Cache Hunting Tips

[whiskers]

If it's not clear, you can hide stuff in it. You can't hide stuff in a window pane, a clear bottle, a clear light bulb, an empty clear plastic bowl or in clear water. And you probably wouldn't want to hide something in a vat of acid or drain cleaner. Just about anything else is fair game. (Just for fun, look around the room you're in right now and try to find 50 places you could hide a silver dollar. Use your imagination, and the sillier the place the better.) Then tell us about it here.

 

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[Bluedogcards]

Above the door frames inside the home. there is always a opeing there and i know they would pry off the top molding and put things there. works alot better on real old homes

 

[mikeraydj]

From what I have seen, most caches have been found by accident. I have only seen one that was dug with the help of surviving family members who knew their grandparents had hidden jars of silver around their farm. The grandparents had even made a map before they died, but had to bring in metal detectorists to find it as the landmarks they had used had deteriorated or no longer existed.
I think I will stick to detecting, mindful of the research I have done but not expecting a cache. But how fun would it be to create a cache from the clad we have found and leave it for future detectorists to find?

 

[Curtis]

The chicken coops, hog pens, horse/mule quarters, all made natural alarms..the post hole is typical too, but have you seen the one where a guy found that some farmers often had a plug inside of the post? it covered the cache in the hole in top of the post . Then there is the guys that took an auger and bored holes in the top of the rafters...just the right size for $20 gold pieces...then just placed the coins in the holes. We found one where they had made a false foundation behind the real one and in between was hollow so they could but a cache in it.(Dr.s home) built in the late 1800s.

 

[Hot zone]

I would dig all signals... The junk you dig often helps in the search... Old bottles in privy... Square nails, Location of all out buildings now gone... Entrances... Was there a wooden porch now gone? Good luck... A cache is were you find it!

 

[goldkey]

I heard a story of a man when I was a teenager, that owned an old country store. He had placed a wash tub under the floor. He would drop coins into the wash tub by placing them through the crack between the planks on the floor. Another story that my step-father and I followed up on, was about a man that had committed a robbery. He spent time in jail for the robbery but the money was never found. The elderly man that told us the story knew where the man lived out in the country. We went with him to the property and searched it with metal detectors. There was an old outhouse on the back side of the yard. We pushed the outhouse up so that you could see under the front of it......and there it was......a perfect impression of what had been a gallon jar in the mud. Someone had already been there and found what was there. People hide valuables in really weird places thinking that no one would ever think to look there. Try to think the way others would and good luck ..............

 

[Ism]

What would a cache sound like on a detector? Wouldn't it just be really erratic and loud? I mean If it was in a jar (and had silver coins) it would just be silver but if it was in like an iron or brass pot idk I figure it would be a loud mixed signal.

It would sound like the specific container unless the container was not metal. The cache inside the metal container will not be seen by the detector, only the metal container. If in a non-metal container, the coins will give you a large signal (depending on the size of the container/or mass of coins) but a mass of coins will not be detectable near as deep as a metal container full of coins. Silver or gold will not give a broken signal in mass unless the container they were in was iron and it had partially decayed exposing the cache inside and you were using iron discrimination.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

My grandfather buried his money, but I heard he always dug it back up! Born in 1889, he grew up in the depression years and I still believe people like him buried their money for various reasons.

LOL. Yes, I know I am late to this party, but what depression was that, or was he just a slow grower upper?

 

[foiler]

Some things to consider from an old timer. Metal detectors are just a tool there where 'treasure hunters' long before there were metal detectors and they found stuff frequently. Research is what finds treasure. There is a difference between 'buried' and 'concealed. If your searching an old homestead site there was always chickens and a coop to house them. A man hid his money where he could lay eyes on it easily. If the homestead your searching was occupied by the original owners during the depression you can be assured that cache money was retrieved and used to survive. Best leads for cache hunting are obituaries. Sudden death is what your looking for.

