Park finds questions: Added ugly-butt ring pics

[Iskuli]

I feel comfortable working the lake beaches area. I have techniques that work for me, and learn new ones from the seasoned MD'ers on treasurenet.

My questions are about hunting parks. Is there a concensus with where to hunt in a park. The good news is I live in an area I do not think is hunted heavily by other detectorist. The bad new is around the picnic tables there is so much trash I want to stick a fork in my eye...... Where is the good stuff? By the tables? Between the tables? By the kids playground? The grassy area between the lake and the tables? I ask because I have not found any jewelry in the parks I have been hunting. I do find some coins. Where can more jewelry be found the park or the lake?

 

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[Flyboy]

Re: Park finds questions

Im no expert but I have been kinda lucky lately. I have found a few rings, 12 it think in the last 3 months. I mainly hunt parks and wood chip lots. Kids drop things near the monkey bars, slides, and anything else that they can hang upside down on. If you are hunting old parks look for the oldest and largest tree in the park, the one that throws the most shade. search beneath these trees. about two weeks ago i did this and found about $10 in clad quarters. I dont know why but it was mostly quarters. I also under this tree found a small silver ring with a butterfly on top. Just remember that kids especially small children usually do not wear expensive jewelery.

flyboy

 

[Iskuli]

Re: Park finds questions

Thanks flyboy! How deep are the finds usually? Any strategies for hunting around the picnic tables?

 

[Sandman]

Re: Park finds questions

For hunting parks that are full of trash, you should have a small coil so you can only get one item under the coil at a time. This will stop any masking and also make pinpointing easier. Jewelry can be just about anywhere the same as coins. For gold rings you are in trouble because you must dig all items from Foil on up. 90% of the lost rings are gold and will read in the pull tab range, so don't discriminate them out.

Most hunters just wonder around swinging this way and that. Then a buddy comes along with a different detector and finds some stuff. This happens not because the detector was deeper, but he over lapped the sweeps so he had a chance of having the coil over a target at depth. Remember the coils field down about 7 inches is only as big as a half dollar unless your using a DD coil. If your not overlapping about 2 inches per sweep, you could be missing the deep stuff.

HH,
Sandman

 

[sherpa t]

Re: Park finds questions

In reply to your picnic table question, the best way ( if they are not chained ) is to simply move it over, hunt and put it back. Alot of ours are on woodchips so to help refill the bank make sure to fluff up and level the chips with your digging tool (and fix any marks from moving the table). Lastly don't forget teenagers seem to sit on the ends of the tables alot so make sure to check the ends. Drinking fountains are sometimes also by the tables and worth a look, pushing and wrestling can occur.

 

[Flyboy]

Re: Park finds questions

Sandman hit on something that I did not think of due to my lack of experience, but the overlapping the coil sweeps. In the future I am going to attempt to be more conscious of my sweeps, I am sure that I am missing some deeper stuff. Most of my finds are within 4 inches of surface. You will laugh, but a few nights ago I got out of bed and dug a hole approx. 5 inches to six inches deep in my back yard and In which i put a Merc. dime and ran my Tesoro Eldorado over the spot that I had buried it. I have in the past made a test garden but it had been awhile since I had done this. the merc sounded off, the I had the disc. set at just below nickel which is where i normally hunt unless its really trashy. Pull tabs will run you nuts in a trashy park near park tables.

flyboy

 

[dahut]

Parks are easy...First, keep your detector in the car...

...and go to the office or center or whatever and ask around ABOUT the park. If there isnt anything like that, go across the street to local businesses and homes and ask THEM. Lastly, ask the partons of the park themselves. Most of them are going to be locals and either visit the park regularly and/or know what goes on there. None of this will take you more than 30 minutes or so. Ask these things:

How old is the park?
What was there before?
Which areas were built first and whats been added?
What activities take place?
Where do they occur?
Some things that happen at parks and involve hoardes of people are:
Festivals - Fairs - Parades - Carnivals - Concerts, etc..............

Ask about them, as these details can greatly affect your outcome.

