Are there others doing as poorly as me...

[grumpyolman]

I keep reading about all the people finding silver. Even those who are newer 'newbies' than me (on land.) I hunt and old fairgrounds and 3 older schools in this area. Southwest Washington State. I am finding coins consistently 4-8" deep, but am finding no Wheaties and haven't seen silver for months. I can go anywhere and find coins no matter how hard it should've been pounded. I read this forum daily, have Andy's book, have downloaded and tried many programs, have chased 'iffy' signals to find a Rusty nail (or it disappears after I dig), and I could go on for a long time. I am not interested in whining but really want to know if there are others out there who are beating their gums to death to find that silver and are doing as poorly as I am? You know the old saying that 10% of the fishermen get 90% of the fish? Maybe that's true in detecting also. I am not in the 10% for fishing and so maybe that's a sign. My settings are similar to what most of the other folks state they are using. I have coils from 8" to 15". I have learned at one school I better only use the 8" coil while at the other school I can use the 15". Now that's progress!
In summary...I think my knowledge of the machine and my efforts are equal to the 'average' bear, but I don't find the good stuff like others say they do. Am I one of the silent majority and represent the norm and only the experts post here, or am I an oaf of some sort? Thanks...Jim

 

[xGregx]

Your not alone trust me, i have 4 trash lots i have hit hard with a ton of different machines and only one has produced 6-8 silvers and one other only one. These are all private yards dating back to 1900. As you learn your machine tho you will get better that's for sure, pulled a few wheaties out over the weekend at 8-11 inches in trash. My silver count so far this year is 3 hehe.

My partner pulled a mini clad dump with 3 nails in the same hole this weekend.

 

[tmanfromtexas]

GOM, I am curious as to what your autosens is running? I have hunted areas where it dropped to 10 and that was at +3. I couldnt dig squat at that location. I use 4 tones and swing slow along with deep on and fast off and my gain is 28. I am hitting target rich environments that produce silver consistantly but last Thursday, me and two hunting buddies hit a spot that hadnt been hunted in a park we hunt regularly. I hunted for over 3 hours and didnt get a silver, another hunter didnt find anything either BUT the third pirate found 9 silvers in the same time frame and he wasnt hunting 20 foot from me. Alot of times its just where you put the coil. Some spots that would appear to give up the good shiney stuff doesnt, and the ones you think are hunted to death have never been touched. I have found 80 silvers since I got the etrac last September and there have been plenty of days that I didnt find one but others, I have found 5 or 6. Just keep trying and it will come to ya. TMAN...

 

[spdnj]

Hang in there gom, the people that are going out and finding nothing are not posting that info on the internet, not interesting to read "I got skunked today" . Some days your the bug some days your the windshield ;-)
Some days I go out and try out new sites and am lucky to even dig 5 targets bad or good, other days I find 1 good keeper, maybe a day with 5 keepers. It seems like it's feast or famine. It will come. If you are finding clad at those depths to me it would mean the older stuff is at that depth or deeper. You have to stop using the settings you are reading that everyone else is using and find the settings that are going to get you to your finds. Try messing around with settings on the etrac that will allow you to hear the deeper signals better like volume gain. Another thing to remember forget the 12 ferrous line, if the target is near other trash that number could vary all the way down into the mid to upper 20's, the co number should stay pretty consistent.
Hang in there and keep going, the silver will come. deep silver dimes can be a very subtle sound, once you hear it and dig one anytime after that you hear that sound your heart gets pumping. if you have not tried it and are looking for silver specifically try conductive, higher tone id setting, 4 tones, and raise your threshold pitch a bit so the silver dimes and quarters give a higher tone. its is easier to pick them out. Also don't fixate on the silver tones, there are other good targets you will miss. but for trying to cherry pick a bit the above works well. Oh and just cranking up the sensitivity is not always good, "high beams in the fog" can be less effective.
Good luck and HH hopes this helps!

 

[dreamweaver43]

Grump,

Hunt in the trashy spots you can find! That's where the old timers didn't like to hunt, and that's where the old machines locked up. The etrac(and explorer) has the advantage in these types of spots to be able to sniff out targets that previous people missed. Unfortunately public places that have not been hunted are few and far between. And they easy targets have been gone for like 2 decades. The targets that remain lie close to trash, fill dirt over them or on extreme edge.......which all means that if they can be detected, they won't hit "textbook". Today we hunt what countless others couldn't find....which isn't easy.

