Hunted Out

[5900_XL-1]

This subject has 2 camps...those like me who get tired of walking for hours, several days a week, at known old history. Thing is, every detecting guru in the area has hit these places hard over the years.

Here's the point. If you go to these places, stumble over the grounds for half a day, several hunt days over months...how can it be said that it's not hunted out! Really, there's something still hidden there, but to me, it is hunted out by all common sense measure.

It frustrates me to keep getting this worn out phrase, "No place is ever hunted out." There has to be a point of diminishing returns for us old guys with just so many digs left in us. When's a spot just not worth the time anymore?

 

[hershey1]

What kind of machine are you using? Have you tried hunting from a different direction? I have never saw a completely hunted out area but it sounds like you may be in one. You may have already checked the area for LP (listening post) positions. These will be anywhere from 25 yards out to 200 yards according to the terrain and usually where they will have good visibility. All camps had these for an early warning and I have found some very good finds at some of them. Just a little food for thought.

 

[Larry (IL)]

There are a lot of places that are not worth the time but "worked out" is subjective. I have hunted a lot of places that was worked out for some but still had good targets for me..........

 

[5900_XL-1]

What kind of machine are you using? Have you tried hunting from a different direction? I have never saw a completely hunted out area but it sounds like you may be in one. You may have already checked the area for LP (listening post) positions. These will be anywhere from 25 yards out to 200 yards according to the terrain and usually where they will have good visibility. All camps had these for an early warning and I have found some very good finds at some of them. Just a little food for thought.

I run a Whites V3i. I've trod'd a few spots locally, intensely, all directions, where I used to bump into the vets I learned from. I am all alone there these days, but it gets me out of the house for exercise. I don't see those guys nor signs of digs anymore, for quite a long time. Vets don't just stop if "no place is ever hunted out" is reality. I could find one more silver there maybe. Is it time effective though? IMO, hunted out is a questionable term. Hours and hours to find nothing for days, besides junk and pennies. Is that fun?

 

[ganixle]

Hunted out...something to try the next time you're out there. Notice that as you are walking along with your head down swinging you almost invariably wind up passing a spot where you or someone else has already dug a target. No matter how many times you go there and how far you walk, you are hitting ground that has been combed over with a fine tooth comb. My theory and I've worked on this a while is that the lay of the land or topography will steer you along just by the way it lays if you do not make a conscious effort to deviate from it. Now, as you are swinging your detector in one of these hammered sites, let yourself get into a rhythm and then stop, turn either left or right 45 degrees, 90 degrees it doesn't matter, now fix your eyes on an object, a tree or rock whatever and swing directly to that object whether you have to go uphill, downhill, across ground you normally wouldn't walk but do that and watch what happens. I got the idea while detecting in Europe and seeing a flock of sheep picking their way across where I was at. Sure enough it wasn't long until I was walking right along the general trail they had traveled and right along where someone had dug several targets with a detector. The Spanish treasure hunter does not cover their holes and it is easy to see where the finds are coming from. The site I was working was hammered to death but when I started consciously going against the normal grain, the finds went up. One 25 yard pass netted me 3 Medieval coins, a buckle and a scabbard tip along with the usual assortment of junk. Time and again that day I repeated the experiment with some really good results. 7 Roman bronze coins and 38 Medieval coins. This has worked for me in Europe and while relic hunting here in the US. Try it out and let me know how it works for you. All the best.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey, whenever I hear that old mantra "no one gets it all" and/or "no place is ever hunted out", I too sort of disagree with that. Well, I mean, let's put it this way: There are places where it's CERTAINLY worth no one's while to go any more. I can think of places we researched and hunted hard here, back in the 1970s and '80s, that .... pity the poor soul (especially if he's a newbie) who thinks he can find something else there now.

For example: There was a certain country picnic site in my county, used from the 1880s to the 1920s. Then all usage discontinued, and it's been nothing but an oak-studded cow pasture ever since. It only had light usage in that 40-ish years (just a few times per year, the townsfolks would hitch up their buddies, and head out for a 4th of July picnic, mothers days, etc....). And only drew from a town of only 400-ish people.

Anyhow, there was no modern trash at the site, since it discontinued in the 1920s. And there was no nails or building type debri, since it was strictly a picnic site, and never any structures there. So the only issue we had to deal with, was bullet shells.

In the course of a few months, we pulled about 150 coins from this site. Lots of barbers, seateds, V-nickels, and even a key date $5 gold piece. The newest coin was a 1920's merc. We worked the place so hard (since we could practically "dig all"), that by the time we gave up on the place, it was taking several hours just to get a single V-nickel (and even then-so, having to screw around way back in poison oak patches, or way further out than the picnic zone, etc...). Thus the place had litterally become "sterile", so-to-speak.

 

[Elton]

You can go all day.............and unless the Sun is shining right, your standing on your head....arm angled at 20 degrees, and you turned around three times and did the Silver dance. You, 'Ain't" finding nothing today !!!.............. LOL.......

