sgoss66
Well-known member
Hi all...
I have been hunting with my Explorer for about 9 months now, and in this time, I've done really well finding silver in depths down to about 6" or slighly more...these machines LOVE silver. However, I have struggled to find coins deeper than 6". I know my machine CAN find them; I can hit 8" dimes and 10" quarters in my test garden. However, finding them IN THE FIELD has proven to be a major barrier -- and is, I feel, the last barrier I have needed to overcome to really become the hunter I want to be, and make the real nice finds.
I have a park that I've been hammering for over a year now (9 months with the Explorer, and initially, before my Explorer, with a couple of other machines). In this time, I have developed a good feel for the park...I know it pretty well. As first, I could dig nothing but clad, and an occasional wheat cent, as I was finding coins generally down to about 4-5". The park is trashy in many spots, and has been hit hard in the past, and so not alot of shallower silver is left. Finally, with the advice of many, I began to learn to ignore the iron falses and focus on the better signals; hunting slow through the trash I was able to start digging better and a little deeper targets, and managed to begin to pull the occasional silver dime from the park. Eventually, I got to where an "average" hunt at this park was a couple of wheats and either a Merc or a Rosie, and some clad, and I thought I was doing well (though still not digging a target beyond 6" or so).
Recently, I introduced a friend to this spot. This friend is very experienced and a very good hunter; he has been an avid detectorist for 43 years and runs an E-Trac. Since I often hunt "odd" hours, we often don't hook up; he has probably hunted this spot about a half dozen times in the last few weeks by himself (we hunted together here once initially, and didn't find much). However, he began to make some good finds, Mercs and wheats, and then some better finds...Barber dimes, an SLQ, and some Indian Heads. I was shocked; he told me the general portion of the park he's hunting and the settings he's running on his E-Trac; turns out every one of his good finds has been from the 6-10" range. I THOUGHT I had a good feel for this park; in a few short hunts though, my friend starting making finds that I simply could not believe.
Yesterday was the kicker. He hunted for 5 hours, and from depths between 6 and 9 inches, he pulled 3 Indian Head pennies, two Barber dimes, and an 1890 Seated dime! I cannot tell you the astonishment I had when he told me what he found. I had NEVER found an Indian Head there; I had found one Barber dime, but it was shallow near a sidewalk, and was obviously uprooted during sidewalk construction so it was a "lucky" find. In the mean time, in just a few hunts, he has multiple Barbers, an SLQ, and a SEATED dime, along with several wheats and Indians? You gotta be KIDDING me. I can't believe these finds are coming from this park!
So, I left this morning DETERMINED to learn to dig deep coins, NOTHING shallower than 6", and yet not totally sure just what I should be listening for. I struggled for the first three hours, chasing cruddy iron-false high tones and getting a pouch full of junk and nothing more. So, I changed spots slightly and changed tactics; not sure which helped more, but both played a role. I had been running Bryce's settings, with the exception of running my gain at "8" so as to give the deeper targets a quieter tone, and was running sensitivity at manual 30. I felt like the falsing was just a bit too extreme, so I knocked sensitivity down to 29, and that cut the falsing down some. I started working much slower, also, really concentrating and checking out every "blip" or "chirp" for repeatability and consistency. Shortly thereafter, I hit a deep, soft but clear, repeatable sound that was "gentle," as opposed to the "harsh" iron falses. Since I'm a "digital" guy and not a smarfind user, I looked at the numbers, and I would have thought zinc cent, except for the depth (beyond 6"), and the high FE numbers -- i.e. what would be "toward the middle of the screen" for you smartfind users!
I figured it was probably an old wheatie down at about 7" -- but it turned out to be an 1887 Indian! Shortly thereafter, I got a similarly-deep, similarly soft and repeatable, but a little bit higher-pitched tone, and this one was a 1916-D wheat from about 6 1/2". So, all of a sudden, two deeper coins, and my two oldest ever from this park!
I continued walking, but seemed to get into some different ground -- probably scraped at some point, so I turned and went back to where I hit the Indian and wheat, and started working real slow and careful. I quickly hit another 6 1/2" Indian (1907), then another old wheat at 6 1/2" (1919), and then soon after got an unmistakable, soft and mellow but consistent, warbling, tinkling high tone. I knew it instantly...and from 7" or so down, up comes my oldest silver ever -- an 1897 Barber dime! It only continued from there. Shortly thereafter, next hit -- 8 1/2" to 9" Indian -- 1897. Then, another 1887 Indian, a 1904 Indian, and then that sweet, soft, silver tinkle again! From 7-ish inches came another Barber dime (1906)! I was completely shocked at what was happening, as I was now "in the zone" and "at one" with the machine; hard to describe, but -- what fun! I was digging virtually NO trash; every dig was a keeper, old coin, every 5 to 15 minutes! A glance at my watch told me it was WAY past time to go, but I HAD to surpass my best "silver count" day from this park (I had found two in one hunt once, I believe, in the past). Within a couple of minutes, I got one more of those memorable, unmistakable silver tinkles...and from 6 1/2 or 7" came one last Barber dime -- 1901!
