2 quick hunts 2 quick finds

balceber

Tenderfoot
Feb 23, 2009
6
0
I spent the winter researching old sites in my town where houses once stood, and yesterday I finally got out to one of them here in Rochester NY. The site itself is an old farmhouse situated in a rezoned business area; house is gone, probably burned, and recently since it actually shows up on google earth in a 2005 shot. There is still an apple orchard to the rear of the property (a dozen trees, homestead size) and a pretty promising refuse pile off to the side where I'd be likely to find lots of old metal bits, maybe coins.

Overall, mostly a good place to practice with my detector while I get used to it. Nothing real spectacular at first, mostly the expected junk from a knockdown site, nails, old siding etc. But at the base of a huge tree buried about five inches deep I scored what seems to be a handcast REALLY old sledgehammer head. Pics later, but this thing is about 2 pounds, flat on one side like a standard sledge, but the other side tapers to a conical point like an awl. Never seen this kind before, any farmers or experienced hunters know what it is for?

It's definitely a sledge type handtool, from the slot for handle. I've just never seen the shape like this. Very distinct cone.

Quickfacts: I'm new to the hobby this year, using a new bounty hunter cheapie and an old groundhog garrett while I practice. I want to upgrade but I'm not spending big bank until I learn a few more things. crawl before you walk, walk before you fly, that sort of thing. My town has a ton of likely spots for old schools, old homesteads, indian sites and even a couple of battlefields from revolutionary/ war of 1812 eras. I may never live long enough to check all of them out!
 

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savant365

Silver Member
Mar 28, 2007
3,918
71
Northwest Missouri
Detector(s) used
ACE 250
Sounds like a solid plan, if I were you I would get a camera and post some pics of your finds before you upgrade your detector. There are a lot of people here who are very good a identifying and dating objects from pictures. It can be really helpful sometimes knowing the date/period of the relics you are finding. Looking forward to your future posts, good luck.

HH Charlie
 

jb7487

Sr. Member
Apr 16, 2009
354
19
I know of a bunch of sites like this. But I'm bad at figuring out how to get permission. How did you go about getting permission to hunt there?
 

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balceber

Tenderfoot
Feb 23, 2009
6
0
savant365 said:
Sounds like a solid plan, if I were you I would get a camera and post some pics of your finds before you upgrade your detector. There are a lot of people here who are very good a identifying and dating objects from pictures. It can be really helpful sometimes knowing the date/period of the relics you are finding. Looking forward to your future posts, good luck.

HH Charlie

I do have a camera, I just didn't think to grab it as I was mostly fooling around with my new toy. Didn't really think I'd find a whole lot on that site, maybe some coins or something. I'll get a snap later and edit the post for your enjoyment. Meanwhile, I realized I didn't even mention the second find. Today, while walking the dog and strolling through a secluded section of my local park, I took a detour down the hill and found an abandoned clearing that had telltale signs of former homestead. Hollowed out area on one side, old tarred posts for a building about 12x14 ft square, and two suspiciously aberrant trees, evenly spaced in the clearing and well overgrown to exactly the same size. I have found in the past this was a dead giveaway to former landscaping efforts so I went hunting. Not much except a set of old rusted hinges, barn-sized, next to the posts. Finally, as I headed out, I pinged on something and dug a little, and uncovered a metal handle of some sort like a pitcher handle, "s" shaped and seems to be hand-worked. No rust on it at all, maybe brass or silver? Gotta eplore it further and as always pic will follow later.
 

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balceber

Tenderfoot
Feb 23, 2009
6
0
jb7487 said:
I know of a bunch of sites like this. But I'm bad at figuring out how to get permission. How did you go about getting permission to hunt there?
Well I'm new to the detecting part but as a longtime "urban-rural" explorer I have a couple rules-of-thumb I go by.

First, recognize that nobody really cares what you do on old sites as long as you don't create a nuisance. In my area, these places are long-abandoned and beneath the notice of everyone but the occasional security guard who is mostly there to prevent vandals and teenagers from trashing the place. I generally have my dog with me, and dog-walkers get very little flak from any occasional passersby.

For more recent burnouts or public places, getting permission depends on the owner and the approach. For example, I have a site just down the road I want to hunt that recently burned out and is currently abandoned, but situated on a busy suburban corner. No chance of being alone there, so I'd want to clear it with someone first. The site is a former post office/general store from early 1830's which was converted to residential decades ago. Good chance of finding coins etc in that yard.

If I go there w/o clearing it, I may get lucky for a quick hunt and be done. For a longer hunt, I'd contact the town clerk and determine who owns it, then call them and very politely request permission to wander the grounds with my detector. It really depends on the person you speak with, but I find the following rules almost always apply:
1. Polite and respectful, even if they say "no." Many people are suspicious at first of these kinds of requests, especially if they think you "know something" they don't.
2. Have a legitimate reason besides "I wanna get rich looking for treasure on your property." For me, a lot of my exploration is backed by historical research, so I can easily say to an owner that my intent is mostly historical value. Other good reasons might be architecture study or local interest or just plain exploring the neighborhood with your favorite hobby.
3. For specific hunting trips you'll want a prepared affidavit or agreement for finding big scores. Many owners will be more willing if they think they may make a little something off the deal. Others on this board I am sure have more experience in that area than me.
4. Professional demeanor and appearance when you meet or talk to a prospective owner. Consider this a job interview, and leave the ragged clothes and f-bombs at home when you plan to meet an owner. They mostly want to know you won't trash their land or rip them off, and the better your attitude the more comfortably you'll get along.
5. If the owner is a municipality or a state park, the rules are way different. Mostly they don't want people digging up the parks, and for any low-level government employee the answer is a default "no". Nobody wants to be the one who gets in trouble for letting somebody onsite, so they just deny everyone.
But remember this key fact. City, state and Federal parks are drastically underfunded and rarely patrolled in any regular fashion, and if you do your research well you can probably conduct a solid hunt without seeing another soul onsite. Just don't use dynamite as your digging tool, you should be fine. At worst, as has happened to me once or twice: you run into a ranger who says to scat, you respectfully say "Sure, sorry, seeya" and you hit the road until another time when that guy is gone.
 

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