Disappointing Hunt/First "Spill"

AirmetTango · May 18, 2017

I've been spending the last few weeks slowly getting aquainted with my new detector and relentlessly researching potential detecting sites in my local area while patiently waiting for the precious little time to become available to actually go out and hunt. I even got a chance to knock on a couple doors, and was pleasantly surprised to go 100% on permission requests so far! Easy to bat 1000 when you only have 2 at-bats :grin:

Anyways, one of those permissions I was pretty jazzed up about - a former 1890s homesite where nothing remains of the house/barn/etc other than the foundations. The current landowners have the same last name as the original homeowner (found on a 1901 county map) and they provided a lot of history about the site. To their knowledge at least, it was never detected before. Excitement slowly morphed into disappointment once I had a chance to get to the site though - after almost 3 hours on the site, all I had in my bag was a zillion old pull tabs, a couple crushed cans, nails, miscellaneous pieces of scrap/foil, a length of copper wire, and a .22 casing (I dug almost everything - the exceptions being in a couple areas where it was ridiculously trashy).

Don't get me wrong, I had fun - especially when I hit my first "spill". I dug 4" down to find no less than 6 pull tabs in the same small plug near a shady tree! I had to chuckle while envisioning someone sitting in that spot and hammering down a full six pack sometime in the past - he apparently was still able to carry the cans when he staggered away :grin:

Anyway, I was genuinely surprised not to find anything at all interesting - although I suppose I could argue that the 22 casing is interesting. The amount of trash I found implies that the site really hadn't been searched before - but maybe as a noob, I'm way off base on that assumption?

So I'm curious: how often does a veteran detectorist come away from a high-expectation site empty-handed?

Pastor · May 18, 2017

Doesn't sound like old home place , with all the junk and no coins. sound like the city park I hunt in . Try a different area of property . It happens to all of us.Good luck

cruiserkev · May 18, 2017

AirmetTango said:
I'm curious: how often does a veteran detectorist come away from a high-expectation site empty-handed?

The answer is painfully simple, don't let yourself have high expectations.
Unfortunately it took me a couple years of frustrating hunts to figure this out.

I've been skunked at what seemed like promising old sites before and on the other hand I've found gold in some very trashy areas almost not worth detecting.

Luck, skill, timing, experience, research, equipment all have parts to play in a successful hunt. Not to mention, patience and perseverance. If this hobby was an easy, sure thing everybody would be out detecting.

I try to have low expectations, that way when all I come home with is a fistful of crusty zincolns, it's still ok, there's always the next hunt.

I bet if you go out to that same permission after a good rain it will produce better results, especially if you have removed trash already. Sometimes it takes several tries at a site to get the good finds. Keep at it and good luck! :thumbsup:

JaMoSo82 · May 18, 2017

Or a different detector, as we have seen from some other posts. Best of luck!

Oldest find- 1958 wheat penny.

TK-421 · May 19, 2017

I'm not a veteran by any means, but it's safe to say I know what I'm doing.

I hunted the swim area of a massive resort beach for 3 hours, middle of the night, super low tide, good sea conditions-- all around optimal, I had high hopes. I came away with 10yen (=10 cents) and a pouch full of deep disappointment.

It was badly sanded in and just happens to be the catchment area for a huge section of public beach slightly to the north so the top layer was just littered with pulltabs-- we're talking 4 or 5 pulltabs every single swing (and no- it wasn't just falsing, I dug 'em-- they were all individual pulltabs). I have never before or since had my expectations so thoroughly reversed and defeated.

Of course the next night I headed just a few hundred meters south to it's neighboring resort beach and scored 2 silver, and one enormous gold/plat ring (posted about it last month) along with lots of clad.

So yeah-- everybody gets skunked. Everybody gets skunked hard. But stick with it: you never know what the next hunt will bring.

AirmetTango · May 19, 2017

cruiserkev said:
The answer is painfully simple, don't let yourself have high expectations....

.....I bet if you go out to that same permission after a good rain it will produce better results, especially if you have removed trash already. Sometimes it takes several tries at a site to get the good finds. Keep at it and good luck!

Thanks, cruiserkev...very sound advice! I was definitely guilty of letting my expectations get too high and setting myself up for disappointment. I can definitely see the wisdom of tempering those expectations, enjoying the sheer fun of the hunt, and appreciating even the small finds and the snippets of history they represent.

Along that vein, I decided to look a little more closely at the .22 casing I found on the site - after cleaning it up a bit, the stylized letters "EP" became quite prominent on the headstamp, and that was enough of a clue to find out quite a bit about it online. Apparently this is an example of a .22 bullet casing manufactured by the Federal Cartridge Corp exclusively for sale by Montgomery Ward & Co between the early 1930s and mid-1950s. The "EP" stands for "extra power", or a high velocity round. Pretty cool - looks like I didn't go completely empty handed after all!

Anyways, I'll definitely take your advice and hit the site again at some point - I've already gotten the ok from the owners to keep trying :grin:

AirmetTango · May 19, 2017

TK-421 said:
....So yeah-- everybody gets skunked. Everybody gets skunked hard. But stick with it: you never know what the next hunt will bring.

Thanks for the story and the reassurances, TK! Glad to know it isn't just me :grin:

Pastor · May 19, 2017

TK-421 said:
I'm not a veteran by any means, but it's safe to say I know what I'm doing.

I hunted the swim area of a massive resort beach for 3 hours, middle of the night, super low tide, good sea conditions-- all around optimal, I had high hopes. I came away with 10yen (=10 cents) and a pouch full of deep disappointment.

It was badly sanded in and just happens to be the catchment area for a huge section of public beach slightly to the north so the top layer was just littered with pulltabs-- we're talking 4 or 5 pulltabs every single swing (and no- it wasn't just falsing, I dug 'em-- they were all individual pulltabs). I have never before or since had my expectations so thoroughly reversed and defeated.

Of course the next night I headed just a few hundred meters south to it's neighboring resort beach and scored 2 silver, and one enormous gold/plat ring (posted about it last month) along with lots of clad.

So yeah-- everybody gets skunked. Everybody gets skunked hard. But stick with it: you never know what the next hunt will bring.

Is Camp Hanson still there?

TK-421 · May 19, 2017

Pastor said:
Is Camp Hanson still there?

Yep, up north by Kin village. I'm not military, so in 11 years I think I've been on that base just once. But yeah-- it's still there. :yes:

TreasureHawk · May 20, 2017

Its Only a Hobby.

We have all felt your disappointment and frustration. Its a hobby......no guarantees of striking it rich. Enjoy it for what is, a hobby and a time to let go of the stresses of daily life.
May the metal detecting gods shine upon you in your next hunt.

May the gods shine upon me too at my next hunt as well......

groundhog53946 · May 20, 2017

Keep at as because you'll dig something awesome some day and it will make it all worth while and that's when you get hooked and can't stop looking for the next good find[emoji4]

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Disappointing Hunt/First "Spill"

AirmetTango

Pastor

Senior Member

cruiserkev

Elite Member

JaMoSo82

Elite Member

TK-421

Senior Member

AirmetTango

AirmetTango

Pastor

Senior Member

TK-421

Senior Member

TreasureHawk

Junior Member

groundhog53946

Elite Member

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