Looking for advice, old picnic ground, no finds yet

[OregonMike]

Hi,

Long story short, I recently got permission to hunt a place that was a very popular picnic ground near my town from 1923-1942. After three hours of hunting with the eTrac and both the stock and 13 inch coils, not a single find that could be related to the picnic times. Some modern trash, but nothing old, and no coins at all. Not much iron, just clean, hardly any signals at all. I've only had the eTrac 2 years after 9 years with the White's XLT and v3i. I use automatic sensitivity +3, multi-tone. I guess it's possible that years ago it was hunted, but it would have been the 1980's or earlier if it ever happened. Would people then using the equipment that was available then be able to find EVERYTHING? I doubt it. I'm going back for another try soon. Any ideas of what you would advise? Oh, I also have been using the DEEP setting turned on. Given how clean the ground is, is there any reason at all to go to TTF? Sorry, I'm grasping here for anything because I really believe in this site and am confused about why I'm not finding anything there. If you need more information to send your thoughts along, please let me know.

Also, they closed the picnic ground after a big flood in 1941, and it was flooded again several times after that until dams were built in the 1960's. I guess it's possible everything was scoured out and carried away, or that there's two feet of deposit on top of what was once the picnic grounds. Even so, I can't just give up without a fight. It took me months to get onto this property. (See the story in the Metal Detecting forum.)

I would really appreciate any help. Bottom line questions: Am I doing the right thing by leaving the sensitivity on automatic plus 3? Should I tweak any of the other settings given the situation? I know I need to go more slowly with the eTrac than I did with the White's detectors, but, how slow is "eTrac slow" with the 13 inch coil? I mean, is it like from far left to far right one second? Two seconds? Longer?

Just writing this is making me want to get back out there, but if I go without any new strategy, I will probably just end up with a whole lot more of nothing.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Mike

 

[Rick73]

I cut this image from Google Earth. This is an old park that I have searched several times with never finding anything old. You can still see the old stone pillars that held up a dance hall. The dance hall was elevated so the flood water would run under it. The top of the Image is north. You can see rock that is now on the river bank west of the dance hall to keep it from eroding. There was a swimming hole at that location with a slide that went into the river. There also was a bathhouse in the same area. That slide was removed in 1965. I have seen photos from the 1910's with several hundred people in the area. I have found aluminum soda cans at 12" here and recently found a 1980"s Rosie dime at 8". I have used a 13" Ultimate and a 15" WOT here. About every other year this park floods with a major flood every 5 years. There is always nice green bluegrass in the summer but I think every flood brings a little silt with it.

 

[masterjedi]

Looks like you answered the question. If you found a can at 12" then the soil has been moved or covered. A can cant get 12" on its own. Looks like the floods are burying the stuff deep. You need to check after every flood to see if the silt has been removed.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

Mike, as far as swing speed goes, I would not go any faster then a 4 sec swing speed.

as far as advice on your site, don't give up on it any too fast, work different areas there. hit the woods area, the open area, along the river, but I have a feeling that most of the good stuff got washed away by the floods.

Also, double check on your research. You might be a lil off on the location, just a thought..

Rick, since your finding can's at 12" and clad dimes at 8" I would say the good stuff is way too deep for you to find, but I hope I'm wrong.

 

[UtahRich]

Hey Mike,

I would see if you can find photos of your area when it was in use and see if you can match up any landmarks. Remember, rivers can change their course due to flooding.

I never set sensitivity to AUTO. ever. As for DEEP ON or OFF and FAST ON or OFF, do some experimenting over a deeper target and see which gives the better audio. Also, make sure that your screen is plenty open, meaning you aren't discriminating out too much. As you are trying to locate good areas to focus on, dig the trash and see if you can find clues. If the area was large, it will take more than 3 hours of detecting time to start narrowing down the site and find the boundaries / perimeter.

I would also look for the area where people may have parked their cars.

Good Luck,

Rich (Utah)

 

[OregonMike]

n/t

 

[OregonMike]

Thanks for the thoughts. We're having another brief heat wave. I'll get back out there sometime after things cool off a bit.

Mike

 

[OregonMike]

Went back today to the site for a couple of hours. SLOOOOW swing speed, found some canning jar rings deep (8 to 10 inches) and some deep copper pipe (too entrenched to dig it out) but no coins. Not sure what to do next but I will try, try again soon.

Mike (Saturday the 27th of August)

 

[hershey1]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Don't adjust your machine just because you are not finding any good targets.
Look over the area and concentrate on the low places where things may settle during high water. Patience +++ you will find some good stuff. HH

 

[metalpopper]

Mike....As suggested by others; your lack of finds is due to the historical consequences of flooding, whereby anything from the 'past' is lost beneath the 'over-burden'.

Have confidence in your own detecting abilities and the E-Trac.........Poor returns ????.....Move on.

Matt

 

[sniffitout]

When the lock & dam was being built here on the Mon river ,I was following a dozer cut in the flood plain.. It was maybe 20 or more inches deep. At 2 inches below the dozer cut I pulled out a 1900 dime & assorted good junk.
The oldtimers on here that used the non discrimination machines way back when will tell you everything was dug. Within reason, In other words we used the discriminator between our ears.