(Posted originally at dirtjournal.com)
11/27/08: A Swing and a Miss! - Thanksgiving day! It's been a good month but I wanted what will probably be my last hunt of the month to be a good one. I knew there wouldn't be anyone at the "church houses" that I hunted a few months ago so I decided to take my 6" Excellerator and pick up a few wheats that I may have missed. I expected this hunt to be over pretty shortly as I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time covering the front yard where I had my first and only three-silver-day.
I started in the very small front yard of the second house which is just to the left of the picture. I actually had not hunted there before so I wanted to get it out of the way first. It's a rectangle about 8 foot by 8 foot and has been slightly filled for some landscaping boxes. I picked out a few wheats at around six inches which was a nice way to start. I then moved on to the primary house and started next to the sidwalk on the street side in public property land, right next to the telephone pole in the picture. Right off the bat I hit a half-dollar-sized disk that appeared to be copper. After checking it out for a bit, I realized I had found my first "coupon" type token! Cool!!
I slowed down my hunt realizing the potential this small strip held. I put it off before because a short initial hunt with the stock coil produced nothing but solid null. With power lines overhead and plenty of larger targets in the ground below, it's a demanding area to hunt. If any coil was up to the challenge, I knew it was the 6" Excellerator on the end of my SE. I scored a few more wheat's before getting another large disk, my second token for the day, identical to the first! Double prizes!!
I worked the strip even harder and was rewarded with some more wheats. None were deeper than six inches which was suprising as the ground looked like it had been filled. I guess you just never know, huh?
After finishing the strip I moved on to the main yard, starting a grid perpendicular to the one I ran the first time I hunted the house. I really wasn't expecting much, but on my second pass, I nailed a wheat at about five inches. It wasn't masked and it sounded great, I'm not sure how I could have missed it the first time. Not long after, I got another and another! I dug a few shallow targets too. They turned out to be Memorial's. That is until I got careless on a penny-sounding signal that pinpointed about two inches.
Ugh! I knew as it rolled back into the hole that I got a hold of it pretty good with the digger. Well, it's silver coin # 14 for the year anyway! A nice worn '47 Rosie. I like silver when it's been used a lot. I mean, I like off-the-mint silver too, but the old worn silver has a unique antique look too it that I'm fond of, especially with the Washington quarters. Anyway... I slipped my prize into my right pocket after drying the tears and started popping out more wheats.
I had covered just over half the yard when I got to the front step. Immediately in front of the front step I got a solid null. I slowed way down and in the middle of the null I got a real nice quarter signal real shallow. Well, I had learned my lesson. I knew in this particular yard, shallow didn't necessarily mean clad.
I used the X-1 to find the target before I even dug and my Lesche recovered this unique and very sweeeeet coin! When I picked it up, I read "Tails, you lose." I realized I was looking at an elephant's rear end. Oh goody! I saw the date 1936 at the bottom. I flipped it over to the "win" side to see that it was a Texas centennial good luck coin. Awsome!! What a cool find. And right next to it was yet another wheat penny!
I popped out a few more wheats on my way to complete the yard. Did I mention how suprised I was to see how many wheats I had missed the first time around? I guess the stock coil was just too big for this yard. I'm glad I returned! And what a good day too, not a single person showed up to either of the houses. I was alone and in all my detecting glory! Before I finished the yard though, I got a nickel signal right next to the huge tree and I saw a nickel laying on the surface. My coil hit it and knocked the layer of dust off. It's very worn and I can only distinguish that it is from the 40's. Possibly '48 or '49, but certainly not a war nickel. Nice, old, and worn, just the way I like 'em! After I had finished the front yard, I went back to the strip and worked my way back to the car picking up a few more wheats to add to the stack.
What a great day!! By the time I was done, I had accumulated eighteen wheats, mostly from the 40's and 50's but the oldest was a 1919, the silver dime, the two coupon tokens, the Texas Centennial coin, and an old Jefferson. Many of those coins were in an area that I had ran a tight grid over before. I'm guessing it was a combination of the small coil and much more experience with the SE that led me to recover those missed coins.
