Park Hunt with the Eldorado and 5.75 coil

[Fish N Chips]

Well we finally got some rain last night making our concrete soil soft enough to dig. I ran out to a local park by my place between rain storms for a hunt. The park used to be a WW2 radar base and the concrete foundations are still there. The buildings were metal and demolition left the park very trashy full of pull tabs, metal, iron, copper wire, ect.

I started with my 9x8 coil and worked some of the fields around the foundations. I got a penny and got a deep hit. I dug down and found a DT-60 personal radiation badge about 9 inches down. I worked my way toward the foundation and my detector was clicking and popping due to all the trash and the larger coil.

I went to the truck and put my 5.75 coil on and started to work one of the foundations. I dug a lot of beavertail pull tabs and some bottle tops as I was hoping for some old nickles, but no luck. I got a few copper pennies from the trash in the same area my 9x8 coil was nulling them out. I then got a 1952 wheat penny! I think the spot has potential but know it has been detected before. The coins are scarce but I am sure I can pull more out of the area. There is a lot of park to hit.

The rain started again so I headed home. It was nice to get out for a quick hunt. The rain gave me my detecting depth back. I was digging some pull tabs at 6-7 inches with the small coil, but most finds were close to the surface. I ran my sensitivity around 6 and lowered it to 4 in the bad trash. The small coil sure runs quieter in the trash.

 

[kaolinwasher]

good non ferrous if something good is there, you should find it

 

[Monte]

although I have used the 7" Concentric the most on all the Tesoro's I've had since mid-'83. The 5¾" and 7" are the two best picks, for me, and I have a 7" mounted now on my Bandido II µMAX.

I seem to plant myself in more trashy, littered sites regardless of the detector in hand, and there are times I will reduce the Sensitivity slightly, but seldom did I ever use the Eldorado as low as 4 or 6 unless it was just the nastiest conditions possible. I usually spend my time in old town sites, homesteads and working a lot of urban and non-urban building tear-down or decayed structures where nails and ample smaller trash can be abundant. Sometimes reduced to 6, but very, very seldom did I have to drop it to 4. Instead, I just make sure I use slower, more methodical sweeps in the dense trash.

Anyway, Congrats on your success at the site. I hope you work it some more and are rewarded, again.

Monte

 

[Fish N Chips]

I appreciate the advice. I have hunted this site before and really think the 5.75 helped me pull out those coins. It was a short hunt but I am trying to learn how to hunt the trashy sites closer to me successfully. They are old parks and I am sure there are some old coins left, but they have years of trash. When I lived in San Luis Obispo I found the parks there much cleaner, but the parks were not as old and the folks down there were just better at cleaning up their trash. My coin and jewlery finds were much better than here. I do prefer the older 1800-1900 cabins and stage stops, but these parks make an easy hunt close to home. At the old sites I dig everything but nails.

I normally run at 6-8 sensitivity in parks, but as I got around the old loading platform it was loaded with pull tabs, foil and bottle caps. I really did not notice a difference in separation turning it down that low and I am sure I lost some depth. Even at 6 sensitivity my depth was great, amazing how some moisture can affect things. I will keep it above 6 sensitivity next time. Really with the smaller coil I am sure I can run the sensitivity higher than my 9x8 coil, as the 5.75 coil gets better separation just due to its size.

I am headed to an old miners cabin Saturday. Well it is a small fruit orchard with a rock lined spring. The trees as very old and narled. The area was mined in the late 1800s. I am sure there is a cabin close to the orchard but doubt I will find a foundation. I will look for the nails to ID where the cabin was. It was likely just a wood or canvas structure as none in that area were very permanent. There was a pretty large mining town close to the site so I am hoping to make some good finds.

 

[Monte]

n/t

 

[tabman]

The Eldorado is one sweet machine. An area is not hunted out as long as you're digging pull tabs. The wheat penny is a good sign that there is silver there as well. Nice going on the personal radiation badge. The fun with using low discrimination is that you just never know what you might find. Maybe a big ole gold ring or some neat relic.

tabman

 

[Rainyday101]

An area is not hunted out as long as you're digging pull tabs

Absolutely right! If there is silver there that others have missed, it is in the trash.

 

[Vilon]

good hunt!