I had 3 hours to hunt today before I needed to be back at the gym for my 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 personal training appointments....so I headed to one of my favorite sites.
This place doesn't give up much anymore and I'm thrilled if I can walk away with a wheatie...seriously. However with gas nearing $4 per gallon and only 3 hours to hunt...beggers can't be choosey.
At this place I knew I would be moving at a slower than slow...creeping pace. I also knew I would be in for a lot of nulling...a lot of chirping...a lot of falsing...a nail or two...and hopefully at least one keeper...which to me is a wheatie, silver, or injun'.
What's cool about this place is that Herky gets to run...help dig my holes...and chase squirrels if the opportunity presents itself.
Well I dug only 5 targets in 3 hours... and got punked on 3 of the 5 as they turned out to be rusty nails.
That's okay though because 2 of the 5 turned out to be silver
...and BOTH were hiding in the iron.
Hey in the NBA if a 3 point shooter hits 40% of his shots...he is on FIRE.
In this case I played 5 games of hide n seek...and won 40% of 'em. I'll take that any day of the week.
The first one I dug was the Barber in a mud clod with a bent, U-shaped nail. I tried to get it out of the hole intact within the dirt but it was moist... and "chunked" apart as I was trying to take the pic....so I just set them next to each other exactly how they broke apart from the clod.
The second silver came about an hour later and I was able to get it out of the hole still intact with the nail sticking through the clod and lying right underneath the dime...and silver rim peeking out.
I then popped it open like a book and unfolded it to reveal exactly what you see.
Pretty cool to see the nail and iron stain all over...seeing that the silver was obviously right on top of it.
This is exactly how the Barber was found too....right on top of the horshoe shaped nail...but I was able to catch this one intact to show before opening clod and after opening clod.
Speaks volumes about the SE and what it's capable of in iron.
Getting to know your machine/coil combo....NOT switching settings every time out...AND
learning the difference between the sound of just iron falses VS the sound of a coin actually hiding in there with the iron is the key to making finds in heavy iron.Is the method I use foolproof....NOPE...otherwise I wouldn't have dug 3 rusty nails today
...BUT I DID uncover 2 previously masked silver dimes to go along with those 3 nails.
Here's the kicker....2 of those 3 rusty nails sounded good from 2 of 4 angles...and I honestly expected at least one of those digs to be a silver coin together with a nail....WRONG.BOTH of the silver coins I found on this hunt did not hit from 4...3...2...or EVEN 1 of the angles as I circled the undug target.
They hit from just ONE tiny little spot and if I moved at all...the signal was a complete null...BUT that tiny little warble from that one spot was "tight" and did not break up in any way whatsoever on each wiggle and return wiggle of the coil.Here is the method I use to decide whether to take a chance on a dig when hunting in the iron:
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,1642710,1645373#msg-1645373I've gotten lots of private messages the last couple of weeks on what I listen for...what does it sound like...how to discern the sound...etc.
I honestly can't elaborate any further because we all have different things that we train our ears to listen for...but TRUST ME the SE WILL find deep coins hiding in iron...and is second to NONE when doing so.
I hope everyone has a chance to get out and enjoy some hunt time in the next few days.
Here's the link to my field test post containing over 60 different hunts of various coil tests...comparisons...nicer finds...etc..: http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,1055627,1055627#msg-1055627Been swingin' the coil since 1972Started out in 1972 with a Jetco Detector...then the late 70's with a Whites 6000
....then in 1981 went to a Bounty Hunter VLF TR 840
...then in the early 1980's I went to a Whites 6000 Di Pro...mid 80's I went to a Whites Eagle II SL...Late 80's/Early 90's I went to the Whites XLT...1990's I used the Fisher CZ5, CZ6, CZ7, 7aPro, and CZ70Pro
...Started using Minelabs in 1999
with a brief stint on the Musketeer while also using the CZ's...then in 2002 I switched to the Minelab Explorers and currently use an Explorer 2, SE, SEPro, and E-trac with an arsenal of coilsHere's the story of my BEST FIND EVER.:
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,876944,876944#msg-876944"Metal detecting is an escape for me and allows me to find some much needed peace and solace.
Being able to clear my head...even if only for that short while...is much more meaningful than any amount of finds that end up in my pouch"
"Quote ME"
