How ofen do you get skunked...

Tikirob1

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Now I am super new...Went out yesterday to a new small park. I found about .30 cents. It must have been a landfill before it was a park. There were huge pieces of iron below the surface. I found tons of nails, bolts, doodads. It was frustrating, even running with a high trash program. I went to all metal and it was bonkers. I do not have a small coil yet… How often do you get skunked? Or find a impossible location.
 
Now I am super new...Went out yesterday to a new small park. I found about .30 cents. It must have been a landfill before it was a park. There were huge pieces of iron below the surface. I found tons of nails, bolts, doodads. It was frustrating, even running with a high trash program. I went to all metal and it was bonkers. I do not have a small coil yet… How often do you get skunked? Or find a impossible location.

:laughing: I believe the correct answer is "What is, all the time".
1c5sz0.jpg


Eh', I mostly beach hunt but in the off-season I go to parks, soccer fields and playgrounds. My average for a park/playground is less than $0.50/hr. I might score one piece of junk jewelry every 16-20 hours and a piece of good stuff every 400-500 hours.

Its not the equipment, heck, I've owned some of the most expensive detectors made. Its not necessarily the operator as many of have mastered swing techniques and the machines controls. The reality is you can't find something that isn't there. And when a good target is lost, you have to find it before your competition.

Being in Florida, we have scores of folks that hunt day and night. Then we have snow birds that come down and stay half the year. On top of it, we have tourists that flock to our locations. Worse yet, there are TV shows and social media that increase the hobby awareness by hundreds of new folks every month.

After you've mastered your machine, the key is diligence and persistence.

H/H and G/L! -David
 
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Each person has to find their own comfort level with this hobby.

The thrill of the hunt, the exercise, getting zen with it and zoning out, finding something historic or valuable some people enjoy finding a wheat penny others need a gold ring at the beach.


I know a very successful beach hunter with lots of ring finds and 1715 artifacts and he still enjoys the "hunt".
 
It all depends on how you define “skunked”...if you mean “find absolutely nothing except trash/junk iron/can slaw/pull tabs”, then I can say I’ve only gotten skunked one or two times in my mere 18 months of detecting. But I almost always find at least a few modern clad coins - is that getting skunked? Some would say yes, some no.

For me, the definition of “skunked” has changed quite a bit as I’ve gained experience and learned what I really enjoy finding in the short time I’ve been detecting. When I started, I was happy as long as I came home with a few coins or other interesting, but not necessarily old, finds. Now, I’m not satisfied unless I’ve unearthed something with some age to it. Could just be a Wheatie, an old dog license, or anything older than me with lettering on it that can be researched - if it’s older, it’s interesting to me! It might seem silly, but I could come home with $5 in clad from a one-hour hunt, and basically consider myself skunked - since I target older coins and relics, I wouldn’t have gotten what I went after...so, I’d be skunked!

In terms of my current definition of “skunked”, it happens to me quite a bit, but fortunately it’s more common that I find at least something interesting. As others have mentioned, it’s all about location - you definitely can’t find what isn’t there, so finding good spots is key.
 
It all depends on how you define “skunked”...if you mean “find absolutely nothing except trash/junk iron/can slaw/pull tabs”, then I can say I’ve only gotten skunked one or two times in my mere 18 months of detecting. But I almost always find at least a few modern clad coins - is that getting skunked? Some would say yes, some no.

For me, the definition of “skunked” has changed quite a bit as I’ve gained experience and learned what I really enjoy finding in the short time I’ve been detecting. When I started, I was happy as long as I came home with a few coins or other interesting, but not necessarily old, finds. Now, I’m not satisfied unless I’ve unearthed something with some age to it. Could just be a Wheatie, an old dog license, or anything older than me with lettering on it that can be researched - if it’s older, it’s interesting to me! It might seem silly, but I could come home with $5 in clad from a one-hour hunt, and basically consider myself skunked - since I target older coins and relics, I wouldn’t have gotten what I went after...so, I’d be skunked!

In terms of my current definition of “skunked”, it happens to me quite a bit, but fortunately it’s more common that I find at least something interesting. As others have mentioned, it’s all about location - you definitely can’t find what isn’t there, so finding good spots is key.

Agree completely,my take exactly. I don’t just hunt “anything”. And if “anything” is what I come home with,well then...I have just gotten skunked.
 
:laughing: I believe the correct answer is "What is, all the time".
1c5sz0.jpg


Eh', I mostly beach hunt but in the off-season I go to parks, soccer fields and playgrounds. My average for a park/playground is less than $0.50/hr. I might score one piece of junk jewelry every 16-20 hours and a piece of good stuff every 400-500 hours.

Its not the equipment, heck, I've owned some of the most expensive detectors made. Its not necessarily the operator as many of have mastered swing techniques and the machines controls. The reality is you can't find something that isn't there. And when a good target is lost, you have to find it before your competition.

Being in Florida, we have scores of folks that hunt day and night. Then we have snow birds that come down and stay half the year. On top of it, we have tourists that flock to our locations. Worse yet, there are TV shows and social media that increase the hobby awareness by hundreds of new folks every month.

After you've mastered your machine, the key is diligence and persistence.

H/H and G/L! -David





All good honest answers , this post defines it to a "T" to me !:dingding::dingding::dingding::dingding::dingding::dingding::dingding::dingding: Welcome to the Forum from California Tikirob 1 !
 
I went out yesterday to two small town parks that get hit hard. Pulled a 44 wheat and my first V nickel of the year. Otherwise I got less than a dollar in clad. If I find just one older coin I consider it a good hunt. If I can stay patient I rarely get skunked.
 
