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More lessons learned hunting in my crazy southern soil...this time with silver!
Posted by diggwr27
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More lessons learned hunting in my crazy southern soil...this time with silver! September 09, 2015 08:22PM |
My dirt here in Birmingham is pretty bad with that red dirt severe mineralization problem the south has plus we have some tiny naturally occurring iron nodules infused into a lot of the dirt around here.
My F70 which could pick up and ID targets easily on standard factory settings up to 10" and beyond in the much better Kansas soil never shows any screen info much past 3-4" on those same settings so I am experimenting with more power to see if I can get deeper with some decent screen info.
I found that my blast through settings...AT, sense and thresh at max and both DE and SL can get a little deeper to maybe the 5-6" area with screen info and audio seems to get way deeper than that.
Most of the really deep stuff I have come across past 6" so far has been iron but I have found a couple of older wheaties in the 5-6" area also.
I suspect there still might be a lot of great coins or jewelry at that 6" area and beyond if I can just somehow get by that curtain that seems to hover about 5" deep around here that shuts down my screen.
There are a lot of deeper signals here even up to the 10-12" level that I can pick up in audio and pinpoint so I can see the depth but I can't see myself spending time digging every blasted deeper signal in this crazy hard to dig dirt and especially if most of them turn out to be little bits or larger pieces of iron which seems to be everywhere I go around here..
I need more info to make logical digging decisions.
Yesterday I went to a tiny park that has history going back to the 1900's and probably hunted to death like most public areas around here.
I switched back to the DD sniper coil because as much as I like using the large DD, which does give me a bit more screen info on the little deeper targets, the ID's all seem to be a bit more bouncy with a larger number range than I like to see.
I rarely get even shallow coins stabilize to a 1-2 number range like I could easily back in Kansas soil down to and even past the 6" area.
It is like something in the soil here reflects back into the coil and the larger the coil the worse the problem.
Also all public parks around here are loaded with trash so add 100+ years of garbage like this park has and the sniper was the logical choice.
Experimenting I found a bit more stability with that small coil, a tighter range of numbers on those good targets that did show up on the screen and that coil still gets me surprisingly deep on higher power settings.
I have recognized and dug a few older wheats at around the 6" area and as I mentioned saw pinpoint numbers up to 10-12" on clear audio hits from time to time so I think I will just keep this coil mounted for the foreseeable future as it seems to work better and can still get me to where I think I need to be.
I have probably spent more time hunting with small coils in my career overall than large ones and even when wandering into larger wide open less trashy areas using the small coil doesn't frustrate me as much as it seems to others because I have been lucky enough to find some great targets like gold rings under those circumstances when the numbers and percentages say I shouldn't.
I never discount luck in this hobby and just embrace it when it seems to come my way.
This park GB'd in some areas in the mid 60's but in others I got up to the mid 70's with 3 bars on the dirt meter.
Can't wait to hit sites that get into the 80's one day because I assume there is some of that around here too...lucky me.
I got in the habit of GBing from time to time when I could find a clear area because the soil can and does change every few feet most everywhere I go and I like to stay at optimum levels when I can.
On this hunt I came across a solid shallow sta tab signal at 35, ( hoping it was gold instead), and when I made a few more swings over it to make sure I then also found a pretty stable can slaw or beaver tail signal about 2" away at 41.
I dug the tab first which was a tab and went after the beaver tail which was not...it was a 1943p war nickel instead.
Thank you sniper coil.
I might have been able to find this thing with the larger DD but who really knows with all the trash in this area which was under a shade tree so the sniper just made it easier and another reason why I believe in them.
I don't believe this was sitting there for long but more of a modern drop because it was only a couple inches deep like all the other modern coins I came across on this hunt.
Most muggles don't know these are silver so I believe they are still pretty common plus still falling out of people's pockets and circulated even today.
I must interject here that another effect this soil seems to have on coins is the deeper they are the higher the numbers get for some reason.
Zinc cents rise a few points from my normal 61 as they go deeper which is a drag because a million screw on tops still seem to come in exactly the same at most depths.
Really shallow copper cents and dimes are still in the low to mid 70's but a couple inches down those numbers rise into the high 70's to low 80's.
