150 + coins found on a single day and not a single silver - what am I doing wrong?

[OhioTrevor]

I had an epic day at an old scout camp. Literally, I could not go 25 feet without finding a coin and I probably covered less than 5% of the common area (excluding camp sites). The camp was founded in 1946 and I was shocked that after digging more than 150 coins in 5 hrs, I did not have a single silver coin and only one crusty wheat cent. I was hunting with a 6 inch col on my equinox in "cherry picking mode." Could it be I was simply losing depth in that mode? Or was it just bad luck? One thing is for sure, "A scout is thrifty" seems to be a gross exaggeration. I suspect you could pave a road to the moon and back with pennies, nickels, quarters and dimes, with what was lost at this Scout camp over its 74 years of history.

Some of the finds pictured: pocket knife, ballpeen hammer, horseshoes, various neckerchief slides, 4 flashlights, mysterious titanium, stainless steel, or nickel thing (center picture lower right)?

The pocket watch had me very excited, thinking it might be masonic due to the unusual insignia on the front. When I showed it to my 14 year old daughter she immediately identified it as a more modern Harry Potter variety.



For those of you who saw an earlier post on mysterious iron object two feet underground. I did not have a chance to re-investigate further on this trip, but I will eventually.

 

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[Bible]

I started and had similar experiences I hunted this lot that had a hotel houses etc on it. It should of gave silver but didnt just 20$+ in change. I hunted other old spots finding not much no silver juat wheats. Getting discouraged i returned to the old lot to dig clad at least for the 3x. Suddenly in the small lot a pulled a silver mercury dime 1937 then a 1947 rosie b2b finally. Maybe theres deeper peeps under the modern change. If not then your coil is not on the silver.

 

[rcn31rcn]

some old coin


updated

 

[CRUSADER]

''only one crusty wheat cent''
This might be your issue, I thought you need a volume of these per silver, & you only had 1. In Roman terms, I need to get 50 bronze per silver.

 

[treblehunter]

Keep digging, you have to get the modern stuff out of the way first. Nice finds, keep at it.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Sometimes you just have days like that, but with the age of the place, I'll gamble that silver is in there. I do like the collection of neckerchief slides that you found.

 

[OhioTrevor]

Thanks Trezurehunter. Very nostalgic. It was fun.

 

[Mackaydon]

I gave you a 'like' for the quality of your display and because I felt your 'hurt' in not finding any silver coins.
Don........

 

[Noah_D]

''only one crusty wheat cent''
This might be your issue, I thought you need a volume of these per silver, & you only had 1. In Roman terms, I need to get 50 bronze per silver.

I haven't been detecting too long but it's usually between 3 and 6 wheaties per silver for me. I think last year I had 40-50 wheats for 8 or 9 silvers and this year I have 7 or 8 silvers and only 30 wheats.

 

[JerV3]

No,

There looks to be so much modern stuff in the way.

I bet after you clear some of that out you'll hit some deeper silver.

I've hunted two or three nice scout camps over the years.

One was loaded with silver but all of them produced old coins.

They are great places to search.

Keep at it.

Jer

 

[CRUSADER]

I haven't been detecting too long but it's usually between 3 and 6 wheaties per silver for me. I think last year I had 40-50 wheats for 8 or 9 silvers and this year I have 7 or 8 silvers and only 30 wheats.

Just a numbers game until you get one. Like others say after clearing all the modern, wait for a good wet day & grid the opposite angle (ie. 90 degrees)

 

[fistfulladirt]

Keep in mind some of those older spots have been pounded over the years, and the clad was later drops. Then again, kids in the 1940’s and 50’s didn’t have any coin to lose anyways...I’m a child of the late 60’s, we used to rake up a yard for a few hours and get a dime each. We were rich I tell you!

 

[Auriemma]

You were probably doing everything right, but there was no silver there to find. It happens.

 

[40 Rounds]

I had an epic day at an old scout camp. Literally, I could not go 25 feet without finding a coin and I probably covered less than 5% of the common area (excluding camp sites). The camp was founded in 1946 and I was shocked that after digging more than 150 coins in 5 hrs, I did not have a single silver coin and only one crusty wheat cent. I was hunting with a 6 inch col on my equinox in "cherry picking mode." Could it be I was simply losing depth in that mode? Or was it just bad luck? One thing is for sure, "A scout is thrifty" seems to be a gross exaggeration. I suspect you could pave a road to the moon and back with pennies, nickels, quarters and dimes, with what was lost at this Scout camp over its 74 years of history.

Some of the finds pictured: pocket knife, ballpeen hammer, horseshoes, various neckerchief slides, 4 flashlights, mysterious titanium, stainless steel, or nickel thing (center picture lower right)?

The pocket watch had me very excited, thinking it might be masonic due to the unusual insignia on the front. When I showed it to my 14 year old daughter she immediately identified it as a more modern Harry Potter variety.

View attachment 1866905 View attachment 1866906 View attachment 1866907

For those of you who saw an earlier post on mysterious iron object two feet underground. I did not have a chance to re-investigate further on this trip, but I will eventually.

Trevor-

I have had the same experience and I am new this year as well. I have a different machine but from what you described hunting in "cherry picking mode" I would venture a guess most of your finds were 4" or less. From what I have been told and thus far experienced the coin shooting modes or loud targets are usually shallow coins...not always but usually. I searched a 1917 house and literally did the same thing. I searched the entire site and found about 4 dollars plus in clad...mostly 4' or less. I found 1 wheatie a 1953 but again at about 3". I was hunting with my AT Pro in standard coins mode and I thought I was doing something great. Everyone I told about my finds said I need to go back and get the old stuff now. I have not been back yet but have changed my hunting mode and how I hunt. As an example...I switched my search mode to Pro mode and turned up the "sensitivity". I had it down to zero because I got tired of the background iron noise by doing that I was also sacrificing depth. Now granted I have a different machine but you may be doing something similar with your settings. I would recommend putting a silver coin in your yard at about 6 inches and play with the settings. I think you will find by doing that you will discover what settings give you greater clarity and depth. When I did that I found my original settings completely passed over the silver dime I had put there without a peep, I then adjusted until I got the coin to not only come up but come up as a silver dime correctly. Also when you get a good signal go over it from multiple angles...you will likely notice it will come up differently from different angles. If there is not a lot of trash in the area dig some iffy signals you will get some nice hits and some trash but it will help tune your ears. I am still learning this hobby too but it is a lot of fun you just have to practice and have patience.

 

[JVA5th]

My experience with years of use of the AT Pro is just that silver coins are hard to come by takes more so a lot of research and permissions to come by those. All the years I've detected I've only found 3 silver dimes and 2 silver jewelry and a silver spoon. That's all for me in about 12 years of detecting. I lack permissions in all my years so that doesn't help. Also deep silver will often sound like pull tabs or be jumpy. Or maybe I'm just bad at the hobby I've not found much silver and still no gold.

 

[cudamark]

Put a larger coil on and go over the same ground to see if maybe there are deeper/older coins.

 

[OhioTrevor]

40 Rounds, thanks for the great advice. I'll try to practice in the way you described. I have never bothered with a test bed but I can definitely see your point. Thanks for taking the time to provide a bit of encouragement.

 

[OhioTrevor]

cudamark, I'll try that the next time I'm out there. Thanks.

 

[islamoradamark]

I was thinking along the same lines as the Cuda

 

[ajaj]

Overall, depth probably has nothing to do with it. It may have something to do with the area that you’re detecting, but, go to the right place. I repeat, do your research, and go to the right place. If you have done research on a place, and expect silver, but don’t get any, move on.

aj