Tracking your MD sites

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

Something I just started doing on a fold up
Boone county map. I will make a mark of all
the places I've asked for permission, if I get
permission I circle it and X if I hunted.
Does anyone else do this?
Lots of land out there that needs the cash
trash cleaned out of it!!

 

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[p2c]

I currently don't but I suppose after hunting for decades (I've only hunted 1 year) that might come in handy. The thing up here in Chicagoland is that so many people hunt, that even though I have or have not been at a location may mean little.

What I have thought of, if I were willing to spend the $99 which I currently am not, is to buy apple's Ipod development toolkit and make an Iphone/Ipod touch app where you could inventory your finds, date you found them, and where you found them. But like I said, I don't think I want to do the time or money to do that, unless I could line up 100 potential buyers willing to buy an $.99 app. I still don't think I have the time though...

 

[twistidd]

That's not a bad idea, but I pretty much know where I've been. And like p2c said, here in Chicago, it's highly unlikely most people are going to stumble across a choice virgin area. Pretty much everywhere I hunt are places that have been pounded for decades. I have learned to never write off any area, either, as I have seen good stuff pulled out of "hunted out" areas over and over. So, for me, I don't mark anything, but I do record certain info about each nice old coin I find (i.e. area and date).

Joe

 

[Lowbatts]

I try to remember all the places where I've been denied, so I can wait out the owners and check back when new owners arrive, some of those places are HOT! But stalking only goes so far these days...

But on any given day, real anticipation is your only friend, results can be the enemy! So often it's back in the car and onto the next site or another same old place, where you may eek out a goodie or two.

If you're familiar with folks up along 173, there may some old crossings (there are) that might be available depending on who you ask and when. Also don't forget to get to the library and check out the old plats, there are cornfields where homesteads once sprang up aplenty in your neck of the woods.

I've found it easier hunting between Chemung and Roscoe, still lots of very old homesites with little to no change over the years. Not sure about Belvidere proper, haven't been there in years but there's tons of old homes there as you already know. Did they ever get a new police station out there? I'll bet that old one has some goodies around it and in the neigboring homes especially. Spent a heckuva night out there once, something to do with a trunk full of empty beer bottles, but my memory fails me...

Here's some map links:
http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/nsdihome/webdocs/ilhap/county/
http://landplats.ilsos.net/
http://sanborn.umi.com/

Those ought to keep you busy until low water on the Kish comes around.

 

[BuckleBoy]

It is certainly not a bad idea to keep records like these. I've hunted over 200 sites in the past 3 years. I can't keep all the names straight at times. I also usually write down the names of people I've met, along with a bit of a description of them. I hate knocking on the same door twice to ask the same question. It's an awful feeling when you realize you've done that.

The other thing is this--folks who hunt in the areas I hunt may figure that everything is pounded to death. Or they may think that folks were "too poor to have anything to lose" back then. I want to be able to give my buddies lists of sites where permission was denied (so they don't have to bother the same folks twice), sites that I've hunted out (so they don't waste their time), and sites that I haven't hit yet--along with good contacts in the area. That way when I leave this area I know my friends will be taken care of.


-Buckles

 

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

Returning to site over and over again is a good thing. Keepers are missed.
Cleaning up the underground does improve our chances of more goodies
to surprise us.
Aren't we all looking for a new site? If your checking on dozens or 100's
of sites, we don't want to forget where we were denied. Some (maybe DP BOB)
may have better skills at asking for permission than others.
I lived in Beloit, Wi. 30 years and only hunted parks and city homes. After
moving here 2 years ago I got the itch to outside the city. Finding areas that
have returned to cornfields or wooded areas. I've spent hours reading the posts
you've put out there over the years. Look forward to meeting all of you some-
day on a hunt.
Lowbatts: we'll do the Kish, as far as the police dept. don't know, Is there a
"Lowbatts was here" on the wall?

 

[davebien]

Well the PD didn't look to me to be newer (I was there for the job). But I can't say for sure and it was a few yrs ago, more than maybe 3 years back. Remember, I'm getting old.....