In a slump...

Does anyone get frustrated with this hobby sometimes? It has been a mild winter here in the finger lakes area of NY, so I have had a lot of chances to be out digging. The problem is, I am really not finding anything lately. I dig and dig and dig all the signals that are even remotely repeatable and you guessed it! Garbage! All winter I have only found 1 large cent, 1 2 cent piece, and 3 indians, a couple horseshoes, and 2 oxen shoes, and garbage by the bag full. I'm not giving up, just complaining about bit about my luck this year. In fact, I have only found 4 silver coins in the 5 years that I have been digging! WTF! Ok, rant over.

Seth

Wow, what machines are you using?

"Welcome to this fabulous hobby!

I have 'years' of what you describe!

BUT: what keeps me going is talk of NEW detection equipment.
I buy it and take my chances?

While I'm sure everyone would agree, despite going thru 'dry spells', occasionally there are the 'good spells' and they're what keep me going!

Hoping you get lucky very soon! Maybe buy the new Impact? It could 'impact' on your success rate?"

We all go through periods of time when finds are not abundant,its all part of metal detecting,for every decent target that is found 100s of junk items are found,but mainly on forums all you see are the decent/best finds that folks have found,they wont show you the 1000s of pieces of rubbish that we all find.

Sometimes it could be the state of mind that we are in that we are not focused on what the detector is telling us,a new machine but wrong settings,sometimes even the permissions just dont have any finds or you have just not walked over them.

You only have mentioned or given us a few pieces of information like that you have been detecting for 5 years and just a few finds that you have dug up,but you have left out some vital info like what detector and settings that you currently use !! what really would concern me is that in just 5 years you have only found 4 silver coins,we dont have any idea on what type of detecting you do like parks,farmland,beaches infact almost zero information,so the bottom line is that no one can really suggest what you are doing wrong,because basically something is fundamentally wrong as your find rate should be much higher than what it is.I would assume that you are detecting in the US ?? many folks can find more silver in a day than what you have found in 5 years,so this is why i am saying something is fundamentally wrong.

Could it be that you are possibly using the wrong settings on the detector,you may have way too much discrimination and missing all those decent targets,here in the UK i dont knock out foil and dig numbers even right down near to iron,the reason being is that if i knock out foil i will miss my main targets that i am after 'silver hammered coins' also gold can also come in near iron,so if i used alot of discrimination i could/would loose some of our best targets/finds.I am not saying this is the case with you but just suggesting a few possible causes of why your finds rate has either dropped of a cliff or why you have never found more than 4 silver coins in 5 years.

Of course i wish you luck and hope your finds drought ends quickly,but worth stepping back and taking a serious look at your current detecting methods and finding ways to improve your finds rate or the quality of the finds.

Seth, I imagine most all of us go through slumps at times. Doing some extra research for potential sites often helps.

It's natural to go after the "low hanging fruit" when you start detecting. Friends, family and sites close to home. The longer you detect, the higher you have to go for the fruit. That's why it's important to keep improving your detecting, research and permission skills.

You will find a lot of people in this hobby who are forever looking for a step up in equipment, but the most effective way to improve your finds is to improve your skills.

Four silver coins in five years, assuming you're searching sites old enough to potentially hold silver and doing more than once in a blue moon detecting, is enough reason to try some new strategies.

Then again, if you're detecting with a $39.95 Chinese detector from Harbor Freight, then it really could be that the detector is the biggest problem.

Welgund Wrote:
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> Wow, what machines are you using?

Well, for the first four years I had a Garrett Ace 350. I always ran it full bore, I didn't Discriminate anything out and ran the sensitivity usually at 2 bars below full. And then just after Christmas this year, I purchased a used Nokta fors relic and a couple of weeks ago I purchased a used Makro Racer 2. So now I'm playing with them. I run them both normally on 3 tone, sensitivity as high as I can run them (usually around 85-95, iron never above 5 or 6, iron audio around half. I use all the settings suggestions that I have read on this forum and other forums. The area that I live has never been very wealthy so I don't expect to find fists full of silver or anything even close. I am happy with what I have found so far but sometimes it would be nice to find something slightly more valuable than a new ox shoe! Lol! I am definitely in the beginning stages with both of the new machines so hopefully I will start to find a bit more good stuff soon.

Fingerlakes region, like near Corning, NY?

If so I've detected around that area before, got a nice seated dime right out of a town square lawn. It's there, time to do some research? Heck if I lived in that area, I might be probing down into PA?

That is why I don't hunt for six months to give my luck a chance to charge back up

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Cal_cobra Wrote:
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> Fingerlakes region, like near Corning, NY?
>
> If so I've detected around that area before, got a
> nice seated dime right out of a town square lawn.
> It's there, time to do some research? Heck if I l
> ived in that area, I might be probing down into PA
> ?

