No place is truely hunted out.

[Rawhide]

With all the digger shows I have seen a increase in the diggers out there. Big ugly holes, tot lots that look like a mine filed, and all the same noobie stuff. So how do you over come competition? Getting up early or hunting late in the afternoon only ensures you will find one spot that hasnt been hit hard. The newer machines are hitting harder than ever, even the entry level detectors, so my older F75 is being tested every time I go out. I am ready to buy a new detector, and here is why. I have to run my detector at high gain, with no discrimination to get what is being missed. I am getting mostly new finds, with the occasional deep target below 5" inches. Yes, the newbies are missing stuff, but they are getting better as my finds bag is clearly showing me. I use my pockets for finds and used to have to make frequent trips to the car to empty my pockets of trash and coins. Now I am covering about 5 times as much ground till my pockets get full. Im finding less trash and that is a plus for all the extra hunters here in the city parks. But I am bored of just doing new drops and surface finds. I want to get the old silver again and I dont go to the spots which I know has held old silver for me in the past.

I also have found no matter how far I hike in, someone has been there digging. Nothing like being at a 400 year old ruin site and find modern trash. I guess campers bury their trash instead of packing it out, my walmart bags I carry wont hold what I am finding. I would never disturb a old site, Im just looking for old cartridges. I really am impressed with the F75, even though there is soil that keeps the depth to just a few inches. I am at a loss as to how to hunt the old sites mine tailings and such now.

This is for the noobies, who throw their trash next to a ugly hole they just dug. I dont own a pull tab magnet, and I am loosing my muffin top so stop it. Try to spend a extra second and use your foot to make the hole look nice after your done covering it back up. Takes just one good step to almost completely disguise it. Know that I am finding what you think you should be getting. The necklace or ring, you had in the hole with the bottle cap, you forgot to recheck. The tot lot wood chip pile under the slide you pushed your find up into, the parking lot or median find you forgot to check.

I have one more pet peeve. If this applies, you know who you are. You do not not need a lesche digging tool on a manicured lawn like what you find in a city park. Get a much sharper and smaller digging trowel. Im talking about park hunting now. If you are at a park that waters every day, there is no reason for that big hunk of steel to dig with. Just my personal perspective, but wasting time fiddling with a hole cost you finds.

Now you know what I do, does anyone have any tricks they would share on a hunted out park? How about a old mine tailings that is full of nails?

 

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[vpnavy]

What I find very helpful is to bring a towel with you. Lay the towel down and put all the (removed) dirt on the towel and just place the dirt back in the hole when finished Casca. I have found that a lot of dirt is simply lost when not using the towel process.

 

[Rawhide]

What I find very helpful is to bring a towel with you. Lay the towel down and put all the (removed) dirt on the towel and just place the dirt back in the hole when finished Casca. I have found that a lot of dirt is simply lost when not using the towel process.

The towel, sounds like part of the "Restaurant at the end of the Universe" book. Yes I use the towel method especially in dry dry grass. I have a 5 gallon bucket so I can get dirt and bring back to the holes, cause even a towel doesnt help sometimes. I now just put a small gash next to the target and pop it out of the hole. Much quicker, but sometimes a plug has to be cut for those deeper targets. I just cut a deep plug with a flap at one end. I make it a habit to watch, and I found a old timer and he shared some hunting techniques with me. I aspire to hunt smarter, not deeper lol. This is todays totals:

 

[Produce Guy]

I was at a tot-lot the other day and the other MD'er told me as he was leaving that someone had beaten both of us to it,because he just spent the last 10 minutes here and only dig up garbage.I asked him what kind & he said foil,bobby pins,etc.I asked him where it was & he said he left it in the holes Why would anybody do this,dig it up and take it out and dump it.So I spent over 30 minutes there and found 49 cents and a fake diamond watch band and a little heart pendent on a piece of string.While i was leaving he came back for his shovel,that I saw but didn't pay attention to.I show him all the junk I found and also the coins,he was surprised to say the least,and told me that he didn't think that my Garrett ace 250 was any good for the price,he had a Fisher I think?,

 

[mangum]

Some places are hunted out & not worth a return trip but I'm referring to homesites not parks. The key to getting a good spot is always permission on private property. Research & knowing people pays off!

