Right place...Hunting Secrets!
To start, you are not in the wrong place. The proof is the wheaties. As Mikey48 pointed out, not everyone carried silver around in their pockets. Dimes and quarters had a lot of buying power.
-- Was the wheats hard or easy to find? This will usually tells you if the ground was hunted before. (Hard = faint signal, odd place, deep dig....)(Easy = strong signal, open ground, quick dig....)
-- A little research goes a long way....where was town center, where were the public areas such as the bus stops. It's less likely that my grandfather dropped a dime working in the front yard. It's more likely that he dropped money when he carried it on the way to work, church, grocery, or the hardware store. That's why curbstrips payout in some areas more than others. Heavier traveled areas.
-- The neiborhood you pick to hunt means not just the homes. Was there an old Plant or Factory in the area? People walked to work a lot more then. Heavier traveled areas. Older churches and schools are great places to hunt
-- Research matters! An area built in the 60-70s won't pay out silver like schools, churches, and parks built and used in the 30-40s. I hunted a few places I though would be good because it 'looked good' and only got clad. After checking historic maps, I found none of the area existed on a 1969 map. (Waist of time.)
-- Unless it's complete trash, hunt a spot more than once! (I researched an area that was used in the 30/40s and later turned into a park in the 60s. Wasn't finding anything older than 1974.....moved away 100/200 yards from where I thought I'd find coins 'old building locations' and found silver on my fourth hunt!)
-- Seed your back yard and practice! Noobs, go to a coin store and ask for a few junk coins. Badly worn Barber or Merc dimes should be $1.50-$3.00. Buy a few and plant them in your yard at different depths and angles. Start at 4 inches and deeper. Place one on end 5-6 inches down or deeper. Place one 6 inches down with a penny directly on top of it. If you can learn how your machine identifies those types of small targets, you will trust yourself with that machine and know how to hunt other parks and properties for small silver targets.
It comes with time and knowledge. The more time you spend looking, the more you find. The more knowledge you have (research), the less time you waist.
Good luck and happy hunting!