samandnoah
New member
Figured I could knock off 2 birds with one post. Here are some things I've found over the past week with my Deus. Each item came from a separate hunt.
The '43D Merc & the sterling earring came from the very trashy park by my house. That Merc was the first silver coin I was able to pull out of this park after nearly 2 years of hunting this park, so represented a huge personal victory for me. I have found wheatie pennies there, several pieces of gold and silver jewelry, and one buffalo nickel. It certainly helped that we had a bunch of rain after pretty much drought conditions for the last 6 months. The earring was an interesting find in that it looks big, but the whole thing weighs only 1.0 grams! I'm not sure which part of it caught the Deus's attention, but it was somewhat balled up in the ground. Glad I got it out in one piece, with the cuff still attached by that thin chain. The clad dime is in the photo for scale.
The 1863 fatty IH and headstamp came from another site. That IH penny is my first, and was found about 7" deep. For where I live represents a very early find. Austin's "official" history doesn't start until the 1830's, and at the time the coin was minted, its population was only about 15,000. Right after the civil war, the population actually decreased for a short while. The location is a public use facility that was dedicated in 1899 (though the site wasn't really "ready" until closer to 1903). By that time, the population was still only about 35,000 (today Austin proper is just under 1 million people). The headstamp is also a first for me, and based on the design, the narrowest range at this point appears to be 1894-1932. One can't prove that it was fired there, but it's also not hard to imagine that as the site was being created that wildlife needed to be "removed" as they cleared trees for the park. Today the portion of the facility that I'm hunting is also quite trashy with lots of iron (some large) and pulltabs, shredded cans, and screw tops all over the place.
While I don't recall every detail of each of these finds, they were all areas I believe that I've covered before with the Deus. Recently I wrote about my epiphany regarding whisper signals, and all of them except for the headstamp were whispers or darn close. With the help of this forum and working more with 4 kHz programs, I've focused on not just the softer signals, but also learning how to isolate and pick out a signal with some potential among the junk (as well as ignoring the VDI readings in some cases). That has really helped in finding all of these items in the span of barely over a week. I've also included the settings for the 2 programs I've been using the most,and find myself switching back and forth between the two to check targets. But I've been doing my basic hunting mostly with the 4 kHz program. [Edit added] Just wanted to add that I've also recently put the 9" back on to see how that performed. I had become so enamored with the 11" that I really hadn't used the 9" since November. Well, the Merc and the IH were both found with the 9". While the 11" does seem "louder" (not sure how else to describe it), and has excellent separation, I do think that I am appreciating the abilities of the 9" more now. When there is just a ton of trash, the smaller footprint of the 9" can make a difference in discerning/isolating good tones.
With respect to reactivity, when needed I will either bump it up to 3, or down to 1, but keep the silencer at 0. Several folks here prefer to keep Iron Volume at zero. I do that with the 4 kHz program, but I like a touch of it on the 12 kHz program. It allows me to hear a bit of a buzz when I'm trying to isolate a target among iron. It helps me discern whether I'm just getting iron falsing (or over a LARGE iron target where part of it registers as a good signal), or whether I've got a good target above/among some iron. It's hard to explain, but if you've ever used a Sovereign MD, you understand the experience of getting a null. and trying to hear/find a good signal in the null. That's what it feels like this does for me.
Good luck and happy hunting to you all!
Rich
The '43D Merc & the sterling earring came from the very trashy park by my house. That Merc was the first silver coin I was able to pull out of this park after nearly 2 years of hunting this park, so represented a huge personal victory for me. I have found wheatie pennies there, several pieces of gold and silver jewelry, and one buffalo nickel. It certainly helped that we had a bunch of rain after pretty much drought conditions for the last 6 months. The earring was an interesting find in that it looks big, but the whole thing weighs only 1.0 grams! I'm not sure which part of it caught the Deus's attention, but it was somewhat balled up in the ground. Glad I got it out in one piece, with the cuff still attached by that thin chain. The clad dime is in the photo for scale.
The 1863 fatty IH and headstamp came from another site. That IH penny is my first, and was found about 7" deep. For where I live represents a very early find. Austin's "official" history doesn't start until the 1830's, and at the time the coin was minted, its population was only about 15,000. Right after the civil war, the population actually decreased for a short while. The location is a public use facility that was dedicated in 1899 (though the site wasn't really "ready" until closer to 1903). By that time, the population was still only about 35,000 (today Austin proper is just under 1 million people). The headstamp is also a first for me, and based on the design, the narrowest range at this point appears to be 1894-1932. One can't prove that it was fired there, but it's also not hard to imagine that as the site was being created that wildlife needed to be "removed" as they cleared trees for the park. Today the portion of the facility that I'm hunting is also quite trashy with lots of iron (some large) and pulltabs, shredded cans, and screw tops all over the place.
While I don't recall every detail of each of these finds, they were all areas I believe that I've covered before with the Deus. Recently I wrote about my epiphany regarding whisper signals, and all of them except for the headstamp were whispers or darn close. With the help of this forum and working more with 4 kHz programs, I've focused on not just the softer signals, but also learning how to isolate and pick out a signal with some potential among the junk (as well as ignoring the VDI readings in some cases). That has really helped in finding all of these items in the span of barely over a week. I've also included the settings for the 2 programs I've been using the most,and find myself switching back and forth between the two to check targets. But I've been doing my basic hunting mostly with the 4 kHz program. [Edit added] Just wanted to add that I've also recently put the 9" back on to see how that performed. I had become so enamored with the 11" that I really hadn't used the 9" since November. Well, the Merc and the IH were both found with the 9". While the 11" does seem "louder" (not sure how else to describe it), and has excellent separation, I do think that I am appreciating the abilities of the 9" more now. When there is just a ton of trash, the smaller footprint of the 9" can make a difference in discerning/isolating good tones.
With respect to reactivity, when needed I will either bump it up to 3, or down to 1, but keep the silencer at 0. Several folks here prefer to keep Iron Volume at zero. I do that with the 4 kHz program, but I like a touch of it on the 12 kHz program. It allows me to hear a bit of a buzz when I'm trying to isolate a target among iron. It helps me discern whether I'm just getting iron falsing (or over a LARGE iron target where part of it registers as a good signal), or whether I've got a good target above/among some iron. It's hard to explain, but if you've ever used a Sovereign MD, you understand the experience of getting a null. and trying to hear/find a good signal in the null. That's what it feels like this does for me.
Good luck and happy hunting to you all!
Rich
