Lesson Learned. Hunt Where You Would Never Hunt

[Mr Ripley]

Hi all, worlds worst detectorist here again.

I have been at it for three years plus now, and was getting a bit tired of clad finds. I lined up some permissions at some local one room schoolhouses in the past and found nothing but garbage. I did my homework on local history and habits, but could find nothing that was satisfying. One day I found 2 mercs within 10 minutes, never found anything silver again. My non clad finds were less than 1% of my total coins dug.

A little more than a week ago I decided to give it one last try. I drove by some brushy woods and thought to myself "Man, I would never hunt in there!". Then it hit me. I pulled in and hunted amongst the trees. I found two wheaties and two 1903 IH pennies. Cool.

Shortly thereafter I hunted a small triangle of grass on the ouskirts of a local park, very much off of the beaten path and covered with pines. To my astonishment I scored an 1899 Barber Dime and a no date large cent (after much soaking and superimposing of pictures it is the type minted between 1816 and 1839). Again I hunted someplace that I typically would not have bothered with. Apparently no other local hobbyists did either.

Went back to the triangle today and got another wheatie, my first buffalo nickle, a heavy sleigh bell, an old knife and what I think is an old boy scout tablet stove

Fifteen coins in the last two weeks, 53% pre 1960, 33% pre 1910 and 13% pre 1900.

These numbers and my new approach ought to keep my mind occupied through the long winter to come...

Thanks for letting me ramble,

Mr R

 

[PAULWYO]

WTG COOL FINDS

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Its great to find things off the beaten path. Alot of my bests have come from places where most peeps wouldn't bother to swing a coil, but the way I see it those trees, briars, prickers, vines, underbrush, etc... may not have been there X number of years ago when the goodies were dropped.

Now If I could only explain to the wife how I need new blue jeans every month.

 

[Marbleguy]

I do that where I live..

..in a ghost town called Trona in the California Mojave desert up against Death Valley. I hunt artifacts where all others who've hunted before never searched unlikely places. What I've uncovered here since 2003 has filled thru my donations the local museum and my house to the point I have made a trail to walk from my bedroom thru the livingroom to the kitchen. Wonderful things as Howard Carter once said when asked what he saw when he peered thru a hole into King Tut's tomb.

 

[civil war hunter]

Ya kind of have to think on where people walked,talked,sat,and hung there clothes or even where kids played. For instants like trees,beside houses,parking lot spots,near bird feeders,wells,pots and flowers,sidewalks,stumps,big big rocks,caves,lets see ESP under houses! Barns, some fields, some woods, my faverite now is churches and old houses... Anyhow HH

 

[RPG]

I find things in pastures and fields that shouldn't be there when looking for old home sites. I always wonder what I might find if I grid the whole place. Then I think it's not worth the effort to find a wheatie. But, you're right, you have to hunt where no one else has to find the good stuff.

 

[detectahead]

So true what your saying, never where you expect it and staring you in the face the whole time. One my favorites is between sidewalk and curb. Goodluck!

 

[shane41]

Sure some nice finds. I know what you mean about dreaming about MD'ing in the winter months. Being from Wisconsin I think this was my last week also... Unless we have a mild winter then maybe we can go out at swing the Ace 250.. Wish full thinking... Shane

 

[ivan salis]

metal detectors been around a good while -- the normal in the "box" areas most likely have been hit -- if hunting a hard hit area look for deep faint signals earlier model detectors might not have gotten to -- also look outside the "box" -- highly used areas back in the old days -- that today are brushy or not hunter freindly --remember it is what it was then-- not what it is now that makes a spot worth while --in some cases it still looks the same as the old days but often its not .

 

[civil war hunter]

The side walk is were I found the silver dime and quarter in the same hole! I bet the guy or kid or who ever wasent so happy looseing that!

So true what your saying, never where you expect it and staring you in the face the whole time. One my favorites is between sidewalk and curb. Goodluck!

 

[Mr Ripley]

Thanks all for the nice comments, I appreciate it.

This lesson makes me think of all the really insightfull things my father told me when I was young that only make sense now that I am older...I always knew that I had to think outside of the box, but I am just now realising that there is another box outside of that one...

HH all

Mr R

 

[muleskinner]

Cool finds! Feel free to ramble on, I"m listening and learning from you. Time to start thinking outside of the box.

 

[Michiganne]

Superb finds and even better advice.

Keep digging!

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Nice finds

Some of my best finds have been off the beaten path, you just never know unless you give it shot.

 

[1491]

Sometimes the 'cerebral' part of the hunt is the most fun. Nice digs.

 

[Lazy J]

Great finds and learning. I call it the ten foot rule. I go ten feet further than any other detector user. Or ask where others will not, or bush whack where others will not. It's the attitude not the literal distance. I dig garbage others will not. One of my favorite examples was I dug a screw cap that some one had probed with an ice pick. It had dents and holes in it. Underneath it was seven wheat pennies. We get out of it what we put into our hobby both thought and effort.

 

[halfdime]

Shhhhh! Don't let the secret out! What part of Western PA are you located? We can always use thinkers in our circle.

 

[Kiros32]

Shhhhh! Don't let the secret out! What part of Western PA are you located? We can always use thinkers in our circle.

Good job working the room Henry... haha

Nice finds man!

 

[johnnyi]

Sure some nice finds. I know what you mean about dreaming about MD'ing in the winter months. Being from Wisconsin I think this was my last week also... Unless we have a mild winter then maybe we can go out at swing the Ace 250.. Wish full thinking... Shane

Shane, if you'ver got the itch bad enough there are ways. My friends and I have built fires over good signals while field hunting, and one year a field was so good I cut ground with a mason's hammer and cold chisel. Your fingers get numb, but it is fun. About "off the beaten path" though; sometimes off the beaten path Was the beaten path long ago.

 

[Mr Ripley]

Shhhhh! Don't let the secret out! What part of Western PA are you located? We can always use thinkers in our circle.

Zeilie? Closer than you may think...

Kiros32 would have me escorted from the circle anyhow, my kid is a senior at Pitt.

Mr R