When you are in a slump, sometimes you gotta change up your game

[Eric in RI]

Lately I have been in a silver slump. Pounded park is starting to get harder and harder to pull silver on a consistent basis. I had about an hour of daylight left today and I was itching to get some silver. I decided to head over to the park down the road that I've found silver at in the past on several occasions. I don't normally hunt this park because it is bottle cap city, but figured the 5x8 might help me with that. I arrived at the park and was geared up by 3:45. I started working the picnic area of the field near the edges of the woods. I had the AT Pro in Pro Zero mode, 0 disc, sensitivity 2 bars below max. I slowly worked my way in a straight line from one end of the field to the other. After several flattened screw caps in my pouch I finally started finding some pennies. I came across a faint high tone next to what seemed like a pull tab. Normally on my machine a pull tab will read where it should, but once you start getting to the edge of the signal with the coil, the tone will jump from a mid-tone to a high-tone. I will always isolate the high tone from one direction, turn 90 degrees and swing over it the other way. If I get a mid tone in the other direction, 99.9% of the time it is trash. Well, I isolated the faint high tone one way and it was reading 83 - 85, I turned 90 degrees and swung over it and the tone stayed the same! I eagerly cut a plug and flipped it over. I looked in the edge of the hole and seen a dirty dime standing straight up. I took it out and gave it a quick wipe to reveal a 41 Merc! It appears that it was hit by a lawnmower some time ago. I covered up the hole and swept over the area again and just for the heck of it, I dug the pull tab signal next to the Merc just to reassure myself I wasn't missing an old nickel, which I didn't

I could see that the sun was down past the horizon and I was getting limited on my hunt time. I decided to just cherry pick for the next 20 minutes before I had to pack it up. A few clad quarters and pennies later, I came across a shallow high-tone. It read 82-83 from both directions and I remember saying aloud, probably just a penny or a clad dime. I found the target with the pro-pointer and pulled a nice .925 sterling earring. The part that loops into the ear is broken, hence why it was lost I decided after 2 silvers in 1 hour and the fact I couldn't see anymore, it was time to head out.

The moral of today's hunt is the 5x8 coil is excellent in trashy parks and if you are in a silver slump, change up spots from where you usually hunt. In my case, it was going to another trashy park HH!

 

[Flanaganj25]

I'm still learning my new 5x8 and I don't know if it's me of all 5x8s do this but it reads higher on stuff, mostly coins, and I don't remember the stock big one doing that. I keep finding it reads higher with coins buried shallow or surface drops. Pennies are reading 82 to 84. Is that normal? Most all coin denominations read higher.

 

[John-Edmonton]

It's always nice to open up a new post and see silver staring back up at you. And, switch coils is like using a totally different metal detector.

 

[senda]

good story and pretty silver
thanks for sharing
and Congrats !!

 

[Eric in RI]

Copper pennies that are deep tend to bounce around a bit. Silver is usually spot on. Are you hunting in a trashy area or clean ground?

 

[Flanaganj25]

Not trashy at all. I get excited when I see a solid 84, cause I've dug rings in that range and it's always a penny. But that's only the really shallow ones. I'm gonna keep working this coil and eventually I'll get use to the vdi numbers. I dig any high tone for the most parts unless it's a can or I can tell if it's a screw top.

 

[Eric in RI]

Personally, I notice that the coil produces loud scratchy tones when I swing over a surface find too closely. Try raising the coil an inch higher when you come across a high tone and checking the #'s again. I usually swing 2 inches over the ground, only because a lot of the terrain I hunt is uneven and littered with rocks.

Quite honestly my machine and my buddy's AT Pro are pretty similar with the #'s. Most 83 - 84 signals on the 5x8 and the 8x11 are silver dimes. I don't find too many silver quarters, but I dug a deep Barber quarter that came up 85 on the 8x11. Clad quarters read 87-88 on my 5x8, same with my buddy. Copper pennies tend to jump around when they are deeper. Most times if I see 80 - 82 bounce around, I know I got either a memorial or a wheat. Indians ring up low 70's on my 5x8. Zinc pennies come up 75-76 on the surface and if they were dropped recently. Corroded zinc pennies can read all the way down to the mid 60's. V-nickels and buffalo nickels that are 4 - 6" come up either a constant 51 - 53, or bounce from 52 - 68, same with war nickels in that depth range. I suspect nickels bounce around if they are standing on edge. I never dug a half dollar with the AT Pro, but my buddy found 2 in the same week once. I think they came up 92 on the 8x11. Clad dimes are usually 78-82 on my 5x8.

I know John from Edmonton has mentioned that the concentric coils have more stable #'s than the DD coils do, whereas the DD coils are better at target separation in trashy areas.

Another thing that might add to the increase in #'s, are you hunting in wet ground? What do you typically ground balance at in your area? In my area, I usually ground balance around 88 in clean farm fields, woods and 92 - 95 in trashy parks.

Hope this info helps. Feel free to PM me anytime. I'm always willing to help out any forum member, especially when it comes to the 5x8 coil. HH!