Hunted a mini-park Tuesday, mini-finds but still had fun :)

[GKL]

Being in a small town we don't have any really large parks, but several mini-parks some with a totlot, picnic table pavilion, and basketball court. Also there are some recreation parks with sports fields, tennis courts, ect.

Some of the mini-parks are in out of the way areas, not far, but some in rural areas and not on main roads.

I tried one of the mini-parks Tuesday that I hadn't hunted yet as I just recently discovered it (unless I saw it a long time ago and forgot about it), it's not far but was on a stretch of road heading away from town that I either don't remember traveling on before, or it's been a long time since I was down that road.

This hunt was fairly good with more good finds than trash , 4 dimes and 5 pennies and only 7 pieces of trash ! Still no silver, but I kinda think maybe 99% of the silver was hunted out long ago Amazingly all the coins were in the grassy areas and none were from the totlot.

Mini-parks in locations "off the beaten path" has pros and cons, a pro is you often have them all to yourself, or maybe one person might come by, the con is that they are in low traffic areas so fresh drops to replenish the old ones you dug might not happen too often.

Not sure how many of you have "mini-parks" in your area, but for those who might only have large parks, here are some pics of the mini-park I hunted Tuesday so you can see what I mean by a mini-park (and a couple of them actually have "mini" in their official name








Tuesday's hunt: 4 clad dimes and 5 pennies (and only 7 trash digs, not shown)
(all the coins look like they have been in the dirt for quite a while, so are not recent drops)

 

[davidlhyde63366]

Being in a small town we don't have any really large parks, but several mini-parks some with a totlot, picnic table pavilion, and basketball court. Also there are some recreation parks with sports fields, tennis courts, ect.

Some of the mini-parks are in out of the way areas, not far, but some in rural areas and not on main roads.

I tried one of the mini-parks Tuesday that I hadn't hunted yet as I just recently discovered it (unless I saw it a long time ago and forgot about it), it's not far but was on a stretch of road heading away from town that I either don't remember traveling on before, or it's been a long time since I was down that road.

This hunt was fairly good with more good finds than trash , 4 dimes and 5 pennies and only 7 pieces of trash ! Still no silver, but I kinda think maybe 99% of the silver was hunted out long ago Amazingly all the coins were in the grassy areas and none were from the totlot.

Mini-parks in locations "off the beaten path" has pros and cons, a pro is you often have them all to yourself, or maybe one person might come by, the con is that they are in low traffic areas so fresh drops to replenish the old ones you dug might not happen too often.

Not sure how many of you have "mini-parks" in your area, but for those who might only have large parks, here are some pics of the mini-park I hunted Tuesday so you can see what I mean by a mini-park (and a couple of them actually have "mini" in their official name
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Tuesday's hunt: 4 clad dimes and 5 pennies (and only 7 trash digs, not shown)
(all the coins look like they have been in the dirt for quite a while, so are not recent drops)
View attachment 471651

good chance no one else is detecting there. would hit it pretty hard might be some deeper items there others have missed. Odd seeing a playground not locked down with keep out yellow tape.

 

[GKL]

good chance no one else is detecting there. would hit it pretty hard might be some deeper items there others have missed. Odd seeing a playground not locked down with keep out yellow tape.

I'll get back there again, that was my first hunt there, was there roughly about 2 1/2 hours, still areas I haven't scanned for the first time yet, and some signals I skipped digging the first time as I was focusing on certain signals my first hunt there. I haven't seen any playgrounds locked down around here, I have seen a sign at a recreational park location saying it was open but "at your own risk" and included a reminder to practice social distancing.

 

[davidlhyde63366]

I'll get back there again, that was my first hunt there, was there roughly about 2 1/2 hours, still areas I haven't scanned for the first time yet, and some signals I skipped digging the first time as I was focusing on certain signals my first hunt there. I haven't seen any playgrounds locked down around here, I have seen a sign at a recreational park location saying it was open but "at your own risk" and included a reminder to practice social distancing.

Right now the city has all city owned playgrounds closed down , should still be able to get close to some of them. Hard on the grand daughter only play ground open is the slide at Sonic . No decision has been made as to when they will reopen them yet.

 

[GKL]

Right now the city has all city owned playgrounds closed down , should still be able to get close to some of them. Hard on the grand daughter only play ground open is the slide at Sonic . No decision has been made as to when they will reopen them yet.

