Hunting in the wrong places.

critik

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Joined
Mar 2, 2017
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174
Location
Charlotte, Nc
So it has been about a month now and I just do not think I am hunting in the right places. My goal was to find atleast a liberty dime and the only coins I have found were wheat pennies. So my point is I see everyone else going on hunts and finding tons of old coins and well I just do not think I am hunting in the right places or don't really know what to look for when finding a place. Some help would be appreciated.
-Thanks. -Darrin
 
Ive only been on a few hunts lately and I havent found anything great. Some days are like that, sometimes most days. Dont feel bad like everyone else is finding stuff and you're not. Thats not the case.
 
So it has been about a month now and I just do not think I am hunting in the right places. My goal was to find atleast a liberty dime and the only coins I have found were wheat pennies. So my point is I see everyone else going on hunts and finding tons of old coins and well I just do not think I am hunting in the right places or don't really know what to look for when finding a place. Some help would be appreciated.
-Thanks. -Darrin

Actually, My older coins are coming from places I'm not expecting to find old coins at. Public parks are where I've found them. The places I'm expecting them to be, I'm only finding old wheats as you are. I think they've already been hunted out prior to my finding the location to hunt ?Just keep hunting. The longer you go without finding an old silver,very possibly, the closer you are to finding several. Good luck and post them when you finally find them.
 
If its OK to hunt there then no place is the wrong place.
I've been hoping for a RING or GOLD for a LOOOOOOONG time now.
Still haven't got it. MAYBE in the next hunt.
Keep swinging and looking.
 
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Live by the theory that ANYTHING can be ANYWHERE. A forum friend and I went to a brand new park one day and found a barber half. I have read of a guy who hunted a park for years finding fewer things as time went on. They did some maintenance work and brought in some fill dirt near the parking area. One day he was swinging his way to his car and found old coins in the fill dirt. I found a seated half dime in a tiny secluded farm field with no evidence of a dwelling nearby on any old maps. The list goes on and on. Sure places that have stood for centuries lure us in expecting old silver but it is not always so. I hunted 2 different mid 18002 properties to death, no silver in one and a single rosie in the other but wheat galore. Go hunting, enjoy yourself being out on a beautiful day as I do. It has to be about having fun more than finding what you seek, it HAS to be or it is not fun anymore. Your best finds will be unexpected, make you wonder how the hell that got there and so on.
 
If you're finding wheats, your in an area were there could be silver. It just wasn't dropped or you haven't got your coil over it. Either way, with every hunt, you're still learning your detector a little better. I've not had a chance to learn my detectors , so every time I go out, which is limited, I feel like a newbie. You'll get there, don't be disappointed, just enjoy the hunt.
 
Remember that mere millimeters make a difference in this hobby. I continually am amazed at the finds I make at places I've hunted to death. Unless you lay out and work a grid there is no way you're covering every bit of ground at a location. The more you swing the luckier you'll get.


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If you are finding wheaties, then you are in the place where there could be silver, so don't stop hunting those sites until you're no longer finding the wheat cents. Just remember that a dime had a lot more value before 1964 when you consider its purchasing power. Kids had less of them and a lot less were lost relative to cents. Hang in there at those wheatie sites and you will turn up some silver! :clapping:
 
Every time I go out I find coins in some of the most out of the way places. Makes me wonder how many thousands of dollars are out there waiting to be saved. If someone has been there they have lost something. I don't think there are many bad places.
 
I'm currently hunting a place that should be loaded with silver and all I've gotten out of the ground are wheats and a boatload of 1965 quarters and dimes!

It's incredibly frustrating but, like others have said, I'm outside, I'm not at work, and every swing has the potential to be the cache find of a lifetime. This is called dirtfishing for a reason. Somedays it's trout, other days it's crappie.
 
Yeah...You are on the wheats, so thats something there! Thats whats cool about this Sport!...thinking about what the dirt and finds are saying so you can learn a site...It just takes practice and paying attention to what everything is telling you...even something as simple as a pulltab tells a story....we are tracking Humans through Time, and our clues are in the dirt....Of course, that leads a guy to research...to be hunting on the 'right dirt' in the targeted time frame you desire...

I hunt for 60's-70's dropped gold...same strategy applies.....the trash tells me if I'm in the paystreak of that timeframe and in the proper area...per my tagline...Its a study, and a guy can get good at it with concentration and applying a bit of logic to up your odds...This is a Big World, these coils are so small, and Time afield is short...In that context, Its a wonder we find anything at all!:laughing: Stay in it buddy, let the dirt teach you...
 
Citik, it's all about finding the right the locations to better your chances.

Anything can be anywhere, but you really need to find the old un-touched ground to be consistent at what you're looking for.

Many public places have been slammed by detectorists for decades. You'd sometimes be lucky to pull a mercury dime or a wheat back.

Try to get some permissions on older properties. Many older homes were never detected. If they were hunted, it could have been decades ago by a real novice.

Then the research can be useful too. Find where people went 100 years ago (or more) to do recreation. Even old swimming holes are great spots.
 
Actually, My older coins are coming from places I'm not expecting to find old coins at. Public parks are where I've found them. The places I'm expecting them to be, I'm only finding old wheats as you are. I think they've already been hunted out prior to my finding the location to hunt ?Just keep hunting. The longer you go without finding an old silver,very possibly, the closer you are to finding several. Good luck and post them when you finally find them.

Funny this past weekend I've dug an 1879 IHP and a 1903 V nickle both in public parks. It was my first IHP and V nickle so it was pretty awesome. At this same location I've also found a bunch of old jewelry, 3 ring bullets and a couple odd pieces of silver.
 
Whoo hoo! Glad to hear the bad streak is a thing of the past.
 
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!
 
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