VOLUME HUNTING-OPINIONS WANTED

[TORRERO]

I SAW THE ARTICLE IN WESTERN & EASTERN TREASURES AND WANT ANYONES / EVERYONES OPINION TO SEE WHAT YOU ALL THINK.
I ALSO WANT TO KNOW IF ANYONE ON THIS FORUM, CAN HONESTLY SAY THEY HAVE DUG
40,000 +/- COINS (ONLY) IN ANY GIVEN YEAR... WITHIN THE LAST 5 YEARS..
OR 400 - 500 COINS IN ANY GIVEN 1 DAY HUNT AND YOUR EXPERIENCE BEHIND THIS..
(SORRY OLDTIMERS STARTING IN THE 60-70 DO NOT COUNT)

 

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[jeff of pa]

My Record, 204 coins in a day. & that was in a UNSEARCHED swimming pool, with a literal "CARPET" of coins under the ground, and digging for about 8 hours. GUESS I'm slow? of course that would have translated into 73.000 coins in a year, IF I had dug 365 days & IF the site would have had that many.

 

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[TORRERO]

Well O7 you know I've been around for awhile and I've done better than his story, but that was once and have been far from duplicating it since.? But having been there, done that, I know it's not only possible, it's been done by more than a few folks out there.? Don't know where you live exactly but I know it's near enough to population centers so that you too could do it if you followed the right hunting routines.? Since you hunt out the old sites as well as the newer you do take away from the possibility of recovering larger qtys. of clad.

As to your implication in your respone to Stony, c'mon now.? Next thing we're gonna hear is "You been served." & "Ahh, it's ON!"

Let's just ask everyone on the board if they would like to keep a one year record and let us all know at year's end how they've done.? I already exclude myself, I'm not hunting like that anymore.? While I still do TOO's and have a clad cicuit I follow I'm spending more time doing homework and pursuing the "Big 1"

I'll bet we can find a few members who can break the 50k coin mark this year.? Any takers?

MY QUESTION WAS WITHIN THE LAST 5 YEARS, NOT TO THOSE WHO HUNTED WHEN EVERYWHERE YOU WENT YOU GOT POCKETS
FULL OF STUFF...
TODAY I MIGHT GET A LUCKY BREAK AND FIND A BALLFIELD LOADED WITH COINS AND HAVE A HIGH VOLUME DAY, BUT THOSE
COINS DO NOT GET REPLACED THE NEXT DAY BY CARELESS CHILDREN, EVEN IF I HUNTED EVERY DAY ALL DAY, I COULD NOT FIND
NOR TRAVEL ENOUGH DISTANCE TO FIND THE NUMBER QUOTED... AND YOU STILL HAVE TO DIG THEM, IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE
HE WALKED NEXT DOOR TO THE SCHOOL NEXT DOOR, AND FOR THE NEXT YEARS DUG ONE SIGNAL AFTER ANOTHER.
I'VE TRAVELED BOTH THE STATES OF NC AND SC EXTENSIVLY, AND HAVE A REAL HARD TIME FIND SITES THAT GIVE ME A GOOD DAY.
WHICH MIGHT BE 4-5 DOLLARS AND A RING OR 2, THATS A REAL GOOD DAY... THE AVERAGE IS MORE LIKE 2-3 DOLLARS AND A FEW
TRINKETS.. I'VE ATTEMPTED TO DO THE MATH HERE AND THE MATH I'M DOING JUST DOES NOT SEEM TO ADD UP....
IF YOUR ARE IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WITH A METAL DETECTOR FOR 100 MILES AND ALL YOUR SITES ARE VIRGIN...
YOU MIGHT GET SOMETHING LIKE THIS, BUT IN THIS DAY AND AGE WITH SO MANY OTHERS LOOKING FOR THE SAME THING....
ITS JUST ALMOST INCONCEAVABLE.....

 

[stoney56]

Thanks Lowbatt, I don't know if it's the same in their area but when Okla. was w young state there were country schools located every 3 mi.. I also know he lives in the largest county, travels a lot, and is retired. As for me I can't hunt that much working 830/6 six days week, so I try as much research as can-makes for better finds and quality.

