Finding spots to hunt

[KJP462]

Anyone able to share a few pointers to a rookie on how to find good areas to hunt? I'm amazed at how well some hunters know the history of their area so well and are able to find old areas to hunt. Are there any resources out there to find this information or do most people find this stuff out by word of mouth? Thanks in advance for the help and HH.

 

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[JimJ]

I am far from being an expert on this subject but I talk with older folks in the community go to a town library and do a lot of google searches for history of areas I may have an interest in and look for old maps usually on google also. A lot in my opinion is in what you want to hunt such as coins, relics or battlefields. Hope this helps and good luck ! I am sure others here will have opinions on what works for them.

 

[WhiteTornado]

As JimJ pointed out, first determine what kind of hunting you want to do. For example, if coinshooting, do research to determine where large crowd gatherings took place on a regular basis. Read about your local history to find out where events like carnivals, athletic games/meets, tent revivals, picnics, etc, were held. If you want a simple way to start off, find the oldest school in town and hunt around there.

 

[CTwoods]

Try the map site:
https://www.historicaerials.com/

Put in your town for search bar, then there will be a list of topo maps by years to find where old houses were or still are. You can do the overlay option to show modern road names on top of the old maps there.

There will be Ariel maps of certain years to show what the land was; like fields etc


Then, if I see a road that no longer exists, or homes that no longer exist, I use my towns website to see who owns the land today.


If you have plowed fields, you may get lucky to find one that used to have a home. The relics will be shallow.


Luck plays a big part, even with researching. Sometimes undocumented old sites in the woods show almost no signs, so get out there before everything turns green in spring.

 

[Terry Soloman]

A Few Sites to Get You Started:

1) Old Schools
2) City/Town Parks
3) Circus/Fair Sites
4) Old Churches
5) Old Homestead Sites
6) Swimming Holes and Areas
7) Picnic Groves
8) Athletic Fields
9) Scout Camps
10) Rodeo Arenas
11) Campgrounds
12) Ghost Towns
13) Beaches
14) Old Taverns
15) Roadside Rest Stops
16) Sidewalk Grassy Strips
17) Amusement Parks
18) Rural Mailboxes
19) Reunion Areas
20) Revival sites
21) Fort Sites
22) Winter Sledding Areas
23) Lookout/Overlook Sites
24) Church Supper Groves
25) Fishing Spots
26) Fishing Camps
27) Resorts
28) Old Barns and Outbuildings
29) Battle Sites
30) Band Shells
31) Racetracks
32) Rural Boundary Walls
33) Roadside Fruit and Vegetable Stands
34) Under Seaside Boardwalks
35) Flea Market Areas
36) Ski Slopes
37) Drive Ins
38) Canal Paths
39) Vacant Lots
40) Motels
41) College Campuses
42) Farmer Market Areas
43) Town Squares
44) Urban Yards and Backyards
45) Disaster Sites
46) Areas Around Skating Ponds
47) Hunting Lodges and Camps
48) Mining Camps
49) Railroad Grades, Stations and Junctions
50) Hiking Trails
51) Waterfalls
52) Rural Dance Sites
53) Lover's Lanes
54) Areas Adjacent to Historical Markers
55) Old Gas Stations and General Stores
56) Fence Posts
57) Chicken Houses
58) Bridges and Fords
59) Flower Beds
60) Playgrounds
61) Old Garbage Dumps
62) Cloth Lines
63) Military Camp and Cantonment Sites
64) Wells and Outhouses
65) Abandoned Houses and Structures
66) Areas where Old Trails Cross County or State Boundaries
67) Piles of Scraped Soil at Construction Sites
68) Old Stone Quarries
69) Areas Around Old Abandoned Cemeteries in the Forest
70) Junctions of Abandoned Roads (crossroads)

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Depends what you are hunting for. I am a coin shooter so I want to be where people had their hands in and out of their purses and pockets before 1964. Town parks, picnic groves and grounds, churches, circus flats, produce stands, etc. Look at old post cards, pictures or maps at your county historical media and/or at the local library.

If you are looking for relics: campsites, foundation holes, battlefields (where detecting is allowed), etc.

 

[KJP462]

Thanks everyone for the tips! I am mostly coin shooting right now. I haven't caught the itch yet for relic hunting...still waiting to find some silver coins.

 

[CTwoods]

Thanks everyone for the tips! I am mostly coin shooting right now. I haven't caught the itch yet for relic hunting...still waiting to find some silver coins.

I started on clad for the first year, then everyone said silver is most important.. , so the second year I chased silver.

This was almost 20 years ago, so maybe it's not good advice these days: I went to grade schools that were being used around 1940-1960, and I skipped the open areas. I went into the woods where kids back then would sneak into during recess. About 1/2 of these schools had a lot of silver, the other half had none. These were non-city, they were places that had some woods nearby.

2nd best place here, was near fishing areas, but in the woods where people would camp over for opening day of fishing. No where near as good as school woods though.

My point is that you need to MD where others never did.


I got bored with common silver after a year, so I do relics as I like woods.

.

 

[JimJ]

Something I think we all forgot and should be mentioned is that to try and get permissions from owners. Even if it is not posted for no trespassing some people have thin skins and it could ruin your day. In my experience most will give you the go ahead and if you do a good recovery job you will get a good reputation and have access to sites you may not even have known of. Hope you find a bunch of silver!!

 

[KJP462]

-CTWoods- Good call on the school woods. There is a school near my home that I hunted this past summer. Tons of clad, couple wheaties, no silver though. I will have to consider some of the other schools in our area.

