All I can say is WOW, when I look at the the quantity and quality of the finds that hunters such as James N.D. has produced! Excellent stuff!
My efforts have been pretty futile this year. After I got my SE early this year, I and my hunting partner, who has an XS and an SE, have been hitting all the sites that have coughed up good finds in years past, hoping to capitalize on the deep ones left behind. I've been metal detecting for over 30 years and have found some very nice coins, but all the old sites have pretty much been barren, or produced so little that it doesn't seem worth the effort. Maybe we did too good a job, years ago, with our old detectors and large coils....
I've gridded out the areas, worked slow, hunted in all metal and used larger coils on the SE, but I've only got about 6 silver dimes, two silver Washington quarters and one Barber quarter. Very few wheats, even, and only one IH cent. My partner's found even less. In fact, he's so discouraged he's put his SE on Ebay to sell, and is thinking about giving up the hobby.
I will never do that, but a change in strategy may be necessary. Trying to find un-hunted old sites in this area is pretty tough when you have had an active TH'ing club around since 1980, with lots of good hunters in it! Can't afford to drive a hundred miles one way every weekend either...
So, keep posting those good finds...at least it gives me hope that its still out there and somewhere, I might discover a good site that will start bringing in some old silver again!
Knipper
My efforts have been pretty futile this year. After I got my SE early this year, I and my hunting partner, who has an XS and an SE, have been hitting all the sites that have coughed up good finds in years past, hoping to capitalize on the deep ones left behind. I've been metal detecting for over 30 years and have found some very nice coins, but all the old sites have pretty much been barren, or produced so little that it doesn't seem worth the effort. Maybe we did too good a job, years ago, with our old detectors and large coils....
I've gridded out the areas, worked slow, hunted in all metal and used larger coils on the SE, but I've only got about 6 silver dimes, two silver Washington quarters and one Barber quarter. Very few wheats, even, and only one IH cent. My partner's found even less. In fact, he's so discouraged he's put his SE on Ebay to sell, and is thinking about giving up the hobby.
I will never do that, but a change in strategy may be necessary. Trying to find un-hunted old sites in this area is pretty tough when you have had an active TH'ing club around since 1980, with lots of good hunters in it! Can't afford to drive a hundred miles one way every weekend either...
So, keep posting those good finds...at least it gives me hope that its still out there and somewhere, I might discover a good site that will start bringing in some old silver again!
Knipper
