Cladiator (OR)
Member
Hi everyone,
It's been a dry two and a half weeks of hunting without finding silver and I was beginning to second guess my hunting technique and the sounds I should be listening for. I've been digging alot of questionable target sounds in a desperate effort to find something silver, but haven't been having too much luck. That, however, finally changed during today's short hunt.
I decided to re-visit what I would call a micro-park in a neighboring town. It's close to the park I've had good luck with in the past, and based on the size of the two trees at this little green oasis, I figured it has been in this park-like setting for most of its life (since the late 1800's). It's about the size of your typical city lot front lawn--no bigger than 50'X75'. My first target was a 1936-S Wheat that was down 6". I always like it when the first coin I find is something that's old--kinda gets me pumped up looking for the next keeper. The next several coins were also at 6"--but no silver, however the first nickel of the bunch was a 1948-S. I'd been chasing some pretty questionable signals for awhile when a passerby stopped and asked how I was doing. I told him I hadn't found much except for some clad and one Wheat. He asked if I'd found any silver and I said "not yet", so he smiled and said "good luck" and went on his way. A few swings later I got a clean, solid 12-21 showing at 5" so I thought "maybe a gold ring, I better check". I was able to cut about a 3.5 deep plug before running into a nice tree root. A check with the X-1 told me I was in the right spot and that it was under the root. Out comes my digging/target probe (i.e.- ground down screwdriver) and I start to work my way around this root. After a fair amount of maneuvering around the root, I was quite surprised to see a silver coin pop out the side. It was the 1943-S silver War nickel, which I later discovered I had gouged with my probe!
Still, I had found some silver so the dry, silver-free spell was finally over.. for now.
I had a few minutes left, so I decided to finish working my way toward the sidewalk and got a mixed signal in the landscaped area just off the edge of the grass next to the sidewalk. I was seeing a fairly consistent 10/11-44/45 mixed in between some low 12-40's and the slur of iron just before being nulled out by the discrimination pattern. I pinpointed the 11-45 signal as best as I could in between all the other targets in the area (there were at least 5 targets in the 12" area I was scrutinizing). The depth meter indicated about 5", so I pulled a 4" plug and checked with the X-1 which indicated I was close. About that time, the same passerby that stopped before was coming back down the sidewalk, so I stopped what I was doing and mentioned that after he left the last time I had found a silver War nickel. He didn't know there were silver nickels, so I showed him the difference between the two nickels I had found. We chatted a bit and he went on to tell me his brother enjoyed metal detecting and that he had been out with him but usually only managed to find junk. While he was chatting, I checked the hole with my secondary pinpointer and it indicated the target was off the bottom edge of the hole. We continued to chat and I popped out another chunk of dirt and was totally shocked to see part of a silver coin exposed in the chunk. It was a well-worn 1893-S Barber dime! He asked if he could look at it, so I let him inspect it and he mentioned he could really get into this hobby if he found old coins like that once in a while. I said all it takes is some perseverance and a little patience and a bit of luck thrown in. He was going to tell his brother about what I found, so I'm guessing I may now have another detectorist to compete with at this site. That's ok, there's plenty for everyone. By the way, the other 4 targets turned out to be two Zincolns and two chunks of iron.
All in all, I had a good time, got someone else excited about metal detecting, and finally got two silvers in one hunt--a first for me.
Thanks for looking and good luck on your next hunt!
[attachment 174713 9_26_10.JPG]
[attachment 174714 9_26_10N.JPG]
[attachment 174715 9_26_10B.JPG]
It's been a dry two and a half weeks of hunting without finding silver and I was beginning to second guess my hunting technique and the sounds I should be listening for. I've been digging alot of questionable target sounds in a desperate effort to find something silver, but haven't been having too much luck. That, however, finally changed during today's short hunt.
I decided to re-visit what I would call a micro-park in a neighboring town. It's close to the park I've had good luck with in the past, and based on the size of the two trees at this little green oasis, I figured it has been in this park-like setting for most of its life (since the late 1800's). It's about the size of your typical city lot front lawn--no bigger than 50'X75'. My first target was a 1936-S Wheat that was down 6". I always like it when the first coin I find is something that's old--kinda gets me pumped up looking for the next keeper. The next several coins were also at 6"--but no silver, however the first nickel of the bunch was a 1948-S. I'd been chasing some pretty questionable signals for awhile when a passerby stopped and asked how I was doing. I told him I hadn't found much except for some clad and one Wheat. He asked if I'd found any silver and I said "not yet", so he smiled and said "good luck" and went on his way. A few swings later I got a clean, solid 12-21 showing at 5" so I thought "maybe a gold ring, I better check". I was able to cut about a 3.5 deep plug before running into a nice tree root. A check with the X-1 told me I was in the right spot and that it was under the root. Out comes my digging/target probe (i.e.- ground down screwdriver) and I start to work my way around this root. After a fair amount of maneuvering around the root, I was quite surprised to see a silver coin pop out the side. It was the 1943-S silver War nickel, which I later discovered I had gouged with my probe!
Still, I had found some silver so the dry, silver-free spell was finally over.. for now.I had a few minutes left, so I decided to finish working my way toward the sidewalk and got a mixed signal in the landscaped area just off the edge of the grass next to the sidewalk. I was seeing a fairly consistent 10/11-44/45 mixed in between some low 12-40's and the slur of iron just before being nulled out by the discrimination pattern. I pinpointed the 11-45 signal as best as I could in between all the other targets in the area (there were at least 5 targets in the 12" area I was scrutinizing). The depth meter indicated about 5", so I pulled a 4" plug and checked with the X-1 which indicated I was close. About that time, the same passerby that stopped before was coming back down the sidewalk, so I stopped what I was doing and mentioned that after he left the last time I had found a silver War nickel. He didn't know there were silver nickels, so I showed him the difference between the two nickels I had found. We chatted a bit and he went on to tell me his brother enjoyed metal detecting and that he had been out with him but usually only managed to find junk. While he was chatting, I checked the hole with my secondary pinpointer and it indicated the target was off the bottom edge of the hole. We continued to chat and I popped out another chunk of dirt and was totally shocked to see part of a silver coin exposed in the chunk. It was a well-worn 1893-S Barber dime! He asked if he could look at it, so I let him inspect it and he mentioned he could really get into this hobby if he found old coins like that once in a while. I said all it takes is some perseverance and a little patience and a bit of luck thrown in. He was going to tell his brother about what I found, so I'm guessing I may now have another detectorist to compete with at this site. That's ok, there's plenty for everyone. By the way, the other 4 targets turned out to be two Zincolns and two chunks of iron.
All in all, I had a good time, got someone else excited about metal detecting, and finally got two silvers in one hunt--a first for me.
Thanks for looking and good luck on your next hunt!
[attachment 174713 9_26_10.JPG]
[attachment 174714 9_26_10N.JPG]
[attachment 174715 9_26_10B.JPG]
Looks like a good day to me 
I'm looking forward to the next one.