-JimJ- I am going to be asking permission for a couple places this summer. I'm new to the hobby and the last thing I want is to wander onto property and be hunting where I'm not allowed to be. Just a matter of time before the silver comes my way!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Hi KJP462, I see you live in PA. I live in Pittsburgh. All of my hunting is within 10 minutes of my home or office. I started with old schools now I hit abandoned home sites from the 1800's. Jeff of PA gave me a website called Penn Pilot, google it. It is basically google earth a century ago, but just for PA folks. I use it for all of my research, but I highly recommend focusing on schools and parks first as you will find tons of modern coins and some jewelry which is essential in understanding your detector before you hike into the briars looking for silver coins and true relics. Good luck!!

 

[fistfulladirt]

Google Earth for the local ballfields. Then I drive.

 

[FLauthor]

I used to hunt a drive in that was still in use. Yeah, heard all the stories, too trashy and junky, not worth it. Here is Florida, the one I had permission had grass. Found a lot of Clad usually about $10. A silver ring or bracelet, dropped in the dark and its gone. Got at least one 14Kt wedding band, dug a ton of pull tabs and old bottle caps for a silver dime or quarter. And every weekend it was replenished with more clad. Theater is gone now with a strip mall on it. It was fun while it last and I had no competition. Owners are usually OK with you are hunting digging trash and I always showed him all the bag of garbage I dug. And he couldn't tell where I was digging either as I'm a clean digger. Remember you have to dig trash to get treasure.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

A Few Sites to Get You Started: ....

Terry, I always love it when you re-paste that list

However, to clarify, some of those spots can be horrible. Like the "old garbage dumps" ?? I can just imagine someone trotting off to the nearest municipal landfill and getting ..... doh ... junk and landfill garbage About the only "old garbage dump" I can think that would be worthwhile, would be old outhouse tailings where, perhaps, you're angling for coins that dropped out of someone's trousers 100+ yrs. ago when he went to sit on the can

And "bridges and fords", for example, would only be if it dated to the foot-traffic pedestrian era, perhaps. But modern auto-bridges ?? nahhh

 

[aa battery]

go where no man has gone before.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Terry, I always love it when you re-paste that list

However, to clarify, some of those spots can be horrible. Like the "old garbage dumps" ?? I can just imagine someone trotting off to the nearest municipal landfill and getting ..... doh ... junk and landfill garbage About the only "old garbage dump" I can think that would be worthwhile, would be old outhouse tailings where, perhaps, you're angling for coins that dropped out of someone's trousers 100+ yrs. ago when he went to sit on the can

And "bridges and fords", for example, would only be if it dated to the foot-traffic pedestrian era, perhaps. But modern auto-bridges ?? nahhh

Thank's for loving and hating me Tom!

Truth? I have found some great silver coins, glass bottles, and relics in old garbage dumps in upstate New York, at pre-colonial farm sites (I know your history in Cali doesn't really kick in till the mid 1800s). Same holds true at fords and old stone bridges. Try not to pooh-pooh on things you don't have a frame of reference for.

Do you really "love it" when I re-paste my list Tom, or is this just a backhand to the face while singing a happy tune?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

... Do you really "love it" when I re-paste my list Tom,...

I wasn't being facetious. You post the list when the question comes up in the past, and yes, it always bears repeating But was just being a kill-joy to say that some of the spots need a little clarifying. Fords at old stone bridges, for example, on the east coast where things are 200 yrs. older than the west coast, sure. But I can think of random bridges here, that had utterly no stopping and foot-traffic. Or to the extent they may have been yesteryear crossings, yet the current bridges (like highway bridges) were built in the 1950s, totally obliterating the prior lay of the land.

 

[TerryC]

Terry's post is still worth repeating as the newbies are repeating the question. It is a perennial question. Add these, Terry. Old trees with low branches. Bus stop benches. Old train stations. Grass strip between roadway and sidewalk. Old lots that have had the topsoil dozed away (EPA requirement today in most places... they just added 4-5 inches closer to OLD stuff). Old bridges. Don't bother at the "last covered bridge in Wisconsin", at Cedarburg, WI. I got that one years ago! Add old platt maps, library history rooms, and OLD FOLKS to your research tools. I know where about 1000 Union rifles were discarded. Any one who PMs me will get that tip! Many good spots to go... get started! TTC

 

[TerryC]

Terry's post is still worth repeating as the newbies are repeating the question. It is a perennial question. Add these, Terry. Old trees with low branches. Bus stop benches. Old train stations. Grass strip between roadway and sidewalk. Old lots that have had the topsoil dozed away (EPA requirement today in most places... they just added 4-5 inches closer to OLD stuff). Old bridges. Don't bother at the "last covered bridge in Wisconsin", at Cedarburg, WI. I got that one years ago! Add old platt maps, library history rooms, and OLD FOLKS to your research tools. I know where about 1000 Union rifles were discarded. Any one who PMs me will get that tip! Many good spots to go... get started! TTC

Hi Tom. Many present day highways followed older highways which followed cross-country wagon routes. The first example that pops into mind is I 40/route 66/Canyon Diablo crossing in AZ. The Transcontinental Railway crossed there at Two Guns, AZ. They miscalculated the length of pre-fab pieces needed and had to wait about 6 months on the east side of CD until other pieces could be sent. A shanty town sprung up replete with barracks tents, gambling places, and houses of ill repute. This kind of situation has repeated itself many times around the States. Forgive me, Tom, I am not stepping on your above sage advice but only trying to expand ideas for newbies to use their imagination and search techniques to find such sites. Terry