 

[Lowbatts]

The opportunites come up all the time. There are parks in some neighborhoods in some areas that are so loaded with good and bad targets it would take you a year to unload one small park. Problem is the neighborhood itself, can't work it very often if at all. I remember bumping into a couple guys a few years ago who got to work the Poplar Creek Music Theater when it was torn down. They told me that in three days of detecting they found somewhere between 2600 and 2800 QUARTERS. They were trying to eliminate any other smaller coinage due the volume. They still got a few halves and plenty of small change as well some other odds and ends as you might expect. They probably didn't hit another site like that right away if at all. But there are combinations of hunting routines that will bring in those numbers if you can commit to them over time.

The big factor is population density at the sites you revisit either weekly or bi-monthly. There's lots of other detectorists in this area but if you wanted to you could do 50k coins in a year in Chicagoland. I suspect lots of other population centers would provide the same opportunities. I visit several small parks in the poorest parts of this town regulalry. These are adjacent to or in subsidized housing areas. These are the most consistently productive sites and no one else works them. I find the poorest parts of town have the most jewelry, the most coinage and the occaisonal stash of this or that. Guess that is why they are the poorest parts of town, folks there don't keep track of their change and rings.

I can't understand the willingness of you guys who just dismiss out of hand the finds of others, you have experience and you have been around, but when did you ever commit to doing this with such a goal? Your finids ae pretty good, but you're looking for specific finds that are very uncommon by and large. A lot of us know the odds of finding colonial coinage in the midwest, so what's our options? Disrespecting your finds (or claims of finds) because we won't replicate them is not one of those options in my book. I run itno so many people who only want to find jewelry. Wow, that's lofty. That pulltab to ring ratio is still better than 1000:1 for the parks I play in no matter you're choice of detector. But the ubiquitous clad always beckons. Go ahead, answer the call of the clad. You can fill a tall kitchen can also this year.

 

[bakergeol]

I have a different slant on this. If the guy enjoys digging zinc and clad- the more power to him. If he is enjoying himself -enough said. However as a person who does not stoop down and pick up a zinc penny on the sidewalk I certainly would not like to DIG 10,000 of them in a year. The only time I enjoyed digging clad was in 1965 when clad was rare and silver common as sand. I would not want to dig 40000 zinc and clad a year as my free time is valuable and it is not going to be used digging common clad coinage.

Folks- quit using your clad totals as a measure of your success. Monetary gains from finding clad today is irrelevant. 40 years ago finding $8 or $9 dollars in change meant that you could fill your tank up with gas and have a meal at a restaurant. Today it will get you a few gallons of gas. If I worked really hard and put in incredible hours and did find 10000 to 20000 zinc and clad coins in a year- Guess What? It would not equal what I make in a week at my job. Quit thinking that you must find enough to pay for your detector or to justify your efforts. You do this for the enjoyment not the money. If you do this for the money you will far better off spending your detecting hours working part time at a fast food restaurant-certainly a lot more profitable.

I think more along the lines of Pete. I seek the old, rare and hard to find. Finding 2 IHs and a V nickle(worth 7 cents) for me is a far greater victory than picking up $50 in clad at a local park. I just enjoy the challenge.

Different strokes for different folks
George

 

[The Pete]

Thank you George! When I get the chance i'll post some more of the oldies.

 

[TORRERO]

The opportunites come up all the time.? There are parks in some neighborhoods in some areas that are so loaded with good and bad targets it would take you a year to unload one small park.? Problem is the neighborhood itself, can't work it very often if at all.? I remember bumping into a couple guys a few years ago who got to work the Poplar Creek Music Theater when it was torn down.? They told me that in three days of detecting they found somewhere between 2600 and 2800 QUARTERS.? They were trying to eliminate any other smaller coinage due the volume.? They still got a few halves and plenty of small change as well some other odds and ends as you might expect.? They probably didn't hit another site like that right away if at all.? But there are combinations of hunting routines that will bring in those numbers if you can commit to them over time.?

The big factor is population density at the sites you revisit either weekly or bi-monthly.? There's lots of other detectorists in this area but if you wanted to you could do 50k coins in a year in Chicagoland.? I suspect lots of other population centers would provide the same opportunities.? I visit several small parks in the poorest parts of this town regulalry.? These are adjacent to or in subsidized housing areas.? These are the most consistently productive sites and no one else works them.? I find the poorest parts of town have the most jewelry, the most coinage and the occaisonal stash of this or that.? Guess that is why they are the poorest parts of town, folks there don't keep track of their change and rings.

