Been hunting old homesteads, any tips?

Rawhide

Silver Member
Nov 17, 2010
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2,185
SouthWestern USA
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Nox 800, Etrac, F75, AT Pro. Last two for sale.
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All Treasure Hunting
The last few months I have had the invite to some very old spots like army camps or old homesteads. Im dealing with a lot of old iron, nails, pieces of tin roofs and such. Im going to plan a hunt in September due to heat and travel time to a late 1800's hotel. There is some settlements close by, to include old silver mines and the such. I dont enter old mines but have found the old camps and trash pits very productive. I also wanted to share how houses were built when they didnt have trees as in the case here. My goal is to produce some history. Anyone with experience in hunting these areas I would love your input. My visit here was cut short due to a sudden storm and I had to hike back to my vehicle before I got stranded or started loosing equipment due to rain. I was not prepared as well as I would have liked to been. Anyone have any advice here? Well here is one place I hope to explore soon.

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The walls here is two foot thick. There is several buildings and I cant believe how straight the lines are in these buildings. The wood floors have rotted away leaving nails and bits of things like needles and bullets. There is large trash pits behind the different sets of buildings. I have not visited the old mines yet so dont know their set up yet. I plan to camp out for a few days as the area is very remote. There is a small stream with water I hope to do some test pans and get some great pictures.
 

Randyg12

Sr. Member
Aug 6, 2014
459
466
Northridge, Ca
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Equinox 800, CTX 3030, and E-Trac
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You've got the right machine. The only thing I'd change would be to switch to a 5 inch coil with the discrimination set to 7, one tone, sensitivity as high as possible, and I'd dig every good repeatable sound. I'd be using a good small prospectors pick too.

Good Luck and HH
 

Last edited:
Oct 5, 2014
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Hello Casca,

You seem to have some very promising places to hunt. When hunting these areas I layer hunt (varying the machines power: low to high with multiple area passes), listen for high tones - dig, listen for mid-tones - dig, then start digging all iffy signals and lastly the iron (many good finds are in this region). Obviously, if I am looking for low tones and hit on a high tone I'll dig it. This method will take a lot of time, but with the historical permissions I have this is not a factor.

Regards,

Doc
 

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Rawhide

Rawhide

Silver Member
Nov 17, 2010
3,590
2,185
SouthWestern USA
Detector(s) used
Nox 800, Etrac, F75, AT Pro. Last two for sale.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello Casca,

You seem to have some very promising places to hunt. When hunting these areas I layer hunt (varying the machines power: low to high with multiple area passes), listen for high tones - dig, listen for mid-tones - dig, then start digging all iffy signals and lastly the iron (many good finds are in this region). Obviously, if I am looking for low tones and hit on a high tone I'll dig it. This method will take a lot of time, but with the historical permissions I have this is not a factor.

Regards,

Doc
thanks doc
 

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