Okay, so what if you cant find out anything? Hard to believe,man, but I'l play along. It's still easy. Here're are the basics, which will usually segue into the above:

1. Childrens play equipment/areas.
This is first and foremost for most searchers and for good reason. You shouldn't turn your nose up at these places, either. Some super jewelry finds come from them and there are always lots of coins and doo-dads to turn up. They are often easy to dig in, being woodchip or sand, and you can meet all kinds of peope who might tip you off to what goes around the place. Often, too, the play areas are just "plunked down" somewhere in the park and whatever was there before, is still there. I have found some nice older coins around play areas for this reason.
2. Picnic areas
Pulltab and foil heaven! They are second tier, IMHO, unless you like to find foil ketchup packets by the scads. People eat here, and little else. But they do congregate here, so there is a good chance of recoveries and they may be on some older ground - here again, "KNOW Before You GO"...
3. Sports fields
Lots of poeple being active = finds for YOU. Look along the edges of playing fields, in the spectator areas, where the players congregate and tussle and surprisingly right around the goals or home plate. Volleyball areas are good, too, and one of my favs is within the penalty area in front of a soccer goal - this is where all the jostling and wrestling goes on.
4. Outdoor seating areas
Ampitheatres, benches, and anywhere people sit on or near the ground is good. I cant recall a bench I didnt find something under or within 10 feet of. One of my nicest gold/diamond rings came from about 6 feet in front of a bench.
5. Old trees.
The BIG ones. Get under them and slow down beneath that canopy. Lines of old trees are really nice - people dont plant trees in a line for no reason. Also where old trees used to be, normally recognized by a discrete depression in the ground. Trees work good in old areas of town, where the park has existed for a long time.
6. Concession stands - now or in the past.
Obvious
7. Off in the bushes.
Huh? Why here? Because theres a good chance that todays overgrown areas were yesterdays active areas of the park. Landscapes ebb and flow with every municpal government shift and with the times, themselves. WHAT they were doing then may not be WHERE they are doing it now. Also, lots of teens and lovers end up in these places - just dont be there when they are!
8. Unique, stand out structures and landmarks.
Bandshells, outdoor venues, etc. We have a park here with a "rock climbing" wall. After every season I can rely on that area to yield some nice goodies. I also remember a park in FL which had a long mound running along right out in the middle of the open area. It was about 10 -15 feet wide and 4-5 ft high, and it ran for about 30 yards or so. It reminded me of a small Indian mound and it stuck out like a sore thumb. So I hauled myself over there and began to scan it. To my surprise (and delight) I found a bunch of Wheats, a "V" nickel and some Roosies scattered over that mound, along with lots of common clad coins. I found out later that they had scraped one side of the park some years prior and the pile just sat until grass and weeds grew over it - so now they just trim and mow it!
9. Water.
Swimming areas, pondsides where people sit, around overlooks and birdfeeding areas, where people play with their boats. We have a park here with a lake that hosts large regional RC boat events all season long, with throngs of participants and spectators. Don't bypass water fountains, either.
10. Parking areas
Gravel or dirt parking areas are always little searched, yet people are active and busy in these areas on an almost daily basis.
11. Traffic areas
Here I mean walking paths/areas. Wherever people are funneled going to and fro afoot is always a good place to search. Along sidewalks, trails and their junctions, walking and fitness paths, Lovers' Lanes, etc. Oddly, quadrangles of grass, where several walkways meet, seem to be a natural meeting place for people.

These are by no means the only places to hunt in a park and there is no guarantee that any of them will pay off. The areas to hunt in even a small park are nearly limitless and are utterly dependent on the park itself - and your knowledge of it. You can spend A LOT of time working and reworking a park, and still turn up the occasional oldie. Besides, it gets replenished by the masses of people who visit it year after year.

Once good point was made here by Sandman - and it is gospel. Certain areas of parks are littered with trash. Literally. It can drive you mad and it can and DOES mask good targets. Indeed, there is more trash than treasure out there and I can tell you that wherever people are active, they leave both behind. The challenge for you is to find a way to beat the odds. Fortunately, there is a solution to the problem.

