Where to find old coins in hunted out parks?

[akelley]

I purchased my E-Trac in January, and since then I've been hitting the city parks on weekends that date back to the early 1900s. While my clad count is 1500+, my old coin finds are just two silvers and 12 wheaties. I think my E-Trac skills are pretty good, so I suspect its because I've focused on the "tried and true" areas within a park (e.g., around the base of old trees) that everyone has hunted. If my assumption is correct then in order to accelerate my old coin finds, I believe I need to start looking in places that haven't been hunted as much. For example some of these parks have very steep hills, so I suspect that many detectorist will likely avoid these difficult areas. Also there's a lot of acreage to cover in open fields, so I believe they are less likely to have been hunted out completely.

Can anyone comment on where they're finding the most old coins regularly in "hunted out" parks? I hope that by starting this thread it will give us all some new ideas on where to look.

-Alex

 

[metalmiester]

I would hit the hills and at the base of them. I don't know what region you live in but up here in chicago they used them for sledding in the winter. I also look for burrowed out areas in fields that big trees in the past onced stood and got knocked down by a storm years ago. If you have any old walking trails in your park hit those. Many detectorist create boundries and think oh that has been hunted. I have found some great finds on trails. Hope this helps, Scott

 

[RHorseUSMC]

is the wooded area of the parks. Granted you have to wait until fall and winter to have the best chance of finding anything but many of the parks here in Cincinnati were once wide open green spaces. Over the years parts of the parks have grown over and wooded areas have been created. I have seen some unbelievable finds come out of the wooded areas and they continue to produce year after year and the best part is you don't have to worry if you dig a hole a foot deep, you can simply push the dirt back in and your done. I would pick up a small folding saw (one that uses the changeable Sawzall blades works best) because you will have more roots to deal with. If you are hunting parks that are fairly large or well known, try to find old pictures of the park and compare them with how the park is today. You can even go to ebay and search for the park (ie Eden Park Ohio) and you will find old postcards and photos. You'd be surprised how much info you can gain from an old pic or postcard. Good luck!

 

[Nick A]

Edges, curbs, hills, small isolated areas. I wander until I find hot spots and then I grid. James ND like big open fields. Picnic areas full of foil, screwcaps and tabs used to be impossible, but not with an E-Trac in coins mode. Any unusually large and flat areas, hills, tops of hills, sledding hills, scenic views. Wooded areas with smaller trees probably have not been wooded for long. I wish I could say there was one strategy that really worked, but anymore it seems like I am trying anywhere and everywhere. Research is a big help. Old postcards, historical society pictures, maps all tell you what the place looked like. One park here had a big lake and boathouse at one end, now filled and boathouse gone, and cinder paths, now deeply buried. The original paths and lakes are outlined on an old topo map.

 

[jgedde]

Hit the hills!!!! One of the secrets to finding good stuff. Back in the day, before video games and TV, kids used to roll or sled down the hill and drop coins.

I also agree with the woods, but watch out for poison ivy and ticks. Here in the NE, ticks, mosquitos, and poison ivy are the worst I've seen in years! I've pulled 4 dog ticks off, and 2 deer ticks off of me so far! Countless mosquito bites. Thankfully, I seem to be more or less insensitive to poison ivy.

I wasn't paying attention and dug a coin wearing shorts. I noticed after I dug the coin I had been kneeling in poison ivy! When I got home, I scrubbed my legs off with dish soap in the shower. So far so good.

20-30% DEET and permithrin based clothing sprays work wonders for the bugs. I just always forget to apply it before detecting.

John

 

[Shambler]

While my clad count is 1500+,

Is this intentional or is it difficult to see the difference between clad and old silver using the E-Trac?

 

[Nick A]

While my clad count is 1500+,

Is this intentional or is it difficult to see the difference between clad and old silver using the E-Trac?

What?! Telling the difference in targets with the E-Trac is awesome! Using the multi-tones telling the difference between silver and clad is pretty straightforward, clad dimes and memorials both come in at CO44, but the dimes are higher tone. And the meter just backs it up.

CO 13 - nickel
CO 36-38 - zinc
CO 40-42 - wheatie
CO 43 - wheat or memorial
CO 44 - memorial or clad dime
CO 45-46 - silver dime
CO 47 - quarter (clad or silver)
CO 48 - silver quarter or half