I can't understand the willingness of you guys who just dismiss out of hand the finds of others, you have experience and you have been around, but when did you ever commit to doing this with such a goal?? Your finids ae pretty good, but you're looking for specific finds that are very uncommon by and large.? A lot of us know the odds of finding colonial coinage in the midwest, so what's our options?? Disrespecting your finds (or claims of finds) because we won't replicate them is not one of those options in my book.? I run itno so many people who only want to find jewelry.? Wow, that's lofty.? That pulltab to ring ratio is still better than 1000:1 for the parks I play in no matter you're choice of detector.? But the ubiquitous clad always beckons.? Go ahead, answer the call of the clad.? You can fill a tall kitchen can also this year.?

YOUR SCARING ME..
THERE ARE INDEED PARKS HERE IN BAD NEIGHBORHOODS, I'D BE AFRAID OF GETTING MUGGED OR CARJACKED OR RAPED OR WORSE...
ITS YOUR CALL IF YOU WANT TO HUNT THESE PLACES.... FOR SOME HIGH VOLUME POCKET CHANGE..

AS FOR DISMISING THIS STUFF OUT OF HAND, I'M NOT DOING THAT, WHAT I AM SAYING IS WHEN YOU OR ANYONE QUOTES
NUMBERS LIKE THAT, THEN THOSE OF US WITH COMMON SENSE, SUDDENLY FIND OURSELVES SCRATCHING OUR HEADS IN DISMAY
ASKING WHERE PEOPLE LIKE YOU CAN CONSISTANTLY, YEAR AFTER YEAR, (THE ARTICLE SAYS HE DOES THIS YEAR AFTER YEAR)
FIND PLACES THAT SEEM TO HAVE A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF COINS.

I AM A FAST HUNTER, AND WHEN THERE ARE A LOT OF TARGETS I GET MY FAIR SHARE OF THEM, NO DOUBT, BUT THE NUMBERS
ARE SO HIGH THAT IT SEEMS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO DIG THAT FAST AND THAT LONG OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME.
NOT TO MENTION THIS IS ON SITES THAT YOU HAVE TO USE A HAND DIGGER AND PINPOINTER OR SCREWDRIVER.
ONE OR TWO SITES THAT PRODUCE FENOMINAL AMOUNTS OF GOOD TARGETS DO EXIST, NOBODY QUESTIONS THAT.
BUT YOU HAVE TO FIND ONE OF THESE SITES EVERYDAY TO GET THESE NUMBERS.
AND I HAVE TO QUESTION WEATHER THAT MANY SITES WITH THAT MANY COINS ACTUALLY EXIST
IN TODAYS TREASURE HUNTING WORLD, OR AT LEAST IN THE USA.

THIS OF COURSE IS ON TOP OF THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE BEAST, SO TO SPEAK, ONE MAN
HERE SAID HE DUG 204 ? COINS IN AN UNHUNTED SWIMMING HOLE IN ONE 8 HOUR DAY,
THAT'S BELIEVABLE, BUT YOU WOULD ALMOST HAVE TO DO THIS EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR TO MAKE
THESE NUMBERS, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ITS 100 DEGREES OUTSIDE ? OR POURING DOWN RAIN ?
OR BELOW FREEZING, OR WITH SNOW ON THE GROUND, OR THE TIME SPENT EATING DURING A DAY.
OR TIME SPENT TRAVELING OR TIME SPENT LOOKING FOR THOSE NOT SO ELUSIVE GLORY HOLES ?

BUT I GUESE I HAVE TO ADMIT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I SEE WITH THIS IS NOT SO MUCH THAT
SOMEONE ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISHED THIS, ITS THE FACT THAT NEW PEOPLE EVERYDAY READ
SOMETHING LIKE THIS, AND BASE A $500.00 TO $1000.00 METAL DETECTOR PURCHASE
ON THE MISTAKEN BELIEF THAT IF THE GUY IN THE MAGAZINE, CAN FIND ALL THAT, SO CAN I.
AND THAT BECAUSE I SEE IT HERE, THERE MUST BE TONS & TONS OF FREE MONEY TO BE FOUND
ONLY TO GO OUT HUNTING DAY IN AND DAY OUT TO FIND ..... NOT MUCH OF ANYTHING
BECAUSE MOST SITES ARE HUNTED TO DEATH..... AND THEN WE SEE THEM HERE ASKING THOSE OF
US WITH EXPERIANCE, WHY THEY ARE NOT FINDING ANYTHING....(TRY TUNING YOUR MACHINE DIFFERNT)
DOES ANYONE HERE FEEL ANY REMORSE FOR LEADING
PEOPLE ON LIKE THAT. WE ALL KNOW THAT NEW HUNTERS WHO DO THIS ARE REALLY NEVER LIKELY
TO SEE NUMBERS LIKE THIS... DOES THIS NOT IN SOME WAY GIVE OUR HOBBY A BAD NAME ?

