Ok, here's the plan ....

[mrhvmd]

Got in late last night from our "down east" vacation. Gotta unpack, but then the plan is to hunt the creek that runs through our town. As much as anything that got me started on this hobby is the old grist mill at the center of town. The race and mill pond are long since dried up. I was sure that if I swung along the old race, which was dug in 1791, that I would find relics. Alas, it runs along the road and if there's treasure there (and I believe there is) then it's buried under a couple feet of trash. So today we are going to try the creek bed just downstream from the mill. Got my hackin big Garrett, push-with-your-foot digger thingie and the AT Pro. Only wish the pinpointer was truly waterproof. I don't feel like coating the thing with silicone, which voids the warranty. Just did a morning run-through of the boards - nothin' gets the juices flowin' or piques the optimistic anticipation like checking out the coins and relics others have gleaned. Now if I can just fiddle with this post long enough so my wife has the car unpacked ....

 

[mudpuppy]

On all counts, I'd say thats a very good plan! Get out there and report back!
Mud

 

[BootyHunter]

Sounds interesting for sure, take a video camera or lots of pictures and let us know how you do!! Good luck!

 

[mrhvmd]

I put in about seven hours and Jen about three. As you can see, it was quite a haul. Mind you, I've only included the most valuable specimens. The prize find of the day was the Lincoln penny. Unfortunately, corrosion has obscured the date. I have found these elsewhere but it's always a thrill. Growing weary of reeling in one hot find after another I changed my coil for the all new Garrett AT Glass Finder Pro, optional attachment, and you can see the results. The ignominious end came when my legs, exhausted from negotiating the rocky bottomed creek all day, gave out and I went kerploosh, losing a water shoe in the bargain. As for the a AT Pro, it's wrapped around a tree at creeks edge and I'm now investigating other hobbies - perhaps collecting Beanie Babies or taking up paint by numbers.

 

[mrhvmd]

Ok, Jen says I have to fess up. The AT Pro is actually stowed away, looking forward to better days ahead. This really is a silly but captivating diversion. Jen and I made our way home from Maine to PA yesterday and decided to hit a park in New York State in the late afternoon. We could not stop finding clad! It was like eating potato chips! Like junking out on crap food but unable to stop reaching into the bag! So, today we go for the beans and kale, if you will. The stuff that's good for you. We end up hauling out so much junk I swear the water level of our creek dropped two inches!!! Tomorrow it's back to the real world and I recovered half pennies will seem like a galaxy away.

 

[BootyHunter]

Well at least you got out and in sure you had fun and got some excersize. Weird how some places with suck great potential turn out to be a busy and some places that you don't expect much you get an awesome find. Better luck next time. HH

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah? That is an interestingly beautiful junk shot though...represents a great day out and hunting!
Mud

 

[JimmyCT]

Don't think you are alone in this. We all have days just like yours. At least you finding things in the ground to dig up and learning the sounds your machine is telling you. It gets better with time and practice. Hang in there.

 

[mrhvmd]

You are right, EPL. One thing I learned is don't trust the depth meter under water. It keeps telling me the target was 4-6-8" down and it was lying on the creek bed. Even with my coil right over it. All in all, though, it performed really well. I got do many signals between 55 and 72, nearly all of them squelchy. I went after nearly all of them, as you can see, because it was my first time in this environment and I was convinced that there simply HAD to be something good down there. I really like the machine but I don't have much experience using others. There's the el cheapo we bought for my son nearly 20 years ago that he never used but my wife sure did. I got my wife a Minelab XT for Xmas last year and she makes it work very well. She finds more than I do, but she is simply better at this than i am, but I prefer my AT Pro to her device.

 

[togamac]

Thanks for sharing your creek hunt experience - warts and all! I'm curious, were you able to collect all those valuables with a scoop? What was the creek bottom like? Were you able to see the creek bottom?
I'm asking because I spent about 10 minutes at a creek today and decided that I was wasting my time unless I either got my snorkel and mask out or figured out some other way to see what I was digging. My SS scoop wouldn't go through it so I was sort of scratching with a garden tool but unable to see what because I was riling it all up.

 

[fongu]

Get all the trash out of the way and then you can find the treasure. Actually, the At/Pro can pull trash right out of the middle of the biggest mess of trash there is once you learn it's language. I still dig quite a bit of trash, especially when I try to do more than my body can handle. The more tired I get, the less I hear. Just a small amount of trash I dug yesterday. I dig anything from 40 up and if I get that special tone, no matter what the dvi says, I dig it. If a good target is near a trash target, you get mixed dvi readings, but the tone will lead to good finds. Of course, small 22 rounds will sound just like a ring. If in doubt, dig it out.
[attachment 296274 3ringday006Custom.jpg]

 

[mrhvmd]

Toga, the creek was rocky bottomed and the scoop didn't work well by itself. The water was about a foot deep and there was enough current that roiling the bottom quickly cleared. Once I pinpointed a signal I usually moved stones by hand to get to a course sand. The water was nearly always too deep to use my hand held pinpointer. Once I cleared the stones (an ordinary garden trowel worked well here as a wedge) I either used the scoop or I troweled material into the scoop to sort through it.

Fongu, I found the more tired I get the harder it is to keep my footing. I should have quit an hour sooner. As evening drew nigh I was falling too much and lost a croc, so i added to the trash.