Let me start right off with an experience that may help an up and coming treasure hunter who wants to recover some of the older coins and memorabilia that still lay hidden, waiting to be found. I know a lot of treasure hunters don't like to ask permission to hunt a particular section of land, they would rather be out at the park or a camp ground that has been gone over a thousand times by a thousand hunters. Now this doesn't mean there is nothing left, sure there is, but then you are talking about patience in recovering them, that is a guarantee. But there is another way to improve your productivity and give yourself a chance of finding those turn of the centuries coins which always remain elusive but unrecoverable to the treasure hunter who is willing to ask permission.

There are a number of ways to ask permission, I like to refer to this one as "the one that almost got away". Remember, the person you are asking permission from is an individual just like yourself, the worst thing that can happen is that he will tell you "no", but you will find that most property owners approached properly will glad to oblige. If you are one of those shy treasure hunters who doesn't like to approach property owners on a one to one basis, then this method may be the ticket for you. Ask your friends if they know anyone that owns an old farm, cabin or a parcel of property, lived on or used a long time ago. Many times your friend can get permission for you to hunt on that property. This is exactly one approach I used that ended up being very successful for me.

After my friend received permission, we both sat down and made plans for an enjoyable day of coin hunting. As we drove across the field and down an access road, we came upon a gate that prevented us from driving any farther. We pulled aside so as not to block the road, and gathered our gear from the trunk. We entered a small parcel of woods and we could tell that this road was seldom ever used. About 100 yards through the woods we came to a clearing, and in the distance I could see the old homestead, the plowed fields were all that remained in its vicinity. The brush was rather high, and I could see this was going to be a little tougher than I had anticipated. I suggested we use our scopes to cut down the are. As I scoped the area, I received numerous signals. One particular signal I intersected and estimated it to be near the rear window, in the direction we were approaching. My friend went around to the other side where he was receiving various signals which he had narrowed down to one particular location, in the back yard. My friend said "lets get the detectors working", so we laid our gear next to a large tree which stood in front of the home, heard some whooping and hollering, my friend came around to my side of the house, where I had just received a target just 6 inches from the original signal I had received from my scope. I looked in his hand, where he proudly showed my three rings he had located in his first hole, but, would you believe, they were plated, not even one ring was real gold. He had gotten so excited, he hadn't even bothered to check them for karat value before rushing over to show me. It kind of took some of his steam out, but that's treasure hunting. I told him that I had a good signal going here, and I continued to dig while we talked, and out popped a real beauty, a 1903 Barber Quarter, in fair shape. Of course to me, it was Brilliant- Uncirculated! They always are when you first see them coming out of that hole! That sure got my attention, real quick, and my buddies too. I then went around to the other side where he had been working, to have him show me exactly where he had found those rings. I was absolutely amazed that three of them had come out of the same hole, they all looked the same, as though they were from some old fair or something. They were old, at least they looked it, so we started hunting this section together. Pretty soon, my friend popped out a silver dime, and then an Indian head penny. I said "looks like your doing Okay, I am going back to the place I found that quarter, and continue the hunt". And that is exactly what I did. I made one more silver coin find about a half hour later, and he picked off two more of those worthless rings, and a couple of various coins.

As we sat down for lunch, and started to go over our finds, I said "there has to be more around here other than what we have found, this place I bet has never even been hunted before. We're going to have to dig every target, get them scopes working on the hot areas the rest of the this afternoon and turn the discrimination down to make them real sensitive so they can hit coins at a greater depth. Lets use VLF on our conventional detector, so we can recover some of those excellent targets." So I stepped back off of the property, and swept my Model 20 across the area I had covered this morning, I was going to mark each spot ahead of time and then go back in with our conventional metal detectors and work a 4 x 4 area of each location found with the scope. On my first location, I came out with a brass key, about 6 inches long, with a configuration of a dog or something on the end of it. That one got my heart pumping. My friend came up with an Indian head penny another silver dime, and a couple of mason jar lids, them darn things get my heart beating - fast! It seemed like we were just starting to get real hot, and that we were on the trail of some big finds, when those dark clouds started to roll in. If you have never been witness to a big Eastern thunderstorm, well, as my Grandmom used to say "it rained cats and dogs". We were just happy to reach the shelter of the woods! We were soaked to the skin, but we didn't want to get our gear wet, so we continued running to the car to wait out the storm. But after a while, we decided it wasn't going to stop; we were wet, tired, and muddy so we took what the day had to offer, and headed home.

You know, we never did get a chance to return to that spot. Before we did, the old gent that owned the place, past away and his wife and son didn't want to be bothered. The only thing I have remaining is what the earth had to offer, and a couple of photos I took that morning. You never know, as times change maybe someday the family will have a change of heart and let us go back for what has to be a very productive treasure hunting spot. But for now, I can only pull off to the side of the road, and scope from a distance into the woods, and the signal of treasure is forever there.