Old and Silver coins in the deep south?

[dlrwaitnonadime]

I started out hunting with an ACE 250 back in August. I logged probably well over a hundred hours with it and I recently purchased and ETRAC. I have now had an opportunity to hunt several parks, old schools and at least three old houses that date from 1905 to the 1940's. I have only found one silver dime with the etrac at an old park and it was less than two inches from the surface. I have found a ton of clad at all of the sites. My question is this. Is is possible that down here in deep south Alabama where the ground never freezes and we get about 33 inches of rainfall a year that coins sink a lot deeper over time than they do in areas where the ground freezes and the rainfall amounts are much less. We really live in a tropical rain forrest type climate here. I have been running the ETRAC in the factory coins program and running the sensitivity on auto. Do you think that if the machine will run stable I should go into manual sensitivity and bump it up some to maybe get more depth. Maybe the silver coins and older stuff are just not at the places I have been hunting but with the amount of clad that I find I just figure people had to be dropping coins back in the twenties,thirties, forties, fifities and sixities also and I am puzzled as to why I am not getting more deep signals? Any ETRAC users in a similar climate having any different experience? Anybody have any ideas on this? I am loving the ETRAC aside from having some pinpointing issues at times.

 

[tippyhound]

I guess the best way to put it is if the E-Trac coil gets over it , it will find it. I have found clad dimes a 10 inch's, zinc pennies so ate up I was completely unable to identify it as a cent, could only tell it was about the same size as a penny and was made of zinc, these were 8 to 10 inch's deep. Your soil conditions will dictate that, or maybe fill dirt. My deepest silver coin has been 8 inch's ( a couple on edge) and I have found Wheaties at 10 inch's with no problem with the E-Trac. Never once experienced a weak audio signal and I have very poor hearing. They are a great detector, have faith in it, it will find them for you and I use no special settings just the factory coin mode.

Rick (IL).

 

[Jack Flynn]

I'll have to say it is the places you are hunting. I live in middle Ga. and really thought that maybe there just were none. I won't hunt a place not unless it is at least a 100 yrs old now. Preferably older by all means. When I swapped types of locations I now get a silver about every hunt or even a double. It's all about location location location. Find some very old lots in town or start knocking on doors like I did. I've gotten maybe 40 silver this year and lots of wheats and memorials. Most of the time if I am finding a lot of clad it just isn't the right place where I live. Change ya ways and you will prosper from it.

 

[techtony]

I live in Mobile, Al and I bought a E-Trac in October and I have found 8 silver dimes in the 2 months since. My deepest was at 9 inches. I am learning the each tiime I go out... sometimes better than others. I found a Buffalo last week, this is the first Buffalo I have ever found. I was using a Garrett GTI2500 for the last year and I have found more silver in the last two months than in the previous year. I am using the factory coin program using multi tones in conductive. Lots of sounds but I really like hearing the highest pitch and knowing it is probably something good! (especially when it is showing deep). Good luck! I think you are gooing to fall in Love with the Minelab!

 

[dlrwaitnonadime]

Good to hear, especially from you guys down here. I live in Baldwin county right across the bay from you there techtony. I need to find some better sites I guess.

 

[techtony]

I am off 'till Jan. If you want to go MD'ing sometime let me know and we can meet up. ( tony.porter15@yahoo.com )

 

[CBAILEY IN GA]

I live in midwest Georgia and have found about 10 silver with the etrac in about 2 months when i had etrac. all mine were from 2- 6 inches. You just have to be in right spot. Research and a little luck helps too. Craig

 

[jbow]

I live in NW GA but I spend some time down in Moultrie, Colquitt county, GA which is 60 miles north of Tallahassee, FL. Sandy soil there and i've dug cald from the 90s ove 8" deep at places where there is no tilling or any sort of soil movement. Up here i've dug tabs at 8" and CW relics at 3" at the same sites... weird.

We also go down to Mexico Beach every year and it is right below Alabama... if you aren't too far away maybe we can hunt sometime.

Julien

 

[jeff & Maria]

They were quite skilled with the old analog detectors. They cleaned out a lot of places down to the detectors depth ability. The Etrac will find them if you pass over it, no worries there. And yes, coins do end up deeper based on soil composition and what is known as specific gravity. Up here the soil is a dense clay and just about everything I find is no deeper than 6-7 inches, including coins, buckles and buttons from the 1700's. Just move SLOW, that's the key and listen to the "more solid" sounds. As a new user you should dig everything just to see what item the "sound" produced. Not all sounds are going to register on the coins program. many buttons and things like victorian suspender buckles that I found were masked in the coins program.