Survey! How many hours on old home site?

[atomicscott]

Hi Everybody!
I have been spending many hours lately at different old home sites with little success. These spots are now just empty lots/fields sometimes there is a part of a foundation, other times just leftover rubble. I will dig old beaver tails or shell cases, etc... to get an idea of where the more populated or busier areas of the site are. I spent 6 hours at a site a couple weeks ago, (on 2 different days) and found nothing of interest. On the first hunt there, I found a Bayer aspirin bottle cap from 1935, so I know that there is maybe some old stuff still there, but I only found 2 modern coins. After going back the 2nd day and spending another 3 hours and finding nothing at all of interest, I started to get a bit frustrated. On 2 occasions, I have found old coins after getting skunked the first time at those spots. So my question is: How many hours (finding nothing) do you spend at a site before you decide to move on? Thanks for any replies! HH, Scott

 

[TerryC]

Whatever it takes! Difficult to peg a "time to stop" on a site, knowing that it may contain old stuff yet to be found. Map it. Research it. Was it the center building to a larger track? Old pics? Gardens? Lots of things to consider before moving on. Get some "new eyes" to look at the place. Rope off a certain portion of the property and "clean" it down to no signals/targets. Then another section. Do not give up too soon. TTC

 

[cudamark]

Not me, if a site doesn't produce SOMETHING of interest in the first hour or two, I go elsewhere.

 

[smokeythecat]

On an established old place, it will usually take 10 hours to clear out the new junk that overlaying the old stuff.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

I don't think there is an hourly or time limit at any site. True, extracting trash surely helps odds on finding "keepers". Keep at it! Peace

 

[reednc]

Most of the old home sites in my area have been searched over the years. If I'm not at least finding some wheat pennies after a few hours, it's time to move on.

 

[NHBandit]

My old house in NH was built in the late 1700s and I lived there for 32 years. Detected the heck out of that 3 acres and never found anything other than modern clad that I probably dropped myself. Talking to an old friend who has been doing this stuff since dirt was new he offered a logical explanation. Old time farmers had little need for money except on the odd occasion they went to town to buy supplies. The bartered among themselves alot. Trading a few chickens for some corn, etc. They rarely carried money in their pockets while working the fields. Mama kept the money in the house for when they needed to go to a store. If by chance they did lose some it was too hard to get to just walk away and leave it so they looked long & hard to find it. They also buried all their trash that wouldn't burn in the yard. There are exceptions of course otherwise the banner up at the top of this page would be empty but I have never had much luck at old home sites.

 

[cudamark]

On an established old place, it will usually take 10 hours to clear out the new junk that overlaying the old stuff.

If you clear a couple of likely 10X10 sections of ALL targets, that will give you an indication of what's going to be on the property. You don't have to clear the entire area and certainly not spend 10 hours on a dud hunt.