Need help with best potential detecting sites - Updated with my big finds

hchcoin

I have a buddy who owns a metal detector. We have been out 3 or 4 times in the last 5 years. We have tried city parks, old school yards, city beaches, playgrounds, under bleachers, boat landings and baseball diamonds mostly. We have not had much success. Our best haul was about a dollar in modern change under a playground apparatus.

Any suggestions on where is a better place to find treasure? It gets kind of discouraging digging up pull tabs

ormandh

Hunt areas that are not so trashy. You may want to hunt old fields. You have much less hits, but the ones you get are much more satisfying in most cases. Otherwise, you could use a smaller coil when searching areas which are more trashy. -Dan

hchcoin

I live in the upper midwest. Most of the fields are corn fields

AUandAG

Treasures are often located in abandoned out houses (crappers).

Any abandoned or old farm houses that would be available to search could be a great
treasure trove.

bob

johnny9434

<< <i>Treasures are often located in abandoned out houses (crappers).

Any abandoned or old farm houses that would be available to search could be a great
treasure trove.

bob >>

keep an open eye. talk to the old timers about the old crappers and the sorts

mrpaseo

I'm on my phone so this will be short.

Old closes lines.
Old stone walls (anywhere two walls come together is a good place to start).
Old oak trees (over two feet in diameter)
Old barns (think of where children would have played 100 years ago).

More later when I am on my computer.

Happy hunting.

demodigger

many of the dumps that i dig in are either near creeks or railroads. most of them will have coins and other cool stuff. they can be detected, but some will have a high amount of iron. finding one often requires alot of exploring. they can be really small or go one forever.

outhouses can be tricky if you have never tried to find one before. usually an outhouse can be spotted by looking for a depression in the dirt. the contents over time will settle and therefor sink a little. not all outhouses are easy to find though. some may be under concrete, barns or in fields.(secret!, some people planted cactus over outhouses) there is such a thing as a bottle probe. they can be bought online if search for it. a probe is used to located the outhouse. you might see if there is a bottle club in your area. a treasure hunting club is also helpfull. i've belonged to one since 1986.

obtaining old maps and driving around old neighborhoods is always good. look for vacant lots, search the parking strips next to the sidewalk. look for sidewalk removal. knock on doors. ask permission. look for demolitions in old areas.

your only limited to your imagination. i once read that if your intuition says go "here", go to the opposite. most of us gravitate to the obvious. forget that. go to the edge, under a bush, along fence lines.

one last thing. a good site will either one or all of the following: bones, bricks, glass, pottery and shells. look for these visual signs. they will most likely be shards and pieces.

pcgs69

No matter where you go there will be pull tabs, bottle caps, nails, foil, etc. There's no shortage of junk out there. But, good stuff is out there hiding in between it all. I don't have much else to add other than go slow and listen to the signals, create a grid. And go back to a place and detect it at a different angle at a later time, either after some rain, or the next year.

What detector are you using? Is it the metal detector app for your iphone ? RickO wouldn't approve of that!

ricko

Good advice above.... I will add old cellar holes, and look for the back of the property - i.e. a fence line or significant tree. Things were buried in times past and the back yard was choice, especially in view of the kitchen or bedroom of the house. Cheers, RickO

hchcoin

Well - I took everyone's suggestions and went out today. We started at a historic registered house built in 1880. It is owned by a friend of mine. Then we went to the county fairground. Talked with an employee who said I was too late. The fair ended 2 weeks ago and a bunch of people were there right after it ended. Went to a couple city parks and then ended up at my neighbor's land who is a farmer. He has a rock foundation of an old farm house. We were using:

White's Classic 5 ID
White's bullpoint

Here's the haul - $1.26 5 clad quarters and 1 memorial cent
An old lock from the farm foundation



No silver but we had a fun day.

millennium

One of the places to hunt? Your local library.....look at old maps of your area, look through old newspapers for fair sites or other gatherings in the past. I love to look at old maps. Old houses and buildings are often shown. Good Luck!

jessewvu

My brother is an environmental biologist and was assisting with the excavation of a site for construction. They located an old outhouse hole and dug. They found all kinds of stuff from leather shoes and a gold coin from mid 1800's. he said the leather shoe they pulled out still stunk.

ricko

Is that a green clay marble??? Or glass? Looks interesting... I collect marbles... a better picture would help...thanks, Cheers, RickO

hchcoin

<< <i>Is that a green clay marble??? Or glass? Looks interesting... I collect marbles... a better picture would help...thanks, Cheers, RickO >>



Sorry RickO - It's a walnut that my buddy wanted to keep

My son took the picture on an I phone and emailed it to me. He put the Walnut in because it was in our bag of finds.

ricko

A green walnut??? Round??? Do NOT eat that walnut.... Cheers, RickO

pcgs69

A good haul of relics! Any chance of getting a closer pic of the lock?

hchcoin

Ricko - if you peel back that green outside you would actually find the nut inside. It is from a black walnut tree. Some people eat them but I never have. The squirrels sure love them.

pcgs69 - the lock was a very cool find. The farmer has a hay field with a stone foundation in the middle of it from an old farm house. The house is gone and only the basement foundation is still there. I don't know where my son put the lock but we were wondering if there was a way to clean it. It sounds like we would need to do electrolisis. I really thought we would find some old coins around the foundation but no luck.