staydetuned
03-26-2011, 12:32 AM
Hey guys. Had an old hunting buddy in town for a day and he picked me up for a quick hunt at a park down the street.
This place has been good to me in the past, but it is definitely challenging. I don't go often unless I need to hone my skills, which translates to an exercise of inhuman patience. This place is absolutely loaded with iron - it was a major refugee tent city after the 1906 earthquake, and I don't think they stopped to throw away their nails and spikes when they moved out. One rule here - if you swing an explorer, you're going to dig iron. You'll get oldies if you get deep, but you better bring the big pouch. Also it's not the most well-kept city park, so it's loaded with trash and low conductors. If you can get deep, there are oldies to be found, but it's HARD.
Today was no different. With the recent rains the turf sounded like a literal puddle of noise. My friend's first two digs were a war nickel and a wheat, so I thought there was hope. After a couple hours I only had a few wheats to show - including a '14-S and '20 stuck together - until I wandered into a quieter corner of the park.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-5.jpg
Here in the quiet I got a very minute signal that barely squeaked through and nulled slightly from one direction. Going wide open it sounded a little better, and the cursor hung to the right side (on the Explorer) rather than flying around the screen. On top of the squeaking tone I could hear strange background low tones - a phenomenon that was going on all day, that I attribute to rain saturation halo. Whenever this halo occurred though, it was a wheat, never iron. Add to this that the target was focused in one small area, rather than the 'roaming pinpoint' or 'tone drag' usually associated with iron... I decided to dig. I ALMOST decided to video, and I wish I had, because in this area where'd I'd previously only got teens wheats, I pulled a nice 1907 Indian at the length of the probe. I got another '14-S and a '17-S a couple feet away, very similar signals.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-4.jpg
Then I got that same exact Indian signal. I got down and reached for my camera to record it, but put it away at the last second. Nah, this one's too deep and weird a signal. It can't be again... Of course it was the second deep Indian, and I kicked myself for not getting this one, down beyond the length of the probe, on video.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-3.jpg
Anyhow, I ended the hunt with 9 wheats and 2 Indians, which is very respectable for this park, as well as a buffalo, a silver bracelet/necklace piece and a Goetz telephone token which dates from the late 1800s to 1940s.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-2.jpg
Last pic is a closeup of the early S-mint wheats we get to dig out here :)
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-1.jpg
And the video - an effort to make up for NOT recording the 2 Indians right before it. Just a wheat, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway. :confused:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa80ta7NsM
Thanks for looking, and reading!, even though it's not the most exciting group of finds! :grin:
PS - Sorry 'bout the mumbling... gotta work on that...
This place has been good to me in the past, but it is definitely challenging. I don't go often unless I need to hone my skills, which translates to an exercise of inhuman patience. This place is absolutely loaded with iron - it was a major refugee tent city after the 1906 earthquake, and I don't think they stopped to throw away their nails and spikes when they moved out. One rule here - if you swing an explorer, you're going to dig iron. You'll get oldies if you get deep, but you better bring the big pouch. Also it's not the most well-kept city park, so it's loaded with trash and low conductors. If you can get deep, there are oldies to be found, but it's HARD.
Today was no different. With the recent rains the turf sounded like a literal puddle of noise. My friend's first two digs were a war nickel and a wheat, so I thought there was hope. After a couple hours I only had a few wheats to show - including a '14-S and '20 stuck together - until I wandered into a quieter corner of the park.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-5.jpg
Here in the quiet I got a very minute signal that barely squeaked through and nulled slightly from one direction. Going wide open it sounded a little better, and the cursor hung to the right side (on the Explorer) rather than flying around the screen. On top of the squeaking tone I could hear strange background low tones - a phenomenon that was going on all day, that I attribute to rain saturation halo. Whenever this halo occurred though, it was a wheat, never iron. Add to this that the target was focused in one small area, rather than the 'roaming pinpoint' or 'tone drag' usually associated with iron... I decided to dig. I ALMOST decided to video, and I wish I had, because in this area where'd I'd previously only got teens wheats, I pulled a nice 1907 Indian at the length of the probe. I got another '14-S and a '17-S a couple feet away, very similar signals.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-4.jpg
Then I got that same exact Indian signal. I got down and reached for my camera to record it, but put it away at the last second. Nah, this one's too deep and weird a signal. It can't be again... Of course it was the second deep Indian, and I kicked myself for not getting this one, down beyond the length of the probe, on video.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-3.jpg
Anyhow, I ended the hunt with 9 wheats and 2 Indians, which is very respectable for this park, as well as a buffalo, a silver bracelet/necklace piece and a Goetz telephone token which dates from the late 1800s to 1940s.
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-2.jpg
Last pic is a closeup of the early S-mint wheats we get to dig out here :)
http://homepage.mac.com/j.kress/Staydetuned/pictures/picture-1.jpg
And the video - an effort to make up for NOT recording the 2 Indians right before it. Just a wheat, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway. :confused:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa80ta7NsM
Thanks for looking, and reading!, even though it's not the most exciting group of finds! :grin:
PS - Sorry 'bout the mumbling... gotta work on that...