dissapointed but not defeated

[hollowpointred]

well i got up early and went to the reform school site only to realise what i thought may be the case. it was picked clean of EVERYTHING......... even clad! there even is evedence of other detectorists plug holes so this place must get POUNDED. oh well...... at least now i know. i stopped home to regroup, and im on my way out again to hit a couple of newer places. if i cant find old silver at least i can go hunt some clad. ill check back in a few hours.

 

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[dano91]

I love hunted out area's. Especially the ones still frequented by people on a regular basis.Thats where I do a quick surface check, almost no digging for lost jewelry and such.I keep the playground cleaned up just for this reason and it does payoff. A lot of people lose rings necklaces and such pushing kids on swing sets.
Dano

 

[Joe (Memphis)]

Hey Badger, what was the average depth of those finds? I am wondering because I am trying to visualize the "cone" of detection from an average size coil, and figure how much you would have to overlap at that depth to get 100% saturation. Maybe that is why things get left... Just a thought.

 

[Floater]

Hey Badger, what was the average depth of those finds? I am wondering because I am trying to visualize the "cone" of detection from an average size coil, and figure how much you would have to overlap at that depth to get 100% saturation. Maybe that is why things get left... Just a thought.

I dont know what depth badger got his at but remeber the larger the coil the larger the cone and more rounded the bottom of the cone becomes at depths within the 12 inch mark. Your depth is determined by the ground conditions and the sensitivity you need to run at so your machine is stable. Like Badger said,The slower you go. the better your chance. It sounds like hollowpointred hit it quick and left because of lack of signals. If i get that type of area I slow way down. This tell me that there is no trash and that whatever is theer is deep. Being methodical and mapping your area in your mind is the only way to hit an area like that. It could take you 2 hours just to cover an area 5' wide by 50 ft long. If you do that and still come up with nothing in an area known for the high traffic and history then there is only one conclusion. Badger or I have been there. LOL HH

 

[hollowpointred]

so you guys think i should give it another shot? its not like a didnt get any targets....quite the contrary. there is an enormous amount of junk at this site. the old 1894 and 1914 reform school buildings were knocked down in 2001 and there is TONS of copper scraps and other scraps about.maybe i should do what michigan badger and floater suggest and REALLY go to town removing the junk from a small area. where do you think a good place to start would be? i was mainly focusing on the areas directly around the standing structures and around the outside perimeter of where the walls once stood.( you can see a rise in the ground to suggest where the walls were). as floater stated, i only spent about an hour and a half hunting the site and covered a good amount of ground in that time. thanks in advance guys....i REALLY appreciate your expertise!

 

[allen]

there is no such thing as a hunted out place. just take your time and dig every signal. keep on digging !!!

 

[AmericanCoinHunting]

Hey Badger, what was the average depth of those finds? I am wondering because I am trying to visualize the "cone" of detection from an average size coil, and figure how much you would have to overlap at that depth to get 100% saturation. Maybe that is why things get left... Just a thought.

I dont know what depth badger got his at but remeber the larger the coil the larger the cone and more rounded the bottom of the cone becomes at depths within the 12 inch mark. Your depth is determined by the ground conditions and the sensitivity you need to run at so your machine is stable. Like Badger said,The slower you go. the better your chance. It sounds like hollowpointred hit it quick and left because of lack of signals. If i get that type of area I slow way down. This tell me that there is no trash and that whatever is theer is deep. Being methodical and mapping your area in your mind is the only way to hit an area like that. It could take you 2 hours just to cover an area 5' wide by 50 ft long. If you do that and still come up with nothing in an area known for the high traffic and history then there is only one conclusion. Badger or I have been there. LOL HH

Floater and Badger have excellent advice.........SO someone got some easy pickins.......You can still get some of the oldest AND BEST!
Turn your discrimination almost all the way off......hunt with the largest coil you have.....Blank Out / Or use the surface Elimination if you have it to blank out the first 2 1/2 - 3 "........Map out your area in Small grids of 3' x 50 ' ,,,,and hunt SLOOOW.........Over lap inch by inch instead of 1/2 coil.....and odds are you WILL GET THE OLD DEEEEEP ONES.....You will miss those from 0-3 inches but you can go back over the area with your sensitivity down and do some speed searching later.....Say ....when you have thoroughly searched a 10' x 50' area...........It should take you half the day to do this........And quit a while to search the whole area like this.....Maybe the whole summer...?....Before you can be asured it's pretty much hunted out....
Don't get disapointed......Keep at it........Something is out there just waiting for YOU ! /...H.H.