Yes Sir! 25 miles from Corning. I have only hunted around few parks because I know that everybody goes to the parks. I try for 1800's houses and clear holes for the relics and a few old coins. I do find coins but nothing old really. I seem to be the guy who goes to an 1800's property and finds only modern zinc coins and foil. I keep telling myself that I am cleaning up the first layer to get to the next good layer but the first layer never ends! Lol! For example, I have a property that dates back to the mid 1800's and I have been there close to 10 times now and have not even found a wheat cent! Only memorials and clad dimes for coins. I have found a few broken up relics but nothing to brag about. Thanks guys for letting me b!tc# a little. I know my luck will change at some point

If the parks aren't off limits I'd still hunt them with your new detectors as they may not have been hit with hotter units yet.
Besides there's still some good stuff left,hunt for the peeps.

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2017 02:15AM by supertraq.

I sure wish that I could empathize with you, but I can't. You sure are hardcore dedicated to detect that much without much reward. I wish you luck!

tabman

I wish my "slumps" were that good. I have yet to find a large cent or a 2 cent piece. But I know what you're saying. One ol site I hit, was out there 3 times and skunked every time. The 4th time I went....I snagged 2 Barber dimes, V nickel and 6 nice trade tokens......it's weird how it works out sometimes.

Don't be afraid to cherry pick new grounds. Put the disc up high and hunt silver first just to see what the site might offer at the old homesites.
Parks the opposite will be better as most trash has been removed and your after the peeps.

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.

Well come have some fun heading out Saturday for 8 Days of fun in the Sun. Spring break in Florida going to take my 2 Girls with The G2 and the T2, no wife or distractions for 8 days. My type of a vacation.

Yeah, Seth the hobby can be frustrating and put one off. Assuming all else is right with your setup and location, it could be, as it is the case with me, you just need to slow the search down .... waaay down.

When you're hitting the shallow stuff OK, but the deeper stuff appears to allude, it can be a symptom of trying to cover too much ground. The way to proceed is just the opposite of the instinctive thought process: go faster to get the coil over more stuff and you'll get more stuff. But that just causes more frustration. More shallow junk and clad. Assuming there is something in the ground to find, set the detector up properly, ground balance, use headphones (you are using headphones?), stay away from EMI, and angle the coil attack turning your torso a bit as you do to accentuate the sweep angles, always moving veeerry slowly and evenly. As you sweep listen intently and keep a positive mindset. Be the tortoise not the hare.

You should soon enough get your silver reward. Patience and persistence pay off.

-Johhnyanglo

You have some good detectors. You have made some good finds. You don't say how often you hunt or how many hours you hunt when you go. You're digging lots of garbage, you say; but are, you digging lots of iffy signals or all signals? Carry some good targets and some bad ones with you and place them on the ground at your sites and see how they sound and what numbers they produce. When you dig a hole and remove the good/bad target, place a known target in the hole and cover it and check its signal and number. Learn what numbers good targets produce and what numbers to ignore. Then look for targets that produce good numbers. Some will be iffy. Some will be good. Some will be bad. Don't dig the high probablility bad ones. That saves aggravation and time. Time to better spend on good and iffy targets.
Develop more private permissions and research for old school sites and home sites. Grid off small sections where you expect greater activity occurred and hunt them slowly and thoroughly. Look for youtube videos featuring your detectors and pay attention to the sounds and numbers and how the detectors are set up and used.
Nothing wrong with parks, but they may have lots of detecting pressure on them. So try to identify where someone may not have detected (as much) due to barriers and EMI and work those areas carefully and thoroughly.
Are you ground balancing your detector? Do you check it and rebalance as you move around?

Stay positive. Find some new permissions if that is what you need to have confidence. Relax and enjoy your detecting. It's fun. Be sure you make it fun.

Good luck!

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

Big Papa

I got more silver in my change last year than detecting and still had lots of fun. It can get discouraging at times but, there is always the NEXT hunt!

Tom

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a democracy, it is difficult to win fellow citizens over to your own side, or to build public support to remedy injustices that remain all too real when you fundamentally misunderstand how they see the world.

could be that your areas have already been hit hard by fellow MD'ers with FBS Minelab machines.....

that would take care of any silver, LC's etc....at any of the 'obvious' public locations for oldies....

If you really want to give it a go buy a CTX and hit every spot you've ever found anything old at previously....or simply known 'old' sites....

If nothing much of merit is found read the first sentence again.....

cheers...

You'll be in a slump, still out detecting, minding your own business on a beautiful day......out of the ground comes a play money coin.....wait, heavy for play money.... then

BAHM!!, son of a gun, it's a gold coin from the 1800's.

That find will make up for all the slumps in the past and future ones too................Hang in there Seth, New York is an old state with old coins in the ground....keep putting in the time and your silver count will go up.

Your quest (and answer) is DEEEP.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
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> Your quest (and answer) is DEEEP.

I'm sure that you are right about that one! I am sure that both of these machines are capable getting there, but I need to learn what those deep sounds sound like first. I watch videos all the time and read everything that I can about both the Makro and the Nokta. I think I need to play with the settings a bit so I can try to eliminate some of the "ghost" signals first and then maybe I can start hearing the deep stuff.

