There is some land I know had a house on it a few years ago, it's been empty since then, I don't know if it's been sold or not, who would I ask permission from to detect on it?
You see since it has be MT for a few years and you never see no one there ..Myself i would Just go and hunt it .. But that is me i have hunted for 40 some years and hunted places like that and never had a word said to me ... So just grab your detector and go hunt it ..
Check with your county to see who the tax map shows as the owner of record. My county has a GIS linked website and for free I can look up every parcel on both a map and a satellite image.
It is slightly (read: just plain old) unethical to hunt without permission. Despite the fact that people do it "all the time", still not quit right. You people do all sorts of stuff "all of the time", but that does not make it right.
I check tax records and if the county owns it...I own it too.I have been hunting old tax repos for many years with zero problems.I take trash with me so I guess I'm cleaning the place up.
Might try talking to the neighbors. If it's out in the countryside sometimes farmers will buy the land next to them so someone close will probably be able to point you in the right direction.
Go to qpublic.net and type in the address or closest one you can find. It will show you a plat map and you should be able to figure out who owns it. I don't know if all 50 states are available but check and see if the area you are wondering about is.