I'm speaking about the small "sniper" search coil, which should be an important part of any urban treasure hunter's gear. These little jewels let you "pick around" most of the trash and find targets in between the junk. They do decrease your depth to a degree, make no mistake. But, because they see fewer targets beneath them on any given pass, you can run your instrument SENS much higher and offset some of this. Sweet, huh?!

If you dont have one for your detector, you just figured out what you want for Christmas. And get the lower rod, too, while you're at it.

Give these park "Hot Spots" a try and see what happens. And as always,

"Keep the Coil to the Soil and a Trowel in Your Hand."

 

[Trescher]

Re: Park finds questions

I like spending free time in the chips and gravel. Somewhere between city parks and school playgrounds is where I can be found.

Most of the playground equipment in my area is anchored under the chips, so this will create false beeps around where the poles go into the chips. I try and make a mental picture of the anchors so that when I go around the poles I have a better chance of finding the coins and jewelries that other have skipped because they assumed that the beeps were due to the anchors. There are definite patterns and I look for the exceptions to the patterns.

Funny story: one of the playgrounds has picnic tables with the same underground anchors and there were obvious trenches that someone had dug trying to find the phantom beeps. I steered clear.

Also I always go under the playground platforms/runways, as most have grates with slots just big enough for treasure to fall through. In fact don't forget to fold your detector coil flat so that you can search those really low ones, without having to crawl under them, unless there is something there. I found a nice silver necklace doing that.

Most parks have black tarp material under the chips. If there is a slope to the landscape make sure to spend extra time at the bottom of the slope as metal tends to slide under the chips over time. I found a park that had just replaced their chips and had "washed" the old chips to the bottom of the slope, along with all of the goodies. I worked long into the night that evening.

Heaven forbid that you run in coin mode and just get the clad. That's how I started but now I run in jewelry mode and dig all pulltabs, and find more jewelry. It's a trade off.

I don't usually find old stuff, but my clad skills are much better and continue to increase. So that when my research pays off and I do find the "honey-hole", "iceberg", or whatever, I'll have the skills to do it right.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Iskuli]

Re: Park finds questions

Thanks so much to everyone for your tips, suggestions and encouragment. I always take them to heart because I have found that they work!

For example: I have White's classic id. Its easy to operate, but does not have the bells and whistles the new machines do. Therefore, I am always searching for ways to make the most of my machine. I came across a treasurenet post on whispers and the metal mode. I have an area of our lake beach that I have cleaned out pretty well. I have the sinkers, lures and pull tabs to prove it. Between my dad and I, we have pulled about 11 rings out of this spot. Today, I will post a picture tomorrow, I found my second gold jewelry item in a year. My first was my ugly-butt ring. I will also post this tomorrow. Someone took a nice gold wedding band, and attached some metal (not gold), and then gold plated the metal junk. And then, etched flowers in it. The shape of it look like a butt. Ergo, ugly-butt ring. It is hideous. I think the girl who recieved it from her boyfriend, slipped it off her finger into the lake, never to return. Anyway, as I was saying, you should have seen my happy dance......Gold has been my "white whale." I find silver coins, clad, silver rings and things, but not gold items. Today, I took advice from this forum, plus my dad's suggestions and put them to use. I went back to our spot. Gridded it out. Turned down the discrimination. Upped the sensitivity. Went all metal mode....and TA-DAh....a 14k gold christian medal. You could have knocked me over with a feather. It showed on the display below a nickel and it was a whisper instead of a beep. I thought it was foil for sure! I am excited to go back and finish the hunt. I am also ready to try the park again. Those suggestions are sure to pay off! Thanks again for the time it took to write back a detailed reply! I truly appreciate it.