 

[richbat]

I run into some of these same things from time to time but,it seems to be getting better around the places that i hunt.That saying about places being hunted out is a bunch of nonsense.The key to finding the stuff others have missed is to slow down and search the places where others fear to go or just don't think there will be anything there because of the location.One very good place to start is the very outer edges and as far in as you can possibly get.People are creatures of habit,they take the path of least resistance but things change from years gone by,so this is why i always check those outer edges.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Even old parks are never hunted out. The key is to dig all the trash (and remove it), as much of a pain as it can be. My old park has been hammered, but very few want to dig, or remove the wine screw caps. I will select a given area, and completely dig and remove everything. I'm still finding wheaties & silver dimes in there, including a few Barbers. Some of the gems are under the junk. Rarely I will get skunked and come home with just a bag full of screw caps, but at least I know I cleaned out the spots and didn't miss most of the silvers or wheats. You can come back after a rain, and still find stuff though!

 

[Rawhide]

I was at a tot-lot the other day and the other MD'er told me as he was leaving that someone had beaten both of us to it,because he just spent the last 10 minutes here and only dig up garbage.I asked him what kind & he said foil,bobby pins,etc.I asked him where it was & he said he left it in the holes Why would anybody do this,dig it up and take it out and dump it.So I spent over 30 minutes there and found 49 cents and a fake diamond watch band and a little heart pendent on a piece of string.While i was leaving he came back for his shovel,that I saw but didn't pay attention to.I show him all the junk I found and also the coins,he was surprised to say the least,and told me that he didn't think that my Garrett ace 250 was any good for the price,he had a Fisher I think?,

I own a fisher and I tell you it will hunt. I think its funny to watch the noobs, the coil is 4 inches off the ground, the sweeps are uneven. they walking as fast as they can. I give it a week between hunts at the same tot lots, my machine wont find much.

Here is a question, as you brought up a good point. My detector tells me it a bobby pin or foil, I dont dig it. Is that wrong?

 

[Rawhide]

Some places are hunted out & not worth a return trip but I'm referring to homesites not parks. The key to getting a good spot is always permission on private property. Research & knowing people pays off!

One reason I think a home site is never hunted out is moisture and temp will raise and lower targets like coins. This is all debatable.

I never hunt without permission, I know the rules before I go. Every place has em. I am having too much fun still hunting the public areas.

 

[Rawhide]

I run into some of these same things from time to time but,it seems to be getting better around the places that i hunt.That saying about places being hunted out is a bunch of nonsense.The key to finding the stuff others have missed is to slow down and search the places where others fear to go or just don't think there will be anything there because of the location.One very good place to start is the very outer edges and as far in as you can possibly get.People are creatures of habit,they take the path of least resistance but things change from years gone by,so this is why i always check those outer edges.

I sometime also take my F75 into no mans land, you know, the ten feet from the sidewalk that is always full of trash. Like you say, go slow, and put that coil on the dirt.

 

[Rawhide]

Even old parks are never hunted out. The key is to dig all the trash (and remove it), as much of a pain as it can be. My old park has been hammered, but very few want to dig, or remove the wine screw caps. I will select a given area, and completely dig and remove everything. I'm still finding wheaties & silver dimes in there, including a few Barbers. Some of the gems are under the junk. Rarely I will get skunked and come home with just a bag full of screw caps, but at least I know I cleaned out the spots and didn't miss most of the silvers or wheats. You can come back after a rain, and still find stuff though!

We dont get much rain but you are right. The hunt does get better after a rain. I just turn up the sensitivity and let the F75 go. It gets down below the trash, I dont understand how it punches through the can slaw and such. But it does. I could dig trash all day. But to make the hunt fun, I start off digging all signals, then switch when I get a belly full of trash and just cherry pick.