I Found Out What It Is Like To Hunt A Lightly Detected Home Today :-)

[foreverteachable]

A friend of mine introduced me to his friend who is a fellow Marine and served in Korea. His home dates back to the early 1800's and every time I drive by it I dream of all the coins and relics. I had 4 detectors to share but began and ended with the Equinox 600. I detected a plateau on the side of the driveway first and found spme relics from the early 1900's but no coins so we focused on the front yard and my first coin was a 64 lincoln down 6-7". The soil was unconsolidated, sandy, and iron rich and I worried the older coins may be too deep. I couldn't hunt with the sensitivity over 22-23 due to interference so I thought I may increase depth and see through the tough ground by ground balancing. I forgot how and had to pull up a video. The manual ground balance worked and I found a 1960 silver dime down 7-8 " and then a 1959 dime. The finds were getting older as we detected across the lawn. A few wheaties later I received a mixed high tone that read between 18 and 23. I have learned to trust repeatable signals but the ground was mineralized and I thought it might be affecting the signals. I pulled up an indian head in beatiful shape. I handed it to the stoic old Marine and his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face. He said, " I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid. I then found a wheatie, 4 more IH's, and 2 more wheaties all in the same hole. I couldn't believe all the coins and the fabulous shape they were in. Most of my Indian Heads have been pretty corroded but these were clean. (Not all the coins were pictured since the homeowner left some inside.) I found a steady stream of wheaties and relics to keep me smiling all day. I really smiled widely and shouted loudly when I received a repeatable 32-35 near an old maple and saw the dark green disk in the hole. Just like almost all the other coins, I let the old Marine be the first to touch the coin. He asked what it was not having seen one in his 80 some odd years and turning it over I showed him where it read ONE CENT. It was an epic time with a great friend whom I teach Earth science with and a new friend who I was blessed to share some memories that will last forever. I gave the homeowner the coins and with an hour to detect I hit a local park and found a Barber dime, pendant, some wheaties, and my first nickle in 7 hunts that read a vdi of 12.

[GB_Amateur]

Quite a day, FT!  Virgin old homesites are what most of us coin hunters live for.

8 hours ago, foreverteachable said:

I couldn't hunt with the sensitivity over 22-23....

That is very high gain.  I've never been able to get my Eqx quiet above 23, and most of the time I hunt in 20 or lower.  Keep in mind that higher gain also increases the ground interference (and possibly masking if in iron infestation), so even though in air tests that adds to depth, in the ground it can do just the opposite.  But bottom line is that you were finding the goodies so your setting must have been pretty decent.

[foreverteachable]

45 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Quite a day, FT!  Virgin old homesites are what most of us coin hunters live for.

That is very high gain.  I've never been able to get my Eqx quiet above 23, and most of the time I hunt in 20 or lower.  Keep in mind that higher gain also increases the ground interference (and possibly masking if in iron infestation), so even though in air tests that adds to depth, in the ground it can do just the opposite.  But bottom line is that you were finding the goodies so your setting must have been pretty decent.

Thanks GB and thanks for sharing the tip. The second place I detected yesterday I had the settings really high and the ground was really moist and I was getting a lot of intermittent signals and when I pinpointed there were times nothing was there. I turn down the sensitivity or gain as you called it and I was still getting good depth but not the erratic signals. It seems that people are saying to throw out some of  your preconceived notion of settings with this detector and trust that low sensitivity or gain will still get you great depth.

[taltexan]

Nice saves. Looks like the owner had a good time. 

[foreverteachable]

4 hours ago, taltexan said:

Nice saves. Looks like the owner had a good time. 

He sure did. My buddy shared later that he knows him as a very stoic, refined guy and that it was really cool to see him act like a kid when he was finding all those coins, especially the Indian heads that were still around when he was a kid.

[Happa54]

Perfect !! This is the way I like to read about MD experiences.

That was kind and admirable of you to give the stoic marine the coins. 

Sometimes it's about the hunt and not what you can put in the pocket.

Congrats on your awesome day !!

[foreverteachable]

Thanks Happa! It sure made my day.