New Hunter looking for advice

[Gribnitz]

I just got my Garrett TH 300 and I am now wondering where to go. I live in the middle of Missouri on 6 acres that was former pasture land. I have a feeling I will tire quickly of looking for stuff on my property and I am sure I won't find much of the "neat" stuff, so I called around to see what is available to hunt on.

I talked to the conservation department and the state park department. On conservation land, you can detect but can't remove any artifacts. I am a little confused on the word artifact's. Do they mean nothing you find can be removed, or do they mean things like civil war artifacts and Indian artifacts? If you find a quarter you can't take it with you ?? Do they consider picking up trash artifacts ?? In Missouri state parks you can only hunt on specified beaches and you need a permit. I applied for and got the permit, but I am guessing these will be pretty much picked over and only newer coins can be found. The last place would be private land, but I don't really know how to approach someone. I have never been a real outgoing type personality and I tend to be kind of shy around strangers until I get to know them well. How do you approach people to see if it is OK to poke around on their property? I know I would be very leery if someone asked me the same thing. Aren't people really afraid you going to break an ankle or something on their property?

My last spot which I am looking forward too is over 3 hours away on my buddies parents farm. There is a really old dilapidated house on the property that seems it would be a good spot. We found some old stuff that would have been really neat to take and clean up inside the house if the roof hadn't fallen in and weathered everything inside to rotting pieces of wood, but if any metal objects are around, they should still be in decent shape. I am even getting a second detector hoping me and my friend can get hooked on hunting together.

Any advice on any of the above questions would be appreciated. Realize a 3 hour trip won't happen very often, so I need to find places closer to home to look. Are there any clubs in Missouri around the St. Louis area I can talk too and get involved in ?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[Darren in NC]

Hey gribnitz - try buying a couple of beginner books to get you thinking about what kind of sites to look for. A few good books to start with are "Buried Treasures you can find" (all 50 states) by Robert Marx and "United States Treasure Atlas" (volume 6 is Missouri) by Thomas Terry. You may end up looking for a few sites listed in the books, but more importantly it gives you the ideas for what to ask locals for, what to research in the library, etc. You want to find your own sweet spots Have fun!

 

[Gribnitz]

Thanks for the info! I already got a response back from the coinshooters club in St Louis and they are having a meeting on the 18th. This sounds like the perfect way to get started since I have no clue where and where you can't go to get started.

 

[elkboy]

Your off to a good start. One thing I have always kept in mind is this. Anywhere people congregate there will be lost change and or jewelry. Old places that people would meet for anything. Any house built before 1960. good luck and HH dave

 

[Cladbag]

Good questions.. to get permissions you have to communicate unless you hunt open areas like city park sand schools. Artifacts are anything with historical significance but think thats so vuage a answer. One persons junk is anothers artifact.? I doubt coin, unless its old, prior to 1900, is significant.? ?Im starting to get braver about talking and would like to hunt old places.? Go into the nearest town and either hunt old newspapers for keywords or if your not up to that, start knocking on doors.?

HH
Dan