[attachment 221189 1-23-12silverrimbarber.JPG]
[attachment 221190 1-23-12barberobverse.JPG]
I cannot describe in words how surreal and amazing this day was. I owe it to my friend, who challenged my thinking and challenged my ability -- he helped to give me the confidence that the good finds really DO exist at this park, in good numbers, and he inspired me to persevere and learn to dig the deeper coins. I feel like this has opened up that last door, that last piece of the puzzle, the last hurdle toward really understanding how to hunt with an Explorer. I have heard others say that "deep coin hunting" is different from "regular" hunting, and it really is. I dug one 3" nickel today -- only because I had not dug many this year and was pretty sure that's what it was. Otherwise, I dug NO clad today, only the 10 old, keeper coins -- all from depths ranging from 6 or 6 1/2 inches down to 8 1/2 or 9 inches. To be able to ignore the shallow clad, and find 10 coins from 1919 on back to 1887 -- like I said, it was a surreal experience -- almost like the "light bulb" going off.
Sorry for the wordiness, but I had to share -- hopefully this encourages others to persevere, and learn the Explorer. Folks talk about the "learning curve;" on one hand, there is very little, as these machines can be turned on in factory settings and you can start finding stuff immediately. I found my first silver coin and first ring within just a few hunts. HOWEVER, to REALLY learn what the machine is doing and what it is telling you DOES take some time, I encourage any new user to persevere, and not give up. These units (Explorers and E-Tracs) are simply the best machines out there for finding old (especially silver) coins. In my opinion, there is no contest...
Here are the finds:
[attachment 221187 1-23-12besthuntever.JPG]
[attachment 221188 1-23-12barbersclose.JPG]
Thanks for looking/reading!
Steve
I have been hunting with my Explorer for about 9 months now, and in this time, I've done really well finding silver in depths down to about 6" or slighly more...these machines LOVE silver. However, I have struggled to find coins deeper than 6". I know my machine CAN find them; I can hit 8" dimes and 10" quarters in my test garden. However, finding them IN THE FIELD has proven to be a major barrier -- and is, I feel, the last barrier I have needed to overcome to really become the hunter I want to be, and make the real nice finds.
I have a park that I've been hammering for over a year now (9 months with the Explorer, and initially, before my Explorer, with a couple of other machines). In this time, I have developed a good feel for the park...I know it pretty well. As first, I could dig nothing but clad, and an occasional wheat cent, as I was finding coins generally down to about 4-5". The park is trashy in many spots, and has been hit hard in the past, and so not alot of shallower silver is left. Finally, with the advice of many, I began to learn to ignore the iron falses and focus on the better signals; hunting slow through the trash I was able to start digging better and a little deeper targets, and managed to begin to pull the occasional silver dime from the park. Eventually, I got to where an "average" hunt at this park was a couple of wheats and either a Merc or a Rosie, and some clad, and I thought I was doing well (though still not digging a target beyond 6" or so).
Recently, I introduced a friend to this spot. This friend is very experienced and a very good hunter; he has been an avid detectorist for 43 years and runs an E-Trac. Since I often hunt "odd" hours, we often don't hook up; he has probably hunted this spot about a half dozen times in the last few weeks by himself (we hunted together here once initially, and didn't find much). However, he began to make some good finds, Mercs and wheats, and then some better finds...Barber dimes, an SLQ, and some Indian Heads. I was shocked; he told me the general portion of the park he's hunting and the settings he's running on his E-Trac; turns out every one of his good finds has been from the 6-10" range. I THOUGHT I had a good feel for this park; in a few short hunts though, my friend starting making finds that I simply could not believe.
Yesterday was the kicker. He hunted for 5 hours, and from depths between 6 and 9 inches, he pulled 3 Indian Head pennies, two Barber dimes, and an 1890 Seated dime! I cannot tell you the astonishment I had when he told me what he found. I had NEVER found an Indian Head there; I had found one Barber dime, but it was shallow near a sidewalk, and was obviously uprooted during sidewalk construction so it was a "lucky" find. In the mean time, in just a few hunts, he has multiple Barbers, an SLQ, and a SEATED dime, along with several wheats and Indians? You gotta be KIDDING me. I can't believe these finds are coming from this park!
