My yard is HOT, HOT, HOT

[nuttinbutjunk]

Even with my cheapie Bounty Hunter I can't walk 2 feet without getting a hit. As stated in an earlier thread, the home was built in 1873. I have a photograph of the house from that period and there wasn't much around it. Our garage is actually an extended carriage house, and sits 4' onto the neighbor's property.

The area I live used to be the bottom of Lake Erie back during prehistoric times. It takes about 2' of digging to get through the topsoil in my yard. I suspect at one time it was farmed, but the area around the house hasn't been messed with for some time.

Most of what I've found so far has been junk, and much of it newer. Aluminum scraps and pull tabs, etc. Some older stuff too. There's a good selection of nails by the other neighbor's garage.

I could only imagine that with a more sensitive detector I'd be getting 2 or 3 times as many hits. It might be so heavy that a more sensitive detector would go nuts. I think that I'm going to try and clear the yard as best I can with what I have, and then at some point buy, borrow, or rent a better unit to find what was missed.

[Tony Two-Cent]

If it has never been filled or graded, a yard from 1873 should hold some old coins and other nice relics. :yes:

The advantage of a more advanced machine wouldn't necessarily be that it's more sensitive or goes deeper, but that it does a much better job of being able to tell good targets from junk. Also, a detector with an accurate depth meter can allow you to concentrate on digging the deeper targets which are more likely to be older.

But you are definitely going about it the right way by methodically clearing the yard of targets. By law of averages you should eventually find something of interest.

Best of luck! :thumbsup02:

[nuttinbutjunk]

I think I'll have my kid set up a grid! Here's the detector he uses:


http://bgsisal.com/em61.gif

[Swing-N-Dig NY]

Your yard sounds just like mine, same debris .....lol

[Skamaniac]

I'm with Tony. There's bound to be some good stuff just waiting for you!

[nuttinbutjunk]

I went out yesteday because I couldn't stand it. I fired up the machine and took two steps. Solid high tone, easy to pinpoint. Garden trowel was useless because the ground was frozen. Got out a WWII entrenching tool and chopped away at the soil for a few moments. Uncovered a 1965 quarter. No great shakes, but a prime example of this yard. While I was pinpointing that I kept getting low and mid-tone hits all around the quarter.

I don't know when the driveway was paved, but I do know that people have reached in their pockets and purses thousands of times along its length to pull out keys. In the process, other things were dropped.

I need to be done for the season because retrieving anything like I did could result in serious damage. I can't wait for the thaw!