'Skunked' depends what your primary target focus is...If its Dirt Gold, then yeah, been skunked 1000's of times! Gold is one Cruel Mistress! Her Sister Silver is a bit more compliant, her little brother Pulltab shows up on EVERY Hunt!...:mad:
 
When I go out if I get one single coin, even one lowly Lincoln cent, I consider that a successful hunt because even that target has worth.
If I don't find a coin or anything else I still enjoy my time out in the field for several reasons.

1)...I am out there primarily for the exercise and to commune with nature, it is my "ME" time where all that goes on in my life I can set aside...it is Zen, I become one with the all.
For that reason parks that have lakes are one of my most favorite types of sites to hunt.

2)...Hunting with others is way fun in its own right...whether you find anything or not you have the camaraderie and the chance to hang with friends.
When you do find something great you can rub it in, (with humor), and if they find something they can do it to you which is still fun if you have a healthy attitude about everything.
If others find great things on a hunt but I don't I am still thrilled for them, this is not exactly a hobby for those that have huge egos or tie their entire self worth to what they are able to find on any given hunt.
For that kind of person you just need to hunt alone and I hope you are able to find great things on every hunt because if you can't that can turn frustrating very fast.

3)...I never got into this expecting to find any great or stellar treasure, I had hopes but again just getting out there digging is just so much fun for me no matter what I find.
I also discovered I loved the technical side of the hobby, playing with my settings and seeing different results and learning my detectors as well as possible and then going beyond that into areas and observe behaviors that many others don't have the inclination or time to try or do.
When I wrote about some of the things I discovered that seemed to work well over the years others have tried them and found they worked for them to plus it pushed them along learning curves a little faster than they might have managed on their own which made the enjoyment in this hobby even better for them...and many have thanked me.
That is thrilling for me and a side of this hobby I never suspected I would ever be able to do and ultimately would give me so much joy.
I learn from others, others learn from me...the circle of life and the people in this particular hobby are some of the most supportive and giving bunch I have ever come across.

4)...Despite not going into this with any real expectations in 8 years I have found more great treasure than I ever thought possible.
More silver and gold, older and rarer coins plus other little bits and pieces of history that might not be worth much but just the process of tracking down that history can be thrilling, so much fun and eye opening.
So much of those great finds were found using all kinds of detectors including some very low technical and simple entry level types that surprised myself and many others with what they could do.
I think I have proved in my own little way and world that you don't need to use the most expensive, tip top whistle and bell loaded tools to find the good stuff and have a huge amount of fun in this hobby.
All the tools we use find metal buried in the ground, everyone needs to find the type that make them the happiest be it the bottom or the most whiz-bang technological wonders on the current market.
I still use more than one detector that range from low to high...it's all still great fun for me no matter what I use or what I am able to find.

To me it's all about attitude.
My friends and I hunt in mostly sites that you described, extreme trash and iron filled areas with hotter mineralized dirt so the odds are against us around here and yet we all keep going with a good positive attitude and we all have found great treasure here and there although it might not be at every site on every hunt.
That just makes it so much sweeter when we do find something special, to overcome all of our problems and still be able to find the good stuff is a testament to us personally, how well we have learned our tools and picked the sites we hunt which to me is what it is all about.

You just can't find life changing, thrilling treasure on every hunt or at least I don't know anybody that have managed to do that even among the so many top, experienced most successful hunters in the world on this forum.
To expect to do that just sets you up for frustrating failure, in my mind anyway, my advice has always been to continue to learn your detectors and your craft and enjoy every minute you are able to get out there and hunt because you can.
Many in this world are not in the position to do any of this and would kill to be able to do it even if they never found one great thing.

We are out there having fun and sometimes saving history and we are a privileged group to be able to do that and especially lucky to be able to share our experiences on forums like this.
As you learn you get better and as you get better you find more and better treasure.
If you get frustrated at not finding a ton of great things when you are brand new I can give you another bit of advice...that will not change if that is your attitude even after you gain a lot more knowledge and experience.

Like with most things in life this hobby and how you enjoy doing it is all in how you look at things.
There are positive views and negative views...guess which one gives the most hunters the most joy?
 
Now I am super new...Went out yesterday to a new small park. I found about .30 cents. It must have been a landfill before it was a park. There were huge pieces of iron below the surface. I found tons of nails, bolts, doodads. It was frustrating, even running with a high trash program. I went to all metal and it was bonkers. I do not have a small coil yet… How often do you get skunked? Or find a impossible location.

Unless you are HistoryFinder, or have the pleasure of hunting farm fields of Europe, everyone gets skunked far more frequently than they like.
 
Usually when I goto the beach I find a few cents so its not worth driving 20 miles or so each way.
I find more around town.
Almost never find nothing at all.
Location is key.
 
I do alot of woods hunting, especially in the winter after the brush dies down. Often I'm lucky to come home with a couple of headstamps or a semi modern bullet or 2. That said I enjoy being out there so it's more about the journey than the finds. Good time to relax. If I want to dig clad I can hit any of the local sports fields and come away with a few bucks. Just don't find clad all that interesting. Prefer the half rotted whatzits. They are what can lead to an interesting history lesson.
 
I told the truth. I can almost guarantee I will get some penny signals and if I don't have any finds at that point, I dig the pennies. Better than nothing.
Most will agree the CTX has a pretty accurate ID, and last summer while digging a solid (non-jumpy) penny signal, out popped a nice ladies Fossil watch with a crystal lined bezel. It was probably the 1% time the VDI was wrong and boy was I happy it was. :lol:
 
On my way home from work, I saw a soccer field with two guys swinging machines. I could distinctly see the yellow sticker of the Garrett Sea Hunter PI and the unmistakeable green Minelab Excal. :lol: You know its bad when the beach hunting guys are resorting to sports fields.
:laughing::laughing:
 
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