My friend many, many places are hunted out for the average detectorist and their current equipment...

I don't call an area you have to spend 8 hrs for one Silver dime..NOT HUNTED OUT. . That is hunted out in my book.............

 

[MarkCZ]

You can go all day.............and unless the Sun is shining right, your standing on your head....arm angled at 20 degrees, and you turned around three times and did the Silver dance. You, 'Ain't" finding nothing today !!!.............. LOL.......

My friend many, many places are hunted out for the average detectorist and their current equipment...

I don't call an area you have to spend 8 hrs for one Silver dime..NOT HUNTED OUT. . That is hunted out in my book.............

Agreed,

For older coins our city park is hunted out. Three of us can spend several days with several hours in each day and maybe one of us get a Wheat Penny, plus a few fresh dropped clad. Last year I found ONE 1896 quarter, and a very few wheat cents, this summer I've found one silver dime, which really belonged to my brother. We had teamed up on a 10'x10' roped off section trying to unmask some good targets below the trash, we worked the whole day to get one copper penny and one silver dime. We were using different detectors, working different directions and marking targets with plastic poker chips and then going back and retrieving the targets. This go around I went over it with my Coinstrike and one of the targets ended up being a silver dime, we had agreed that anything good that came out of that square was really his and that I wasn't claim jumping, at the end of the day he tossed both coins in my finds pouch. He had already put a bunch of hours in that little square trying to unmask something good before that day. The idea was the good stuff is under the more modern trash, take out the trash then shovel out all that good stuff, LoL! that just was the case. He had decided to mark off this square because he had gotten a few wheat cents and I believe a silver dime in that area already. The area did have a LOT of trash in it, but even spending HOURS taking out the trash nothing worth while turned up, his first going over it really cleaned it pretty darn good.

Finding OLD coins in this park is not impossible, but what's left is spread out over a VERY LARGE area, 100 acres plus. So, for all intent purposes its "Pretty Well Worked Out".

Mark

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah..."No place is ever hunted out" might have been true 10-20 years ago...but not anymore...some places are not only hunted out, they are hunted the hell out!
Mud

 

[sprchng]

I have no problem accepting that an area is hunted out , after all , the targets aren't copulating down there.
Just like the good fishing hole gets cleaned out after a while so can the good park. It may get restocked down the road but it certainly can get to where there's just no good finding going on--at least until you get a new machine and you have to convince yourself again

 

[D&P-OR]

I think the term "hunted out" is indeed subjective.-----I'm not trying to put anyone or their equipment down--that's the last thing I want to do/not my intent at all---but---operator skill level, detector(s) used, type & size of coil(s) used, (for the situation at hand), direction(s) used in the hunt, etc. ALL play a VERY important role (as we all SHOULD know).---For the record--I'm of the old school--I don't believe a site (or sites) are ever worked out.----Why do I say this?----It's because I've been in FAR too many areas in our travels that were claimed to be TOTALLY "beat to death", nothing, zilch, dead!---A few of those sites turned out to be some of our better/more productive hunt areas.----We just had to figure out the right combination for hunting them.------I'm no expert, FAR from it & I do get bored at some sites like many others do---but---some of those claimed "beat to death" sites can pay off---big time.----And no, I'm not talking 10-20 yrs. ago---they can still (currently) be worth hunting--just may take a different "strategy".----------Del

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Del, then you just answered your own self, and contradicted yourself. Those places of yours that "paid off big time", were therefore, by definition, not worked out then . Now were they? Fine then , we're not talking about places that AREN'T worked out. We're talking about places that ARE worked out .

 

[Larry (IL)]

What came first, the chicken or the egg..... This controversy can go on forever..........

I will line up behind Del in his corner of the ring. Over the past 30 years I have hunted probably hundreds of places that someone called hunted out and I have yet to find a place that is really hunted out. You would be amazed at what a change in coils, direction or machine will make to bring new life to a hunted out spot. Every time I get a new detector, my old spots are new again, it just takes a little more depth or a little bit better iron rejection ...... the list goes on. I'm sure if I get a PI detector my old spots will start yielding more goodies again but I'm getting too old to dig that deep.

There are a lot of places that I don't hunt anymore because of diminishing returns but really worked out....... naw, I just have better places to hunt is all.

 

[MarkCZ]

Del, then you just answered your own self, and contradicted yourself. Those places of yours that "paid off big time", were therefore, by definition, not worked out then . Now were they? Fine then , we're not talking about places that AREN'T worked out. We're talking about places that ARE worked out .

