Advice on finding places to dig and where NOT to dig

[digdeep38]

I have had such a difficult time figuring out where to dig, and if I am even allowed to dig there. It's not as if there aren't a ton of abandonded old houses where I live, but I'm afraid to just plop my butt on someone's property without permission, so how do you go about finding who the owners are (if there even are any still living) and getting permission? I'm always too nervous or scared to hunt sites that are abandoned. Also, there are several old abandonded schools in the area, that I've been thinking about digging at, but if they have No Tresspassing signs, that means I can't right? I'm just curious, how everyone finds places, or gets permission or do they just do it and hope they don't get caught?

Linda

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

I'll skip the abandoned homes/lawns portion of your question, and go to the abandoned schools portion. The "no trespassing" signs on an abandoned school are not unique to their "abandoned" status. By that, I mean, that you will even find those signs on currently used schools, at gates (which are usually wide open). Heck, you will even find that signage at the entrance to each shopping center you go to: merely look at the little brass plaque planted in the asphalt where the driveway comes in (or sometimes put on a light-post in small print): "private property. permission to pass revokable by owner ... blah blah". I personally would not hesitate to hunt a school, whether currently in use, or not (assuming it's not been turned into a private residence or something, ie.: it is still a public, albeit un-used, site). But it all depends on the site. If the particular location you're looking at has been the target of repeated vandalism and arson (and thus is under scrutiny for ANYTHING), and if nosy-parker lives across the street, then no, you probably gotta go through the hoops. But if you're in mayberry RFD, then I bet no one cares. It all just depends. But basically, if it's still in public hands, then I'd just go.

 

[willie d]

I use my county tax collectors website.

 

[digdeep38]

For some reason, I'm just a freaking nervous Nellie and have no cahoonas when it comes to doing that. But lets be honest, how often do treasure hunters actually get thrown in jail for trespassing? My guess is, a simple warning, or "get the H off my property" would suffice. My problem is, I tend to draw a lot of attention, being that I'm a tall blond, usually in shorts, workboots and a tank top. So, I always tend to shy away from properties that are next to a main road. But finding anything "hidden" is quite difficult.

 

[truckinbutch]

For some reason, I'm just a freaking nervous Nellie and have no cahoonas when it comes to doing that. But lets be honest, how often do treasure hunters actually get thrown in jail for trespassing? My guess is, a simple warning, or "get the H off my property" would suffice. My problem is, I tend to draw a lot of attention, being that I'm a tall blond, usually in shorts, workboots and a tank top. So, I always tend to shy away from properties that are next to a main road. But finding anything "hidden" is quite difficult.

Check tax records and ask first . You have to be able to handle rejection before you ask . Here in Mayberry folks would have you
jailed in a heartbeat for being presumtious .
On the other hand ; if you ask for permission to hunt a yard you could very well be told :"Since you asked for permission , we got this
other thousand acres that you might want to hunt on , too ....been in the family for 300 years .

 

[Noodle]

Folks in Mayberry are more attentive than some think. We know people, vehicles, and land ownership. Don't cut us short. It's much more personable in Mayberry than city-dwellers like to think. Sometimes this may be in your favor. If you want to hunt a certain property and don't know the neighborhood, check with a Mayberry neighbor. You'll get more information than you ever wanted, probably. But please don't make the mistake of thinking nobody will see you or be curious about you if you decide to hunt a strange property. More people are kin to the sheriff and/or deputies in Mayberry than you want to know or even think about.

I live in Mayberry, I know. Not that we don't have mishaps like burglaries, etc. We do. Most of what we encounter, though, are meth labs in rental houses owned by descendants who live hundreds/thousands of miles away, which are located back off the roads. They eventually blow themselves up. Burglaries are handled with the 2nd amendment. Rarely do we have repeats.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I guess my usage of "Mayberry RFD" type locales, wasn't fitting to what I was trying to portray I was only trying to differentiate an abandoned school under potential scrutiny (being watched d/t recent vandalism, arson, graffiti, etc...) verses ones that are simply boarded up, but no one could care less about the adjacent lawn.

 

[DrGrip]

Folks in Mayberry are more attentive than some think. We know people, vehicles, and land ownership. Don't cut us short. It's much more personable in Mayberry than city-dwellers like to think. Sometimes this may be in your favor. If you want to hunt a certain property and don't know the neighborhood, check with a Mayberry neighbor. You'll get more information than you ever wanted, probably. But please don't make the mistake of thinking nobody will see you or be curious about you if you decide to hunt a strange property. More people are kin to the sheriff and/or deputies in Mayberry than you want to know or even think about.