Quarters will still be my normal 85 or so very shallow but more like low 90's even 3-4" deep here.
I dug another 43p silver nickel at about 6" recently from my front lawn and that thing hovered at around 80 but silver nickels sometimes seem to be strange no matter what soil they live in.
I have not come across a gold or silver ring yet since I returned but I wonder if the same thing will happen if I come across one at 5" or more.
Not worried about it, just wondering.
I found plenty of those here in the past but they were all pretty shallow so since I am hunting at a slightly deeper level now, or trying to, I am curious.
So anywhoo I spent all morning here looking for deeper older coins but came across no signals l like that in any way shape or form till I got tired and started to head back to the truck to go home.
Then it happened...
I was watching the screen and I saw some quick low 90's numbers flash by as I was moving the coil faster than I usually do because I was tired and heading home.
The iron in the soil around here, plus the older smashed flat really rusty pop tops do that all the time and I constantly see low 90's numbers on the screen all the time so I got used to that but on this one I didn't see the usual drop to lower numbers or iron that usually happens on junk targets that signal like this.
I stopped and went back and hit it again with a few quick side to side swipes and I was surprised when the numbers stayed between 90 and 93 just about every time from 2 directions.
I also switched to disc and I was using 1 tone, sense on 80, thresh at -2 and my disc was at 14 to knock out most iron and tried it again.
Same results...a pretty solid 90-93 every time on repeated scans.
Pinpoint said 6" so I thought could this possibly be a quarter or half that deep and if it was might it be silver?
I could only hope.
I opened a hole and when I got down to that 6" level...might have been more like 7" but I was excited so I forgot to measure, I did find a coin and indeed it was silver but not a quarter but a 1920 merc instead.
I was thrilled to say the least.
Nothing else in or around the hole to give that high number signal, I checked.
I learned a few things on that one.
Deep coins can go into high numbers but silver coins can go even higher if deeper.
Clad dimes might act the same but I haven't found one that deep around here yet so who knows.
I can use some disc and not blow out the settings all the way and still hit a depth level that could be a nice place to hang out which surprised me.
I am not sure if my favorite and normal 4H park hunting tone setting would have worked because I seem to get the least EMI problems in the lowest tones 1, 1F and 2F, but maybe.
It just might be possible to hit sites like this and if I have a mind to just cherry pick for older coins like some of the older guys do.
Hunting is all about confidence for me and if this signal or dirt it was in was not a fluke I will gain confidence I can hunt with disc in a much quieter and relaxing environment that I have gotten used to and not worry about wasting my time or missing a ton of good targets if I roll over them.
This stuff is huge for me and with every lesson learned I keep inching my way to understanding this challenging soil and the best and easiest way to hunt in it.
Of course I must thank the F70 and all its possible settings and abilities because as much as I loved my F2 I don't know if it would be possible to accomplish the same things and I suspect the experience would be totallly different and not as easy if I could.
My Vaq could probably get as deep here especially with a DD coil but again as much as I love using it the extra info I can glean from my screen in this rough dirt makes things easier on this old worn out soul with hopefully more great deeper targets and a little less digging in my future.
As always in this hobby...Life is good!
My F70 which could pick up and ID targets easily on standard factory settings up to 10" and beyond in the much better Kansas soil never shows any screen info much past 3-4" on those same settings so I am experimenting with more power to see if I can get deeper with some decent screen info.
I found that my blast through settings...AT, sense and thresh at max and both DE and SL can get a little deeper to maybe the 5-6" area with screen info and audio seems to get way deeper than that.
Most of the really deep stuff I have come across past 6" so far has been iron but I have found a couple of older wheaties in the 5-6" area also.
I suspect there still might be a lot of great coins or jewelry at that 6" area and beyond if I can just somehow get by that curtain that seems to hover about 5" deep around here that shuts down my screen.
There are a lot of deeper signals here even up to the 10-12" level that I can pick up in audio and pinpoint so I can see the depth but I can't see myself spending time digging every blasted deeper signal in this crazy hard to dig dirt and especially if most of them turn out to be little bits or larger pieces of iron which seems to be everywhere I go around here..
I need more info to make logical digging decisions.