Could be because with you being in a higher populated city area they might figure a greater chance of the playgrounds getting too crowded whereas in a small town like we live in that does not seem to be a concern, of the 3 different totlots I've been by this past week (and detected at 2 of them this past week) not one child or adult was walking around in any of those parks while I was there, just part of being in a lower population area I guess, the most recent park I was in someone did drive onto the parking area and sat for about 5 minutes before leaving but never got out of their car.

 

[Princess]

Congrats on the hunt!

Your discription of less-frequented parks is quite reminiscent of the ones in my area. I, too, am happy if I can come home with about a handful of clad (most often less than a dollar). Thankfully, there's so much more to the hunt than what comes home in the pouch!

 

[GKL]

Congrats on the hunt!

Your discription of less-frequented parks is quite reminiscent of the ones in my area. I, too, am happy if I can come home with about a handful of clad (most often less than a dollar). Thankfully, there's so much more to the hunt than what comes home in the pouch!

Thanks Princess !

Hey I know what you mean, I have mentioned in some of my threads that I enjoyed my hunt and had fun even though I had no spectacular finds and those were not empty words, I really did have fun simply from the hunt itself

Sure, I'd like to dig an occasional silver coin, gold ring, or really old coin or relic, who wouldn't ? .......but my enjoyment of the hobby is not dependent upon that, now that don't mean you give up on finding those things, hoping for a really good find is part of the fun, but I'm thinking to have a greater chance of those kind of finds might require getting some good permissions.

 

[Bluesguitar1]

Well, the cool things about those parks is that you probably get to hunt without being disturbed for the most part. I see another picture of the hoop-less backboards, hahaha. It looks like you still did pretty good for the foot traffic there!

 

[GKL]

Well, the cool things about those parks is that you probably get to hunt without being disturbed for the most part. I see another picture of the hoop-less backboards, hahaha. It looks like you still did pretty good for the foot traffic there!

Thanks, yep, the good thing about those mini-parks is most of the time so far I'm usually the only one there the entire time I am detecting, the bad thing is the low foot traffic also means chances of frequent new drops to replenish the finds I dig is low too

....but you are right, I felt like I did pretty good considering the small size of that mini-park, and that those coins I dug look like they were in the dirt for quite a while which likely means either that park had not been hunted, or not hunted that well in the past.

 

[Soil Surgeon]

It's good to see you have places to hunt and are going out and doing it .

 

[GKL]

It's good to see you have places to hunt and are going out and doing it .

Thanks, since many of the parks are fairly small and often in out of the way spots that I might normally have no reason to drive by there were some of them I was not aware of at all till I did a search for a list of county parks.

(Hey, these mini-parks and recreational parks might not have had spectacular finds, but even going on those hunts was still a LOT more fun than just sitting home thinking about detecting )

Anyhow, once I had a list of county parks and their addresses I could use Google maps to see where each one was at, then use the satellite and street level views to actually see what each park looked like so I would know ahead of time before even going there.

After getting a list of parks and their addresses, just enter the address at the link below, then go to satellite view, zoom in as needed, then go to street level view:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9256756,-101.4440073,5z

I also look for places that might be possible good private property hunting areas to ask permissions. (onX maps offers a free 7 day trial and it tells you who owns the properties)

.....sure beats only just driving around trying to randomly spot places to detect (though I still look for spots to hunt when driving around running errands or going to hunt areas )

 

[davidlhyde63366]

Could be because with you being in a higher populated city area they might figure a greater chance of the playgrounds getting too crowded whereas in a small town like we live in that does not seem to be a concern, of the 3 different totlots I've been by this past week (and detected at 2 of them this past week) not one child or adult was walking around in any of those parks while I was there, just part of being in a lower population area I guess, the most recent park I was in someone did drive onto the parking area and sat for about 5 minutes before leaving but never got out of their car.

Florida where i am right now is getting hit pretty hard by the virus , i will be going back to Missouri in a few days and see what is happening there . When i left Missouri most parks were shut down but that has been a couple of months ago. Here is where Florida stands on the virus right now .https://news.yahoo.com/florida-coronavirus-1-823-cases-194555905.html
i think most of the beaches are back open here but are over 1 hour away from our place down here. Will be coming back down in October and plan on some beach trips then.

