how do you find your places to hunt?

[kawalabear]

just wondering how you pick you hunting grounds ?

i do most of the research and Benny does the hunting ,
i look up county history for all counties around us and try to match up places that look good that are still open to the public.

i can spend hours on the puter searching for a new area,
looking at old maps ,
family sites,
even the local library MD. room , which was very disappointing,

i couldn't tell you how many hours i have spent on the puter searching, we have had some good luck with some of the sites i have found ,that we prob. wouldn't of tried.

so how do you pick /find places to hunt ?


this was posted in the maryland site though i move it here.

 

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[RGINN]

I do a lot of research and come up with some sites. The best thing I do and have a lot of fun with is just to walk out into the middle of nowhere and start to detect. You may not find nothin, but sometimes you find some cool stuff.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Great work on the research!

I take it a bit further.

Step 1: Take the old maps and overlay them on Google Earth.





Step 2: Mark the specific location of structures that are no longer in existence.



Step 4: Remove the overlay, leaving behind the thumb tacks that mark the spots of old structures, noting the coordinates.



Download the coordinates onto a handheld GPS.






I have found many old cellar holes deep in the woods using this method. The examples above are from a 1949 topo map, but I Have done this with maps dating back to the 1850's with extreme accuracy. You will need to learn to stretch and scale the overlay correctly, but with a little practice it becomes quite simple.

 

[Seamuss]

I research where people lived or congregated in the past and present and that helps me find the most ideal spots to hunt.
Old farms, amusement parks, baseball fields,...

 

[spartacus53]

Well you are doing the right thing in researching, but you can add another weapon to your research arsenal. I would suggest that you talk to some of the old timers in the area you are interested in. You may be surprised to hear of old fairgrounds, parks, etc.

 

[Tank69]

here is what I use to find my areas.

#1. google earth
#2.word of mouth
#3. parks an recs page for your home town
#4. ALLWAYS KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN WHEN OUT
#5. the internet

 

[extractor]

Wikimapia or
http://www.geocommunicator.gov/

 

[Jimmy(PA)]

I get a lot of good idea's from reading old accounts of the community, where people use to gather, where parks and playgrounds use to be. I also use old maps for locations of homes and mills and sometimes I just happen upon old locations while walking in the woods. Just because its seemingly not a significant site doesnt mean some guy didnt fall off his horse 200 years ago and drop his Bust coins in that random spot.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

I get a lot of good idea's from reading old accounts of the community, where people use to gather, where parks and playgrounds use to be. I also use old maps for locations of homes and mills and sometimes I just happen upon old locations while walking in the woods. Just because its seemingly not a significant site doesnt mean some guy didnt fall off his horse 200 years ago and drop his Bust coins in that random spot.

You are absolutely correct sir! I have found Draped Bust cents in towns that were not established until the 1890's, so you never know. But the fact is, the more research you do, the luckier you will be!

 

[SouthArk]

Very nice, Neil !!! I don't go into that much detail with my research, but I do use GoogleEarth or TerraServer to supplement my hard copy county maps and Quad maps. I also have some Union engineering maps of a few of the counties nearby that I use as well. These were done in 1865 and show the farmsteads and even where the house was located on that farmed property....... and where all the old roads were. Many of our modern paved roads are more or less where the 1865 roads were..... except the curves have been straightened out and such.

I also use the online OR's to research Civil War campsites/skirmishes/troop movements. etc.

 

[kawalabear]

thanks for all the info.. a few new things to try.
i actually really like doing the research its fun to know the history of your area . when we go to a site i think is good from the research and actually find something good it makes me want to go find more sites..

the first site i looked up was an old steamboat place and the first thing we dug up was an 1877 silver seated dime.. beginners luck but it got us both hooked .

thanks again

 

[NGE]

I use old county road maps w/section numbers. Transfer info to newer road maps with section numbers.......NGE

 

[Goes4ever]

for me, I just drive around and look for old homes when I see something that looks apealing, I stop, go up and knock on the door, I explain my hobby to them and just politely ask if they mind if I search their yard. I honestly do not remember the last "no" I got when asking face to face.

 

[BIG61AL]

I used to try to find where stuff used to be in this area. i found an old horse race track and a drive in movie theater but everything about them was paved over and built on leaving nothing exposed. Where I live now was nothing but pastures until a building boom in the eighties. So everythin old near is A] gone and covered up or B] all private house. Sigh!

 

[relichunters]

I just drive around until I see a good place to hit, and do it.

 

[fistfulladirt]

for me, I just drive around and look for old homes when I see something that looks apealing, I stop, go up and knock on the door, I explain my hobby to them and just politely ask if they mind if I search their yard. I honestly do not remember the last "no" I got when asking face to face.

I second that! Research smmeesearch! Door to door for me. Private property (permitted) ROCKZ!
ffd

 

[godisnum1]

for me, I just drive around and look for old homes when I see something that looks apealing, I stop, go up and knock on the door, I explain my hobby to them and just politely ask if they mind if I search their yard. I honestly do not remember the last "no" I got when asking face to face.

I second that! Research smmeesearch! Door to door for me. Private property (permitted) ROCKZ!
ffd

In all honesty... it's gonna be "hit or miss" if you don't spend time researching anything. Who knows, you might get lucky and swing your coil across something good... but then again, the chances aren't really in your favor.

Bran <><

 

[Goes4ever]

In all honesty... it's gonna be "hit or miss" if you don't spend time researching anything. Who knows, you might get lucky and swing your coil across something good... but then again, the chances aren't really in your favor.

Bran <><

uh yeah..........ok............so far this year I guess it has been "hit" ....and not miss.... for me...........old houses almost ALWAYS have old coins. You say the chances are NOT in my favor? who you trying to kid here is my totals for this season. Guess your wrong about me

2009 Totals:
==============================
94 silver coins
41 Indian Pennies
455 wheat pennies
1845 Large Cent
10 V nickels
6 Buffalo Nickels
19 tokens
20 rings
2 necklaces

 

[buckeyehunter]

for me, I just drive around and look for old homes when I see something that looks apealing, I stop, go up and knock on the door, I explain my hobby to them and just politely ask if they mind if I search their yard. I honestly do not remember the last "no" I got when asking face to face.

I second that! Research smmeesearch! Door to door for me. Private property (permitted) ROCKZ!
ffd

In all honesty... it's gonna be "hit or miss" if you don't spend time researching anything. Who knows, you might get lucky and swing your coil across something good... but then again, the chances aren't really in your favor.

Bran <><

LOL - you might want to see his finds before you make a comment like that, Goes4ever is VERY succesfull! I know him very well and I know very few people who consistantly make such great finds.

 

[godisnum1]

uh yeah..........ok............so far this year I guess it has been "hit" ....and not miss.... for me...........old houses almost ALWAYS have old coins. You say the chances are NOT in my favor? who you trying to kid here is my totals for this season. Guess your wrong about me

2009 Totals:
==============================
94 silver coins
41 Indian Pennies
455 wheat pennies
1845 Large Cent
10 V nickels
6 Buffalo Nickels
19 tokens
20 rings
2 necklaces

I know what you've found, as I've seen alot of them on here... and you've done very well, no doubt. All I'm saying is... if you neglect to do research, you're gonna miss a whole lot more than what you're finding right now. Plus, you won't know anything about how those finds got there... that's all. If that's how you prefer to hunt, have at it. There are many people that can probably walk out their doors in Virgina, and other history laden states, and be privileged enough to live on land that isn't lacking in "finds". I just believe from what I've seen over the years on T-Net and elsewhere, that research is crucial. Just an opinion.

Bran <><