Critterhunter
New member
I've dreamed about scraping off say about the first 6" of soil at some of my sites that I know have the potential for some super deep coins out of the range of even the best of machines like the GT. I'm confident I can get perhaps 9 to 12" in wet conditons at some of my sites. I can get 9 easily at some sites in dry conditions and maybe 10 here and there, but many of these sites range from milder to heavier mineralization so it can be a stuggle for even Minelabs to break the 9" barrier sometimes. Sites like that I've managed 11" on a coin with good perfect/strong IDs and audio but in ideal wet conditions in order to overcome the mineralization more. But if 6" was scraped off then I'd be reaching down even further with better ability on stuff that were in that 9 to 12" range prior to the scraping and be going beyond that to who knows how deep.
One time we hunted an empty lot in a small town. I was the last to arrive there about a year after a circle of friends beat the place hard. The soil was very mineralized with black sand and iron. I didn't pull but I think a few wheats out of there, and at the time I didn't have the GT, which of course is known for penetrating the worst of soils and it's depth is as good as it gets in a discriminating VLF detector. Either way, my friends had already got all the "easy" shallower stuff in that rough soil and made some really good finds using better machines then the one I had at the time that were known for handling harsh ground conditions. I just wish I had the GT there, because I think I could have still found some keepers they missed.
Anyway, one day I drove by and saw they had scraped about 12" of soil off the site and I was excited. I called my friend who originaly brought me to that site (only common courtesy to do that of course, and I don't like to hunt alone anyway) and we met up later that day to hunt the spot. We got a bunch of good coins out of there that were out of reach of all the top of the line machines before due to the bad soil.
12" on a silver dime is not an easy thing to do and in fact is probably impossible at this particular site in that kind of soil, Minelab or not. Just remember that when you hear guys rave about getting an "easy 9 to 12" coin in some states with a machine, even the Sovereign. It may be possible in better more neutral soil but for many of us a silver dime at 9" isn't a sure fire hard hit unless the soil is perhaps under ideal wet conditons. This goes for all the top line machines, including all the Minelabs, which are known for handling rough ground better. I've seen guys struggle to get about 9" on a dime with one machine and another guy in another state says it's nothing for him to hit a 10 or maybe 11" dime pretty easily here and there using the same unit.
Bummer was much of the area was scraped down to hard limestone clay, and thus the coins couldn't sink deeper over much of it and were probably taken away with the 12" of topsoil. I even found a few old coins laying right on top of the clay by the naked eye. We saw the dirt all in a huge pile and tried to find out where that soil was going but we never could. I bet there were tons of good silvers in that huge pile of dirt. Luckily at least parts of the site still had deeper exposed soil and it all wasn't just a hard clay layer like that, so we did still pull quite a few good coin finds out of there along with some other nice buttons and tokens and such.
Just goes to show you that there are plenty of sites where even the best of machines will struggle to find stuff that others in other states would consider well within range in their soil, so never consider a site hunted out until you've dug all the super deep "junk" hits, as those could be coins just out or range or masked badly by the mineralization or something. I just wish I had the GT with me before that site was scraped, because maybe I could have saved a few of those coins that got taken away with that 12" of top soil.
If anybody has any stories about sites you hunted after some of the top soil was scraped off please share your story...
One time we hunted an empty lot in a small town. I was the last to arrive there about a year after a circle of friends beat the place hard. The soil was very mineralized with black sand and iron. I didn't pull but I think a few wheats out of there, and at the time I didn't have the GT, which of course is known for penetrating the worst of soils and it's depth is as good as it gets in a discriminating VLF detector. Either way, my friends had already got all the "easy" shallower stuff in that rough soil and made some really good finds using better machines then the one I had at the time that were known for handling harsh ground conditions. I just wish I had the GT there, because I think I could have still found some keepers they missed.
Anyway, one day I drove by and saw they had scraped about 12" of soil off the site and I was excited. I called my friend who originaly brought me to that site (only common courtesy to do that of course, and I don't like to hunt alone anyway) and we met up later that day to hunt the spot. We got a bunch of good coins out of there that were out of reach of all the top of the line machines before due to the bad soil.
12" on a silver dime is not an easy thing to do and in fact is probably impossible at this particular site in that kind of soil, Minelab or not. Just remember that when you hear guys rave about getting an "easy 9 to 12" coin in some states with a machine, even the Sovereign. It may be possible in better more neutral soil but for many of us a silver dime at 9" isn't a sure fire hard hit unless the soil is perhaps under ideal wet conditons. This goes for all the top line machines, including all the Minelabs, which are known for handling rough ground better. I've seen guys struggle to get about 9" on a dime with one machine and another guy in another state says it's nothing for him to hit a 10 or maybe 11" dime pretty easily here and there using the same unit.
Bummer was much of the area was scraped down to hard limestone clay, and thus the coins couldn't sink deeper over much of it and were probably taken away with the 12" of topsoil. I even found a few old coins laying right on top of the clay by the naked eye. We saw the dirt all in a huge pile and tried to find out where that soil was going but we never could. I bet there were tons of good silvers in that huge pile of dirt. Luckily at least parts of the site still had deeper exposed soil and it all wasn't just a hard clay layer like that, so we did still pull quite a few good coin finds out of there along with some other nice buttons and tokens and such.
Just goes to show you that there are plenty of sites where even the best of machines will struggle to find stuff that others in other states would consider well within range in their soil, so never consider a site hunted out until you've dug all the super deep "junk" hits, as those could be coins just out or range or masked badly by the mineralization or something. I just wish I had the GT with me before that site was scraped, because maybe I could have saved a few of those coins that got taken away with that 12" of top soil.
If anybody has any stories about sites you hunted after some of the top soil was scraped off please share your story...