This website can be deceiving, since many of the people posting are the Micheal Jordan's and Wayne Gretzkey's of metal detecting, especially the guys running the explorers.....and they have years of experience in coinhunting as well as mastery of the operation of the machines like expert musicians master their instruments. Try to learn from them as much as you can!! That's why this site is awesome.

Brad

 

[gibsondan]

I hunt in manual sensitivity. I look at the suggested sensitivity and bump it up two or three notches. I think you get better depth in manual. If you get falsing, simply back it off until the detector is stable. I got only newer coins my first three hunts. On my 4th hunt I went to an old park and again found a lot of newer coins. After a few hours I was about to give up but then went to another area and the first target I dug was a Barber dime. Then a few feet away I found an ornate sterling silver thimble which I now know dates back to the early 1900's. This is an area detectorists haven't hit as hard. So now that I know there's silver there, I'll be concentrating on that area for a while. Some people have all the luck; others must perservere until they find that silver. You have good days and bad ones. Dry spells. Just the way it goes. I enjoy hunting even when I don't find silver because you never know what that next target you dig might be. I guess it's the thrill of the hunt. Finding silver just makes it sweeter. Good Luck.

 

[diggin jimmy hoffa]

I agree with other above, if you're pulling new coinage at the 8" depth you will not have any problem pulling old coinage there as well. As some have said in other posts, you just have to put your coil over it. The silver will come and when it sounds through your headphones you'll know it's silver before you even dig it. Sometimes we get that tunnel vision and we have to look outside the box so to speak. Look at the settings around you and see where new tree growth is. That growth wasn't there 40-50 years ago and was probably open area. Yeah I get bumbed out when I don't find the silver, but I have one heck of a time just detecting with friends (sorry xGregx)

Good Luck to you and don't get discouraged

HH

DJH

 

[CoinShooter-Craig]

You know the old saying that 10% of the fishermen get 90% of the fish? Maybe that's true in detecting also.

I've also heard that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish - You just have to find your "Honey Hole" and work it methodically -"Slow -N- Low" Don't be in a hurry to cover as much ground as you can - choose a patch and take your time on it. Good Luck! CoinShooter-Craig

 

[unearth]

GOM...don't feel like the Lone Ranger out there. So far I've only found one silver coin and one gold ring this year Hopefully the finds will pick up as the year progresses. Good luck to both of us

 

[Elton]

I had an SE...and found nothing of value ..So no your not alone with the Non Silver finds..I too would dig holes and the target wasn't there...

 

[Bugalooob]

Your not alone my friend, I'm giving the Etrac another 20 hours of hunting time and see what happen

 

[CoinShooter-Craig]

You know the old saying that 10% of the fishermen get 90% of the fish? Maybe that's true in detecting also.

I've also heard that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish - You just have to find your "Honey Hole" and work it methodically -"Slow -N- Low" Don't be in a hurry to cover as much ground as you can - choose a patch and take your time on it. Good Luck! CoinShooter-Craig

I'd be willing to bet that the ground and the coins that are in it ratio would hold to the same format - 90% of the coins are in 10% of the ground. I know it's fun to just get out there and swing the detector and see what happens , but research is very important - unless you like hitting areas that have been searched 100's of times before you got there , but I'm sure that you've heard that many times before - just a friendly reminder. Happy Hunting and good luck in the field! CoinShooter-Craig

 

[moseng]

Yep... what the others have said! It looks like anyone of us could have started this thread Jim! I would only add that you might try hunting a site or two that looks like it "doesn't" have anything good! I recently went to a park that was built in the late 80s so I was expecting to find only clad. In 3 trips pulled out has been 4 silver Roosevelt dimes, a merc dime, a silver ring, and about 10 wheats. Not exactly a "stellar" set of finds compared to the pros posting their stuff on here and elsewhere but it sure made me want to go back for more. Nothing like the gleam of silver when you pull the plug eh? I originally went there because I only had about 30 minutes the first time and it was close to where I had to meet someone. in addition to a bunch of clad, pull tabs, can slaw, and bottle caps so far the good stuff I

 

[grumpyolman]

I really do appreciate all the comments. It gives me a little better frame of reference to come to some conclusions about how the average bear does in this hobby. Don't suspect I'll ever become a Michael Jordan of the detecting world. Don't worry about me getting discouraged to the point that I hang it up. I really have fun never knowing what the next signal might be and there's a bit of pleasure in operating the equipment efficiently. Not much different than fishing. Just a different. 'rod' and different 'fish'.
Again thanks for the many timely helpful answers and feedback from those who have been there and done that. GOM

 

[sangamon]

...you need to put your coil over a good target. i'm just sayin'...

i really hope things start to click for you.