 

[AmericanCoinHunting]

so you guys think i should give it another shot? its not like a didnt get any targets....quite the contrary. there is an enormous amount of junk at this site. the old 1894 and 1914 reform school buildings were knocked down in 2001 and there is TONS of copper scraps and other scraps about.maybe i should do what michigan badger and floater suggest and REALLY go to town removing the junk from a small area. where do you think a good place to start would be? i was mainly focusing on the areas directly around the standing structures and around the outside perimeter of where the walls once stood.( you can see a rise in the ground to suggest where the walls were). as floater stated, i only spent about an hour and a half hunting the site and covered a good amount of ground in that time. thanks in advance guys....i REALLY appreciate your expertise!

I had posted..............and .............just read this..........Most of my area is just like this ..........Torn down and rebuilt..
It is a pain, but I use a Large 12 1/2 inch coil and blank the first 3 inches out.....I keep my coil low and slow....Lots of junk here......Stay in an area that has had high traffic,,but no excavation thus far.....You can stay away from the junk that comes with re-construction that way.............Hopefully..................Good Luck.......and.......Try it again............H.H.

 

[twister]

One thing I like about hunted out places is most of time they already picked up some trash. Ans also if its a reform school i've probably been there (not detecting though) HEHE

HH

Twister

 

[dave-enc]

hollow point like the other have said heavily hunted areas a lot of times still have goodies in them , you just need to approach diffrently. are there many bushes on the property? if so slap on a small coil and poke amongst those bushes. A lot of times these bushes werent there back then and may be hiding some goodies for you. hunt slowly around the trees. Keep us posted on your finds
hh
dave+bobbie

 

[Floater]

What ever was said above and Mcnickle really fine tuned and the posts below his. I will only say this. If the junk is there and you have the oppurtunity to hunt this area whenever you can then like MC said hit it with full disc or no disc either way your going to either clean up the site or your going to prove that something is left. Construction debris sucks so that is all said and done. My only other thought is to hit the boundrys and work in. Both modes and then fine tune. No one got it all and trust me if they did god bless them and Tiny Tim too. Besides now its a challenge. I got 10.00 ten bucks you will find a rosie there. Any taker's out there 8) ??

 

[mattjd]

Great advise guys. If your in a place like that it is sometimes best to move around a bit. By this I mean sample different areas of the detecting spot to see which area has less trash. The farther away from the demo site the less trash there will be. So before you start digging the trash, move to the perimeter of the site to mabee find a few coins so that the trash digging is a little easier to cope with.

Matt

 

[hollowpointred]

thanks for the advise everyone. i guess the good thing here is that this site is close by and i pretty much can hunt it whenever i want.interesting thing Matt,your comments about moving around to find less junk i found to be true. i found the most crap in front of the 1884 ruins,but around the sides and back of the building there was considerably less.i guess the thing that had me a bit rattled was the fact that i uncovered nothing at all besides junk. i would have bet the farm that i would have at least found some clad.as far as Michigan badgers comments on how much work am i willing to put into this site, i am really jonesing to find something old,so i am willing to put in some hours if it looks like a good gamble.as badger said,i can always return to this site when things are slow and do a more thorough search. i should also add that i am still researching this site and hopefully i will find some old photos of the place when it was still in use.maybe i can determine exactly where people used to gather and hang out.as it stands now i am just guessing (this is a huge site). thanks everyone for your insight. i REALLY appreciate all the help.i am finding that your comments are full of very valuable information!