Past few days no good
ASUtodd
Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
Well the past few days have been horrible for me. Got nothing yesterday hunting the old wishing well and an old homestead and then today I was almost blanked again. We hiked through the woods for about an hour to get to an old mill that was built along side a creek. HUGER FREAKIN BOULDERS! Way to hard to hunt in there with all the rocks. Found some old iron bits from the structure of hte old mill but that was it. Left there and went to an old hunted out school. Found a clad quarter and 2 pennies. Left there and went to an old ball field that they recently scraped. Now keep in mind this ball field is in the "hood" section of town and even though I ahd my badge and gun on I didn't feel terribly safe there by myself. Regardless I hunted for about 15 minutes and found a 1999 dime then some local thugs came around so I scooted out of there. I'll probably try to hit it again with my buddy so he can watch my back as we work the old fields. So far my honey hole at our local FOP Lodge has been working out nicely turning out large sums of clad, some old 1930's on Wheaties, two civil way bullets, and a few pieces of jewelry. I must be doing something wrong to have not found silver yet so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. It also seems to me that my DFX isn't going as deep as it should. I'm using the factory preset programs but it seems that everything I dig is 5 inches or closer to the surface. I have yet to really hit on anything deep. Maybe I'm missing the tones... who knows. Being a newbie sucks!!! Regardless I'm going to keep hunting the old lodge until I find Silver. I know it is there, and possibly some old gold. I KNOW IT'S THERE.... Wish someone was from around here and knew how to run this DFX and could come school me!!
Todd
Todd
0
Comments
Hh...
Rick
1836 Capped Liberty
dime. My oldest US
detecting find so far.
I dig almost every
signal I get for the most
part. Go figure...
<< <i> I must be doing something wrong to have not found silver yet so any suggestions are greatly appreciated >>
I'll tell you what you're doing wrong- you're letting your excitement at the first successes make you impatient.
Lady Luck takes her time. Now that you have "proven" yourself with those first finds, you know you're not doing anything wrong as far as technique goes.
Some sites are just stingy, and cough up the goodies reluctantly, or not at all. I would definitely believe your site has silver goodies, but it's just playing hard to get.
As the esteemed respondent above just said, it'll happen in time. I suspect sooner rather than later, but you have to go through some skunky periods at times- we all do, no matter how experienced. Then you hit a hot streak, then a drought again. It's all cyclical.
Maybe try out another site or two, also. Certainly the one you're on deserves further attention, but if you're getting disgusted with it, take a break from it and try somewhere else. Then, when the drought ends and you feel better, go back there.
Many, many's the time I have been on a site that I knew, beyond any doubt, had silver and old coins waiting to be found... yet I got ZIP.
That's the breaks.
If it were easy, everybody would be doing it, and it wouldn't be as fun.
You've made your first real finds and proven yourself, now you're being challenged again, and it's time to struggle through the disappointment and go on to the next level. It WILL happen, I assure you, unless you give up.
It took me about a year to find my first silver coin, largely because I wasn't finding the deep targets at first. I was focusing too much on strong coin signals that were fairly close to the surface, and was missing all the faint and iffy sounds from those deep ones..
I found that significantly slowing down the sweeps while listening more attentively to faint signals helped me a lot.
As a DFX owner I can tell you the learning curve is tough but once you get it hitting on all cylinders for you, you'll be very happy.
You may want to venture over to DFX Only and check out their forums. Lot's of great information for you.
Also, Jimmy Sierra has some good books on the DFX as well.
Todd
The more coin targets you did (in the right site), the more likely it will happen... keep diggin'!
Also, here's something I've done that may help you get to silver more quickly-
I sometimes "cherry-pick" areas if I'm looking for the more modern silver coins.
(I'll dig almost everything in the super old areas= pre-1900)
+81 through +83 were usually a silver dime when I was using a White's... Sometimes I'd go out and only dig the signals that were +80 or above, but if it was super deep, and in the high 70's along with some +80 "peeps", I would dig those too. (some worn Barber dimes can hit +79)
Of course if you had been following this excercise, you would not have dug your first IH, but this is what I do when I'm after silver. Guess you could look at this as another "get to know your detector drill." It's also interesting as you get familiar with the sounds, you'll scour a site faster because you'll recognize the high tones that hit the 80's and only dig what you're looking for... yes, some targets could have other items in the hole that would affect the tone, but this is more of a speed drill and hopefully gets you to your first silver more quickly.
Hope this helps.
You want it so bad, that it is hurting you. (not your take, but your expectations) Take your time, and when you least expect it, it's there.
I want to relate a story to you:
Back when I got my first detector, the folks on this site were so helpful. LM gave me a challenge--I was in the United Kingdom and he gave me a homework assignment of finding a Roman coin and a Hammered Silver coin. I got my first detector in late August 2005 and I was due to relocate to the states in Feb 2006. That gave me just a little over 6 months to make those elusive finds. Of course, when I first got the detector, I had to try it out around the yard, playgrounds, parks, etc. That was getting me nowhere towards my homework assignment from LM, but I was learning my machine. I loved my first detector so much, I convinced my wife I needed another. The first one was the Ace 250--I moved up to the GTI2500. She would use the 250, I would use the 2500. We would go out together sometimes and other times I was by myself. I found some fields that I thought may produce the Roman coins and the Hammered Silvers I was after. For 4 months or so, I went without finding those two "assignments" but I was finding some very nice items. I had pretty much resigned the fact that I may not complete my assignment before I left the UK. When I was least expecting it, I find my first Roman coin. It was extremely beat up and corroded, but it was Roman. 50% of the assignment done, I had to find the silver. Well, after the first Roman coin, I find 5 other Roman coins before I left the UK. None were in that great of shape, but I'll cherish them always.
By the way, I was within 3 weeks of leaving, out detecting the fields and I got this very iffy signal. I dug down about 5-6 inches and pull out my first and only Hammered Silver coin while I was there. It was a 1550ish hammered coin that was bent (the iffy signal) and that is another one that I will always cherish and never ever part with or try and straighten.
Don't give up, learn your machine and enjoy the hobby. I can go out for hours on end and have a blast. HAVE FUN!!!!
That's what it's all about.