Testing The Silver Slayer Program In A Ghost Town

[CPT_GhostLight]

Some friends asked me if I wanted to join them on a hunt at an old coal mining ghost town last week, to which I replied "Hell Yeah!" They warned me that this area had been pounded heavily by everybody for decades, because it is easily accessible and close to some major cities, so not to expect too much and probably no coins. Well that bar was set high enough for me, so off I went. I figured if nothing else, it would be another interesting spot to test Rattlehead's famous Silver Slayer program for the Deus II in relic hunting conditions.

The weather was cooler than normal and very windy, so I was hoping the rattlesnakes had moved underground so I wouldn't have to use my Root Slayer as a Snake Slayer. 😱 I use to catch snakes as a kid and don't like to kill them.

When we arrived, we split up and started checking out the old house foundations of the now defunct coal town. I started out in a slightly modified Relic mode on the D2 that I normally use for relic hunting and the ground lit up with great sounding targets, most of which were smashed bits of aluminum, lead, tin, and iron. Of course the iron was easy enough to sort out, but there was so much lead and aluminum everywhere that I couldn't even find a clear spot to ground balance. The noise was endless. So I figured, what the heck, I'll try the Silver Slayer again to see what it can do in this kind of environment. This town operated from the early 1900s to about 1950, so I opened the program up a little to allow low mid conductors from 50 to about 68, since there were no pull tabs, and notch out those pesky ring pulls, but left 78 and up opened. That seemed to tame things quite a bit and still allowed me to hear the iron as a reference.

That's when interesting targets started coming through, like buttons, clock gears, the back to a pocket watch, harmonica reeds, and my first thimble. I was over by one foundation when my friend said, I'm curious to see if you get anything there because I've beat that foundation into submission several times so I don't think there's anything left there. Well he was right... almost...

I was getting nothing but trash signals until I moved just outside one corner near a very large cactus. I was getting lots of iron signals as usual when a bouncy 84-86 kept squeeking through the iron tones. Well I had nothing to lose except an eye if I got too close to that cactus bush, so I carefully dug it out and low and behold, out popped a 1935 Wheat penny! The SS program struck coin again unmasking a Wheatie buried in a pile of nails and other iron bits. Color me impressed again!

So I ended the day with some neat relics and a coin and continuing respect for my detector which is teaching me so much. 😎

[F350Platinum]

Nice hunt Cap'n! That's more like the Relic Slayer now 😀 cool stuff and nice wheat. 👍 Especially like the big box ("snuff?") and the watch back.

Looks like you're really getting comfortable with the D2 now. I'm loving mine.

[JCR]

Those are some great relics. Looks like the past hunters weren't as thorough as they thought. Your intelligent hunting paid off.

I like the large fancy jar lid. 

[Rick N. MI]

Yah, that's a great relic hunt. You finding lots of stuff.

[abenson]

Nice bunch of relics. I usually don't keep most of the stuff you're showing but I probably should and start making shadow boxes with it. I think I found 6 harmonica reed plates last time I went.

[CPT_GhostLight]

On 11/4/2022 at 5:24 PM, F350Platinum said:

Nice hunt Cap'n! That's more like the Relic Slayer now 😀 cool stuff and nice wheat. 👍 Especially like the big box ("snuff?") and the watch back.

Looks like you're really getting comfortable with the D2 now. I'm loving mine.

Thanks F350! I'm not finding the kind of great finds you are getting, but I'm getting more comfortable with the D2 and learning more of what it's been trying to tell me. I think I'll keep it. 😏

[NCtoad]

Nice finds CPT!   Do you know what that item in the middle of the second pic is?   It almost looks like it has a Rolls Royce insignia on it, but it looks like a lid from a jar.  

[F350Platinum]

7 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Thanks F350! I'm not finding the kind of great finds you are getting, but I'm getting more comfortable with the D2 and learning more of what it's been trying to tell me. I think I'll keep it. 😏

I think you're doing great! Some of my best finds come after I've "cleaned a place up", my last post was a good example. This time I was playing with reactivity, there I can run it at 0. Just follow up on any chirp you hear no matter how fast you're swinging. Low and slow is always a good mantra, but it ain't gospel 😁 The majority of finds were on the fringes of where I searched before.

Your finds tell a story, that's as important as finding silver or gold. 👏 It evokes images of good times, prosperity, the excitement of the railroad opening new frontiers, and of course a lady to darken or lighten the day... 😁

[CPT_GhostLight]

3 hours ago, NCtoad said:

Nice finds CPT!   Do you know what that item in the middle of the second pic is?   It almost looks like it has a Rolls Royce insignia on it, but it looks like a lid from a jar.  

Thanks, NCt! I had to dig that piece back out of the baggie archive and take a closer look. I was beat when I got home that evening and just noticed it had a cool design but didn't take the time to check it out better. Here's some better photos of it. I looked at the back and it has a spring so it must be the back of an old flashlight. The ER (or RE?) design made me think it might be an early Eveready design, but I haven't been able to find anything that looks like that online yet.

 

[JCR]

Yup, EverReady flashlight end cap. Neat. I have dug one similar marked Winchester.