I'm stoked folks! I got permission to hunt a 200 acre private property parcel that's never been hunted in southern TN. A civil war wagon trail ran through the heart of the property. Would you hunt a site like this on all metal and dig everything? Any signs I should look for? Would I be smart to buy the sniper coil and have it with me? Sorry for all the questions.
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Big hunt coming up. How should I set my ACE?
- Thread starter MinerJohn
- Start date
Alright! Congrats on the permission to search that land. That is freakin" awesome! I suggest you hunt in all metal mode and dig everything. However, if there is an intollerable abundance of iron junk, you may want to switch to relic mode. You ask if you should invest in the sniper coil. That's always a good investment, but for such a large open area it would be best to use the 9"x12" coil or even the 10"x14" EXcellerator coil. Now if there are areas that are very brushy, weedy/overgrown it would be good to use the sniper in that area as well as any areas that have alot of iron junk, etc. That's just my two cents worth. Man, tell us how it goes. That is really fantastic. 200 acres is an incredibly large area to search. Take your time. Best of luck! Happy Hunting!
I would hunt in all metal and dig all the deep signals. Now, I might reconsider if the area was loaded with iron junk, and then try the relic mode.
Maybe you could get an old map of the area and or property. May help you find any old buildings dumps trails etc. Maybe try and talk to some local "old" folks about the property and see what they can tell you. Have a old map with you if possible. It will take you forever to walk 200 acres. Do your home work before you step foot on it. That's what I would do anyway.
All Metal. If you detect a 200 acre site every day for the rest of your life you'll never get it all. Don't get overwhelmed. Try to find areas with lots of targets that interest you and concentrate there to start. Look for indications of fire pits or structures. Good luck. Post photos of finds and the site.
Chris
Chris
The first thing I would do is look at the property with Google Earth. I would look for any signs of wagon trails. These can be burnt into the ground so to speak. There is a place close to me where you can still see the ruts the wagons made 100 years ago. Also I would use a GPS as your hunting to log any good spots. Search in all metal to locate iron objects. This will let you know that people were there.
Uncle Willy
New member
I would hunt in all metal since you will be digging debris and metal in various sizes along with whatever is valuable. The 9x12 coil might work better as you will have tons of area to cover. The Sniper would severely limit you in an area that size.. You lucky dog you. Good luck.
Bill
Bill
Uncle Willy
New member
Yeah a map, if available, would be great. A U.S. Geological Topo map would probably show a lot of old stuff. Talking to the old folks in the area can reveal a ton of info.
Bill
Bill
lazyaussie
New member
if the waggon trail crosses a creek or river or just passes by one look for nice camping spots, i usually do an open sweep when hunting large ares by walking reasonably fast & miss every second coil with until i start finding targets then i slow down. with this method you can cover large unproductive ares quite quickly giving you more time to hunt the productive ares.
i"d run all metal with high senc then listen for those week sounding signals & dig, dig, dig
lazyaussie
i"d run all metal with high senc then listen for those week sounding signals & dig, dig, dig
lazyaussie
Securing a spot that size, or any size, that's never been gone over before is hard to do. You've already made your first great find, I'm sure there's lots of goodies to be had there. Take your time and hunt it as methodically as you can. We'll be expecting lots of pics.
Congrats,
Steve in PA
Congrats,
Steve in PA
R-n-R Magnolia SpringsAla
New member
Relic mode, Scout the high ground and anywhere near water, look for broken pottery,glass and nails. Any indentations(dug outs) could be picket posts/camp spots. If you find an area with targets slow down and crawl. Any road bed can be productive. Don't be suprised when you dig a pulltab or 22 bullet/casing or "modern" coins. or even an open dig hole! I'd use a larger coil then if you get into a cluttered area switch to a smaller one. Good Luck and enjoy the spot!
Like khouse said there should be some type of evidence of this wagon road if it was used a lot. However over time mother nature has probably covered the area in trees and brush (especially in Tn.) so I would ground truth the area and see if I could find some rutting or difference in the vegatation growth that might hint of the trail.
To hunt an area that large I would put some planning into it especially if you do find evidence of this road/trail. I am a biologist and when I do field surveys for listed species I will do transects of some form or another. I have my preferenced "wagon wheel pattern that I do that starts in the center of a specific site and I go in "compus directions" ( north to south/east to west) and mark what I find along the way on a map. I will close up the distance ( example go in a nw to se/sw to ne direction etc...) between the rows as I complete each search. It does take some time but it will show results if targets are in the area. When and if you hit a target rich area mark it on the map if you have one and you should start to see a pattern forming as to where stuff is. Then go back and search those rich areas!
If you do find a trail and if you have access to a GPS I would plot the data (and targets) to mark the trail on your map.
Good luck!
Don
To hunt an area that large I would put some planning into it especially if you do find evidence of this road/trail. I am a biologist and when I do field surveys for listed species I will do transects of some form or another. I have my preferenced "wagon wheel pattern that I do that starts in the center of a specific site and I go in "compus directions" ( north to south/east to west) and mark what I find along the way on a map. I will close up the distance ( example go in a nw to se/sw to ne direction etc...) between the rows as I complete each search. It does take some time but it will show results if targets are in the area. When and if you hit a target rich area mark it on the map if you have one and you should start to see a pattern forming as to where stuff is. Then go back and search those rich areas!
If you do find a trail and if you have access to a GPS I would plot the data (and targets) to mark the trail on your map.
Good luck!
Don