11/27/08: A Swing and a Miss! - Thanksgiving day! It's been a good month but I wanted what will probably be my last hunt of the month to be a good one. I knew there wouldn't be anyone at the "church houses" that I hunted a few months ago so I decided to take my 6" Excellerator and pick up a few wheats that I may have missed. I expected this hunt to be over pretty shortly as I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time covering the front yard where I had my first and only three-silver-day.
I started in the very small front yard of the second house which is just to the left of the picture. I actually had not hunted there before so I wanted to get it out of the way first. It's a rectangle about 8 foot by 8 foot and has been slightly filled for some landscaping boxes. I picked out a few wheats at around six inches which was a nice way to start. I then moved on to the primary house and started next to the sidwalk on the street side in public property land, right next to the telephone pole in the picture. Right off the bat I hit a half-dollar-sized disk that appeared to be copper. After checking it out for a bit, I realized I had found my first "coupon" type token! Cool!!
I slowed down my hunt realizing the potential this small strip held. I put it off before because a short initial hunt with the stock coil produced nothing but solid null. With power lines overhead and plenty of larger targets in the ground below, it's a demanding area to hunt. If any coil was up to the challenge, I knew it was the 6" Excellerator on the end of my SE. I scored a few more wheat's before getting another large disk, my second token for the day, identical to the first! Double prizes!!
I worked the strip even harder and was rewarded with some more wheats. None were deeper than six inches which was suprising as the ground looked like it had been filled. I guess you just never know, huh?
After finishing the strip I moved on to the main yard, starting a grid perpendicular to the one I ran the first time I hunted the house. I really wasn't expecting much, but on my second pass, I nailed a wheat at about five inches. It wasn't masked and it sounded great, I'm not sure how I could have missed it the first time. Not long after, I got another and another! I dug a few shallow targets too. They turned out to be Memorial's. That is until I got careless on a penny-sounding signal that pinpointed about two inches.
Ugh! I knew as it rolled back into the hole that I got a hold of it pretty good with the digger. Well, it's silver coin # 14 for the year anyway! A nice worn '47 Rosie. I like silver when it's been used a lot. I mean, I like off-the-mint silver too, but the old worn silver has a unique antique look too it that I'm fond of, especially with the Washington quarters. Anyway... I slipped my prize into my right pocket after drying the tears and started popping out more wheats.
I had covered just over half the yard when I got to the front step. Immediately in front of the front step I got a solid null. I slowed way down and in the middle of the null I got a real nice quarter signal real shallow. Well, I had learned my lesson. I knew in this particular yard, shallow didn't necessarily mean clad.
I used the X-1 to find the target before I even dug and my Lesche recovered this unique and very sweeeeet coin! When I picked it up, I read "Tails, you lose." I realized I was looking at an elephant's rear end. Oh goody! I saw the date 1936 at the bottom. I flipped it over to the "win" side to see that it was a Texas centennial good luck coin. Awsome!! What a cool find. And right next to it was yet another wheat penny!
I popped out a few more wheats on my way to complete the yard. Did I mention how suprised I was to see how many wheats I had missed the first time around? I guess the stock coil was just too big for this yard. I'm glad I returned! And what a good day too, not a single person showed up to either of the houses. I was alone and in all my detecting glory! Before I finished the yard though, I got a nickel signal right next to the huge tree and I saw a nickel laying on the surface. My coil hit it and knocked the layer of dust off. It's very worn and I can only distinguish that it is from the 40's. Possibly '48 or '49, but certainly not a war nickel. Nice, old, and worn, just the way I like 'em! After I had finished the front yard, I went back to the strip and worked my way back to the car picking up a few more wheats to add to the stack.
What a great day!! By the time I was done, I had accumulated eighteen wheats, mostly from the 40's and 50's but the oldest was a 1919, the silver dime, the two coupon tokens, the Texas Centennial coin, and an old Jefferson. Many of those coins were in an area that I had ran a tight grid over before. I'm guessing it was a combination of the small coil and much more experience with the SE that led me to recover those missed coins.
I think Bryce and James are rubbing off on you.