Yesterday I went to a tiny park that has history going back to the 1900's and probably hunted to death like most public areas around here.
I switched back to the DD sniper coil because as much as I like using the large DD, which does give me a bit more screen info on the little deeper targets, the ID's all seem to be a bit more bouncy with a larger number range than I like to see.
I rarely get even shallow coins stabilize to a 1-2 number range like I could easily back in Kansas soil down to and even past the 6" area.
It is like something in the soil here reflects back into the coil and the larger the coil the worse the problem.
Also all public parks around here are loaded with trash so add 100+ years of garbage like this park has and the sniper was the logical choice.
Experimenting I found a bit more stability with that small coil, a tighter range of numbers on those good targets that did show up on the screen and that coil still gets me surprisingly deep on higher power settings.
I have recognized and dug a few older wheats at around the 6" area and as I mentioned saw pinpoint numbers up to 10-12" on clear audio hits from time to time so I think I will just keep this coil mounted for the foreseeable future as it seems to work better and can still get me to where I think I need to be.
I have probably spent more time hunting with small coils in my career overall than large ones and even when wandering into larger wide open less trashy areas using the small coil doesn't frustrate me as much as it seems to others because I have been lucky enough to find some great targets like gold rings under those circumstances when the numbers and percentages say I shouldn't.
I never discount luck in this hobby and just embrace it when it seems to come my way.
This park GB'd in some areas in the mid 60's but in others I got up to the mid 70's with 3 bars on the dirt meter.
Can't wait to hit sites that get into the 80's one day because I assume there is some of that around here too...lucky me.
I got in the habit of GBing from time to time when I could find a clear area because the soil can and does change every few feet most everywhere I go and I like to stay at optimum levels when I can.
On this hunt I came across a solid shallow sta tab signal at 35, ( hoping it was gold instead), and when I made a few more swings over it to make sure I then also found a pretty stable can slaw or beaver tail signal about 2" away at 41.
I dug the tab first which was a tab and went after the beaver tail which was not...it was a 1943p war nickel instead.
Thank you sniper coil.
I might have been able to find this thing with the larger DD but who really knows with all the trash in this area which was under a shade tree so the sniper just made it easier and another reason why I believe in them.
I don't believe this was sitting there for long but more of a modern drop because it was only a couple inches deep like all the other modern coins I came across on this hunt.
Most muggles don't know these are silver so I believe they are still pretty common plus still falling out of people's pockets and circulated even today.
I must interject here that another effect this soil seems to have on coins is the deeper they are the higher the numbers get for some reason.
Zinc cents rise a few points from my normal 61 as they go deeper which is a drag because a million screw on tops still seem to come in exactly the same at most depths.
Really shallow copper cents and dimes are still in the low to mid 70's but a couple inches down those numbers rise into the high 70's to low 80's.
Quarters will still be my normal 85 or so very shallow but more like low 90's even 3-4" deep here.
I dug another 43p silver nickel at about 6" recently from my front lawn and that thing hovered at around 80 but silver nickels sometimes seem to be strange no matter what soil they live in.
I have not come across a gold or silver ring yet since I returned but I wonder if the same thing will happen if I come across one at 5" or more.
Not worried about it, just wondering.
I found plenty of those here in the past but they were all pretty shallow so since I am hunting at a slightly deeper level now, or trying to, I am curious.
So anywhoo I spent all morning here looking for deeper older coins but came across no signals l like that in any way shape or form till I got tired and started to head back to the truck to go home.
Then it happened...
I was watching the screen and I saw some quick low 90's numbers flash by as I was moving the coil faster than I usually do because I was tired and heading home.
The iron in the soil around here, plus the older smashed flat really rusty pop tops do that all the time and I constantly see low 90's numbers on the screen all the time so I got used to that but on this one I didn't see the usual drop to lower numbers or iron that usually happens on junk targets that signal like this.
I stopped and went back and hit it again with a few quick side to side swipes and I was surprised when the numbers stayed between 90 and 93 just about every time from 2 directions.
I also switched to disc and I was using 1 tone, sense on 80, thresh at -2 and my disc was at 14 to knock out most iron and tried it again.
Same results...a pretty solid 90-93 every time on repeated scans.