 

[stoney56]

Re: Park finds questions

You might also look in the library for older local books that might have local park pics. Take old H.S. yearbooks for instance. They like to show students sitting on swings and other old playground equip. You'll see the point in a second.
City's like upgrading the equipment every so often and when they purchase new equip., they sometimes put it in different places than the old ones. When they do that, they remove the old worn out and it becomes a patch of grass. With the exception of a few slight depressions, it looks like the rest of the park lawn. Just a thought. HH!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Park finds questions

dahut,

Really good post to this thread there, I appreciate the information myself as I am newbie. Thanks

 

[minelab rick]

Re: Park finds questions

Good Thread!!
I have gotten a lot of good info. here. One additional question. I hunt a lot of parks with playground equipment. I'm hunting with an Exporer XS and can't get very close to the equipment without getting a reading from the poles themselves. Also when trying to go under bleachers at the soccer fields the coil picks up the beachers as well. Is my sensitivity to high( I run in factory presets most of the time which is 19) or can I mask the top of the coil somehow to get closer? I also have this problem with the chain link fence around the ball fields.

Thanks

Rick

 

[dahut]

Re: Park finds questions

I'm hunting with an Exporer XS and can't get very close to the equipment without getting a reading from the poles themselves. Also when trying to go under bleachers at the soccer fields the coil picks up the beachers as well. Is my sensitivity too high (I run in factory presets most of the time which is 19) or can I mask the top of the coil somehow to get closer? I also have this problem with the chain link fence around the ball fields.
You pretty much nailed it on the head. When you come to the conclusions you've reached, you have graduated to the next level...way to go! Now, here's part of what you need to know at Level II:

There are two things you can do in your case -

1. Obtain a smaller coil. Here again, the small "sniper coil" proves invaluable. Simply put, its detection field is smaller and less affected by proximity to nearby metallic objects. I daresay that for most urban detectorists, a smaller coil is a better intial choice than the larger ones which are available for their unit. I get one ASAP when ever i get a new unit.
2. Reduce your sensitivity. In play areas, most if not all targets are shallow, within 4". That "SuperDuper HI-Watt" gain you may need for open areas and deeper targets is uneccessary. We are led to believe that ALL targets are near the earths core and we better have a unit that can detect that deep, or * GASP! * - we may be missing something! "Just aint so friends. Sometimes, things are deep for whatever reason. But, in urban settings, and frankly most others, that aint so. In this case it's about knowing when less is more.

While were at it, here's my "Secret Tips for Newbies."

1. Dig! You wont find anything and you wont learn what your machine is telling you or what it is doing if you don't.

2. DO NOT rely on that meter to solve your problems. There is A LOT of junk out there and plenty of it masquerades as good stuff. The best thing about Imaging is it will tell you probable size - which might be meaningless if you happen on a roman brooch that looks like a big old can lid.

3. Turn the sensitivity down to start. Dont expect to find stuff halfway to China, as most good things are within the first FOOT - usually less. SENS that is too high only results in false signals and lots of frustration. Id say start it about 60-70% of max.

4. Set time limits.
A. Plan to detect for a certain amount of time, as often as possible. Like any activity, good practice makes you better.
B. DO NOT detect longer that you should - set a limit on that, too. Remember you have a job and a family and friends.

5. Set Recovery Goals. A certain coin, or artifact, a certain number of coins, etc. Then work to achieve them.

6. Carry your detector with you as much as possible. You never know when a chance to detect will come along.
(but dont leave it in your car - EVER!! The heat and jostling around is murder on it and thieves know what they are worth, too. Breaking into a car is easy.)

7. Learn about your area and what you might actually find. It does no good to take your detector to a parking lot. I tried it once - it was a waste of time.

8. Talk to your friends and family about your new hobby. Ask if they know any old places, or good modern places, where lots of people have been active.

9. Plan to do all sorts of detecting. You are new and this hobby has lots to offer. Dont imagine yourself only "this sort" of detectorist or "that sort." Try it all.

10. Get a carry bag and keep these things in it:
Extra headphones.
Extra batteries
2 Digging trowels
1 recovery apron
1 probe
1 long screwdriver
1 8-10" inch hunting knife
Garden gloves
Super glue and duct tape
...You can have more but youll need these.

11. Learn the Detectorists Code of Ethics
Cover every hole you dig, too. Make it look like you were never there.

BONUS TIP: Determine to Have Fun.