 

[TerryR]

I hunted a worked out park yesterday with a couple of friends. I use the Preset Coin Mode with multi tone and minor adjustments on the threshold to 24, and sens in automatic. I would have swore this place was done because I have hunted it for over 20 years. Pulled 2 1917 mercs and 6 wheaties all over 8 inches. All signals were questionable but I have learned to SLOW DOWN AND LISTEN. Hard for me to do but what a difference. Took me 3 hours to work a 200' x 50' area but was worth it. I have owned my machine since last fall and don't claim to know it all but I have learned that it is smarter then me. Try going back to the coin mode and see what happens. I have been amazed what I missed because I knew I had found it all. Also the DFX and the Garrett machines showed several of the coins I dug as trash and I couldn't even pinpoint them due to all the trash so had to X mark them and dig. Good luck to you

 

[akelley]

I started using the E-Trac in early January, and have hunted with it almost every weekend for 3-5 hours. I chose one park in San Francisco that was created in the late 1800s, and so I naively thought that I would immediately find lots of old coins with little or no effort. But, after further research, I soon realized that it has gone through several transformations that required plenty of fill dirt, and there has likely been hundreds of detectorists hunting it before me. In total I have found 800+ coins in this park, but as far as the "old" coinage - just a meager 4-wheaties, 1 war nickel, and 1 silver rosie! So if anyone should be discouraged its me, but I'm not . . .

This past weekend, after religiously reading this forum and reading Andy's book over and over, it finally dawned on me to stop using the stock modes and patterns. Instead, I used quick mask (discriminating FE 27+), Auto+3, and little or no filtering (e.g., deep, fast, high trash, etc.). I feel that digital filtering often causes a CPU bottleneck that prevents the smart screen from quickly and accurately reflecting the audio signal. As a result (drum roll), I found 3 out 5 of the old coins I mentioned above (i.e., a 60% improvement)! So I suspect my good average fortune is a result of getting farther up the learning curve. But, as equally as important, I also thinks it stems from using less discrimination and filtering, and a higher sensitivity. Naturally your mileage may vary but, as soon as you begin trusting your ears, I would suggest that you hunt the trashy sites with as little discrimination and filtering as you can tolerate, with the highest sensitivity possible.

Finally I believe location will trump pure skill most of the time. I now recognize that, regardless of how well I improve my detecting skills, I'm never going to find many old coins in this park, and therefore (in the words of the famous L.A. digger) its time to"move along". So I'm now researching alternate sites that have a stronger prospect of raising my "old" coin count. Hope my post will help the others that are doing as poorly as me

-Alex

 

[DirtDean]

I get skunked often. today for example...two old parks, six hours or more detecting and only a few clad and plenty of junk to show for it. I drove almost an hour one way just to go to these parks. last time i went, got a '44 merc, a few clad, and lotsa trash. was it worth it? Every penny. HH DEAN

 

[alton]

I had a similar problem a few years ago with my Explorer. It seemed like everyone that had one got much more depth and performance than I did and found more too. I kept working with the machine and learning everything I could and my finds actually did improve. Then I bought a new SE when it came out. Wham! I started finding everything just like everybody else.

I have came to the conclusion that my particular Explorer was just not as good as the average Explorer. It wasn't bad enough that it was unusable, but just a weak unit. I guess that happens.

With that said, I would test your unit against other etracs and determine if that might be happening for you. If not, keep working at it. These things have a way of improving with time.

 

[bigjohn070]

I don't have e-trac (yet) but use the x-terra.
And brand new to detecting since 11-08.
Basically hunt the same park and amazed
at what i find.But doesn't happen every time out.
Even when you think you coverd all the ground
go back you will see. Sound like your diggin
plenty deep on targets though. My biggest mistake
was trying to compete with friends and going to fast
in the trash with to much disc.

HH
BIG JOHN