AFTER A LOT OF THOUGHT !!

[Tom_in_CA]

Here's how you would "reasonably" know:

If a site in question dates, let's say, to 1900. And if ...... after 100 coins dug there, it becomes obvious that coins lost at those earliest of usage years, are at no deeper than 6", ...... well .......... think hard. Sure, an 1880s loss might be deeper. But wait! : If the origination of this park or school or whatever was/is 1900 (and not earlier), ....... then .... think hard.

For beaches (where sand gets re-arranged), or furroughed fields (where plows can put them all over the depth landscape) , or any other disturbed surfaces, sure: this goes out the window. I'm only talking about places where 100's of test-sample-age targets begin to show a correlation. Then a "reasonable" person begins to deduce that ....... there's a stopping point in depth.

Also, some grounds actually have a bedrock, to which nothing can sink deeper. Think hard, what happens to depth in such places?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I actually had the priveledge of being in a San Francisco park scrape RIGHT while the tractors were scraping, back in a 2006 demolition job (scraping off turf to make-way for artificial turf). Yup, litterally dodging tractors! (that cost me a couple of 12-packs to get them to look the other way, haha). And I recall in one zone, the tractor had scraped off 4 or 5". Presto, no more pesky 1960s and newer stuff. All wheaties, silver, etc... from the 1950s and older. Then in the same exact zone, 20 minutes later, the tractor came by again and scraped a few more inches off ! (as judged/seen from surrounding un-disturbed landmarks, like in-place trees, utility boxes, etc...). Oh it was heaven! Now every single signal was 1920s or older! (as I was now 7 to 9" deep from the original strata). Then 20 minutes later the tractor came by again and scraped off a few more inches! Now ..... although the signals were few and far between, they were all seateds or very early hinges and such! (I'm now 11" or 12" below surface grade).

But get this: When the tractor came by AGAIN, and took YET A FEW MORE INCHES OFF (so that now I'm 14" or more below surface grade), the ground became totally sterile. Yup. Even resorting to all-metal.

So believe it or not, it's not "endless". All the coins therefore were now in the piles that had been scraped. So we "chased the trucks" and got more coins where they were dumping the dirt.

 

[JamesBondaka]

When we were discussing this ....we were talking in "general" or " run of the mill" standards sites....not some site on top of bedrock or concrete for that matter. Most sites are not like this. In your particular scenario...if it fact a certain dated site in on bedrock then I would agree with your rational.

The problem is though most of the time......one doesnt know what is there and/or how deep it goes etc.. The other thing comes to mind is.....even if you know about a dated site....who knows maybe there was ANOTHER site below that one. Thats the fun part....the unknown.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Agreed. The term "worked out" does get used for a lot of places that are NOT "worked out". While in other cases .... it could apply.

 

[D&P-OR]

I just got back from a two day hunt at a worked out site.-----Did I miss anything??---Info, I mean--not targets.

 

[Elton]

I just got back from a two day hunt at a worked out site.-----Did I miss anything??---Info, I mean--not targets.

You sure did miss a lot Del.. We solved the worlds problems along with what is and what isn't a hunted out site.. Were all sworn to secrecy and posts were removed or I would tell ya the answers...

Hahahaha Welcome back buddy Naaaaaaaaaaaa were still hashing it out...... could use some more of your input though !!

 

[Steve O]

The more junk/iron in the ground, the harder it is to say it's 'hunted out', we just don't know.

There are a few fields I frequent, that I know have old coins out of reach of detectors. I know this from chasing flat buttons, where you dig a detectable target, put the small coil back in the hole and get another deep target, dig deeper and before you know it, the hole is 18' deep and wide, and coins and buttons are still coming out. I wouldn't consider a site like that hunted out unless the area doesn't permit a dig such as that.

There is another small hay field I keep getting drawn to, only about two football fields in size. No modern trash but the ground is rocky, hard and has man made iron in it. The farmer doesn't plow it probably for that reason. Most of the hunts I get skunked there, but every so often I'll pull out a half reale or a seated. The field has produced Jersey coppers and large cents in the past.

I'm sure you guys agree, there are a few fields we hunt that we have a good feeling about, the excitement level is high on these certain places, even if we've hit them dozens of times in the past.

 

[Elton]

Partial quote from your post........................................." Most of the hunts I get skunked there, but every so often I'll pull out a half reale or a seated. The field has produced Jersey coppers and large cents in the past. "

What were mostly saying on the 'Hunted Out side of this post..is How much time are you /me /us willing to spend for 1 coin... I say the site is hunted out.. Not dead yet, but not worth a lot of time for I coin..

