Anyone have luck hunting.....

[Mitzki5]

A friend of mine recently bought 75 acres of rural woods. It has a good size creek that runs through most of it before dumping into a small river that also runs through his property. The creek is dry right now and the river bed will mostly be dry in a month or two. The beds of both are mostly sand with small rocks. Has anyone had luck hunting areas like this? I am suspecting mostly junk from high waters.

 

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[Mud Hut]

Some of my best finds, and unique finds, have been made in areas such as this, that I hunted for no reason other than for the heck of it. I found that Eagle button I posted out in the middle of nowhere.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/515470-can-anybody-tell-me-what-i-found-today.html

I sure would go for it!

 

[DigIron2]

I never let the opportunity to hunt a dry creek bed pass by. Have found a few decent thing in them in the past, but know some people that have found some really nice stuff in dry creek beds. The down side is there usually is quite a bit of trash all depending on location I guess. Aluminum Can's have always gave me the most trouble in them being that they are usually way on down there. I would give it a shot.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

If it's just "random woods" or "random dry creek/wash", then no, I wouldn't bother. There has to have been some sort of activity there. Like a camp, a park, a homestead, etc..... But to just wander to random fields or dry washes, is too much of a "needle in a hay-stack" here in the USA. Perhaps in Britain and Europe they can hunt any random cultivated field. But for us in the USA, our history is just too brief. Hence the coins we find here are connected to when/where we can ascertain that something was going on there.

 

[Mud Hut]

If it's just "random woods" or "random dry creek/wash", then no, I wouldn't bother. There has to have been some sort of activity there. Like a camp, a park, a homestead, etc..... But to just wander to random fields or dry washes, is too much of a "needle in a hay-stack" here in the USA. Perhaps in Britain and Europe they can hunt any random cultivated field. But for us in the USA, our history is just too brief. Hence the coins we find here are connected to when/where we can ascertain that something was going on there.

Over the past 40 years, I guess I have spent a lot of time looking for a "needle in a hay-stack."

 

[DigIron2]

If it's just "random woods" or "random dry creek/wash", then no, I wouldn't bother. There has to have been some sort of activity there. Like a camp, a park, a homestead, etc..... But to just wander to random fields or dry washes, is too much of a "needle in a hay-stack" here in the USA. Perhaps in Britain and Europe they can hunt any random cultivated field. But for us in the USA, our history is just too brief. Hence the coins we find here are connected to when/where we can ascertain that something was going on there.

You make a good point but not always the case. Depending on the creek. Stuff can be brought down from miles away . But I guess like everything else "location is key.

 

[creskol]

You make a good point but not always the case. Depending on the creek. Stuff can be brought down from miles away . But I guess like everything else "location is key.

The way I have always looked at it, if I am there at the moment, two others have been there before me, and four others before them, ad infinitum. So basically, almost everywhere has had some sort of activity in the past, and is worth a shot.

 

[Mitzki5]

Well I gave the creek a shot. Spent about 3 hours on it and was a major bust. Lots of old aluminum cans. It was still fun being in the woods and great exercise.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The way I have always looked at it, if I am there at the moment, two others have been there before me, and four others before them, ad infinitum. So basically, almost everywhere has had some sort of activity in the past, and is worth a shot.

To put that to the test, consider the following:

Row crop land where I'm at (lettuce, broccoli, sugar beets, etc...) has gone on since about the 1920s'. Prior to that, our area was mostly cattle land. Thus since *at least* the 1920s, there's been continuous cultivation on various parcels of land. Field workers harvesting, thinning, picking, weeding, etc.... at various intervals for nearly 100 yrs. now. Thus logically, eventually, some coins should be introduced, right ? Sure not as concentrated as 3000 yrs. of some European continually cultivated fields, but ..... using your logic, "still worth a shot", right ?

But consider the following: There's a certain cultivated field in my area, that we hunt because it butts up near to a historic site. It had a small community living there @ the 1790s to 1820's. After that, it sat naked (cattle grazing at best), till the current era of agriculture, which began in these zones @ the 1920s (approaching 100 yrs. now).

So naturally, when my buddies and I hunt here, we are *OF COURSE* looking for reales and buttons of the earlier era. We could CARE LESS about a random buffalo nickel, or wheatie or whatever. Yet as you say: Yes, an occasional nuisance silver washington, or buffalo, or wheatie does surface.

And since we are in relic mindset, we're digging all conductive targets, for the last 15+ yrs. at this spot, during each fallow seasonal time. And this has given me a good statistical look at the productivity of the "random losses" logic, since I have kept accurate tallies of all targets found. And with that in mind, I have to say, that if someone were hunting these type fields, for the "random passerby/fieldworker losses", it simply wouldn't be worth it. Sure, after 10 hunts, one of us finds a wheatie or silver roosie. But seriously, given the hours spent, and the aluminum shrapnel that is encountered, we could certainly find more productive areas, if that was our objective.

I suppose areas of the east coast could close down this gap further, but STILL I imagine the east coast gang MUCH prefers to hit fields where "something went on". Eg.: a tavern, a stage stop, a cellar hole, etc..... Not just "random cultivated fields" in our relatively new country.

 

[creskol]

Well, since I don't hunt anymore, Tom, all I can do is draw on my experiences over the 50 years that I did. Granted, I didn't make a practice of wandering aimlessly looking for the random find, but I must say that some of my best finds were made doing just that.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I would stay out of the bed and do along the banks of the creek. Farmers used to lead their animals to the edge of the creek for a drink and hunters would do the same for their horses. Always lots of activity near any water source in the woods.

I've found bells, ax heads, horseshoes, oxen shoes, ox knobs, pocket knives, watches, buttons and coins along the banks of streams and rivers. All I ever find in the dried up creek beds are beer cans and other lightweight junk that travels downstream.

 

[SusanMN]

Go over to YouTube and look at early videos by Aquachigger to see the hoard of coins he found in a creek. That will for sure give you motivation to get out there hunting.