A Question for those of you who find over 300 silver coins a year . . .

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Are you retired?
Are you out detecting seven days a week, eight hours a day?
Are you out only detecting on the weekends?
Do you go to planted hunts to find your 300 coins a year?

I'm really at a loss for this phenomenon. Really I am. I detect what I consider quite a lot and I am lucky to find up to ten silver coins in a whole year if even that many.

Of course I do find some rather nice old coins but silver? Hardly any. I'm perplexed!

Color me confused.

 

[Joe of South Jersey]

Let me start this way, I am 37. Full time job, 3 kids.....detector business, And website. Far from being retired.

I have broke that number only one time naturally hunting.

You may be hunting places that many others before you have hunted.

If you look for the out of the way places, and come up with unusual sites that most will not or have not hunted then the finds are a plenty. Take a road trip outside your normal detecting area.

I hunt when even I have free time. I also hunt in seeded hunts,but they "do not" count. If they did I would be over a thousand a year.

I think I am in the fifty's for this year.

 

[James N.D.]

I am NOT RETIRED. I am 31 Years Old. When I usually get out it is only on Weekends. I try and get out so I am detecting by at least 9:00am and won't stop until I either Faint or it is getting dark out. I have a friend that I usually hunt with but for some odd reason, it is getting harder and harder to get him going when I want to get out. Isn't that right Dale!!! LOL! But he removes Dents for a living and if the work is there I guess I would probably do the same since the pay is good. I get off of work at Noon on Friday's and try and start my weekend off there but it is getting harder and harder to do this do to all the Explorer's up here. So most of the time I have only been hunting Saturday and Sunday only. I had a total of 275 Silver Last Year and the Year before that I had 286 so I stay pretty consistent on totals. My Silver DOES NOT come from PRE-BURIED HUNTS even though I do attend 2 of them a Year. All my Finds are 100% Found in the Ground Recoveries. I am sure that you are asking how can I find so much Silver just going on Weekends and here is the Answer. RESEARCH,RESEARCH, and more RESEARCH. You won't have a Year even close to what some of us have if you don't do the RESEARCH. You have to take the time and do the RESEARCH to find those Virgin spots that you can only dream about. Until then, and only then, you will have a chance of having such years like me and so many others here do. Funny thing is that when going to High School, I hated History. Now, I can't get enough of it and once you get hooked, YOUR HOOKED! Just ask some of the Old Timers or find some Centennial Books on Neighboring Towns and you will be on your way to being very successful like some of us. You will know where the Old Spots are and might even be the 1st one to swing a Coil across it which is a feeling that you will never forget. Also, Learn your Machine Well and know what it is telling you. After that it should be a "walk thru the Park" for you. I hope you start doing the RESEARCH and find some sites that you never even knew existed and start pulling Silver by the fistfuls. Until then, Good Luck and HH.

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Most of the people finding that many are driving lots of miles to new sites. A few years ago when explorers first came out it was alot easier, now most places have been hit pretty hard.

As James says you'll need to do research to find places others haven't already hit.

And there is less every year.

Chris

 

[swingman]

...I hunt 'only' around 300 hours per year. I average around 75 silver coins a year, mostly from sites that have been detected by others. I take pleasure in getting the deeper stuff others have missed, but it is getting tougher. You must dig the quiet, marginal signals, and have an above average machine that will lock onto coins-on-edge.
The 2 new detectors I got this winter have helped - Garrett 2500 and Explorer SE. I tend to push the limits on Sensitivity. I rarely detect private yards, which I think is your best shot at silver. Or do a lot of research and find old, 'virgin' heavily-used sites.

 

[FrontierWest]

Just kidding, but when I was married to my X, I went to Mich. every year in the northern area and every old farm had silver in the yards!!! I was never turned down for permission either. A lot of old schools up there. But that was now 20 years ago and I am sure a lot more hunters. Only advice is Location, Location, Location. Should be lots of old ball fields, race tracks, picnic areas, and the such waiting for you to hunker down and search. Dig lots of junk and the good stuff will surface!!!

john

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

I used to think it was just me or my machine. But now, after reading the responses I see that many who have been in this hobby for some time now are also finding it harder to find the silver.

