Metal detecting advice needed

[Generic_Lad]

I need advice about an upcoming hunt (Thursday) its a decent sized chunk of property with 2 old houses and 2 old barns on it. The 4 buildings are all on aerial imagery from 1950 and a topographical map from 1966, there is also a cemetery on there dating from the 1850s (naturally I'm not going to be digging up any graves!). However, none are standing today. One of the barns was bulldozed down? You can walk on the crumpled tin roof and there's no easy way to really pick it up. Around this barn there is a cellar that is caving in, I lightly searched it before it got too unstable but found nothing but modern trash, there is also a well or cistern, like a cinder-block with a square hole at top, but it is stone all the way down, I haven't explored this at all, its fairly narrow, about 6 inches wide at the opening and fairly deep. The first house is no more. There isn't anything remaining, I think there are some trees where the house once stood (nasty thorn trees). I believe this house burnt but don't know for sure.

The other side has a barn that recently (past 10 years) fell down, there are like 2 rusty wheels in there and nothing else that I've found. Near there is a house with a stone porch that burnt (was used by the fire department for training), trees have grown up (again, nasty thorn trees) and there are ashes and burnt wood.

Now the downsides, every part of this property is covered in tall grass, as in, it hasn't been mowed at all this year. The dirt is also, naturally, rock hard making digging a chore.

My equipment consists of:

An Ace 250 detector
A pocket knife
A plastic trowel (won't really work in the hard dirt...)
A shovel
A pick

I've searched these grounds 2 times before and never found anything more than trash (particularly intact aluminum cans and fragments) and some junk, so obviously I'm doing something wrong and not searching in the right places. I've got about 8 hours there so what should I do to find treasure? Where should I search? There's really no big "treasure legend", just the average, I heard X's great grandfather didn't trust banks and kept all his holdings in gold which he must have buried and never dug up... Nothing solid to go cache hunting or anything. I also don't have any reason to believe that this is a hunted out property (or hunted at all) as it is in a very rural area and is privately owned.

So, what do I need to do?

 

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[spartacus53]

Well I would expect any goodies to be found around the actual house first. Then I would search around the barn area, leaving the section from house to barn last. People would tend to spend more time at an actual site traveling to and from it, so there is a better chance of finding something they may have dropped.

 

[A/CMan]

Around trees and wells old clothes lines, I have found some cool relics around old cedar trees, people back then would make there property boundary corners with cedar trees cause they stay green all year and bury things by them, worth a try, GL

 

[releventchair]

Would be nice if you could mow some of it. Even weed wack around well,likely paths from previous building locations to each other,outhouse if there was one,(downwind of houses,per dominant wind direction?) Who looks under active out house seats? Fenceline nearest homes. chicken coop under floor if location can be estimated. around/under stumps larger rocks, and garden areas,sometimes there can be plants to tell where they had been. Try to think how site could have been layed out,clothsline mentioned by A/C man for instance. For a cache where would you put one where you could keep an eye on it and still get in and out of it. At night? All weather. Trash your finding is on top of older stuff and most cache depth. Break area down and cover best spots s l o w l y . Sounds like nice location. Re. Outbuildings,the well area included. Don,t have date on your site,but always check thresholds. That sweet spot you step over when you go in and out a structure and near it.



Water was needed every day,for stock too. Source of it had traffic enough to have left sign ,a rest there could lead to a pocket spill. H.H.

 

[A/CMan]

Good post RC , great ideas to note down and remember, thanks AC

 

[russ]

Sounds like a lot of good spots to search, and some good advice.I think the best way to go about a place like this is to divide it into sections, and search each one slowly, listening for the quiet signals from deeper targets.Do it all again afterwards, you,ll always miss something.Concentrate especially on spots where people may have sat together or just stood.Old stone walls were a good place to sit and watch the world go by, also people sat against them,climbed over them, and even hid coins or other things in the joints or under the loose ones, don,t forget, take a good spade and be ready for lots of digging, especially in the modern trashy areas if you want modern coins etc.good luck mate where are you based? I,m in Wales UK.cheers.

 

[bazinga]

Your search would be much easier if you stopped at a detector shop before Thursday and upgrade.

An Ace 250 in tall grass? Might as well just throw a random rock behind your head and go dig where it lands. You would get the same results as you have the past 2 hunts there.