Dry loose dirt = not much depth!

[nocaljim]

I have been hunting a site that myself and friend think was a old picnic site. It is a oak grove that is maybe five acres?
For weed control they disk the area, which is good and bad! The bad, a lot of what we find have some damage. The ground has been worked to the consistancy of , maybe dog kibble? Any way, we have not found any coins deeper than maybe, three inches! I have a V3 and he has brand x, I guess I can say it , a SE with some kind of 14 inch coil? The other day I brought some buckets of dirt from the site to try a test . Got a plastic tub that is 8 in deep put a silver quarter in and put in six inches of dirt, and nothing! The next day my friend comes by , I tell him what happened, So he gets out his SE and he cant find it with his machine! I hope this winter wnen and if it rains it will make a difference in depth? This site has given up 14 v nickles, 5 barber dimes, 1 seated dime, 2 barber 25 cents, 1 barber 50 , 1 walking liberty50, and 1 1919 wheat! Oldest coin 1884 V nickle latest coin 1919 wheat! Every time I go to this spot I tellmyself I'm going to find a indian head but no luck yet!

 

[Jason in TN]

That is one advantage the V3 has over the SE you can run in single freq usually will do better in plowed ground than the multiple freq will.

Jason

 

[jer4004]

They will detect deeper in undisturbed ground. I don't know why though.

 

[NiagracountyNY]

Must be how dry the soil is.I watch vids of those fellas in England detecting.Seems alot of the sites they Hunt are plowed and worked .They get some good depth with all kinds of machines.Moisture in the grounds gets me deeper signals with the SE.I think it helps them all.That site you guys have sounds great!Hope you pull some more goodies out.Good Luck

 

[Monte]

And there will be differences, too, based upon the detector and/or search coil used. That's why we "never find it all," and old hunted sites can still produce. Still, there are conditions that can be challengeing.

I have been hunting a site that myself and friend think was a old picnic site. It is a oak grove that is maybe five acres? This site has given up 14 v nickles, 5 barber dimes, 1 seated dime, 2 barber 25 cents, 1 barber 50, 1 walking liberty50, and 1 1919 wheat! Oldest coin 1884 V nickle latest coin 1919 wheat!

It sounds like you have a good site, and it has rewarded your efforts. Now for some questions:

How long (or how many times) have you hunted this site?

What make/model detector and coil have you used, if other than the V3?

What settings are you (plural) using?

Have you encountered very much trash at the site, and if so, what type and frequency of trash targets?

For weed control they disk the area, which is good and bad! The bad, a lot of what we find have some damage. The ground has been worked to the consistancy of, maybe dog kibble? Any way, we have not found any coins deeper than maybe, three inches!

It's possible that there aren't any coins deeper than 3". It's possible that there are some deeper coins but they are masked by iron trash. It's possible that some cons and other good targets are not 'flat-to-the-coil' but are canted due to the disking activity. The angled coins will be more difficult to detect and might not "read' as well, either.

There is a site here in Western Oregon along a river on private property I stumbled upon back in the winter of '83/'84. Some folks used to access it to do some fishing, but a walk around the site showed me the remains of an old structure and some piping that ran up the hillside. What research revealed was an old dance hall site, and that there were a couple of bath houses to shower off after playing in the river. Later, on a third detecting visit, I wandered upon an old drive entrance from an open field area they plowed that led into some trees where I discovered a number of red brick cooking spots and associated campsites in an old "auto-park" campground. That easily dated to the 20's to late '40's era. The property owner didn't have a clue it was there! It was too overgrown at the time for any detecting.

The more open area was inviting, however, because the owner (now former owner) used to plow it a couple of times a year to get the weeds and growth down,much like the site you mention. I hunted this site on several occasions and took Barber's and Mercury 10

 

[TheMarshall]

Hello guys................Let's see if a bit of logical / scientific thinking can illuminate matters.

Firstly, Do you have access to an Fisher F75?

If not, are you proficient enough with your Whites Spectra, to acquire some ground readings?

The obvious idea is to determine the mineralisation of the soil. Guessing is simply not good enough.

The most telling statement made is that of the fact that they till the ground for weed control purposes.

Ploughing the ground exposes the soil to the atmosphere, allowing a greater interaction between the air's oxygen and any ferrous ingredients in the soil .

This increases the overall ferrous-oxide factor, which in turn detracts from good detecting conditions.

So we need some definitive indications of ground FE before we can contemplate any improved tactics for exploring the site.

Also, we need operational data....Your detector settings....program, and modifications to it .....disc settings etc.

Soil in tubs and buckets is a joke, so please, let's get serious..................TheMarshall

 

[silverdime]

You should just dig 6" hole put the quarter in it. cover it back up. Using a tube it not in the real world situation. My se can hit fresh buried quarter with no problems at 8" but that could be do to part in south alabama are soil more like sand.

In ky i could hit a fresh buired nickel at 7" not very soild hit but it was good enough. My uncle just plowed he's yard becuase of all the iron in it. plus he going to seed it but before seeding he going hunt it. he found a 1879 morgan dollar at 10". I'm headed there tommorrrow with my se for few day then Mi.

Imo test was do to fall becuase of the setup. On old whites like the xl pro you will lose death becuase of the hola effect being broke. My fathers xl pro or mxt could not hit 7" penny freshly buired in michgan soil. Never tryed the se in michgan becuase i did not own it at the time.. Bt few months later i went back and found it we the se.

God luck happy hunting.

 

[nocaljim]

Monte, I would guess two hrs per coin. In my mind that's a lot of time per coin, but they are quality finds? Most of time I used C&J with tone ID on,also HI PRO default settings.Used D2 coil. As far as trash,my friend who has been detecting longer than I calls it a fairly clean site. There are lots of targets, but most are old, old shot shell brass etc. no bottle caps or pull tabs!! there is some large chunks of iron, old chain ,parts of old farming equipment . Hay, I'll be the first to admit I'm new at this hobby but I do want to learn how to run my V 3! Maybe my test in the tub is not all that scientific, But I know my 5.3 coil will find that quarter at 6 in in that loose soil, but I cant imagine going over 5 acres with a six in coil! maybe after we get some good rain this winter I'll give a try. some one asked what the ground readings were, and if I did it right,it seems to be 92. not sure what that means, Got to learn how to post a picture!! happy hunting! JIM