I live in Mayberry, I know. Not that we don't have mishaps like burglaries, etc. We do. Most of what we encounter, though, are meth labs in rental houses owned by descendants who live hundreds/thousands of miles away, which are located back off the roads. They eventually blow themselves up. Burglaries are handled with the 2nd amendment. Rarely do we have repeats.

Yep, grew up in the same small town, only it is in Texas.

If you can get an address the County Tax rolls are perfect as someone else mentioned.

Also, neighbors in old communities LOVE to talk to folks and will more than likely at least tell you who owns the property.

One thing I have found to be true, first impression is everything. Don't go to a house after you have been hunting all day and covered in dirt and grime. Wash the vehicle, dress nice, and be very polite. I'm not saying anyone needs a bath, but we do sometimes look a sight after digging all day...

Grip

 

[digdeep38]

Well, I don't live in Mayberry, but I do live in BFE, so I guess that's the same place (he he). I do have to tell you about an old foundation of a home and barn which is still standing (just barely) that I came across while hiking in the woods behind my place. There is not much left of the home except for the foundation and a lot of old rusted farming equipment and junk lying around. But this place has no accessible roads leading to it. Everything is grown over by brush and trees so it has been there quite a long time. Against my better judgement, and ignoring the no trespassing signs (sorry), I decided to do a little investigating yesterday. Of course every bleep I got turned up some old iron nails, or old paint cans or rusted out tractor parts, so I'm not real sure if I'll find any keepers. At some point I ditched the detector and just started digging in places and was amazed at some of the items I dug up. I did manage to salvage several old glass bottles and jars. And I kept an old brass vent grate that looked amazing. So, my question to you now is, when you are at sites where you know for absolute certainty that 99.9% of the stuff your digging up is going to be trash, do you continue to dig in the hopes you could get lucky or do you just avoid those sites all together? Because I live near a local park on a lake and I often go to the camping areas, but of course, all you find are pop tabs and beer bottle lids.

 

[mlayers]

OK digdeep38 I will tell you what I do. If I get into a place where I dig a lot of trash. I work it a couple of hours at a time. maybe a get to it once a month. I do bring everything home with me and I seperate out the junk by it metal contents. You will spent a lot of time digging and a lot of junk to bring home with you. You do find some neat items within the junk. So it depends on how much you want to look and dig. As for the beach area with lots of pull tabs and bottle caps. Same here dig all as your gold and silver rings will register as pull tabs and caps. So you must dig all of these to find the gold. So keep a couple of buckets at home s when you come in from detecting you can seperate the tabs from the caps. At the end of the year take all you junk in to the scrap yard and sell your finds of junk i all is money if you save it......Matt

 

[Ronzie]

I know in my town that pretty much any public place is ok. I have friends/relatives who work for the town/conservation and they all have asked their superiors about metal detecting. Anwser everytime is no problem.
So all schools, parks, fairgrounds are all ok in this area (as most I would think). I've even had police stop and are very interested in the hobby and wish me good luck. I'd like to do a few churches around (not the graveyards) but know I'd need permission for those.
I'm very interested in history of our town and even belong to our local Historical Society. A plus with this is that I have lots of contacts with the older folks who own the big oldest homes in town. I already have permission to do 3 old yards.
But I kinda want to wait till I get my new detector.

 

[digdeep38]

Mlayers

That is great advice. I never thought about keeping all the junk and turning it in one day. I usually keep everything (so as not to dig it up again) but then just throw it away. But what about iron? Is there a value for rusted iron?

Linda

 

[DrGrip]

Mlayers

That is great advice. I never thought about keeping all the junk and turning it in one day. I usually keep everything (so as not to dig it up again) but then just throw it away. But what about iron? Is there a value for rusted iron?

Linda

Yep, scrap metal! Granted it will not be declared #1 scrap, but it is still worth $$$.

Get a BIG bucket or drum and start collecting, I'll bet you will get a nice surprise a year from now when you take it to the recyclers.

Grip

 

[BuckleBoy]

For some reason, I'm just a freaking nervous Nellie and have no cahoonas when it comes to doing that. But lets be honest, how often do treasure hunters actually get thrown in jail for trespassing? My guess is, a simple warning, or "get the H off my property" would suffice. My problem is, I tend to draw a lot of attention, being that I'm a tall blond, usually in shorts, workboots and a tank top. So, I always tend to shy away from properties that are next to a main road. But finding anything "hidden" is quite difficult.

Women have better luck getting permission than men do. Don't be worried. It's like any other skill, it takes practice. All they can say to you is "no" when you ask. No biggie.