small change
New member
Spent nearly all day both Saturday & Sunday searching as this was the first weekend in a while where it didn't rain or threaten to rain both days.
Sat. morning got over to the former fish hatchery place where I had been 3 weeks ago & searched from about 6:30 until almost 1:00. Managed to get
the '46 Roosevelt, the '17 Merc & the '42 Washington along with the Sterling skull ring, 9 Wheats & a no-date Buffalo. All finds were made with the 6" Excel Coil & weren't all that deep with exception of the quarter which was a good 7" or so in some rather clay-like soil near a row of cypress trees. Decided to head down to another town & try a field behind a grade school (where an old high school had been previously). The grass was kind of high when I got there. However, a mowing crew also just happened to show up so I decided to head over to the village park & kill a hour & a half or so. Didn't find anything worthwhile over there. The only higher tones I could get between all the pull tabs ended up being screw caps. Often, I'd dig a plug & end up pulling 3 or more tabs out of a hole before I'd close it up. Finally left & went back to the school where the crew was just finishing up with mowing & trimming. They had finished the field I ended up searching, but not before making some nasty ruts & looking like the mower had got stuck a couple of times in the mud from part of the field being so wet. I floundered around for an hour or two & did luck into a '41 Mercury I pulled out of the super wet spongy mucky area that was only 3-4" deep at best. The only other things I found there was a clad dime & two memorials. I got tired & left about 6:30 that evening.
Sunday, I got up early again & I went quite a way up north to a park I hunted just for a bit late last summer but was cut short when a group began showing up for a family reunion. Started in front of an old building (used for reunions) & within a minute got a good silver hit less than 10' behind where I'd parked. Turned out to be a '61 Roosevelt about 5-6" deep. I then preceded to search in front of the building for a while, then one one side & in back, then moved across the road where there is a corral for some local saddle club, then in an open area near some really big oak trees & failed to find any old coins, not even a single wheat penny. I spent a good 2-3 hours in those spots with only a bit of clad to show for it. I was feeling like a fool, thinking I'd wasted my time & maybe would do better somewhere else when I decided to search the ball diamond as the last area to check before leaving. I took off the 6" coil & put on the Pro Coil figuring stuff would be pretty deep on the field. It started off slow with a wheat cent but as I worked down the foul line in right field toward the fence I got a nice deep hit that warbled some. I got down about 8-9" thru the nice black Central IL soil & pulled out the 1911D Barber Dime. I then made several passes back & forth between the infield edge & outfield fence but found nothing else old, & very few new coins. Took a break & then made a pass doing the same thing but over down the left field side & got nothing. I then began to zig zag around & wander around thru the outfield just to see if I could stumble on to a good target. Got nothing until back over in deep rt. center field I got a nice tone & about 6-7" down was the '44D Merc. By this time a couple of guys had showed up to work on the field & get it ready for future play, although I didn't think anyone would be playing on it that night. A couple of minutes later I got another nice high tone but a bit shallower. I figured it would probably be clad but about 5" or so was another Merc.-a '42S. I wished I could have stayed there a little longer but I left right after find the last Merc because one of the guys was on a tractor with some sort of tines on the back & was churning up the infield. The whole time I was there the wind was absolutely howling out of the South & it was relentless. I couple of times I thought I might get swept off my feet. Every once in a while the wind would pick up some loose dirt on the infield & blow it toward the outfield where I was. Once they started churning up the infield I knew there'd be a bunch of dust blown my way so I decided to leave.
It was still early afternoon, so I headed back SE a bit to another town I was familiar with. Decided to try a neighborhood park next to an elementary school that was built in the late 40's or so. Started searching in the SW corner of the park & had a nice high but not deep hit right away just a few feet from a trash barrel. Was really surprised when it turned out to be the 1901 Barber Dime only 2-3" deep. I then stayed in that immediate area for a while but kept getting a bunch of near surface area clad & nothing good. The corner grass was kind of sparse but when I tried to move more toward the center I had trouble sweeping thru the grass. It didn't look all that high, it was just thick with a lot of clover mixed in. I flailed away for an hour & a half or so but was getting tired as it was around 5:30 so I called it a day & left. It was just luck to find the barber shallow like that but it can't be the only silver coin left in there so I'll have to try that place again when the grass is shorter. Overall it was a pretty good weekend. I spent a lot of time driving & searching trying to find what I did, but I could have & have done much worse even considering the effort. It was a little bit too warm for my liking & obviously much too windy as I had to crank up the TH volume a few notches just to consistently hear it. Next weekend looks to be cooler although I'm worried about about all the rain we're getting today & supposed to get later this week. Might have trouble finding a spot dry enough to search.