So, I left this morning DETERMINED to learn to dig deep coins, NOTHING shallower than 6", and yet not totally sure just what I should be listening for. I struggled for the first three hours, chasing cruddy iron-false high tones and getting a pouch full of junk and nothing more. So, I changed spots slightly and changed tactics; not sure which helped more, but both played a role. I had been running Bryce's settings, with the exception of running my gain at "8" so as to give the deeper targets a quieter tone, and was running sensitivity at manual 30. I felt like the falsing was just a bit too extreme, so I knocked sensitivity down to 29, and that cut the falsing down some. I started working much slower, also, really concentrating and checking out every "blip" or "chirp" for repeatability and consistency. Shortly thereafter, I hit a deep, soft but clear, repeatable sound that was "gentle," as opposed to the "harsh" iron falses. Since I'm a "digital" guy and not a smarfind user, I looked at the numbers, and I would have thought zinc cent, except for the depth (beyond 6"), and the high FE numbers -- i.e. what would be "toward the middle of the screen" for you smartfind users!
I figured it was probably an old wheatie down at about 7" -- but it turned out to be an 1887 Indian! Shortly thereafter, I got a similarly-deep, similarly soft and repeatable, but a little bit higher-pitched tone, and this one was a 1916-D wheat from about 6 1/2". So, all of a sudden, two deeper coins, and my two oldest ever from this park! I continued walking, but seemed to get into some different ground -- probably scraped at some point, so I turned and went back to where I hit the Indian and wheat, and started working real slow and careful. I quickly hit another 6 1/2" Indian (1907), then another old wheat at 6 1/2" (1919), and then soon after got an unmistakable, soft and mellow but consistent, warbling, tinkling high tone. I knew it instantly...and from 7" or so down, up comes my oldest silver ever -- an 1897 Barber dime! It only continued from there. Shortly thereafter, next hit -- 8 1/2" to 9" Indian -- 1897. Then, another 1887 Indian, a 1904 Indian, and then that sweet, soft, silver tinkle again! From 7-ish inches came another Barber dime (1906)! I was completely shocked at what was happening, as I was now "in the zone" and "at one" with the machine; hard to describe, but -- what fun! I was digging virtually NO trash; every dig was a keeper, old coin, every 5 to 15 minutes! A glance at my watch told me it was WAY past time to go, but I HAD to surpass my best "silver count" day from this park (I had found two in one hunt once, I believe, in the past). Within a couple of minutes, I got one more of those memorable, unmistakable silver tinkles...and from 6 1/2 or 7" came one last Barber dime -- 1901!
[attachment 221189 1-23-12silverrimbarber.JPG]
[attachment 221190 1-23-12barberobverse.JPG]
I cannot describe in words how surreal and amazing this day was. I owe it to my friend, who challenged my thinking and challenged my ability -- he helped to give me the confidence that the good finds really DO exist at this park, in good numbers, and he inspired me to persevere and learn to dig the deeper coins. I feel like this has opened up that last door, that last piece of the puzzle, the last hurdle toward really understanding how to hunt with an Explorer. I have heard others say that "deep coin hunting" is different from "regular" hunting, and it really is. I dug one 3" nickel today -- only because I had not dug many this year and was pretty sure that's what it was. Otherwise, I dug NO clad today, only the 10 old, keeper coins -- all from depths ranging from 6 or 6 1/2 inches down to 8 1/2 or 9 inches. To be able to ignore the shallow clad, and find 10 coins from 1919 on back to 1887 -- like I said, it was a surreal experience -- almost like the "light bulb" going off.
Sorry for the wordiness, but I had to share -- hopefully this encourages others to persevere, and learn the Explorer. Folks talk about the "learning curve;" on one hand, there is very little, as these machines can be turned on in factory settings and you can start finding stuff immediately. I found my first silver coin and first ring within just a few hunts. HOWEVER, to REALLY learn what the machine is doing and what it is telling you DOES take some time, I encourage any new user to persevere, and not give up. These units (Explorers and E-Tracs) are simply the best machines out there for finding old (especially silver) coins. In my opinion, there is no contest...
Here are the finds:
[attachment 221187 1-23-12besthuntever.JPG]
[attachment 221188 1-23-12barbersclose.JPG]
Thanks for looking/reading!
Steve
Great Job!!!
