Modest silver haul but reached my 2016 goal early!!!!!

[Murray8144]

So I started detecting last summer thanks to having seen 'toasted' pull some seriously cool BANNER loot from our hometown in Maryland. Throughout the summer I dug a crapton of clad, but it wasn't until the fall that I started taking detecting somewhat seriously, meaning I started evaluating sites, doing research, etc. I also moved from the F2 to the AT Pro. I dug my first silver, a 1940 Walker, on Oct 8. For the rest of the calendar year, I did fairly well with what I call 'significant' finds. I ended up 2015 with 17 silvers, a KG1, and a couple IHPs and old Nickels.

So I set a personal goal for 2016 of 50 silvers.

I was well on my way to reaching that goal when, on February 20, I upgraded from the AT Pro to the E-Trac. Since then I've been pulling silvers and significant others at what I consider to be a more than satisfactory rate.

Today, with a 1929 Merc, I reached my 2016 goal of 50 silvers...in a little more than a quarter of the year. Many thanks to toasted, Anthony, and the lots of forum members who've graciously dished out solid advice.

Also pulled an OD Nickel, a Buffalo (my first with a decipherable date...1930 i think), and a tiny little button.



Now to another significant find...my old bottle of Lagavulin. time to celebrate/inebriate:



Thanks for reading/looking & happy hunting all!!

 

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[austin]

Leave some for the rest of us. The scotch too...

 

[Hunter101]

Nice going! Just curious though, what sorts of places do you hunt? I'm in my first season and there is only so much self esteem and patience for parks and not really old parks at that.

 

[McCDig]

Lagavulin - you ain't foolin' - you'll be droolin'! Congrats at F-I-F-T-Y!

 

[gheenoe78]

I have yet to find a buffalo nickle. Still looking...

 

[Murray8144]

Nice going! Just curious though, what sorts of places do you hunt? I'm in my first season and there is only so much self esteem and patience for parks and not really old parks at that.

mostly parks. i'm lucky because i'm in north jersey, about 20 minutes west of NYC. so there's a crapload of history around me, a crapload of people to have lost their change over the years, and some salty veterans from whom to learn. most of the places I hunt were developed around 1900, whether they be schools or parks. but at those places, the parks in particular, there's always the chance of scoring some colonial loot, as i've found out. of course the conventional wisdom is that these places have been pounded out. But so far not a single place around me has failed to produce. Once I score a silver or even a single wheatie in one place i just assume there's more silver...and there usually is. one school in particular i hunted a few times and finally struck silver. so i pounded it...and probably pulled 30 or so silvers and ihp's from that school lot. every time i assume the bowl is cashed it coughs up more. some hunts i strike out...some hunts i'll get one silver per hour or two, and some hunts it's several in an hour or two...just a matter of putting your coil over the shiny.

of course alot of it is a function of the propensity of the sites to have silver. a park that was developed in 1900 is GOING to have silver and IHPs in it. it's a lock. but the low-hanging fruit has been likely grabbed. what's left is deeper, somewhat masked, in bushes, under roots, at the periphery of the park, along the road where people are less comfortable detecting, in washouts, etc.

and i will stress that the detector has made an enormous difference. i found jack chit with the f2. did better with the AT Pro. but the etrac has been a vacuum.

stay away from the xp deus though...'toasted' uses it and all he finds is nails and pull tabs and the occasional 15-20 seated silvers from one field

 

[Murray8144]

I have yet to find a buffalo nickle. Still looking...

the one i found today was at two inches...no joke. almost wrote it off because of the indicated depth but i hadn't dug a plug in a while so i said what the hell. you never know. i love a good solid (or shaky) nickel signal...nickel signals are way more likely to have been passed up than a money dime signal

 

[Chizzy]

Great goin' for your first year!!
And, I second the sentiments of Hunter101........
I'm still less than 100 hours into dirt fishin' and have done some of the area parks..........older historic parks........
So far, it's been 3 Wheats and one '64 Rosie along with the modern coinage...........and a few interesting relics............
I do have permission to hunt several old farms, churches and homesteads this summer.......................................

 

[Murray8144]

Great goin' for your first year!!
And, I second the sentiments of Hunter101........
I'm still less than 100 hours into dirt fishin' and have done some of the area parks..........older historic parks........
So far, it's been 3 Wheats and one '64 Rosie along with the modern coinage...........and a few interesting relics............
I do have permission to hunt several old farms, churches and homesteads this summer.......................................

thanks man - much appreciated

if you have older historic parks i will bet my mortgage payment that there's silver there. there almost has to be.

I equate md'ing to fishing sometimes, especially when i'm slumping. when fishing, i prefer slow, methodical prodding of the water. but to do that requires concentration. i almost have to convince myself that there's a pig bass eyeballing my jig as i'm moving it along. it keeps my head in the game when otherwise i might lose concentration. same holds for md'ing. have a positive attitude and try to expect that that next solid signal at 6" is gonna be a shiny.

also i will say (granted i am by no means any kind of expert) that time on the detector, regardless of the model of detector, is paramount. it's a language. when i jumped from the f2 to the at pro i wanted to bend the at around a tree because i was so used to pulling mad clad with the f2. the at pro was a cacaphony of noise. but i soon learned to speak at pro, and the finds came. same with the etrac. i thought i made a $1,500 (i told the wife $250) mistake...but once i learned the basics of minelab language my successes came.