 

[boogeyman]

If the house is still standing, check all of the floors for loose, and unnailed boards, esp. in closets. you'll be surprised what is hidden under those floors.

Don't forget the window frames! look for loose sills, and up the sides. You'll get a wet your pants signal from the sash weights in the sides of the frame though. If the house has a medicine cabinet, pull it & look down the wall. Be very careful! a lot of people disposed of their razor blades through the slots in the sides. This has panned out for me numerous times.

 

[boogeyman]

I'm up here in the Grass Valley-Nevada City old mining towns in Cal.

There is a park nearby, that a creek flows up a ravine, where 10000 miners camped out in the 1850's and took out HUGE amounts of gold. The creek has a trail that goes up the ravine for over a mile, and the ravine is wooded and somewhat steep.

Being as these old miners lived in tents, and there are no houses to search, where would they have stashed their gold caches? There is a huge pile of boulders near the creek, where they diverted the creek long ago.

I had found one old cache hole, that was cleaned out already, through dowsing. There must be more nearby!

Any tips are appreciated.

go out and just sit and look around yourself. Put yourself in their mindset and ask yourself "If I was camped here where would I hide my -------. Sometimes the best locator out there is you!

 

[boogeyman]

There are no universities near here.

But I will go to the Nevada City Historical library Friday and look for old photos and info.
That place is a gold mine of old information, but has limited hours, and is open only because of volunteers and donations.

I am also looking for info on old Wells Fargo stage coach robberies, and old mines in the area.

If you have some time to spare, have you thought about volunteering? A few hours a month might get you the key to the kingdom! A few hours a month in exchange to a treasure trove of research materials is well worth the effort.

 

[TunnelRat]

One place that I have not seen talked about lately is built in bookcases. I used to rent an old apartment that had 2 built ins. The bottom shelves could be pried up and lifted out to reveal about a foot of space below them. I did find an old can of tobacco under one of them, but nothing else.

 

[Bumpstick]

People are still stashing valuables even to this day. Just look at the Geocaching craze going on.
I was hanging at a friends house admiring his custom cabinets and mentioned secret hiding places.
He said he did the remolding work himself and to try and find his hiding place. After a while of wild guessing he stepped into the pantry reached up and out came home defense. Built ins are common and hard to find.
The one Cache I heard of and liked was the gold coins stashed in PVC tube and buried in the forest.

 

[DiggItUp]

Update: still in the treasure game but I'm very busy with college. Let's keep this thread rolling, shall we?

 

[Bass]

I know of a cache that was buried behind a civil war era home. This area had been clear cut by a forestry company and was located on the edge of where a ghost town was. When I first noticed the forestry company clearing the area I thought it would be a a great place to metal detect in about 3 weeks. 4 weeks had gone by when I decided to go back and work the area. We had a light ran that night and it was just enough to pack the sandy soil. When I parked by the side of the road I noticed footprints going and coming to the area I was headed. I thought to myself someone had been there that morning, after the rain. I had arrived around 930am. I didn't really think anything about it and continued to the area to hunt. I knew where an old house place was and decided to search there first. I started hunting around the old brick foundations and after a few minutes moved around to the back of the hous was. At the back left corner, approximately 5 ft out , I saw an open hole and those same footprints around the hole. As I walked nearer, I could see someone else had been using a metal detector by the back and forth course they had taken leading up to the freshly dug hole. I could also see tracks leaving the hole and walking a straight line back toward the area where I parked. Beside the hole was a broken piece of a cast iron lid and inside the hole was a very precise mold of the bottom of a 3 legged cast iron pot. Now I can't prove anything was in that pot but I could see evidence where the top had been broken (likely fused to the pot after being in the ground for many decades) and the finder made a straight path back to his vehicle with the pot. That was evidence enough for me that there was something of value inside that pot. My heart is still broken about it. If only I had gotten there earlier, or even the weekend before!