I know I'm detecting correctly, listening for the very faint signals etc. etc. and have dug some really great old coins at great depths. It is just that silver seems to be elusive.

Maybe someday Minelab will build an Ultra Explorer that will detect silver coins through any type of matrix. Let's just hope if they do I'll be the first one to get it and come to where you live and take all the silver in your area before you get to it!

 

[dfxmatt]

Did u get kicked from the dfx site too?

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

No, why do you ask?

 

[FrontierWest]

That most of the old coins where I was were 9 inches plus!!! You have not said where you are..Or I simply have not followed...but I'd give the sites I hunted another go as I never spanked any of them. I have the addys if you want them.

John

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

roughly 8 to 10 inches (rarely 10 inches but getting close). But I have found some oldies almost laying on top of the ground (go figgure!)

Some are only about 5 inches deep but due to the high mineralization and coin angle, even then one must listen very carefully or will miss it.

Can you PM me some addys? I'd love to take a crack at them.

 

[FrontierWest]

frontierwest@msn.com and put something about detecting in the title.

John

 

[coinscreenz]

Sites like parks , sport fields ,old school field's etc , i can see a big difference in how finds have diminished big time over say the last 15 - 20 years. Some Farmland sites are heavily worked out too not all because obviously it will take another few decades to work hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland out , but i can see things getting gradually worse over the coming years as less and less good finds come out. Some guys have worked the same fields for 30 years clearing just about 90% of the good finds out. I firmly believe some detector manufacturer,s will fold up over the next few years as the hobby shrinks. lack of finds = lack of interest. Happy hunting..

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

I still don't find over 10 silvers a year even with the reasearch I do. I have plenty of 1800's maps. I go to a place and they put a parking lot over where there used to be a small park. Go figure. Or they put up buildings or whatever.

Like I say, it is not that I don't find nice old coins it is just that for some reason silver is not what I find. Usually they are indian head pennies or buffalo nickels of liberty head nickels or wheaties.

Anyway, maybe someday I'll find a 10 gallon sauerkraut jar loaded with Bust Silver Dollars.

 

[jim/wpb]

they are not your normal Urban concrete jungles. There are many ghost towns because corporate farms bought up small farms (although not small in most peoples terms), hence people moved out. I witnessed this in Bowden ND where my wifes family is from. Houses sell for under $5000 and many are vacant which never sold. There's a Lutheren Church, an old bowling alley and an old restaurant there and they may be abandoned now as well.

Still takes lots and lots of research, but there are many marks in ND. I'm very envious of the ND boys.

But they are probably a little envious of our South Florida Gold Mine as well.

 

[grady2714]

I'm in central florida , work full time, am 50, detect about 10-12 hours a week, have had the EXP II since about August last year ( 9 mo ), only detect lawns of houses built b4 1940, and thanks to the fine folks on this forum have learned alot about the machine and found 50 silvers so far, 2 are halves ( a barber and a walker) , 5 quarters ( 2 barbers, a SLO, and 2 Wash ), 34 dimes ( 4 barbers, 18 mercs, and 12 roseys )4 V nickles, 5 Buff's, 9 war silvers, about 20 pennies b4 1920, about 30 in the 1930's. about 100 in the 1940's and about 100 in the 50's. It's fun to document and accumulate. A couple of lawns I've found over 200 coins each- mostly newer of course. All metal is what I'm practicing now, and just recieved a 15" W.O.T. coil and have a X-1 probe on the way. Looking forward to a better next nine months. Keep plugging away- it all adds up, little by little.

 

[glacialhills(mich.)]

I am in the same boat you are Tony. I do find siver once in a while.But 10 or 15 a year and I am doing good in my book.Recently got a well worn 1853 seated quarter. But 300... never even close. I hunt old areas and find many IH large cents 2 cent and nickles but silver is never that abundant. One old site I know was virgin did yield up prolly 30 barbers,mercs and a few quarters but that kind of site is pretty rare.Most very old sites I hunt just dont have any silver.And I know they have not been hunted as the ih finds are high.If you ever want to hunt together let me know I am down near kalamazoo.