What do you guys think of old parks with hundreds of pull tabs and bottle caps?

mr helton

Hero Member
May 20, 2013
726
671
Michigan
Detector(s) used
Fisher F2
White's Spectrum XLT
AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
There is a larger park near me that's about 100 years old. In about 20 hours or so of detecting, I managed to pull out 2 mercs and a few wheats.

Almost every time I go, I run into 1-2 other people detecting. I talk to all of them, and some of them have been hitting this park for 15+ years. Many for 5+

Anyway, high tones are super rare, but there are nickel/pull tab signals EVERYWHERE. Each time I have gone (5 times), I have pulled 75-100 pull tabs out. Now here's my question....is it a waste of time? Not one of those pull tabs were gold or even nickels. I thought if I dug them all I could find a ring or maybe a buffalo nickel, but nothing. Is it possible that these sophisticated detectors are able to separate gold and nickles from pull tabs much easier than I am? I feel like I'm wasting my time here, but I just don't understand how a park could be hunted for so many years but still have so many old beaver tails everywhere.

What do you guys think?
 

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Not everyone has the same definition of "hobby" Some detect a few times a year when the mood hits them. Others hunt daily or weekly on a regular basis. Still others are obsessed and detect every waking moment to the exclusion of everything else. If you're detecting to find old coins, taking a layer of trash off, a little at a time, just opens the door for someone else to follow you and get the good stuff. If you want to KNOW what's in a particular area, you need to dig it all to determine that. Cherry picking is fine too, but, you don't know what you're missing....only what you're finding.

Correct everyone has their own tolerance level.

Since I'd get bored digging 15 rotted Memorial pennies in a row,
even in a single Drop, I know I would go nuts digging 15 Tabs
straight :laughing7:
I can see some getting really disgusted by this.
especially newbies.
"He who walks behind the Rows" may need to step in front of them for a bit.

This is why I suggest Clean the area at your own tolerance level.
when you get bored, Move out for a little & smell the roses elsewhere
for a while, and come back when you've seen a few other items.
as for someone else jumping in your grave, so to speak.
Yes it's a Possibility , But if everyone but you cherry Picks,
hopefully odds are they will avoid the area Thinking still loaded with trash.
 

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I agree, I get bored with clad too. That's why I would remove the clad and maybe find a wheat, Indian, or some silver underneath. That would get my heart rate up and spur me on to do some more trash digging.....better than wandering around and finding more surface clad. I'd just as soon all Zincolns were made of something that would dissolve in the first rain.....or sooner.
 

My old park is over 100 years old. The Native Americans had "Pow-Wow" for decades and decades there. They would come there from all over the United States. It has not hundreds, but thousands upon thousands of pull tabs and old wine screw caps. The park is has been heavily hunted, but is so large it would take several lifetimes to hunt it thoroughly, and a ton of stuff would still get missed. I still go there, because I keep finding silver coins & rings. They are just much harder to find now than 10-20 years ago.

I got the 5x8 coil for my ATP and that really helped. Also going WAY, WAY SLOW has increased my finds. It's a challenge, and can be frustrating at times. The old wine screw caps, when flattened, are the worst. They like to ring in like silver, but doing the "DD Wiggle" helps me weed them out. Even so, many items are masked by junk. No, I still don't dig every target. Am I cherry picking? Yes, but in a much more careful manner.This type of MD will truly help you learn your machine! Finding old silver coins there now will earn you your metal detecting medal of honor.
 

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