.others say it's not hunted out and worth spending hours for I coin...

 

[khouse]

I would rather hunt 8 hours and find one silver than find a pocket full of clad any day. Last week I was at a pounded - hunted out site. The ground was moist and EMI was low to non existent. I cranked my etrac to maximum power of 30. I then started hitting 8inch plus Wheaties and just as I was leaving I dug a 11 to 12 inch Franklin half. These were targets missed by others and missed by me by running auto sensitivity. There is still silver out there - It's just too deep for most machines or masked by iron.
2 years ago I received permission to hunt a small privately owned acre site that was hunted to death by the historical society and their detectorists. The owner of the property told me that recently after they hunted it the society said they had got it all. He said they wouldn't be back and I was now welcome to hunt the same site. I was not discouraged and was happy to hunt this "hunted out site" The first day I dig 21 bullets all 6 to 12 inches deep. I have been back many times with lesser success - but success non the less.

 

[khouse]

I agree. We keep getting drawn to that old farm pond knowing there is a wise 8 pound Bass lurking around. Sure we snag several small fish along the way. We get hung up in that old tree trying to lay our lure perfectly in that small opening hoping to catch the trophy fish. We know he's there. We always try every time we fish that pond. One day he will bite....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

then those sites, by definition then, were not hunted out. I don't get it. This (your example) might not apply to ANOTHER site, that truly IS "hunted out".

 

[mudpuppy]

Capt Phil used to say "stay on the crab" which I often think about when I'm detecting..if theres good targets, i mutter this to myself when I feel the urge to roam...stay on them until there are no more. Then as far as you and your gear are concerned, on that particular day, its hunted out! as an aside, I tried to out smoke him one night, just to see if I could, every time he lit one, I did too...I started with 3 packs of Lucky Strikes and had to buy a pack of Marlboros in the span of 6hrs....
Mud

 

[khouse]

Who determines a site hunted out? If the site has any size to it at all it can't be hunted out. Sure if you dig every signal in a 5ft square with a PI machine then yes that is hunted out. But - Is it the guy that doesn't know how to run his machine? Is it the guy who thinks he knows his machine? Is it the guy that runs a machine that only goes 6 inches deep? Is it another hunter who tells you the sites hunted out to keep you out? I have been skunked on hunts only to go back over the same site with different coils and find stuff. If you run a larger than stock coil you will hit some deep coins on edge that the smaller coils miss. If you run a smaller than stock coil you will find some goodies in the trash. Also running different machines over the same site will reward you in more finds. In 30 years of hunting some of the same sites I haven't ever though of them hunted out. They are for sure very well picked over though....

 

[Elton]

It's possible to hunt a site out...


Quote........ [size=large]"Sure if you dig every signal in a 5ft square with a PI machine then yes that is hunted out".[/size]..LOl

Kenny do you think it ever reaches a level when it is just a waste of time to keep going back for I coin or two ??

 

[Tom_in_CA]

well, I don't think we need to exaggerate and say that it takes a nugget or pulse machine to litterally strip out every single "peep", to ONLY THEN say it's "hunted out" (unless someone really enjoys hunting for pinheads ands staples).

The question of "who says" is a valid one. But it's not the question of this thread. Because obviously, people can be wrong about a site, or right. But that still doesn't change the fact of that some sites are worked out (so as to be so insanely worthless to hunt, that it's no longer worth anyone's while). I can think of some such sites (although you'd probably say "who says"? who made "tom-in-CA" the authority?, etc....).

When I got my first detector, an all-metal TR machine (66tr) in the mid 1970s as a teenager, I went out to my own front lawn. House built in 1959. Over the course of the next year or so, that was my test ground. I eventually worked out 50 to 70 coins out of this yard. As I got other machines during those evolutionary years of metal detectors (TR disc, then motion disc, etc...) I .... naturally .... went out to my own front yard. I can tell you for a fact that there was simply no more coins to be had there! Unless you consider pinheads and staples to be worthwhile targets to pursue with nugget pulse machines, it was "worked out". There was nothing "deeper" (on account of the home was only 20 yrs. old at that time, well within in the depth of all machines of the era. So depth was a non-issue.

I can think of other sites where we had the liberty to dig all (even iron, as there was very little) and .... again where depth isn't the issue (d/t it's dry chapparel terrain where even the oldest of coins from the origination of the site usage were easily within detecting range). By the time we were done, dozens of hunts later, you could hunt for an HOUR without hearing a single peep. How silly sterile must a place be, before someone finally claims ... "yes, this is hunted out"? Certainly you weren't serious about the criteria for this to be that even a nugget pulse machine can't hear a peep?

