Need new stategy!!!!!!!!!!!

[cavinkeven]

Welp, its official, NEED NEW STRATEGY!!!!!!!!!!! I've hunted my yard(former pasture) 3 very old homeplaces, one being a 275 acre farm with old building, chicken houses etc. Nothing!!!!!!! not one penny of any age or nothing, just junk, scrap iron, cans etc!!!!! Found a quarter, 2 nickels, 4 or 5 pennies at my moms church yesterday is all, nothing old. I'm getting aggrevated lol. I expected to walk around these old foundations and get a hit now and then and it be "something". lol I know I expected too much, but man, people must have just opened the door and threw stuff out. I thought everybody used dumps back then, not their yards!! I know the stuff is there, it has to be, these places are ooooold. I just can't see digging 4 tons of scrap iron and cans to get a penny. lol It would take a year just to dig one of the houses as much junk as I'm finding. I will go back and dig them when it warms up, I CAN'T deal with cold weather/frustration combined!!!!!!!!! So, to the next quest lol. There are old roads all around here, one used to be the main road that went off of the mtn I live on. Now it just looks like an old logging road(not paved). My neighbor said him and his brother in law who owns a detector found some army buttons on it. It happens to be about an 1/8 of a mile up the mtn from the large farm I spoke of. I guess I'll go walk it some and see how much junk it contains lol. I'm just gonna have to stray from the homesites for awhile till I can actually "find somthing". I need something to keep me motivated. If I could just find ONE good thing I'd be gung ho. Just gotta get somewhere away from all of this junk but still likely to provide a goodie. I think I'll just start walking the old "logging" roads I call them in the woods and see what happens. Any suggestions?????

 

[khouse]

I posted before to run in the coin mode. Stick the sniper on it and only dig repeatable signals for now. Go to the bark chip playgrounds and detect. Run you sensitivity about half for now. Old farm houses can be tough with all that iron trash everywhere.
Once you get better you can then run in the jewelry mode.

 

[cavinkeven]

Yeah I remember you telling me that, I should have at least put on my sniper, I even started to once while I was at another old homeplace today. I was freezing though and didn't want to mess with it. Only one park around here, I guess I'll go there next weekend and see if they will let me detect. They don't have any bark though, just a large pond and camping/picnic sites and a playground. It should be a good place if its not hunted to death already. I'll definately give it a try though!!! I have another question, the change I did find at the church fri. seemed like it gave a definate hit. It seems like when it's jumpy is when it is junk. alot of it will show $1 or .50 or.25 but will be either a rusty nail or a can or similar. Why will it show silver on these things? A few times I was like.....OK here we go, SILVER!!! lol then its a can or a very rusty nail. I just think, well, more junk lol. I know I'll find some good stuff eventually, just anxious to hurry up and find it. When I started arrowhead hunting years ago I went through the same thing in a field near here, nothing but rocks, one broken point, then another year and nothing, finally I found a couple in a new spot then found alot from then on, even in that same field I started in. I just couldnt see them at first I guess. Thanks for responding khouse. You always seem to respond, I'm trying to learn all I can, that's why I post like crazy on here lol. I'm addicted to this forum. Love learning, I'll get the hang of it eventually. Hope that park hasn't been hunted recently!!!!!

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

In anything you do, you need to first learn the basics and practice them. You have the sniper coil. Don't even think about going in a trashy area with out it. You are making it harder on yourself.
A park is trashy. A wood chip playground is easy hunting.
Read Lost Treasure on line www.losttreasure.com/. You need Charles Garrett's book on "How to Find Lost Treasure."
Anybody can swing a coil. Your MDer is a tool. Your brain is the computer that analyzes the information from the detector. Know your MDer and have a thought out plan of where you want to Md and how you want to go about it. Stop swinging the coil and look around. Analyze the situation. Example; You see an old junk car. You don't need your detector. Go check out the seats. You may find money on the floor. You are a treasure hunter. You are a detective with a tool, a detector. Don't try to detect the whole place in one day. We are trying to tell you keep it simple at first.
Join a MDing club. Experienced people can help you a lot especially when they are right beside you.

 

[cavinkeven]

Good advice!!! lol I'm just excited and anxious for that first "find". I'm gonna settle down now though. I did use some strategy today though at an old homesite. Found a very large tree out front and searched it. Didn't find anything good, but I did finally think about strategy at least. One problem with that old site is the ground is covered in some kind of vine/roots. I've never seen anything like them. The house foundation is all that's left, it has been used as a dumpsite too a long time ago. The road going to it has been grown over with treelimbs for a long time. I'm gonna simplify it now though and take the advice and go to the basics and see what I find. Just not sure of any bark playgrounds though. Gonna have to do some searching on that one. When I find my first good find and post a pic you guys will be relieved lol. I haven't stopped posted questions on here since I ordered my detector!!! I'll find it!!! Thanks.

 

[jackintexas]

Old home sites can get frustrating for even the seasoned hunter. I have been detecting thirty years and have owned about forty detectors. You need to hunt sites with less trash for a while and learn what the detector is telling you. Then after getting a bunch of hours detecting maybe then an old home site. You will not find many coins at an old home site. Back then people did not carry much money while at home. Only when going to town.

