Winery Hunt

[napascores]

Feels silly to post just clad considering some of the great finds that have been posted lately. I am very new to the hobby and up until this hunt have only been able to hunt for about 6 hours total, either in our creek or backyard, and have netted $.35 and a pile of nails. Its proved much harder to MD with four kids than expected! I decided to strap my machine into the work van so I could just take advantage of any opportunities that should arise. Turns out the very next day I was working after hours at a winery that is very popular for it's picnic area. Some time ago while working there during business hours I noticed all of the tourists lounging, sleeping/passed out under the trees and thought it would be a fun spot to try. So, I asked the president of the winery if I could do a bit of detecting when we were through working and he said no problem, but if I were to find a Rolex, he wanted half! My kind of guy. Anyway, started detecting at around 9pm. decided to hit as many trees as possible, as well as the path from the door of the retail room to the picnic grounds. I spent about 1.5 hours and boy was I sore the next day. I was hunting in jewelry mode with the ACE 350 and there were targets EVERYWHERE. I only dug the 4" or less targets as I wasn't totally confident in my ability to put back a proper plug. Definitely will be going back. There has to be some jewelry somewhere out there and I estimate I actually searched less than 10% of the place. Thanks for looking.

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

Nice going and smart to ask to hunt. Maybe skip the coins and just dig the low conductors to find jewelry next time.

 

[napascores]

I forgot to mention, as this is a winery, I also dug a baseball sized ball of foil that came off of the wine bottle tops and probably 20 bottle caps for mineral water. I think I will go for the deeper targets this next time.

 

[mcb613]

Why do alot of people get greedy and want a cut? Cant they just say yes and have a good time??? Seems like its isolated to lower middle class and below. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[mudpuppy]

Thats a fine hunt in a GREAT area...wherever rich people are drinking is the ticket!

You may want to try using a screwdriver for a probe/digging tool...its fast and clean once you get the hang of it..takes a lot of the work out of the shallow targets, so you can get twice as many in half the time..which ups your odds for gold in an area like that...I'd keep hitting the shallow targets for a while...how old is the place? Dont ignore the foil and midtones in a place like that...even the 'bad' signals could be a big gold chain...Good Luck and keep us posted...Never feel silly for posting 'just clad' Heck, 90% of MY posts are just clad! That was a great hunt in an unusual place and we appreciated the backstory!
Mud

 

[Gandorf]

You got the hang of it quick! I have never used an Ace 350 so I am not sure how it ID's a target, but I would continue to dig those foil signals at any depth. Most gold and small silver as well as many old trade tokens fall in the foil / pulltab range, and they are found at all depths. Many of my best finds have been 4 inches or less. I once found a buffalo nickel at 1/2 an inch and a pulltab at 4 inches in the same hole. I am not sure how that happened but it did. The key is to dig all the signals, at least until you are very familiar with your 350.

 

[napascores]

Thanks Mud. I have read one of your posts on getting 1000 coins with a screwdriver . . . I ought to give it a shot to hone my skills. The winery was originally founded in 1857 but has only been on this site since 1975. Not sure about the history prior to that but undoubtedly an orchard like most of the land here in Napa.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

Dont worry about posting "Just Clad". The vast majority of my finds are clad. On a rare occasion I might find a silver coin or a gold ring but Clad makes up over 99% of my finds.