The Future of Good Finds

[RLOH]

I have watched the Todays Finds forum for many years and I am envious of the great finds. I have been at this hobby for over twenty years now and have seen my silver finds decrease every year. I have sold many detectors to friends who want to give the hobby a try and they are doing something I have never felt comfortable doing- door knocking. One particular friend has recently had several five silver days. Last week after seeing his finds from a two hour yard hunt, I decided to get over my fear and start knocking.

Yesterday I asked my sisters neighbor to detect his small yard. He did not even hesitate to grant me a full go at his yard. His house was built in 1927 and the front yard was only 40 feet by 20 feet with a sidewalk straight down the middle. I was using my Fisher F5 with NEL Sharpshooter coil. The overhead wires caused some bad emi so I lowered the sens to 5 and threshold to -3 to calm the detector down. The second short pass and first target was a shallow 90 signal which is most of the time silver with the F5. I was not expecting anything great, but was shocked to see a the silver rim of a quarter sized coin. Three to four inches deep at most. A clear date 1918 SLQ. I have not heard a more perfect signal all year long in my pounded parks. Those signals are long gone in these public places.

Long story short. In this small front yard I found two more silver dimes and 9 wheat pennies. This yard hunting is like hunting in the bark chips at the playground. Shallow, clean signals, but instead of clad, I found silver and wheats.

I don't know why I fear asking a stranger to detect in their yard. I have always been almost anal with my digging. Small three sided plugs with a drop cloth for every dig. The fellow whose yard I searched yesterday followed me for ten minutes or so and he was impressed with my digs. He also witnessed the SLQ and did not think it was special. I do not usually like people following me while I detect, but if that is what it takes, I will put up with it.




I

 

[wyohunter99]

Yep, I’m with you private yards are where it’s at! Nothing like virgin ground! I dug 32 wheaties in one yard last weekend amongst other stuff. Congrats on the SLQ I’m still looking for one.

 

[dfmike]

Nice story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[still looking 52]

Sounds like I need to start knocking on doors.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

Im reluctant to door knock too.. im willing to split 50/50 with the owner .. it's a whole lot easier when ya know a guy who knows a guy if ya know what i mean... the largest gold ring i ever found was in a backyard on a property the owner had recently purchased so they had no sentimental connection to it..we cashed it in and split.. i see a guy in my area who posts on his Facebook page all the cool stuff he finds in backyards and ya he does very very well... unfortunately my go to spots are all but tapped out and if i dont start door knocking im gonna be swinging the coil for nothing but exercise. ..

 

[JimmyCT]

You are not alone my friend. I feel your frustration. Last 8 hours out for me was to build up my shoulder strength

unfortunately my go to spots are all but tapped out and if i dont start door knocking im gonna be swinging the coil for nothing but exercise. ..

 

[Simpsonslammer]

Yuup I hear you on the door knocking thing. A while back I bumped into a guy who I'm somewhat acquainted with. I knew he just acquired his 1880's family farm from his parents estate, so I asked him if I could search his yard sometime. He said maybe if I split my finds with him. So one day I stopped by and asked him if be ok if I searched his yard. He proceeds to tell "NO WAY, GOOD BYE" and slams the door on me. Don't know if I caught him on a bad or what, but I went off with my tail between my legs and haven't door knocked since

 

[wyohunter99]

You could always try curb strips.... I think they always get overlooked and produce some nice finds.

 

[Elton]

Partial quote..... " I do not usually like people following me while I detect, but if that is what it takes, I will put up with it."

Can I follow you ?? Hu Hu Plese please Wow nice finds .. Way to go...

 

[John-Edmonton]

I too have been around on forums for a long time. Although a lot of the easier spots have been hit hard, with people finding less silver, I also noticed that people don't post their finds either like they did 20 years ago. I am not sure if it's the change in demographics, but 20 years ago, all the forums were loaded with all kinds of pictured finds. Rings, relics, silver coins, clad, old toys, watch fobs, watches just to name a few. The metal detecting forums had groups sort of fighting with each other, such as relic hunters against clad hunters, against water hunters, against tot lot hunters. Then there were the detectors wars...Minelab against Whites, against Garrett, against Fisher, against Bounty Hunter. Things got pretty hot at times. So, the forums started sub-forums Relic hunting, general hunting, water hunting and of course, each major manufacturer got their own forum too. That toned things down a lot.

