Went On A short Hunt Today - Round Brown Spots Everywhere

[flinthunter]

I posted this on the P.A.T.H. forum since I am a club member but thought it might appropriate to post it here also.

I've been waiting two months for enough rain to hunt a very old park that produces a good coin or two every trip. After yesterdays rains I decided to drive the 40 miles and check it out this morning. There were round brown spots all over the park. It was disgusting. I wouldn't be surprised if they ban metal detectors there. If I were the caretaker of the park and had any pride in the way the grounds looked I would be screaming at the village board to ban detectors. I am sure that no one on this forum would do this but please help pass the word to others to respect both public and private properties. A mistake or bad judgement by one person reflects on the rest of us. People can and do perceive the mindset of a group by the actions of just one. Daryl

 

[2000nkb]

This is the time of year when you take it to the banks of a river with very sandy terrain. THAT IS NOT GOOD TO HEAR!!!!

 

[TerraDigger]

Always has to be a knucklehead.

 

[nw1886]

Time of year to use caution for sure. Full plugs should be left for fields, Horseshoe plugs used as little as possible, slits and "T" cuts next,and coin popping best for shallow. (Still...a real nice lawn should be left for detecting in moister seasons.) Last year I had some idiot leave plugs on top of the ground for me to fix by the dozen! (Problem here being is it was in our park across the street from my house...best test garden on the planet for me needs watched out for!) I always try to "work in" a bit of "how to dig" conversation with newbs and short timers but wow....no fix for stupid and uncaring! (We all do what we can do huh.) We all can have a hole "go bad"....but bet it is a rare occurrence with folks around here!

 

[DaveNV]

I've been detecting for over 36 years and when detecting in parks, school grounds and lawns, have always used a screwdriver and probe to find targets. I have challenged folks who come up to talk to find the places where I've dug--the vast majority of the time, they cannot. It takes a lot more time and practice, but I can't in good conscience see digging holes. Even if one is very neat and tries to make as small a mess as possible, when one starts digging with small (or sometimes large) shovels and digging tools, on-lookers get the wrong impression--something we don't need as detectorists. I'll go out on a limb and say that those who refuse to learn how to locate and retrieve targets with a probe and screwdriver-like tool are just too damn lazy and will be the death of our hobby. Of course, I'm not talking about open fields, wilderness settings and the like. In those places, the only thing I would remind others to do is to remove the trash you find and bury your holes. When I started detecting, electronic pinpointers weren't available; these devices make finding targets a whole lot easier. Again, if you're too lazy to learn to do things right, please, for the rest of us, find a new hobby.
HH,
Dave

 

[TerraDigger]

I agree with you that PROPER screwdriver retrieval is something all turf detectorists should know how to do. And should be used on shallow targets instead of cutting plugs. However, I would like to know what your maximum retrieval depth is, without damaging the coin in any way. In my neck of the woods, parks/schools 7-8"+ older coins are commonplace. I personally have never been able to extract a coin even near those depths with a screwdriver or gasket removal tool (had a flattened tip). If you can do extractions at the depths I require, without coin damage/evidence of extraction, I would love to have you share the technique with me/others. And I am not asking this as a challenge. If it can be done, I would be grateful to be taught how.
Now don't take this the wrong way, as I am sure the following does not apply to you.
We have parks/schools that only a screwdriver can be used. What I see are 'holes' being dug with screwdrivers and grass so shredded and destroyed it will never recover. Lots of ugly brown dead spots.
Personally, I feel that a properly cut plug, in turf that has the proper moisture content, for deeper coins, is far less damaging than most of the screwdriver retrievals I am seeing in my area.
I have 28 years of detecting under my belt.

 

[DaveNV]

Terra,
I must admit that most targets I retrieve are 6" or less. That's a function of the dirt where I live. Most of the grass and dirt sit on a hardpan which is typically six inches or less. And, I have damaged targets in the past. I just sold an 1892S Barber Dime I found in Spokane, Washington back in the '80s. I put a horrible scratch on it, which lessened its value. I've gotten a lot better with experience. I do see your point; it's difficult to recover coins beyond 8" with a screwdriver. My gripe is some of the situations I've seen on video and in person where relatively shallow targets are recovered by people who cut a huge plug or dug a big hole in doing so. It's not hard to tell when someone has been doing this, especially here in the desert where things are so very dry. I have actually passed up recoveries on undoubtedly good targets, because I couldn't "touch" it with my probe and was unwilling to dig a big hole to find it. We have to be aware of the perceptions of our hobby; too many places are being put off limits, because of some thoughtless folks. I guess the key is to use common sense, which, as somone said, "ain't all that common."
HH,
Dave

 

[Elton]

Just can't get it to work. I can't find the target first off..and if I do manage to hit something probing, I still mess up the ground trying to bring it to the surface. I have been detecting a long, long time too.......... I can however dig a very small plug that fits back into the ground. I split the grass cover first with my digger and then dig down to the target... The hole just compresses back together then leaving almost no sign of digging.

 

[nw1886]

I would like to say that I could use the coin popping technique for coins down to some depth...not going to do it unless cladding. My interest in coins predates my use of detectors (both started in early childhood) and now I work as a professional numismatist who also deals detectors. Rare scratched coin stories are things I hate to hear about, much less see or experience first hand....and even dislike talking about it,it can be so bad. Use good judgement out there. (Nothing worse than seeing a rarer high grade silver damaged into a turd.)

 

[onthemove]

nicely put! a bottle of water is a good thing to keep with you i use it a lot on dry days works good.