 

[Chizzy]

also i will say (granted i am by no means any kind of expert) that time on the detector, regardless of the model of detector, is paramount. it's a language. when i jumped from the f2 to the at pro i wanted to bend the at around a tree because i was so used to pulling mad clad with the f2. the at pro was a cacaphony of noise. but i soon learned to speak at pro, and the finds came. same with the etrac. i thought i made a $1,500 (i told the wife $250) mistake...but once i learned the basics of minelab language my successes came.

Agreed......I've learned to ignore the "chatter" of my Compadre and can recognize the foil chirps........pull tabs still get me, but they don't discourage my efforts. I do hesitate to dig much deeper than 8", however.........it just doesn't "feel" right to dig that deep in a park. I have never been criticized by the public for digging (I'm always mindful of leaving the sites as pristine as possible, I rotate to/from areas weekly where there have been good yields.............and I do pick up trash on the ground), the park maintenance staffs and LEOs stop to chat and joke with me , but still I hesitate to dig too deep............

 

[Murray8144]

Agreed......I've learned to ignore the "chatter" of my Compadre and can recognize the foil chirps........pull tabs still get me, but they don't discourage my efforts. I do hesitate to dig much deeper than 8", however.........it just doesn't "feel" right to dig that deep in a park. I have never been criticized by the public for digging (I'm always mindful of leaving the sites as pristine as possible, I rotate to/from areas weekly where there have been good yields.............and I do pick up trash on the ground), the park maintenance staffs and LEOs stop to chat and joke with me , but still I hesitate to dig too deep............

i'm with you 100% on 'leaving no trace'. imo it's not enough to just fill a hole. i don't think i'm done with a dig unless i can't even see where i dug. however, to that end, i've always thought a deeper plug contributes to me leaving no trace. my lesche is 7" i think...maybe 8" blade. what i won't do, if i had an indicated signal at lets say 3", is just dig a 3" deep plug. i just think it's less likely that the grass will die if i go straight down 6-8" deep in a nice 6-8" diameter plug and then get that out of the way. if my target is 2" into the base of the plug so be it...if it's deeper so be it. but at the end of the dig i'm slamming a nice full healthy 8" deep and 6" diameter plug of grass-topped soil back into the hole. and that sucker gets tamped and hand-manicured.

 

[Chizzy]

i'm with you 100% on 'leaving no trace'. imo it's not enough to just fill a hole. i don't think i'm done with a dig unless i can't even see where i dug. however, to that end, i've always thought a deeper plug contributes to me leaving no trace. my lesche is 7" i think...maybe 8" blade. what i won't do, if i had an indicated signal at lets say 3", is just dig a 3" deep plug. i just think it's less likely that the grass will die if i go straight down 6-8" deep in a nice 6-8" diameter plug and then get that out of the way. if my target is 2" into the base of the plug so be it...if it's deeper so be it. but at the end of the dig i'm slamming a nice full healthy 8" deep and 6" diameter plug of grass-topped soil back into the hole. and that sucker gets tamped and hand-manicured.

Good point on the larger/deeper plug.......they do clean up much better than the smaller ones. My plug depth is determined by my pointer. If the "carrot" chirps, I keep 'em at about 3" to 4".........deeper if it remains silent. Thanks for the encouragement..........I see deeper holes in my future.........

 

[against the wind]

Congrats on hitting 50 silvers, especially so early in the season.
I recovered 25 silver coins in 2012 and again in 2013 with the AT PRO.
In 2014, my silver coin finds using the E-trac jumped to 81 silver coins. In 2015, my silver coin count went up to 158 using the
E-trac. I have a CTX 3030 which I have been using more than the E-trac lately. It too is a silver magnet
I'm saving the Deus for open fields and farm hunts. I mostly hunt parks with the CTX and the E-trac.
Congrats on that very, very rare 1900 Buffalo Nickel. They were minted from 1913 to 1938.
You're having a great year and I wish you continued success.

 

[trapperart]

Nice job Murray. Congrats on the silver and you're right we have to learn our machines language and that takes time

 

[ScubaDetector]

Question. One what is an OD nickel? Your 1943 nickel is silver if you didn't know. Well 35% silver. So you actually have two silver coins.

Also your buffalo can't be a 1900 because they were made starting 1913. Unless of course I am reading your post wrong.

Very nice on 50 silvers this year!

 

[Murray8144]

what is an OD nickel

It's funny when I started there were a lot of terms I didn't know and had to learn. 'Mercury dime'...'seated'...'standing liberty'...'walking liberty' etc. I had never been into coins so it was all new to me. I saw everyone calling war nickels OD nickels so I just assumed that's what they're called. turns out its a t-net term paying homage to a member.

 

[Scrappy]

That's great Murray, 50 silver coins is great, and then hitting your yearly goal 4-months in, is excellent. Some nice single malt to celebrate - that's the spice of life.

Here's to many more!

Steve

 

[david680]

Question. One what is an OD nickel? Your 1943 nickel is silver if you didn't know. Well 35% silver. So you actually have two silver coins.

!

OD refers to Old Dude, a member here who has found a lot of great stuff, but for some reason, last I knew, had never found a war nickle. After receiving a few rounds of crap about it, eventually it just morphed into calling them OD nickles. Now a part of the official T-net terminology.

 

[hooter3287]

Nothing like a good day detecting and glass of the classic malt

 

[toasted]

Congrats. Are you saying you have found 50 silvers since starting or 50 this year? I know you have 1 seated(your welcome) and two halves but what are the rest