I swing past a couple older parks on the way home each day from work. We've had a bit of a weather break the last four or five days with temps in the high 30's during the day and staying in the 20's at night. Today we had RAIN, and so I slipped into one of the parks on the way home to try the soil and wow, most of the snow was gone and there were large areas of lawn thawed enough to hunt without making a mess.
I hadn't anticipated the good fortune and didn't have my E-trac with me, so I swung home to check and see what the family was up to before heading back to one of the parks for a short hunt.
The park is one of the older parks in the state and has been well hunted by everybody with a detector. Finds are few and far between and typically take some depth capability and patience. I've not really spent much time here over the years preferring to hunt private yards and such, but the last year or two, I've found a certain satisfaction from learning to use the E-trac in these settings.
As I approached the park a downpour of rain hit the windshield and I about turned around thinking it would be way too wet to hunt. But downpours pass and this one did as well and after a few minutes of getting my equipment together, off I went to an area of the park I've not hunted before.
I hunted along for about a hundred yards, winding my way around giant leafless trees, very tall pines and open areas trying to get a feel for what the ground held. Not much. Very few signals at all actually. No high tones at all. (I hunt in conductive tones) I sampled a few lower tones that were around the nickel territory and came up with beaver tails from pull tabs. More wandering brought more of the same. I finally turned back and picked a spot under the branches of a VERY large tree and carefully picked my way along a sprinkler pipe knowing that many hunters get impatient when they come across a pipe and take a couple of quick steps to get out of range leaving the area close to the pipe unsearched.
And such was the case here. I found what I initially thought was a deep Zincoln signal, 14-39, but on a quick look to the depth gauge, revealed that it was near the bottom. Awfully deep for a zinc penny. Reading 4 or 5 digits too high for an IH. But, the depth won and I dug. Nothing at 7", but the X-1 revealed I had pin pointed well and the target was there in the bottom middle of the hole. Taking out a few more inches of dirt and the target was now out of the hole and sitting there on top of the pile was a penny. It was a little past dusk and I couldn't read the date, but I could feel the smooth texture of an IH penny and see the wreaths on the back. A closer look on the back showed a slightly darker ring around the outside of the coin and a lighter color in the middle suggesting the IH was not alone, but was in the hole with another coin. But I couldn't find it if there was one. Nothing in the hole, nothing around the hole or on my drop cloth. ??? A little mystery there. I'm tempted to go back and have another look tomorrow when it is light.
On getting home and doing a little minor cleaning, I found it was a very nice 1901 IH Penny complete with a full liberty on the head band. Don't find a lot of IH"s this nice in my neighborhood. This is a treat.
Anyway, it is nice to get out and swing the detector a bit and pick up a deep IH at this park. Hope everybody gets a chance in the next while to burn off some cabin fever before it gets too strong.
Good luck.
Rich
I hadn't anticipated the good fortune and didn't have my E-trac with me, so I swung home to check and see what the family was up to before heading back to one of the parks for a short hunt.
The park is one of the older parks in the state and has been well hunted by everybody with a detector. Finds are few and far between and typically take some depth capability and patience. I've not really spent much time here over the years preferring to hunt private yards and such, but the last year or two, I've found a certain satisfaction from learning to use the E-trac in these settings.
As I approached the park a downpour of rain hit the windshield and I about turned around thinking it would be way too wet to hunt. But downpours pass and this one did as well and after a few minutes of getting my equipment together, off I went to an area of the park I've not hunted before.
I hunted along for about a hundred yards, winding my way around giant leafless trees, very tall pines and open areas trying to get a feel for what the ground held. Not much. Very few signals at all actually. No high tones at all. (I hunt in conductive tones) I sampled a few lower tones that were around the nickel territory and came up with beaver tails from pull tabs. More wandering brought more of the same. I finally turned back and picked a spot under the branches of a VERY large tree and carefully picked my way along a sprinkler pipe knowing that many hunters get impatient when they come across a pipe and take a couple of quick steps to get out of range leaving the area close to the pipe unsearched.
And such was the case here. I found what I initially thought was a deep Zincoln signal, 14-39, but on a quick look to the depth gauge, revealed that it was near the bottom. Awfully deep for a zinc penny. Reading 4 or 5 digits too high for an IH. But, the depth won and I dug. Nothing at 7", but the X-1 revealed I had pin pointed well and the target was there in the bottom middle of the hole. Taking out a few more inches of dirt and the target was now out of the hole and sitting there on top of the pile was a penny. It was a little past dusk and I couldn't read the date, but I could feel the smooth texture of an IH penny and see the wreaths on the back. A closer look on the back showed a slightly darker ring around the outside of the coin and a lighter color in the middle suggesting the IH was not alone, but was in the hole with another coin. But I couldn't find it if there was one. Nothing in the hole, nothing around the hole or on my drop cloth. ??? A little mystery there. I'm tempted to go back and have another look tomorrow when it is light.
On getting home and doing a little minor cleaning, I found it was a very nice 1901 IH Penny complete with a full liberty on the head band. Don't find a lot of IH"s this nice in my neighborhood. This is a treat.
Anyway, it is nice to get out and swing the detector a bit and pick up a deep IH at this park. Hope everybody gets a chance in the next while to burn off some cabin fever before it gets too strong.
Good luck.
Rich
