Two Week Report Card

[z118]

I've had the Bounty Hunter Tracker IV for 12 days now... I have hit my own yard, 5 different parks (most with tot lots), and one beach. So far I have found:

85 clad pennies
11 nickles
37 dimes
17 quarters
3 wheat pennies
1 Sacajawea dollar

a bunch rifle shells
some fishing weights
some odd metal trinkets (toy gun, souvenir arrowhead)
a slot machine token

1,743,201 bottle caps

In 12 days I have gained remarkable hole digging skills. I have mostly abandoned the trowel I started out with and I now use a pocket knife. I am usually able to find what I am looking for without leaving much of a mark in the ground, except for those annoying instances when the Tracker has decided to detect some huge metal object 12 feet underground. That's my biggest irk so far. Sometimes there is just no way to distinguish between a coin 2 inches down and a crushed beer can 8 inches down. Otherwise, the BH Tracker IV is great. I found a quarter yesterday at about 7 inches, and I feel like that's not too bad.

I usually only get an hour or so at a time to detect, and I have thus far been very much less than thorough when I go out - I'm pretty impatient, so I wind up skipping around quite a bit in whatever park I'm at. I'm getting better though. I'm confident that I can return to any of the parks I have hit so far and find the same amount if not more stuff the second time.

I'm still waiting to find any kind of jewelry, but I feel like its inevitable that I do. Digging up clad is fine with me, because I feel like it's just frosting while I'm paying my dues in order to find something great.

I have a few sites in mind that date back to the late 1800's, but I guess I'm waiting for my skills to improve and for a longer block of time to work them before I give them a shot.

I have seen only questionable signs of other detectorists in my area. Some tot lots I have hit I am sure have not been done any time in the recent past. Others yielded very little, so I guess someone must be checking them. In the park I hit yesterday I found an area about 12'x12' in a grassy field that yielded almost 50 coins. There were chunks of turf that had been ripped up and replaced in this area. I'm not sure if they were from another detectorist, but if so, (s)he missed a bunch of stuff!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

[Detector]

Great report z118. Now that you've honed your digging skills you should hit some private property for the old & gold.

[FelixtheCat]

Not a bad progress report!

[trobaughokc]

Great first couple of weeks. My first month I got 217 coins. The second month I doubled and the third month I doubled that. Have been consistant ever since. No reason you can't do the same. The secret is keeping that coil moving. Not everyone can put in as much time as I do, but seek and you will find.

[roadrunner_426]

Sounds like you're off to a good start...with practice, you'll probably learn to tell by sound whether you've got a coin or a beer can..it can be a subtle difference sometimes...also, if you raise your coil a little, the signal from a coin will usually get weaker..on a smashed can it'll usually be just as strong..be patient on the jewelry..sometimes it just takes a while ; I had almost 800 coins this season before I hit my first piece and another 1200 until I hit a second...then last week, I found 5 pieces in 7 days..that's the way it goes sometimes...good luck.. Roadrunner_426