Can someone please explain the sound difference between a good signal at say 3 inches compared to a good signal at 8-9 inches? I ground balance at between 60-85 and 1-2 bars on the mineral bars and hunt in 3 tone. I know that there is no perfect answer for this but maybe I am listening for the wrong things.

marcomo Wrote:
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> It's natural to go after the "low hanging fruit" when you start detecting. Friends, family and sites close to home. The longer you detect, the higher you have to go for the fruit. That's why it's important to keep improving your detecting, research and permission skills.

You will find a lot of people in this hobby who are forever looking for a step up in equipment, but the most effective way to improve your finds is to improve your skills.<

BIGPAPA,

I think Marcomo is spot on here.

I will add if you're primarily going after the houses (permissions) that are the best of the best 1800's era homes, you may be hunting behind a lot of other detectorists that have already been there. Nothing wrong with that, if you have the SKILLS and good equipment to find what others have missed on previous visits OR you are looking for a challenge to see if you can find a few good targets left behind. But remember, you are gleaning a field that has already been harvested. I wouldn't quit hunting places like this, but I would add some places to boost your success, quality of finds and your confidence.

I have a handful of locations that I go to if I am looking for a challenge. However, if I go to these places all the time, I'm likely have very few finds to show for my time. I would suggest you mix your hunt sites a bit.

There are LOTS of silver coins, tokens and jewelry waiting to be found in the yards of 'silver era' homes (20's, 30's, 40's. 50's). Hunting the yards of these homes may not seem as COOL as hunting a place from the 1700-1800's, but your good finds volume will go way up and you'll get QUALITY PRACTICE with your equipment and a boost in your confidence.

For me, it comes back to my hunting philosophy and goals. If I want to find stuff from the 1800's, I have to go places where I can expect to find those. Gold rings and such, the same. I enjoy going out to old ghost towns, but when doing so, I KNOW that they've been hunted for decades and I am going to find a very limited number of keepers. I am ok with that, but not a steady diet of it. So I mix it up with old home permissions, public parks and schools, ski slopes, fresh water beaches and so forth. Keeps things fresh, keeps me interested and sharp.

Best of luck out there.

Rich (Utah)

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Just one more good target before I go.

I can give you a sure fire way to make sites productive again. But you wouldn't do it anyway.

I've got so many jewelry spots to hunt that I tend to be single minded about it. But I get into jewelry slumps where all the jewelry finds are not the gold and silver I'm after and that sometimes gets me down. If I get too down about it, I pull out my detecting library and read my favorites again. Suprising how much new information can be gleaned or alluded to in a book you have already read 10 times.

For Coin Hunters I can't think of anything better than popping Tom's DVD in the player and watching him hunt that CZ for recharging the mind and motivation to go do it again better.

Good luck!

HH
Mike

I dig hundreds of old coins every year. It had been my experience that the machine you are using had as much to do with what you find as the location. Accurate depth readings and ID at depth being the most important. A lot of machines even some of the high end ones will read a deep beaver tail or ring pull in the high coin area. Then a lot of machines when you go to pinpoint and get a depth the reading will be way off. 98% of all the old coins I dug last year were 7 or more inches deep. Now when I go old coin hunting I usually only use two different machines, my CTX 3030 and my Tom tuned CZ6a. Some of my other machines like my F75 and Deus are deep enough to see them old coins but chase a lot of deep ring pulls or beaver tails in the process. I have noticed though that if you chase the pinpoint depth of at least 12" on the F75 and just a tip of black on the right side of the horseshoe on the Deus the target is at east deep enough to be in the year range of what your looking for. Moral of the story is if you want to get older coi s you need to forget about all the shallow stuff and concentrate on the deeper ones.

Don't forget good headphones. A good pair of headphones matched to the detector counts for a lot.

HH
Mike

Beyonder-Pa Wrote:
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> I can give you a sure fire way to make sites produ
> ctive again. But you wouldn't do it anyway.

Heck you've got my curiosity up spill the beans!! PLEASE!! LOL

This is no secret. If a site stops producing, then what is left is masked. You have to spend time removing masking items. That means digging a lot of iron junk.

I was at a local park with my 3030 and they removed 11 inches of dirt. I went over that patch for hours 3 days in a row finding only a few coins. The forman said to me, "we are removing two more inches tomorrow". So I came back the next day. I found 7 indians, 6 early wheats, my first large cent, 3 buffalo nickels and 3 v nickels an my first intact crotal bell all less than an inch AFTER they removed just two inches of dirt. My ctx should of saw those, but there was such a carpet of iron nails in that two inches, it couldn't. I thought masking was a joke until that day.

Beyonder,

Don't take this the wrong way, but I just read a thread by 88junior.

- Is it just me or does anyone else like a simple machine? -
http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,123197

To be honest any one of my simple machines would have very likely have seen every one of those targets and more.

And here we have an expensive modern machine didn't perform well.

Not to spike the ball.......
But I would think under those same conditions a Compadre, a single knob machine, would have performed better.
What's more, I'll bet there are a lot of people that agree with me.