 

[khouse]

In your post you said you found some cans. Here is a few tips on either finding or rejecting aluminum cans. I'm sure I missed some things here.

How to detect aluminum cans. 1- Get a high coin signal. 2 - loud target response. 3-pinpoints larger than a coin. 4- detuned pinpoint is larger than coin. 5-hold coil on the ground right over the target, don't move the coil or push pinpoint. If you get a bunch of beeping - probably can. 6- raise coil above ground 12 inches and sweep. If you get a beep it's probably a can. This is not just for Garrett machines.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Go hit some playgrounds and learn your detector before you hit all the hard spots.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah that's what throws a lot of beeper swingers. They think all these old places are loaded with coins. Back then folks didn't have a slew of coins to lose. Each coin was valuable and most folks carried them in a coin purse or drawstring pouch and if they dropped one they spent considerable time looking for it. Relatvity has to enter the equation when detecting old sites.

I grew up during te Great Depression when a nickel was worth what several dollars is today. You weren't careless with your money then as a coin or two made the difference as to whether you eat for the next day or two. It wasn't like today where our money is virtually worthless and buys very little. We had real money then, not this monopoly money we have today.

We used to go to the grocery store and get 2-3 pieces of candy for a penny. The same pieces they now charge you twenty five cents and up each. Got an ice cream cone with two scoops for a nickel and four scoops for a dime. I would go to the movies ( real movies ) with a quarter and that quarter would pay my way in and buy me a coke, popcorn, and a candy bar. That's why folks didn't lose a lot of coins back then.

Bill

 

[draaiorgel]

Hey man,
Relax and enjoy it.
Try not to put pressure on yourself, the good finds will come it's only a matter of time.

 

[cavinkeven]

yeah, I've settled down now lol. The new has worn down a little and reality has set in...I'm gonna start slow and strategically now. Gonna find me some playgrounds this weekend. I've read and read and read for hours on here every day and I'm learning alot. Just gotta get back out and get the "real world" experience with my detector now and learn it. Thanks for the advice and help everybody. I'll find me some good stuff, like u said, its just a matter of time....and experience! Thanks again!

 

[jongalt]

Uncle willy's right. You need to go to some school grounds even old ones if there still around. You need to learn your detector first. Do places where youve found coins before and work very slowly. I went over my yard 3 times before i found my best coins. Find smaller areas to work. It will force you to slow down. It takes time to learn your detector. Learn from every dig you do. Take a mental note of what the beep sounded like and where it showed up on your display. After awhile youll learn whats junk and whats not. If your looking for old coins you have to find wheat pennies first. Once you find wheat pennies theres got to be some old silver in those spots. Do some research from old maps or talk to older people or historical types in your area. If you stay focused and work slowly youll be improving exponentially after 3 months going out 4 times a week. OLd parks, Old schools, High ground tops of hills or look out points, river or lakeside camping or beach areas.

 

[806samuel]

i have an ACE250 and i was finding alot of trash too. i switched to the sniper coil and i dug up a nice 14kt gold ring within the hour. I too was getting discouraged. Dont give up. sniper doesnt goo too deep but it helped with all the trash. good luck

 

[John D.]

Hello Everyone,
I just read all the discussion about finding so few coins at old sites. I have always been curious as to how much an given amount of cash was worth on a given date in the past. I found this web page and I realized that what is considered a small amount of money today was a days pay at one time in the past. At any rate by using this comparison we can realize why we sometimes find so few old coins.
Enjoy and Have a Great Day,
Your Friend,
John D.

http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

 

[tab-nabit]

Your doing about as well as I am - been a dry spell for awhile - sooner or later something will hit. I'm wiping the saved programs on my machine, and also try a few tweaks on settings. Hope my luck changes sooner than later.

 

[nymohawk]

n/t

 

[Parkit]

One thing you can do is something that should be easy no matter where you live. I assume you've already hit your own yard, hit it again. And again after that. You will be surprised how often you find something where you didn't before, and since it's your own place it doesn't matter how many holes you make. It's nice practice to dig as cleanly as you can though. Next find a school. Any school is constantly reseeded with coins that kids drop, it doesn't matter if it's a high school or kindergarten, kids lose coins. I've been nothing short of amazed at the stuff I've found.
What I usually do is "mix it up" as far as where I detect. I always have an abondoned town site, an old home place, an old community center or something like that which I'm researching. Research takes time, and as you've already seen it doesn't always pay off. When I get discouraged or just want to dig coins, I head back to one of the schools. A few hours of swinging the coil always puts 60-100 coins in my pouch and makes me feel better. They're not old, but at least I'm finding something. Then it's back to researching the wagon stops, or sites where a church was moved from 80 years ago and relocated closer to a new road. Or the area between the sidewalk and the street in an older section of town. Or a swimming hole from days gone by, an old dump site to sift through, whatever.
By the way, my main source of information is just talking to the geezers at work, followed closely by sitting at the table next to the group of retirees who gather at the local coffee shop every Tuesday and Friday mornings.
Good luck and I hope this helps some.