 

[The Pete]

Windows of opportunity, thats what i look for. I do not hunt parks. I choose where old houses are removed, sidewalks replaced. Top layers of the soil scraped off. I ended up in 2004 getting 124 coins that where pre-1900. Maybe the person who hunts mostly clad modern is ahead of me because they can spend theirs. But I enjoy the older ones, and look forward to more. Maybe the people who get coin totals in the thousands are seeing what others are not seeing when it comes to potently. I don't mean to sound insulting, everybody could teach the next guy something new. One of the reasons I started to detect was to replace the silver my wife's grandfather once had. It has been only 4 years since I started, she told me he never had as many as I've found. If it all came easy everybody would be hunting, maybe it's good their not. More for us!

 

[Ocean7]

HERE'S THE MATH:
36462 in 191 days
average 190 coins a day
times 2 = 380 targets - figuring a 50% coin retreival rate (that's one coin to one non-coin item)
times an average of two minutes a target retreival rate = 760 minutes
divide by 60 minutes to get 12.66 hours a day
-----------------------------------------------------------
OR
figuring at a 66% coin retreival rate
average 190 coins a day
add 1/3 of 190 = 253 targets - figuring a 66% coin retreival rate (that's two coins to 1 non-coin item)
times an average of two minutes a target retreival rate = 506 minutes
divide by 60 minutes to get 8.4 hours a day
-----------------------------------------------------------
wow what stamina! he's got 20 years on me and there's no
way I could even hope to keep up with that schedule.
I think we should start an olympic event just for these guys.
Thats's with no breaks and little or no sweep time.
Must be crawling on the ground - heck why bother to even
stand up rotflmao

 

[TORRERO]

**** I'm sorry guys my wife got on me for yelling at you, which I'm not, here it is without the caps *****
"quote"
I can't understand the willingness of you guys who just dismiss out of hand the finds of others, you have experience and you have been around, but when did you ever commit to doing this with such a goal? Your finids ae pretty good, but you're looking for specific finds that are very uncommon by and large. A lot of us know the odds of finding colonial coinage in the midwest, so what's our options? Disrespecting your finds (or claims of finds) because we won't replicate them is not one of those options in my book. I run itno so many people who only want to find jewelry. Wow, that's lofty. That pulltab to ring ratio is still better than 1000:1 for the parks I play in no matter you're choice of detector. But the ubiquitous clad always beckons. Go ahead, answer the call of the clad. You can fill a tall kitchen can also this year.
"quote"



Your scaring me...
there are indeed parks here in bad neighborhoods, i'd be afraid of getting mugged or carjacked or raped or worse...
its your call if you want to hunt these places.... for some high volume pocket change..

as for dismissing this stuff out of hand, I?m not doing that, what I am saying is when you or anyone quotes
numbers like that, then those of us with common sense, suddenly find ourselves scratching our heads in dismay
asking where people like you can consistently, year after year, (the article says he does this year after year)
find places that seem to have a limitless supply of coins.

I am a fast hunter, and when there are a lot of targets I get my fair share of them, no doubt, but the numbers
are so high that it seems almost impossible to dig that fast and that long over that period of time.
Not to mention this is on sites that you have to use a hand digger and pinpointer or screwdriver.
One or two sites that produce phenomenal amounts of good targets do exist, nobody questions that.
But you have to find one of these sites everyday to get these numbers.
And I have to question weather that many sites with that many coins actually exist
in today?s treasure hunting world, or at least in the USA.

This of course is on top of the physical nature of the beast, so to speak, one man
here said he dug 204? coins in an unhunted swimming hole in one 8 hour day,
that's believable, but you would almost have to do this every day of the year to make
these numbers, what happens when its 100 degrees outside ? or pouring down rain?
or below freezing, or with snow on the ground, or the time spent eating during a day.
or time spent traveling or time spent looking for those not so elusive glory holes?

but I guise I have to admit the biggest problem I see with this is not so much that
someone actually accomplished this, its the fact that new people everyday read
something like this, and base a $500.00 to $1000.00 metal detector purchase
on the mistaken belief that if the guy in the magazine, can find all that, so can I.
and that because I see it here, there must be tons & tons of free money to be found
only to go out hunting day in and day out to find ..... not much of anything
because most sites are hunted to death..... and then we see them here asking those of
us with experience, why they are not finding anything....(try tuning your machine different)
does anyone here feel any remorse for leading
people on like that. we all know that new hunters who do this are really never likely
to see numbers like this... does this not in some way give our hobby a bad name?