 

[GKL]

Florida where i am right now is getting hit pretty hard by the virus , i will be going back to Missouri in a few days and see what is happening there . When i left Missouri most parks were shut down but that has been a couple of months ago. Here is where Florida stands on the virus right now .https://news.yahoo.com/florida-coronavirus-1-823-cases-194555905.html
i think most of the beaches are back open here but are over 1 hour away from our place down here. Will be coming back down in October and plan on some beach trips then.

It would be interesting to see if the playgrounds in your area of Missouri are open or not, I think it is a decision likely left up to local level city or county government and decisions can vary depending on various factors in each area.

 

[davidlhyde63366]

city parks

It would be interesting to see if the playgrounds in your area of Missouri are open or not, I think it is a decision likely left up to local level city or county government and decisions can vary depending on various factors in each area.

Before i go back i will check my and near by city websites to find out the status . Only going to be back for a couple of weeks before leaving again and have one spot number one on my list where they removed a snow cone stand , it had a deck just perfect for coins to fall through the cracks between the boards . Have a short amount of time back home and a big honey do list as well as getting some needed repairs on the truck , and a few medical appointments ..Been busier since retirement than i was before it .

 

[GKL]

Before i go back i will check my and near by city websites to find out the status . Only going to be back for a couple of weeks before leaving again and have one spot number one on my list where they removed a snow cone stand , it had a deck just perfect for coins to fall through the cracks between the boards . Have a short amount of time back home and a big honey do list as well as getting some needed repairs on the truck , and a few medical appointments ..Been busier since retirement than i was before it .

.....I'm hoping you get a big haul from drops where that snow cone stand used to be !

 

[Bluesguitar1]

Thanks, yep, the good thing about those mini-parks is most of the time so far I'm usually the only one there the entire time I am detecting, the bad thing is the low foot traffic also means chances of frequent new drops to replenish the finds I dig is low too

....but you are right, I felt like I did pretty good considering the small size of that mini-park, and that those coins I dug look like they were in the dirt for quite a while which likely means either that park had not been hunted, or not hunted that well in the past.

Awesome.. I actually enjoy it when I'm by myself somewhere. But as you said, the downside is the foot traffic. There's this rural park a cpl miles from the house that I frequent due to convenience. There sure isn't much as far as coins go, but what I do find is odds and ends that actually aren't trash. Last time was a possibly silver ring with a polished stone of some kind and a Boy Scout neckerchief holder. I'm waiting to get back out to the old city school parking lot this weekend!

 

[GKL]

Awesome.. I actually enjoy it when I'm by myself somewhere. But as you said, the downside is the foot traffic. There's this rural park a cpl miles from the house that I frequent due to convenience. There sure isn't much as far as coins go, but what I do find is odds and ends that actually aren't trash. Last time was a possibly silver ring with a polished stone of some kind and a Boy Scout neckerchief holder. I'm waiting to get back out to the old city school parking lot this weekend!

I wouldn't mind if there were a few people around (but not crowded) as long as they realized I was doing a harmless hobby and didn't mind. Being in a small town most of the mini-parks and recreational parks are fairly close, likely within about 2 miles, like yours, they might not have a lot, but at least I didn't have to travel far to get to them and I still had fun !

Hope you have a real good hunt at that parking lot this weekend !

 

[diggin4clad]

There are some small parks in my area.....one of them is the one in my avatar......
Others have no detecting restrictions. Finds are generally the usual clad and junk.

 

[diggin4clad]

Right now the city has all city owned playgrounds closed down , should still be able to get close to some of them. Hard on the grand daughter only play ground open is the slide at Sonic . No decision has been made as to when they will reopen them yet.

Here in Connecticut about half of the towns closed down their parks and sport fields back in March and April. As of now all have re-opened since about two months ago. Bummer that parks in your area are still closed. Paranoia isn't helping anything.

 

[davidlhyde63366]

Here in Connecticut about half of the towns closed down their parks and sport fields back in March and April. As of now all have re-opened since about two months ago. Bummer that parks in your area are still closed. Paranoia isn't helping anything.

The virus isn't anywhere near under control here in this County yet on top of that Gainesville is a collage town so lots of young people gathering and espically at the beaches. Mainly the weather has given me more issues than the virus seems to be the hot , humid and rainy season here. Some of the parks can still be detected but play grounds have been closed almost all season . Going to detect as close as i can to the play ground equipment and ball fields that have been closed .