Old park , bad hunt ?

KOB · Sep 25, 2020

Maybe I don't give myself enough credit , but I have a much greater appreciation of those who put the time , effort and research into hunting dirt. My research discovered a local park going back to the 1890s or so. Many homes close by are real old. Maybe the curb strips ? Aerial pictures go back to 1946 where even then it shows a baseball field that appears to be at least 20 years old. This park is currently under a major renovation. Crews working the day. Real Rat Fink and THE KOB hunted at night. Some areas have just a few inches of dirt removed and others a good 8-10". Trenches are about 2' deep for irrigation , etc. This park had minor work done in 2005 and a bigger overhaul 2000. When we got there , I used a D - handle shovel and a Nox. The ground was like concrete ! Extremely hard to dig. I dug some of that but more of the softer trench piles and some of the out lying slopes. Sidewalks are torn out and reformed for new concrete. Lots of targets and I got some clad , and aluminum trash. The Finkster got a old tootsie toy. But we never got silver , old coins , etc. I know this park has been hunted before many times. But I just gotta think that there is older stuff somewhere. But this ground is really too hard to dig. What do you guys do ? Give up like me ? Again , I just don't have the experience like some of you pro's out there. And my buddy , who is better , didn't find much more either. I've tried to give this place to other hunters with no response. Here are a few pics of what we dealt with. Thanks all...

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk

coin whisperer · Sep 25, 2020

I would think there would be old coins everywhere! Unless a lot of fill dirt has been moved in over the years.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IDXMonster · Sep 25, 2020

Depends on how many times it’s been renovated in the past. Lots of “reasons” why you might get the results that you do but...that’s what I always look at....results. If I’m there for 3-4 hours and not a single old coin where they should be...goodbye.

LovestheShiny! · Sep 25, 2020

It does look juicy, but with your skill and hours you put in searching, it is probable that the soil has been messed with or some of the scraped dirt held old coins. Good luck if you do go back to give it another try!

Jamflicker · Sep 25, 2020

coin whisperer said:
I would think there would be old coins everywhere! Unless a lot of fill dirt has been moved in over the years.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was thinking the same thing. Looks like a great opportunity but if there is a lack of old coins, maybe fill dirt was brought in.

Rock Jock · Sep 25, 2020

Were you able to get your coils inside the trenches to see if there were hits at 2'? Did the soil soften with depth? You said you got clad. How deep was the clad? Was it from the trench fill or elsewhere or all of the above? Is there mostly clay and silt in the soil or is there a fairly good sand cut? Does the old photography show where the stands were positioned?
You could try the perc test trick by digging a shallow pit and pouring water into it over a target. It will soften the soil below the pit to facilitate digging also and give you an idea how much sand is present. If the soil is softer (more soil moisture) at depth, then you might make it past the sun baked hardpan at the surface. If the soil contains crushed brick then it might make for tough going on the infield area. I'd look for the position of the old stands in the photography and hope that they were old timey open stands. Beer here! Good luck!

KOB · Sep 25, 2020

Rock Jock said:
Were you able to get your coils inside the trenches to see if there were hits at 2'? Did the soil soften with depth? You said you got clad. How deep was the clad? Was it from the trench fill or elsewhere or all of the above? Is there mostly clay and silt in the soil or is there a fairly good sand cut? Does the old photography show where the stands were positioned?
You could try the perc test trick by digging a shallow pit and pouring water into it over a target. It will soften the soil below the pit to facilitate digging also and give you an idea how much sand is present. If the soil is softer (more soil moisture) at depth, then you might make it past the sun baked hardpan at the surface. If the soil contains crushed brick then it might make for tough going on the infield area. I'd look for the position of the old stands in the photography and hope that they were old timey open stands. Beer here! Good luck!

The trenches were dug by a machine. About 6-8"wide. Stock 11" Nox coils were used. Hard to tell if it was damp in those as we did not get our coils in there. Didn't or couldn't want to mess up any work the crews have done in case we wanted to go back. Just about all clay , hard dirt , some rocks. I didn't notice broken brick. No sand. It was at night , but lit , casting shadows. Park is about 3 blocks from the police station. Cops everywhere , so we tried to be as stealth as we could. The tarped fence all around sure helped. Coins were maybe 1-6" deep. I gave up on deeper targets and stuck to the soft trenches piles. But targets could be found everywhere. If you look at the pic of the fence corner , on the left next to the tree , you can see a quarter dome shaped backstop. There are 2 benches maybe 16' long with a chain link backstop in front of those (for the players). I don't think , even from old pics , there were "stands" per say. We only hunted about 2 hours. No real game plan. Just went where we thought we might do good , trying all over. This park is about 1 large city block in size.

REAL_RAT_FINK · Sep 25, 2020

Tootsie car for reference, was found in one of the trenching piles. Guessing the goods were a foot or more down....

Definitely fun hunting with the KOB in stealth mode.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

KOB · Sep 25, 2020

REAL_RAT_FINK said:
Tootsie car for reference, was found in one of the trenching piles. Guessing the goods were a foot or more down....

Definitely fun hunting with the KOB in stealth mode.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

That came out pretty good compared to the metal dirt clod when I saw it...

Wom 27 · Sep 26, 2020

My best silver site was a park excavated area for wood chips. If you get a good enough signal, and not too deep, try a quart or so of water to loosen the soil. Never tried it so let us know if it works :laughing:

Silversmith45 · Sep 26, 2020

You say Cops were everywhere. Was the park closed to metal detecting? If so you are not doing the hobby any good by going there. As for hard ground, wait and go soon after a rain. If you wait very long it may bake like concrete.

KOB · Sep 27, 2020

Silversmith45 said:
You say Cops were everywhere. Was the park closed to metal detecting? If so you are not doing the hobby any good by going there. As for hard ground, wait and go soon after a rain. If you wait very long it may bake like concrete.

Well....they weren't crawling like ants ! City hall and the police station are only 3 or 4 blocks away , so yes ...they are driving by quite often. This city hall / department is one that I actually went into over a year ago and asked if it was legal to MD in any of the city parks. They told me it is legal , just don't trash the place. What is odd though , the chain link fence and all around this construction zone , there aren't even any "no tresspassing" signs. Nothing posted whatsoever.

Old park , bad hunt ?

KOB

coin whisperer

Elite Member

IDXMonster

Elite Member

LovestheShiny!

Jamflicker

Elite Member

Rock Jock

Elite Member

KOB

REAL_RAT_FINK

KOB

Wom 27

Elite Member

Silversmith45

Elite Member

KOB

Similar threads