Yards vrs. Park

[Skippy SH13]

I'm a very detailed, regimented girl in my daily life so when I hunt large park areas I tend to use landmarks in the park -- trees, trash cans, soccer nets, etc -- and create mental areas to carefully search. My friend, K, is a very happy go lucky spirit in life and when she goes out she spaghetti hunts. If you tried to put her into a grid and told her to hunt she wouldn't have any fun. If you told me to "get out of my box" I'd try for about 10 minutes and then my feet would just take me back.



So I guess it really just depends on what you want and who you are.

Yep. I try to hummingbird, once in a while, and I end up doing lines instead. LOL

 

[CoryTDF]

I'm a very detailed, regimented girl in my daily life so when I hunt large park areas I tend to use landmarks in the park -- trees, trash cans, soccer nets, etc -- and create mental areas to carefully search. My friend, K, is a very happy go lucky spirit in life and when she goes out she spaghetti hunts. If you tried to put her into a grid and told her to hunt she wouldn't have any fun. If you told me to "get out of my box" I'd try for about 10 minutes and then my feet would just take me back.



So I guess it really just depends on what you want and who you are.

I have a bit of ADD so I jump around in my mind a bunch but I do like structure. So, finding a smaller area to focus on while in a larger area works for me thus far. Now, I might jump around a bit within that area but at least I stay within my grid.

Just last night I went to a place that had 20 feet of sidewalk torn out in front of a building that was built in 1905. So it was about 10x20 area. I had to right the urge to jump around lol. If nails were gold I would be a rich man after that hunt! sadly it did not produce anything of intrest.

 

[Cherry Picker]

Myself I like yards because of the variety and never knowing what you might find. I like parks because of the high quantity of older coins and jewelry, but you can hunt several days before hitting a payday.

 

[oaktree]

Thanks for starting the discussion Cory - I have also been overwhelmed by large areas. I plan to try to focus in on one smaller section as suggested and just clean out everything - pulltabs, iron... everything. Just to see how much is under the dirt in one 10x10 spot. Hopefully I may hit some deep signals and be able to see what is under there to help me continue to learn my machine better

 

[ToySoldier]

Thanks for starting the discussion Cory - I have also been overwhelmed by large areas. I plan to try to focus in on one smaller section as suggested and just clean out everything - pulltabs, iron... everything. Just to see how much is under the dirt in one 10x10 spot. Hopefully I may hit some deep signals and be able to see what is under there to help me continue to learn my machine better

Earlier this year I marked off a 5'x5' square within the trashiest pull tab area of an old park that is now closed to the public. Using two different detectors and three coils I cleaned out every high tone from every direction in those 25 square feet. Every high peep. I found about a dozen coins. But, those aren't the coins in the photo.

The attached photo is what I dug from that 5'x5' spot AFTER I started removing the shallowest, strongest pull tab signals. A few extra tabs would come out with each one I targeted. The coins in the photo were either found with a pinpointer while removing a pull tab, or were unmasked and gave a high tone when I rescanned with the detector.

I only kept going until I found a "proof of concept": A coin that was notably deeper than the 2" to 5" deep pull tab layer. In this case, it was a 1920's wheat penny. I also didn't want to lose my mind intentionally digging pull tabs. Indeed, I had probably only dug 10% of the pull tabs in that square. No doubt more coins left behind, too. I've done the same thing on other hunts and found silver, but this was the only time I thought to take a photo of the coins with the pull tabs.

For what it's worth, this isn't how I normally hunt. But, I am willing to experiment. It's not a bad idea if the immediate area has proven itself already, or if you want to "survey" a 3x3 or 5x5 area just to satisfy curiosity. If it's a good large property you're better off spending time covering more ground. But, there's clearly something to be said for digging out shallow trash signals if you've hit a hot spot of coins.

If nothing else, it shows why trashy parks keep producing oldies.

 

[CoryTDF]

Earlier this year I marked off a 5'x5' square within the trashiest pull tab area of an old park that is now closed to the public. Using two different detectors and three coils I cleaned out every high tone from every direction in those 25 square feet. Every high peep. I found about a dozen coins. But, those aren't the coins in the photo.

The attached photo is what I dug from my "pounded" and "hunted out" 5'x5' spot AFTER I started removing the shallowest, strongest pull tab signals. A few extra tabs would come out with each one I targeted. The coins in the photo were either found with a pinpointer while removing a pull tab, or were unmasked and gave a high tone when I rescanned with the detector.

I only kept going until I found a "proof of concept": A coin that was notably deeper than the 2" to 5" deep pull tab layer. In this case, it was a 1920's wheat penny. I also didn't want to lose my mind intentionally digging pull tabs. Indeed, I had probably only dug 10% of the pull tabs in that square. No doubt more coins left behind, too. I've done the same thing on other hunts and found silver, but this was the only time I thought to take a photo of the coins with the pull tabs.

For what it's worth, this isn't how I normally hunt. But, I am willing to experiment. It's not a bad idea if the immediate area has proven itself already, or if you want to "survey" a 3x3 or 5x5 area just to satisfy curiosity. If it's a good large property you're better off spending time covering more ground. But, there's clearly something to be said for digging out shallow trash signals if you've hit a hot spot of coins.

If nothing else, it shows why trashy parks keep producing oldies.

Impressive but that looks like a pile of frustration! LOL

 

[ToySoldier]

Impressive but that looks like a pile of frustration! LOL

Thanks! It didn't take all day or anything. Just a fun experiment in a challenging spot. I don't normally dig that many pull tabs per coin.

 

[oaktree]

For what it's worth, this isn't how I normally hunt. But, I am willing to experiment. It's not a bad idea if the immediate area has proven itself already, or if you want to "survey" a 3x3 or 5x5 area just to satisfy curiosity. If it's a good large property you're better off spending time covering more ground. But, there's clearly something to be said for digging out shallow trash signals if you've hit a hot spot of coins.

If nothing else, it shows why trashy parks keep producing oldies.

Thanks for that insight ToySoldier! I do have an older park near me that I'd like to try that experiment with. With all the things dug in a 5x5 square - was the ground just churned up everywhere or how did you keep it manageable without looking like on huge excavation?!

 

[waltr]

Thanks for that insight ToySoldier! I do have an older park near me that I'd like to try that experiment with. With all the things dug in a 5x5 square - was the ground just churned up everywhere or how did you keep it manageable without looking like on huge excavation?!

Good question...

I also have a local park that has many, many older pull-tabs in the picnic area. Also think there may still be silver and/or jewelry there. But it will be a task to dig all and not make a mess.

 

[ToySoldier]

.....was the ground just churned up everywhere or how did you keep it manageable without looking like on huge excavation?!

........But it will be a task to dig all and not make a mess.

Good point. In my case it is now closed to the public and I had permission to do as I pleased. Still, the grass and weeds were nice and thick from no foot traffic for 20 years. The plugs hold together. I was digging them half a foot away from each other. Just thinning out the trash...not trying to dig every single pull tab.