Need advice at old (very trashy) farm

[Foose]

My dad just bought an old piece of land in South Georgia. The property has an older mobile home from 1964. However, his land was part of an old farm before that. Adjacent to the old trailer there is an old overgrown rock foundation. The elderly gentleman that sold my dad the property said that the foundation was a slave house where the slaves that worked the property stayed. In between the trailer and the foundation are two large (and I mean really large!) trees. Next to the trees is a hand dug well that has been capped with a square cement block. Sorry I don't have pictures. I have only been there once and I didn't take my camera.

I ran my Ace 250 over the place briefly yesterday and found a ton of trash along with a fork, knive, file, chains and plow parts (no coins yet).

This place is very trashy. In all metal mode I got a hit on literally every swing virtually everywhere in the yard. So here are my questions:

1) With so much trash should I run in coin mode to cut out some of the iron or should I just suck it up and dig the entire yard?

2) I really want to hit the large trees but I have the same problem as above along with the many roots that are just below the surface - any ideas?

3) On the foundation should I concentrate on the perimeter or do you think it's worth going into the "interior" where all the underbrush is?

4) Is it worth trying to "magnet fish" in the well?

Any other advice would be appreciated. I will be down there again all day Thursday & Friday doing some work with my old man but I will squeeze in some detecting as well and take some pictures of the land.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[funkman]

Foose,

I keep my Ace 250 in jewelry mode. I do this because as of right now I don;t want to keep digging up a stinking nail. My site was an old house in the 1800's also and there are plenty of square nails and iron doo-dads to keep me busy and away from what I want to find.

WIth the foundation I would try the outside perimeter first and hit it from all angles in case any coins or objects are sideways. Work your right up agains the wall going around it and then when you get back to the beginning expand outward more and go around again. When you are done with that then hit the inside area. If there is a lot of brush or soemthing in there maybe buy a tarp or something (not clear though) and cover the vegetation and let it be for a few weeks. Then when you take the tarp off possibly a lot of that vegetation will be dead and you could remove it easier.

If you can get a magnet in the well why not go for it. You might try to listen to it hitting the bottom and might hear it bang against glass. Possible bottles down there. Put a bottle on its side on the ground and have the magnet tap it so you can hear the noise it makes. DO the same with a stone and hear the difference.

This site sounds like it will take you a bit but should produce nice finds and relics for you. Just take you time with it and don;t get frustrated if at first you don;t come back with a good winner the first few times out there. Go in the obviuos places first (paths from foundation to well) and see what you can find. SOme old metal buttons come back in nickel or pulltab range on the 250 so those might be worth digging. NAturally sometimes it will be a pulltab or foil but you never know.

Hope this helps you a little and feel free to PM if you need further help.
Sounds ike you have a killer site there and can;t wait to see some of the stuff you find.

Good luck and HH

Funkman

 

[Foose]

Thanks funkman I will give Jewelry mode a try tomorrow when I go down there. You are definately correct about the nails . . . I think I dug up a couple hundred!

 

[khouse]

I would stick the sniper coil on and not take it off. Since you can hunt the property any time you want, I would dig everything that beeps in the hot spot areas. I would first work under the trees. Look for the clothes line area and hit that too. Then the outside areas of the foundation and around the well. Take 4 sticks and mark off a 10 x 10 foot square. Then just work that area digging everything. Those nails can mask deep silver under them. You'll have to remove the trash to uncover the treasures. I know this will take a lot of time to dig all signals. But at least pick what you think is the best spot and dig it all in a small area and just see what you get. I like using a reference like the sticks in the ground so I can see my goal. Also you won't be going over the same areas just cruising around the yard.

 

[rcasi44]

If there are coins I would think that many would be masked by the nails and other junk. We hunted an old boy scout camp there were 10 guys. With discrimination set to ignore iron most guys got no silver. One guy got 4 Barbers. The coins were all next to nails. He had to have disc low and go slow. It would be a good idea to pick a 10 x 10 and clean it out and then get the coins. rob.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Personally with that history I'd dig everything. Those iron slave items are worth $$$.

As you remove the iron the silver and copper with suddenly appear.

Badger