 

[Old Silver]

I know of a cache that was buried behind a civil war era home. This area had been clear cut by a forestry company and was located on the edge of where a ghost town was. When I first noticed the forestry company clearing the area I thought it would be a a great place to metal detect in about 3 weeks. 4 weeks had gone by when I decided to go back and work the area. We had a light ran that night and it was just enough to pack the sandy soil. When I parked by the side of the road I noticed footprints going and coming to the area I was headed. I thought to myself someone had been there that morning, after the rain. I had arrived around 930am. I didn't really think anything about it and continued to the area to hunt. I knew where an old house place was and decided to search there first. I started hunting around the old brick foundations and after a few minutes moved around to the back of the hous was. At the back left corner, approximately 5 ft out , I saw an open hole and those same footprints around the hole. As I walked nearer, I could see someone else had been using a metal detector by the back and forth course they had taken leading up to the freshly dug hole. I could also see tracks leaving the hole and walking a straight line back toward the area where I parked. Beside the hole was a broken piece of a cast iron lid and inside the hole was a very precise mold of the bottom of a 3 legged cast iron pot. Now I can't prove anything was in that pot but I could see evidence where the top had been broken (likely fused to the pot after being in the ground for many decades) and the finder made a straight path back to his vehicle with the pot. That was evidence enough for me that there was something of value inside that pot. My heart is still broken about it. If only I had gotten there earlier, or even the weekend before!

Bummer. I would still hunt around that place. You never know.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I know of a cache that was buried behind a civil war era home. This area had been clear cut by a forestry company and was located on the edge of where a ghost town was. When I first noticed the forestry company clearing the area I thought it would be a a great place to metal detect in about 3 weeks. 4 weeks had gone by when I decided to go back and work the area. We had a light ran that night and it was just enough to pack the sandy soil. When I parked by the side of the road I noticed footprints going and coming to the area I was headed. I thought to myself someone had been there that morning, after the rain. I had arrived around 930am. I didn't really think anything about it and continued to the area to hunt. I knew where an old house place was and decided to search there first. I started hunting around the old brick foundations and after a few minutes moved around to the back of the hous was. At the back left corner, approximately 5 ft out , I saw an open hole and those same footprints around the hole. As I walked nearer, I could see someone else had been using a metal detector by the back and forth course they had taken leading up to the freshly dug hole. I could also see tracks leaving the hole and walking a straight line back toward the area where I parked. Beside the hole was a broken piece of a cast iron lid and inside the hole was a very precise mold of the bottom of a 3 legged cast iron pot. Now I can't prove anything was in that pot but I could see evidence where the top had been broken (likely fused to the pot after being in the ground for many decades) and the finder made a straight path back to his vehicle with the pot. That was evidence enough for me that there was something of value inside that pot. My heart is still broken about it. If only I had gotten there earlier, or even the weekend before!

funny. Thats almost exactly the same story I have read from many OLD treasure tales.

 

[Bass]

Unfortunately it's true. This happened 16 years ago. I blame my wife, she wanted to sleep late that Saturday morning. 16 years later, the thought of knowing I was so close still haunts me

 

[Kentuck]

I know how you feel, Bass. In 2004 a friend and I missed a cache by 'one' day. His family property(greatgrandparents) was selling and he was told that he had the weekend to go get anything he wanted or just go see the property before the closing was done the following Monday. Bad luck got us there late... heavy traffic, rain, and a car problem, not to mention his wife holding him up. Anyway, we got there on Sunday only to find several holes dug around the old homesite. One large hole in particular was about 10 feet north of the old waterwell, which is the only thing left to identify the site other than some sandstones. A few weeks later he found out from the local pawn shop owner that his cousin had sold him several old gold and silver coins, and mentioned that he had many more. He estimates the cache to be around $10,000 if not more, but since his cousin won't tell him actually how much he found, we will likely never know. I was promised half of all the finds since I had the metal detector, but would have been happy with enough to pay for my detector. We hunted anyway and found only 2 wheat pennies. When you hear of a site, go as soon as possible, as I will from now on...