Like our city park,
In the early 80's metal detecting clubs were all around the area, they held monthly meets in the park, they had club hunts in the park. On a nice summer or fall days you could drive by and at a distance it looked more like bee's swarming a clover field. And by the mid 80's they were some detector models that were more than capable of discriminating much of the trash and the silver coins that were looking for now were really only 3" to 4" deep! which were perfect for detectors like the Teknetics 9000 or the Tek Mark-I or the Whites 6000 Di-pro detectors like this poured over the park.
It hasn't stopped there, I've been down there in just recent times and seen some older folks swinging E-trac's and V3i plus my brother has been trying the dig all style with his detectors trying to unmask hidden targets, which hasn't proved to do much either, he has been around the block detecting sense the later 70's. Now retired his been working the park with units like,
Fisher F75
Fisher 1270
Tesoro Tejon

Now, if a person went in with something like an E-trac and was to grid the park off in tiny sections and spent a few hundred hours detecting it I'm sure some good finds would come out of there, but you would have to dig every iffy signal and you would find some fresh dropped stuff.
So, I don't think anybody here is saying that "Worked Out" means there isn't something left behind, its more about getting the few pieces left in areas that large just isn't worth the man hours.
I'm sure if you could take the top 8" of soil off our entire 100 plus acres of park and run it all through a sifter you would find a pretty good pocket full of old coins, but to try and use a detector to sift the entire area isn't practical!

Now, my two brothers and I our still hunting the park, were always trying new ideas and trying to find another wheat penny or another silver dime, but now we've added looking for fresh dropped coins and jewelry, dropping the discrimination and trying for those looked over nickels.

Now, if I were to say that I've worked this park area out! then that would be a joke! or to say that me and my brothers have worked it out would also be a joke! but to say that the parked has been a HOT spot for every detector owner in the area sense detectors have been made is to say, "Its Pretty Well Cleaned Out Of the Old Stuff"

Mark

 

[MarkCZ]

What came first, the chicken or the egg..... This controversy can go on forever..........

The Egg! its primary! God did not create the Egg, that was the reproductive process of the creation.

The difference between half full and half empty is the volume is the same, but the waitress only filled your glass half full of wine and I drank half of mine so now we have the same amount, half full, half empty.

Larry, I agree that what some people call worked out may not be worked just because they didn't find much in their search, their skill level, their detector, etc,, could be a poor judge of an area worked out, so there is always doubt, in those cases its a good idea to sample an area for yourself to confirm it to be worked out or not!
But, I'm sure you have came across area where hours of hard hunting turned up very little for the effort and the area should have been a good spot, so its these places that I think were calling "Worked Out"

Mark

 

[D&P-OR]

No contradiction Mr. Tom_in_CA!----I was merely trying to point out that some sites that have been written off & given up on by everybody & his brother as being "worked out".----Area(s) where nobody even hunts anymore, saying they are just plain "dead"--can STILL be productive (in some cases) if hunted right & with proper equipment for the site(s) at hand.----I've seen this happen too many times to be coincidence--and yeah, some of them "paid off big time"!----Sorry if I didn't word my post to suit you---and sorry, I don't buy your premise of "worked out".-----Ever consider that you give up (on a hunt site) too easily?? ------This is it, I'm not going to argue with you or get into a debate with you--to each his own.

Del, then you just answered your own self, and contradicted yourself. Those places of yours that "paid off big time", were therefore, by definition, not worked out then . Now were they? Fine then , we're not talking about places that AREN'T worked out. We're talking about places that ARE worked out .

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Again this is merely circular: If you go back with new machines and different tactics , and do well enough that you chuckle at those who said it was "worked out " , then by definition those places were NOT worked out . And those people were wrong . FINE THEN ! This post is NOT about places that aren't worked out , is it?

There are places that are simply no longer worth it, by any tactics . And that is what is meant by "worked out ".

 

[Elton]

Do you think it's possible a place can be worked out using the detectors one currently has ????

Unless you move up the scale buying equipment that can go deeper. Which isn't possible for many, due to costs. Or equipment that separates better. Again costs to move up. Is that considered "worked Out" for that particular person ??

Just a thought........... In my opinion a place is, and can be worked out for some. Can new equipment open it up again? Can a new approach open it up ?? ..I suppose it might. But, over all, if using what you have. The best you know how, does not produce results. "IS THAT A WORKED OUT AREA "....... Just curious about your view on that...

If you go to a spot say " 10" times with no good finds (SILVER) should you come back for the 11th time..Or move on..?? When does one say in their mind. It's worked out ??

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Great , we agree then . Some sites are still NOT worked out , and those people who say that are therefore wrong . Other sites however ARE "worked out" and no longer worth it .

Oh, for junky turfed parks, & iron-ridden ghost townsy type sites , sure .... you can always get a few more if you knock yourself silly . But I can think of other sites where depth or junk was never the issue , and the place is now sterile, no matter what machine you bring in, & no matter what you do. But no, not junky turfed old-town parks . Although even at some of those , you are much better served hunting somewhere else. Sickening when I think of how easy silver was at those places 30 years ago.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

If "new equipment" opens up a site again , then by definition , that site was not worked out. And is thus outside the scope of this question .