US coins and iron signals?

[harryhh]

I was watching a video posted by earthmansurfer titled 'Iffy signals on good targets.' He apparently was hunting in Germany since he was finding zinc German coins. His signals showed on the 12 line, but also in the high ferrous area. I was wondering if it is common for old US coins to show a lot of ferrous?

I have been hunting almost entirely in an old park with a great deal of trash. In general, two to four beeps on each sweep left, and the same on the sweep to the right. My guess is that it also appears to have had a landfill sometime in the 1960's. With that much trash, I have gotten very used to passing on iffy targets.

Yesterday I went to a different old park. Very trashy also, but maybe only half or one third as bad as above. And so far it looks like no landfill.

In combined tones and all metal mode, I passed up many signals that showed some 12 line with some high tones, but seemed predominately high ferrous and low tones. Switching 90 degrees, I generally got very few high tones and generally even less low tones. As though the target was harder to find.

I have gotten very used to passing up on such iffy targets. Way too many of them. Do US coins that may be 6 inches or deeper show that much iron? Should I have been digging on those targets? I should say that the park goes back to 1875 or before.

 

[LandOLincoln]

I've dug a few indians that were jumpy between 15-19 FE, but there was always a nail or some form of iron in the hole with the coin.

 

[harryhh]

Hello Andrew,

I was just wondering, do you hunt many areas that sound as trashy as I've described?

 

[LandOLincoln]

Yes I'm either in trash filled parks or iron infested fields. There are quite a few folks around here with good detectors and better skills, so the majority of targets that are left are the iffy ones.

 

[JamesM]

In the scenario that you describe, I find that it is nearly always trash, and the high tone and TID that disappears when you hit it at 90

 

[harryhh]

That's pretty much the way I've been looking at the signals. But what really bugs me, I watched a video of some guy going to a park in a small town that he had never been to before. I don't know all the conditions, how long he was there, how much area did he cover, how trashy was the place. But he came out of there with what must have been around 8 old coins. D--n.

It's made me wonder what I'm missing in my technique.

 

[LandOLincoln]

I've been to one old park around here and cleaned house. First time there 9 silvers 20 something wheats and a handfull of indians out of a TINY park. All told maybe 15-20 silvers 50+ wheats and 10-15 indians out of that place. Other old parks and not a single diggable signal. It all depends on how hard the park had been hit before, the detectorists knowledge of their machine and their machine's capabilities, and If they had moved any dirt around etc. I do better in small town parks than larger city parks(unless I hit the wooded areas of the park). I've had my best luck in the wooded areas of larger city parks. Just be prepared for massive amounts of can/bottle top/pulltab trash that is very close to the surface.

 

[harryhh]

Dang!

I know you're not suppose to ask, but where are you? Just kidding.

That is really something. I've been wondering how many detectorists are around here, and if they've hit the parks good. Have to try to find out.

You mentioned wooded areas of larger parks. Do you look for any particular place in the wooded areas, or just start hunting?

 

[LandOLincoln]

I'm in central Illinois near Peoria. No place in particular in the woods. The closer you are to the grass the higher amount of trash you will have to deal with though. Just pick an area 50 x 50 in the woods and clean it out then rinse and repeat. The trick is not to try and hit the whole wooded area in a day but focus on a small spot and expand slowly over time. The targets in the woods don't seem to be that deep since they aren't getting a lot of rotting vegetation piling up over the years either unless there are steep hillsides or drainage ravines.

 

[harryhh]

Thanks for the advice Andrew.

I'm in NW Illinois, west of Princeton. It's all farmland out here with some woods. But, probably not too many people trodding through the woods to lose very much stuff. Maybe hunters. I'll have to find a woods popular with hunters, and seek permission go there. ( out of hunting season)

 

[LandOLincoln]

Its not just any woods. I mean wooded areas of parks. Unless you can find some old home sites/fairgrounds/picnic areas on old maps that are now farmland/woods and get permission from the land owner.

 

[harryhh]

I was pretty sure that the type of woods around me wasn't the type of woods you were talking about. I'll have to check Princeton to see what might there.

I do know of one fairground/racetrack, back in 1875, that is now farmland. I'll have to see if I can get out there before the farmer discs the land and sprays the chemicals on it. My one experience with farmland, they didn't want me to detect after disking.

 

[Mike MD]

I hunt in ground coin in some pretty trashy parks. I have the ferrous line jump from 20 back down to the 12 line. Turn 90 degrees and only get a high tone every other swing but in the same spot. These have turned out to be coins from 7 inches or deeper. I have found some remnants of iron in the hole but no solid piece. I still get some nails every now but that

 

[harryhh]

Thanks Mike.

I'm not getting too many signals like that. For the most part, I occasionally get some signals that the ferrous stays around the 12 line without jumping down. Usually those turn out to be aluminum or a new coin not very deep. Just about any other signal I get has ferrous that goes predominately down to 33 to 35 ferrous, with occasional spurious ferrous signals ranging up to the 12 line. Basically, the signals I've been getting sound like quite a bit more ferrous than what you describe. I'm in a very high trash area and maybe it's been hunted quit a bit.

I've only been out to the new park once, but since you are getting at least some higher ferrous signal on coins, maybe I should did more of the ones that look pretty bad, and see if they produce anything once in a while.

 

[Mike MD]

Good luck let us know how it works out.

Mike