Sat. morning got over to the former fish hatchery place where I had been 3 weeks ago & searched from about 6:30 until almost 1:00. Managed to get
the '46 Roosevelt, the '17 Merc & the '42 Washington along with the Sterling skull ring, 9 Wheats & a no-date Buffalo. All finds were made with the 6" Excel Coil & weren't all that deep with exception of the quarter which was a good 7" or so in some rather clay-like soil near a row of cypress trees. Decided to head down to another town & try a field behind a grade school (where an old high school had been previously). The grass was kind of high when I got there. However, a mowing crew also just happened to show up so I decided to head over to the village park & kill a hour & a half or so. Didn't find anything worthwhile over there. The only higher tones I could get between all the pull tabs ended up being screw caps. Often, I'd dig a plug & end up pulling 3 or more tabs out of a hole before I'd close it up. Finally left & went back to the school where the crew was just finishing up with mowing & trimming. They had finished the field I ended up searching, but not before making some nasty ruts & looking like the mower had got stuck a couple of times in the mud from part of the field being so wet. I floundered around for an hour or two & did luck into a '41 Mercury I pulled out of the super wet spongy mucky area that was only 3-4" deep at best. The only other things I found there was a clad dime & two memorials. I got tired & left about 6:30 that evening.
Sunday, I got up early again & I went quite a way up north to a park I hunted just for a bit late last summer but was cut short when a group began showing up for a family reunion. Started in front of an old building (used for reunions) & within a minute got a good silver hit less than 10' behind where I'd parked. Turned out to be a '61 Roosevelt about 5-6" deep. I then preceded to search in front of the building for a while, then one one side & in back, then moved across the road where there is a corral for some local saddle club, then in an open area near some really big oak trees & failed to find any old coins, not even a single wheat penny. I spent a good 2-3 hours in those spots with only a bit of clad to show for it. I was feeling like a fool, thinking I'd wasted my time & maybe would do better somewhere else when I decided to search the ball diamond as the last area to check before leaving. I took off the 6" coil & put on the Pro Coil figuring stuff would be pretty deep on the field. It started off slow with a wheat cent but as I worked down the foul line in right field toward the fence I got a nice deep hit that warbled some. I got down about 8-9" thru the nice black Central IL soil & pulled out the 1911D Barber Dime. I then made several passes back & forth between the infield edge & outfield fence but found nothing else old, & very few new coins. Took a break & then made a pass doing the same thing but over down the left field side & got nothing. I then began to zig zag around & wander around thru the outfield just to see if I could stumble on to a good target. Got nothing until back over in deep rt. center field I got a nice tone & about 6-7" down was the '44D Merc. By this time a couple of guys had showed up to work on the field & get it ready for future play, although I didn't think anyone would be playing on it that night. A couple of minutes later I got another nice high tone but a bit shallower. I figured it would probably be clad but about 5" or so was another Merc.-a '42S. I wished I could have stayed there a little longer but I left right after find the last Merc because one of the guys was on a tractor with some sort of tines on the back & was churning up the infield. The whole time I was there the wind was absolutely howling out of the South & it was relentless. I couple of times I thought I might get swept off my feet. Every once in a while the wind would pick up some loose dirt on the infield & blow it toward the outfield where I was. Once they started churning up the infield I knew there'd be a bunch of dust blown my way so I decided to leave.
It was still early afternoon, so I headed back SE a bit to another town I was familiar with. Decided to try a neighborhood park next to an elementary school that was built in the late 40's or so. Started searching in the SW corner of the park & had a nice high but not deep hit right away just a few feet from a trash barrel. Was really surprised when it turned out to be the 1901 Barber Dime only 2-3" deep. I then stayed in that immediate area for a while but kept getting a bunch of near surface area clad & nothing good. The corner grass was kind of sparse but when I tried to move more toward the center I had trouble sweeping thru the grass. It didn't look all that high, it was just thick with a lot of clover mixed in. I flailed away for an hour & a half or so but was getting tired as it was around 5:30 so I called it a day & left. It was just luck to find the barber shallow like that but it can't be the only silver coin left in there so I'll have to try that place again when the grass is shorter. Overall it was a pretty good weekend. I spent a lot of time driving & searching trying to find what I did, but I could have & have done much worse even considering the effort. It was a little bit too warm for my liking & obviously much too windy as I had to crank up the TH volume a few notches just to consistently hear it. Next weekend looks to be cooler although I'm worried about about all the rain we're getting today & supposed to get later this week. Might have trouble finding a spot dry enough to search.