But today, the finds are being posted less and less, yet most people carry a cell phone capable of taking some very good pictures. Even Videos are on the decline. There are many more hunters today too. It seems metal detecting has taken on more of a social, technical flavor. Much more discussion. And it is actually quite civilized too. It's seldom that someone gets banned , or banned for 30 days.

I guess all things change, and that is where we are at now. It will be interesting where we will be in another 10 years....................

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.....I don't know why I fear asking a stranger to detect in their yard....

It is simply the psychology of "shark attack" accounts.

anyone who reads a story of a shark attack: Guess what they're thinking of the next time they go to the beach ?

Never mind how rare it is. Never mind how many people swim on the beach with no incident.

So too is it with md'ing: The moment any of us read of any booting. Or any "no". Or any archie story. Blah blah blah. So the best tactic is to: "Act like you own the place" , and ....... no one really cares.

 

[basstrackerman]

That's really awesome. I too do not like to knock on doors. But have and been rewarded. My parks are very empty lol. So door knocking is inevitable. Good luck hope you do well this coming year.

 

[marcomo]

I've cold called on residences successfully and otherwise. But from my experience, people are much less guarded and more likely to say yes when they are already outside. At best, a knock on the door from a stranger usually means someone trying to get you to part with your money in a legal way. And everybody knows there have been times when that knock has meant much worse.

I'd strongly suggest that anyone considering it be careful about detecting those curb strips without permission. It varies from town to town, but what I've seen is more often than not the city owns the curb or r.o.w. (right of way) strip. So that would make detecting them without permission legal assuming the town has no law specifically banning metal detecting.

However, a significant percentage of residents do consider that little area theirs since they mow and maintain it. Many will be curious what you are doing and most won't care. But do it more than a few times and you will inevitably find those few who will care and either confront you with suspicion/anger or call the police. Be prepared for that scenario if you are going to detect those strips without homeowner permission.

A better way I've found for r.o.w. strips is to get permission from the homeowner behind them. It's the easiest permission to get, and it lessens the chance of someone coming out with gun in hand because they saw someone ducking down by their car. That can and did happen to me although it wasn't as threatening as it sounds. Make a good impression and that strip often becomes an open door...to the yard.

 

[still looking 52]

I've cold called on residences successfully and otherwise. But from my experience, people are much less guarded and more likely to say yes when they are already outside. At best, a knock on the door from a stranger usually means someone trying to get you to part with your money in a legal way. And everybody knows there have been times when that knock has meant much worse.

I'd strongly suggest that anyone considering it be careful about detecting those curb strips without permission. It varies from town to town, but what I've seen is more often than not the city owns the curb or r.o.w. (right of way) strip. So that would make detecting them without permission legal assuming the town has no law specifically banning metal detecting.

However, a significant percentage of residents do consider that little area theirs since they mow and maintain it. Many will be curious what you are doing and most won't care. But do it more than a few times and you will inevitably find those few who will care and either confront you with suspicion/anger or call the police. Be prepared for that scenario if you are going to detect those strips without homeowner permission.

A better way I've found for r.o.w. strips is to get permission from the homeowner behind them. It's the easiest permission to get, and it lessens the chance of someone coming out with gun in hand because they saw someone ducking down by their car. That can and did happen to me although it wasn't as threatening as it sounds. Make a good impression and that strip often becomes an open door...to the yard.

That's good advice right there.

 

[marcomo]

Thank you, I hope it helps somebody. I spent a couple years detecting r.o.w. strips early on weekend mornings. Although I found a good percentage of obsolete coins and other keepers per square foot, most strips I detected did not contain them by virtue of the small amount of ground they contain.

My detecting of strips now is limited to in conjunction with yard permissions or with permission as a stepping stone toward getting yard permission next.