 

[Lowbatts]

My time doing it took me to a lot of places where others hadn't been for years. Nope, could not do it year after year around here in my experience, but then, a lot of the places where I scored huge volumes of coinage on or very the surface, well I left anything deeper than an inch and I haven't been back to those places for many years. There are a multitude of fest sites, carnie sites and park playgrounds in Chicagoland, as there are in many other large metropolitan areas. I well exceeded the claims of the fellow in the article in the one year I did this. I still do this type of hunt to a degree but I really seek the older, better quality targets. The first two carnies I did last summer returned more than $70 clad in about 4 hours, the other 8 I did did not add to that much together. Lots of factors including weather go into carnie returns. Last year sucked for carnies. This year? Isn't here yet but the hunt will go on. I'm not chasing any grand totals this year either so havea much smaller playground/park circuit and have a larger old site target group.

 

[EDDE]

well im up for a challenge stating to get all my found coins in a container and planning spots to hit for volumes of coins and older sites to break up the routine in a note book of local places and plans for warm weather "HIT LIST"notes on locations ideas for places locations .tons of placesto go here so the oppurtunity is there stop and smell the sod !cabin fever has me in its grip to so plan and dont waste time! im new to this and im seeing what im doing wrong and wasting time going into unproductive areas,find those hot zones! where did the love go?

 

[Paul T.]

Hi. I'm an old timey hunter whom started in the '70's. Even back then it took years to enmasse a hundred-thousand coins between 2-3 of us. Our goals were 100 coins apiece per day, and 10 silver coins per day, which if we tried, we usually made.

I havn't read the article but I will say this. One great thing about metal detecting is that there are so many specialties. There's relic hunting. Civil War hunting. Cache hunting. Jewlry hunting. Modern coin hunting. Silver coin hunting. Pre 1900 coin hunting. Water hunting.

You can even break it down farther. You can become so specific in your hunting, that you concentrate on searching for very specific coins, like large cents. Or even hunting for individual coins like a 1909 S VDB Lincoln cent. An article one time talked about a hunter who, upon nearly completing an entire set of Lincolns, only had the few rare ones to go. He literally would travel to areas where he was more likely to find them. For instance, he travelled to San Fransico, where pennies with the S mint mark were made. Typically, there's more pennies of the S mint mark there and on the west coast, than on the east. At least there was way back then, because in fact that's why they had different mint marks. It made logistics and distribution much easier. You can be sure they didn't transport the bulk of the Philadelphia (P) pennies to San Francisco, and transport the bulk of the S pennies to Philadelpia.

And then this gentleman would seek out specific properties dating from the time which matched the year of whatever coin he was looking for. In this way, he could specifically target say a 1914 D Lincoln, and by golly, find it.

Such is the power of customized metal detecting. Thusly, if someone's goal is bulk clad, there are many things that can be done to accommodate that goal. From detector settings to choice of hunting fields, from hours spent hunting to depth choices. From retrieval methods (who cares if you hastily mar a 1995 Washington quarter?) to swing speed, coil size, and on & on.

After all, have you ever wondered why some people find three times as many targets in an organized hunt? It's because they have mass-retrieval down to an art.

I would venture that under any conditions, however, it would take retired folks to find that many coins. You are in all likelyhood not going to find that many coins, quick-a-minute between the end of your shift at work, and dinner time. Let's be real here.

Again, I did not read the article. But fish stories are more plentiful in metal detecting than the are in the sport of fishing. On the other hand, it is amazing how you can specialize your hunting and how successful you can be, from looking for and finding a specific coin to looking for and finding 20,000 coins in a year. Just don't be confused about the degree of effort it takes though. You will not detect in your spare time, and meet full time goals. Just to have a detector and grab it for a few hours per evening...it is my opinion that you will not find more than a few dozen coins per night unless you have a consistent source of new change. At best, 100 coins on a good night, 200 rarely. But it would take 300 best nights per year to find 30,000 coins and you'd have to spend all evening every night, imo, as well as having an inexauhstable supply fields to hunt. Even a retired person would have a hard time breaking the 10,000 coin plateu per year I believe. Of course, once retired, presumably you're past or incapable of brutal, bulk hunting stresses anyway.

It's not impossible though.
Paul T.