Finally got a chance to hunt!

[CZconnoisseur]

It seemed like a lifetime between hunts recently, between less than ideal weather and the sloughing off of a few items I don't plan on moving with - I finally managed to get out to a new-to-me rental property only 5 minutes from home that was built in the late 1950s. Pickins are pretty slim as far as places to hunt in the immediate area (for older coins at least) so not having to drive 20 minutes one-way for a decent spot is very appealing when time is short!

Started off adjacent from the front porch of this house, and quickly found a "nest" of signals. It was so dark - darker than what I'm used to since urban light pollution usually helps immensely for me - I didn't look at the coins before putting them in my pouch and just moved on. In one area I got a mess of signals that even in reactivity 3 wasn't able to zero in on a single coin at first. Approached it from another direction and got a soft "86" while running the 12 khz "Standard rental" program that seems to work for most places around here. From 5-6" down I remember pulling 6 coins, all pennies from a 6" X 6" area. Since I couldn't see all that well (Propointer light is dead thanks to me!) it's very possible all 5 Wheats I found on the hunt came from this one glory hole! Not far away there came a "92" in 12khz but had a large "footprint"...first Matchbox car (the Blazer) came up! Went on to find 2 more Matchbox cars in surprisingly good condition. They clean up quite well in most cases and the wheels still spin freely - my 3-year-old daughter has a nice collection which she loves!

About 2 feet away I got another "86" which was a standalone copper penny, but beyond that there was a slew of aluminum trash all of a sudden. Cleaned all of that out and was surprised to hear relative silence for some time! Worked my way around to the backyard and suddenly got a sharp "93" - first quarter! 18 inches away another strong "93" turns up another quarter! 2 feet further and I hit a "93-94" that sounds ALMOST like a quarter, but not quite...I felt it in the hole, it was a low-relief coin which I first thought was a dog tag...nope! Queen of Clad Sacajawea dollar coin - a nice unexpected surprise! That covers the roundtrip for gas at least!!!

Moved around the house towards the front yard and switched to 4 khz near the front porch after digging a few bottlecaps. More quarters jumped out from the chatter, an "84" here, an "83" there - all sounding off nicely amidst the mid-tones. Dug quite a bit of mid-level aluminum trash, and since I opened up N2 in the 12 khz program I am digging a LOT more balled up foil, but in there somewhere HAS TO BE a small gold ring! Looking to add some gold finds in there for 2015 and hopefully this will help....

The 4khz to 12 khz toggle correctly identifies most aluminum, but sometimes the ring tabs will sound identical to a nickel. A "35-38" reading in 4 khz should change to a "52-55" reading in 12 khz if it's a nickel (without much adjacent trash of course), but I've found that some foil only makes it up to the 40s in 12 khz if it first reads "35-38" in 4 khz. I know there are going to be rings that will behave in the same manner, so many times I get tired of the guesswork and conjecture and just DIG IT UP

 

[martygene]

CZ, when u talk about rental property, is the property vacant or rented? Do u call the office of the rental agency for your permission and how often do get the ok? It seems like they wouldn't want anyone making a mess, not that we do make messes but they probably think that we do, and detracting from the look of the property.
thanks.

 

[CZconnoisseur]

I won't hunt a house unless I have permission, but most of the places hunted are in fact vacant. This last property belonged to a patient of mine who has let me hunt two other properties closer in-town. He doesn't care about the night hunts - it's usually the neighbors who have a problem with night hunts and want to know why you're there at this hour...

The cold-calling aspect of seeing a rental house and calling for permission is most definitely an art unto itself. Most landlords don't care, most realtors in charge of a property are snooty and say "No!" unless you can offer them some kind of return - what has worked for me with much older and desirable houses is to of course offer to share the finds, but sending them a video link of target recoveries has helped more than I had imagined. It's a great way to showcase what we do and to also educate them on the professionalism of the hobby.

As far as numbers go - I have around a 50% success rate with cold-calling rental houses. Once you get the green light, you can search the owner's name in the county database and see what other properties they own, which opens up more doors, etc. A little humor over the phone goes a long way!

A lot of younger homeowners in the older part of Memphis love the history, and love the videos! Once you get "in" the door with some folks in the right neighborhood the finds start rolling in and create more excitement for everyone! Have some time off coming up and I plan to put it to good use

 

[tabman]

Taylor you need to get a night time job so you can detect during the daylight hours. I've gotten to sites before sunrise and found that detecting in the dark is harder than you would think it would be. You're hard core when it comes to detecting.

tabman

 

[BHMACK]

Awesome story and hunt! Thanks CZ.