hunting old city parks

dleppen, I'm working a site very much like that right now and with my ACE 250. At first I thought it would be a very good site because It was a campground from the 1920's on before it became a park in 1989. I have about 20 hours in so far and the oldest coin a cent, dates from the 60's. No silver yet. There are several things going on here. Since it became a park (21 years ago), a lot of pull tabs have been dropped by day users. The second thing is the 250 goes down about 5-6 inches max for a coin. it's sandy and wet here, good conditions for coins sinking in the ground. I found lots of coins dated in the 1980's at about 4 inches in undisturbed soil. Therefore I figure the 60's coins are down another 4 inches Out of reach for the 250. This is the sinking coin dilemma. You need a deeper seeking machine or you need access to the deeper soil layer. As a partial remedy look for "soil losing areas" these are high areas where fast erosion is occurring. Hill tops are losing areas also the banks of gullies and some streams. Any slight slope with evidence water has been flowing over the surface is better than flat ground. There the older stuff will be closer to the top. I learned this from surface collecting of points for 30 years. Construction sites are excellent in that the top 4-12 inches of soil is usually removed before building. I'm constantly on the lookout for these. As for the multitude of targets, A pull tab can make 3 or 4 different sounds with the ACE depending on shape, depth and other things and of course so can jewellery. A smaller coil will separate the targets better but judicious use of the pinpoint function will also do that. Pinpoint every interesting target at a fixed height above the ground and listen to the tone carefully. I find the tone in the pinpoint mode helps in identification. If you have the time and want to break the boredom of digging pulltabs try digging every target in a 1 ft square section of soil, Iron and all. If you get more than 5 or 6 targets the 250 won't give a reliable target readout for a single coin because of masking. A 2 inch nail will mask a dime 2 inches away. The rule I use is if the targets are closer than half the width of the coil dig them all or forget it. That's about all I know for now but its a learning experience. Good luck with your hunt. I hope to see some silver soon!

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If you don't have to worry about messing up the turf that makes it much better. Some hunters dig first and detect later. It makes sense if the targets are too deep for your machine to see. One river bank I hunt looks like it was plowed because of all the hunting that has been done there. I've used a sieve for points when I get in a hot spot. It only works if you have a good idea the targets are in the ground before you start digging. I am experimenting with a 2x2' box sieve with half inch hardware cloth mesh and lawnmower wheels. The idea is you pull the sieve around behind you with a rope attached to your belt and carry a long handle shovel in one hand and the detector in the other. When you come to a hot spot. You dig two or three targets at a time,  place the dirt in the sieve and then when the sieve gets full shake it down. The purpose is to cut down on the bending over.  I've determined so far is that its more fun to hunt in a place where the targets are near the top and separated. 

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