Pinpoint said 6" so I thought could this possibly be a quarter or half that deep and if it was might it be silver?
I could only hope.
I opened a hole and when I got down to that 6" level...might have been more like 7" but I was excited so I forgot to measure, I did find a coin and indeed it was silver but not a quarter but a 1920 merc instead.
I was thrilled to say the least.
Nothing else in or around the hole to give that high number signal, I checked.
I learned a few things on that one.
Deep coins can go into high numbers but silver coins can go even higher if deeper.
Clad dimes might act the same but I haven't found one that deep around here yet so who knows.
I can use some disc and not blow out the settings all the way and still hit a depth level that could be a nice place to hang out which surprised me.
I am not sure if my favorite and normal 4H park hunting tone setting would have worked because I seem to get the least EMI problems in the lowest tones 1, 1F and 2F, but maybe.
It just might be possible to hit sites like this and if I have a mind to just cherry pick for older coins like some of the older guys do.
Hunting is all about confidence for me and if this signal or dirt it was in was not a fluke I will gain confidence I can hunt with disc in a much quieter and relaxing environment that I have gotten used to and not worry about wasting my time or missing a ton of good targets if I roll over them.
This stuff is huge for me and with every lesson learned I keep inching my way to understanding this challenging soil and the best and easiest way to hunt in it.
Of course I must thank the F70 and all its possible settings and abilities because as much as I loved my F2 I don't know if it would be possible to accomplish the same things and I suspect the experience would be totallly different and not as easy if I could.
My Vaq could probably get as deep here especially with a DD coil but again as much as I love using it the extra info I can glean from my screen in this rough dirt makes things easier on this old worn out soul with hopefully more great deeper targets and a little less digging in my future.
As always in this hobby...Life is good!
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Re: More lessons learned hunting in my crazy southern soil...this time with silver! September 09, 2015 09:36PM |
Very nicely done, sir!
Yet another example of the best find being the one on the way back to the truck.
Looks like you're doing great,
HH
mike
Yet another example of the best find being the one on the way back to the truck.
Looks like you're doing great,
HH
mike
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Re: More lessons learned hunting in my crazy southern soil...this time with silver! September 10, 2015 08:18PM |
Went back to the same area and looked for targets that came in high and didn't bounce a lot.
The deepest target was a wheat that was about 6-7" and it came in at the low 80's.
I did well so I am slowly figuring out this soil.
5 wheaties...3 from the mid 40's, a 1929 and a 1918.
2 tokens and although dirty both in perfect shape.
My first Mississippi tax token, 5 mill.
Love that they are brass and not aluminum.
The real prize of the day is a token that I can't find a spec of info on.
No token sites mention it, nobody on EBay is selling one, no searches come up with any pic or post about anyone else ever finding one.
No local historical sites mention this business.
Kinda unique because it has an address.
FUQUA BROS
6TH ST & AVE F
GOOD FOR 5¢ IN TRADE
When I dug it I thought it was just a junk piece of metal but I rubbed it and saw that big 5¢ in the middle so I knew it was special.
Evidently there are a lot of good targets around here at the 5-7" area and I seem to be getting to that level and getting better at recognizing good targets down there.
Little by little I am getting there.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2015 10:51AM by diggwr27.
The deepest target was a wheat that was about 6-7" and it came in at the low 80's.
I did well so I am slowly figuring out this soil.
5 wheaties...3 from the mid 40's, a 1929 and a 1918.
2 tokens and although dirty both in perfect shape.
My first Mississippi tax token, 5 mill.
Love that they are brass and not aluminum.
The real prize of the day is a token that I can't find a spec of info on.
No token sites mention it, nobody on EBay is selling one, no searches come up with any pic or post about anyone else ever finding one.
No local historical sites mention this business.
Kinda unique because it has an address.
FUQUA BROS
6TH ST & AVE F
GOOD FOR 5¢ IN TRADE
When I dug it I thought it was just a junk piece of metal but I rubbed it and saw that big 5¢ in the middle so I knew it was special.
Evidently there are a lot of good targets around here at the 5-7" area and I seem to be getting to that level and getting better at recognizing good targets down there.
Little by little I am getting there.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2015 10:51AM by diggwr27.