CZconnoisseur
Active member
Got out for the last couple of nights and first hit the south end of the fairgrounds which I've covered fairly well, but still manage to pull keepers every time. Only hunted about an hour and a half the night before last, it was simply too sticky and muggy to hunt for any length of time. Add mosquito repellant and the temperature goes up even more....I miss the 20*F nights with 15mph winds already 
That night I scored a toasty Merc and a couple of Wheats - nothing really AWESOME but still cool finds nonetheless.
Last night was a little better - We had rain earlier in the day which took some of the heat out of the air and I was able to hunt for about twice as long. I recently found a Civil War map of the fairgrounds area, and the first thing I noticed was the horse track staring back at me. Then I saw structures and buildings on this map, and I knew I had to try a different area the next time around! So about 200 yards from the roller coaster area I decided to begin the hunt, and focused on shallow, broad depressions in the ground from where the bulldozers did their work. From experience at this site you can find clad and screwcaps at 8-9" deep, but twenty feet away there can be Barbers less than an inch down; but something told me to concentrate on the low areas. Found nothing but aluminum trash the first hour, and found the broach early on but figured it was trash until I ran water over it! It always pays to haul the trash home with you and sort it in the comfort and illumination of your own home LOL!
Got a couple "80" and "81" signals but at 2" deep the Samson hit concrete. Tried to dig around it but that's simply too much work for me when 18" in all directions you hit concrete...on to the next! One of the "80' signals not far from the others was a brass or bronze ring with what looks like "18K" stamped on the inside - so the gold eludes me once again!
Finally got a nice "71" which was a Wheat around 4" deep. Once I find an older coin in a new area, I leave the Samson next to where I found the older coin and work a 20-30 foot diameter circle away from the shovel. Turned up two more Wheats in short order not 10 feet from the first one; one coming in at "58" which was a sweet green 1923 Wheatie. The other was a crusty 1941 D Wheat which registered at "67". In my book this area would qualify for a thorough gridding, which is exactly what I started on last night. Received a few more signals not far from the 3 Wheats - they all rang up in the 50s and were 12-gauge shell bases from the 1940s and earlier. Got another solid "57-58" which turned out to be a 1980s screwcap at 5" deep.
Found a few recent clad drops here and there, and then I walked up on another confident signal - this one was bouncing "52-58" and was a medium-strength signal. Once I got the signal, I looked to see where it was in relation to the 3 Wheats and noticed I was about thirty feet from those finds. Tried to sink the Samson into the dirt but couldn't even get an inch deep. After a lot of jumping up and down on the shovel, and once my foot slipped off (glad I wear boots for this) the shovel, I finally managed to get through the tough 2-3" top layer of dirt which was somehow not wet from our recent rains. Under this layer the dirt was much easier to work with. Got a 6" deep hole and rescanned, the signal was still in the bottom of the hole.
"Here comes another screwcap, I just know it!" I thought
To my surprise I pulled out a large caliber bullet, a 2-ringer, and knew right away it was Civil War vintage. Turns out it's a .56 caliber Spencer round, and there's one piece of the shell stuck to the bullet which really helped me ID it. So tonight maybe I can get lucky and go back to find the actual case of that round, and then have my first complete Spencer projectile!
So tonight I will be making a return trip and will be concentrating on those 40s through 60s VDI readings - Yes, I did dig a lot of crap this way, but if I was in it for the silver only all the unusual and neat tokens, relics, etc would have been missed. The site is about 30-35 acres, so it's large enough to keep me busy for a LONG time! HH
That night I scored a toasty Merc and a couple of Wheats - nothing really AWESOME but still cool finds nonetheless.Last night was a little better - We had rain earlier in the day which took some of the heat out of the air and I was able to hunt for about twice as long. I recently found a Civil War map of the fairgrounds area, and the first thing I noticed was the horse track staring back at me. Then I saw structures and buildings on this map, and I knew I had to try a different area the next time around! So about 200 yards from the roller coaster area I decided to begin the hunt, and focused on shallow, broad depressions in the ground from where the bulldozers did their work. From experience at this site you can find clad and screwcaps at 8-9" deep, but twenty feet away there can be Barbers less than an inch down; but something told me to concentrate on the low areas. Found nothing but aluminum trash the first hour, and found the broach early on but figured it was trash until I ran water over it! It always pays to haul the trash home with you and sort it in the comfort and illumination of your own home LOL!
Got a couple "80" and "81" signals but at 2" deep the Samson hit concrete. Tried to dig around it but that's simply too much work for me when 18" in all directions you hit concrete...on to the next! One of the "80' signals not far from the others was a brass or bronze ring with what looks like "18K" stamped on the inside - so the gold eludes me once again!
Finally got a nice "71" which was a Wheat around 4" deep. Once I find an older coin in a new area, I leave the Samson next to where I found the older coin and work a 20-30 foot diameter circle away from the shovel. Turned up two more Wheats in short order not 10 feet from the first one; one coming in at "58" which was a sweet green 1923 Wheatie. The other was a crusty 1941 D Wheat which registered at "67". In my book this area would qualify for a thorough gridding, which is exactly what I started on last night. Received a few more signals not far from the 3 Wheats - they all rang up in the 50s and were 12-gauge shell bases from the 1940s and earlier. Got another solid "57-58" which turned out to be a 1980s screwcap at 5" deep.
Found a few recent clad drops here and there, and then I walked up on another confident signal - this one was bouncing "52-58" and was a medium-strength signal. Once I got the signal, I looked to see where it was in relation to the 3 Wheats and noticed I was about thirty feet from those finds. Tried to sink the Samson into the dirt but couldn't even get an inch deep. After a lot of jumping up and down on the shovel, and once my foot slipped off (glad I wear boots for this) the shovel, I finally managed to get through the tough 2-3" top layer of dirt which was somehow not wet from our recent rains. Under this layer the dirt was much easier to work with. Got a 6" deep hole and rescanned, the signal was still in the bottom of the hole.
"Here comes another screwcap, I just know it!" I thought
To my surprise I pulled out a large caliber bullet, a 2-ringer, and knew right away it was Civil War vintage. Turns out it's a .56 caliber Spencer round, and there's one piece of the shell stuck to the bullet which really helped me ID it. So tonight maybe I can get lucky and go back to find the actual case of that round, and then have my first complete Spencer projectile!
So tonight I will be making a return trip and will be concentrating on those 40s through 60s VDI readings - Yes, I did dig a lot of crap this way, but if I was in it for the silver only all the unusual and neat tokens, relics, etc would have been missed. The site is about 30-35 acres, so it's large enough to keep me busy for a LONG time! HH