Sure: In each of the above scenarios I gave (my own yard, and the country picnic site), I gaurantee you there *might* have been an earing stud or tinsel thin chain I missed (each of which give fits to standard coin machines, and need a pulse to find). Ok, if that is the criteria, then yes, even those spots are not hunted out.

 

[khouse]

I guess for most hunters going back to the same site to only dig a coin or two is a waste of time. Sometimes I'm not in the mind set to do this. But I wouldn't call any site hunted out. "Hunted out" is a finite term. Which to me means there is nothing at all left. I do however think there are "Pounded sites" and "Hunted hard" sites all over.

Replying to my statement - "Quote........ "Sure if you dig every signal in a 5ft square with a PI machine then yes that is hunted out"...LOl" I'm saying just that 25 square foot area is hunted out. Not the whole site. I don't think any site of any size has had every target dug this way?

Again - Who's determining the hunted out sites? Newbies? People that don't know how to run their machines? People with inferior equipment?
I will say this - If NASA Tom Dankowski, Monte Vaughn or Andy Sabisch told me I was wasting my time because they had already hunted a site out then I would go somewhere else. But I still believe they would rather say that the pickings were slim - not hunted out? Maybe not?

Me and Bill_S were hunting some old Fairgrounds. There was another guy hunting there as well. He came up to us and told us that he found a few silvers and Wheaties at a tiny park in a nearby town. He said it had been hunted a lot and he and his friends cleaned it out. He then told us where the park was knowing we wouldn't find anything I suppose? Bill and I thought we would give it a go the next week. We found countless silver and Wheaties there. We had a blast. We are sill planning going back to get what we know we missed. What if we took this guy at his word? We would have never went there. I'm glad we did!

 

[khouse]

I haven't ran into a site that you describe as your old front yard. I still believe that until you remove the masking iron you can't call a site hunted out for quality finds. I'm not talking that iron, staples or pinheads are finds. I'm just saying this type of trash can keep you from finding something good under or around it. I'm sure from your descriptions you have found a few "hunted out" sites. Must be disappointing for sure. For me I haven't found one. Maybe tomorrow will be the day?

 

[JamesBondaka]

I guess for most hunters going back to the same site to only dig a coin or two is a waste of time. Sometimes I'm not in the mind set to do this. But I wouldn't call any site hunted out. "Hunted out" is a finite term.

Again - Who's determining the hunted out sites? Newbies? People that don't know how to run their machines? People with inferior equipment?
I will say this - If NASA Tom Dankowski, Monte Vaughn or Andy Sabisch told me I was wasting my time because they had already hunted a site out then I would go somewhere else.

I agree.....I dont think they would say that either.


Can we get a true definition of the word, "pinhead"???? Sorry I could not resist.

 

[khouse]

D&P,
Your exactly right. Some may call a site hunted out when there is just a coin or two left. But maybe it's the non experienced guy assuming there's only a coin or two left? There could be several coins waiting for an experienced or lucky hunter? I sometimes hunt several weeks without silver so just one silver coin makes my day. Like I said before - I'll take one silver coin over a pouch full of clad any day. I'm going to hit a park tomorrow with the hopes of silver. Who knows it may have been hunted out already?
FYI: I found a 1943 Silver P nickel in my change from McDonnald's last week. I thought that place was hunted out for sure - but there it was.

 

[5900_XL-1]

D&P,
Your exactly right. Some may call a site hunted out when there is just a coin or two left. But maybe it's the non experienced guy assuming there's only a coin or two left? There could be several coins waiting for an experienced or lucky hunter? I sometimes hunt several weeks without silver so just one silver coin makes my day. Like I said before - I'll take one silver coin over a pouch full of clad any day. I'm going to hit a park tomorrow with the hopes of silver. Who knows it may have been hunted out already?
FYI: I found a 1943 Silver P nickel in my change from McDonnald's last week. I thought that place was hunted out for sure - but there it was.

"Your exactly right. Some may call a site hunted out when there is just a coin or two left. "

When I hunt an old vintage spot 3 times in a row and not dig coffee money during 3-4 hour sessions, that sucker is hunted out for me. Yes, I have doubled the hunts and hours back when I was really addicted, and finally popped a lonr Rosey or Merc. I just don't see it worthwhile now to invest 20-30 hours and wear out my body and mental zeal for a single silver and a pennance of clad.

My personal time and body stamina dictates what "hunted out" means, and places ARE hunted out IMO.