to dig around 80 of those beauties that day. If you come onto a site that has a ton of pulltabs say, "THANK-YOU" because they will be hiding some great finds!

The same open area in this park has another small section that's loaded with square nails from the 1800s. I know they are hiding some keepers too!

 

[DiamondDan]

Wow. That's an awesome hunt, for sure! Don't worry about overposting lol. That's what the forum is for.

 

[Peyton Manning]

Went last week to a house built in 1900, waaay too much trash
Done with that one

 

[ARC]

Yes... many times.

 

[Zincoln Miner]

You'll be surprised at what one finds when working slow, and removing some trash.

Edit: There's truth in my signature.

 

[SD51]

Went last week to a house built in 1900, waaay too much trash
Done with that one

See if you have run into this when that happens Peyton; I usually find the yard behind an older home loaded with trash, but the front yard seems to have a lot less trash. I know they probably didn't have community dumps back then, so most people just burned or buried their junk. But, many times it seems like they just opened the back door and launched their junk.

 

[Georgivs]

Never dug out! Great finds you got, I usually have to dig 99 pull tabs to get one keeper! Also the only place I've ever given up on is my back yard. And that's b/c I've gone though and sifted most of it.

 

[CASPER-2]

You should be able to find an article here I did titled "Hitting Farm Fields Forever"
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/
when i was yound (late 70s early 80s) a friend and i would hit a colonial farm fields for a day and always got goodies
we worked them for the day gridding pretty good but no matter how good we did for finds (and back then we did pretty good at most)
we never thought to go back to the same spots thinking if we hit them good - we got most of it never thinking that with each season
other finds could be turned up - we learned our lesson after yrs gone by and finding out guys were finding all kinds of other
colonial fiinds such as GW buttons, tree coins, and cobs as well as all types of coppers that got turned up - I got spots now
that I hit at least once a year and though all the larger stuff has been found - I will still come up with tiny buttons and
small silver now and then as well as tiny bits and pieces of colonial artifacts

 

[ARC]

There was a spot I appropriately named "pull tab park"...

Upon first swing a hit... 3 pull tabs... and this continued for an hour.

Turns out this park was a drinking spot for eons.

I have never seen so many pull tabs in one spot in my life.

This spot pissed me off for it was the first spot I quit on never to return.

Has a couple of other spots that ranked up there with so much trash I would need a garden cart to pull behind me to avoid tossing it all back.

After an hour of trash and drag it to toss... I always would think...

"let sleeping dogs lie".