Narrowing the search, looking for the stash

[Doc Holliday]

No GPS back in those days...so where would they hide valuables? Inside the house, they might dig in the corner of the foundation, or under the fireplace to hide money and posessions...outside would be a different story...they might look for a single tall tree in the middle of the field, maybe next to a creek...or an oddly-shaped cactus, or a huge boulder...some unusual landmark that's not going anywhere and something they could remember and return to later...that's what I'm always on the lookout for, a lone tree that's a few hundred years old, things like that...

 

[DELETED USER (Emmitt)]

Absolutely Doc! Exactly what I do when im out there in the woods. Just looking for oddities and things that just stick out like a sore thumb. HH

Emmett

 

[Dancer]

I've read about at least a few that break the 100 Silver coin year. Others the 100 Gold ring. But it's when you follow up on a successful Gut feeling that can be most remarkable and remembered.

 

[still looking 52]

That's some good advice Doc. Last year I was hunting this field and my instincts told me to move over to the edge of the creek where I found my first and only silver pocket spill, my thoughts were that I know when I was a kid I would always like playing around the creek.

 

[Goldstrike]

I was recently re-reading the account of the finding of the Saddle Ridge hoard ($11 Million $'s worth in gold coins) Although this is a very rare find, it just goes to show there are still hoards out there just waiting for a coil to pass over them!! This new story mentioned that the owner of the property had noticed a rusty old can nailed or attached some way to the tree that the rusty cans were buried under. I hadn't read that before and that proved again that there are sometimes subtle clues to caches and hoards, so we just might want to adopt a 'Sherlock Holmes' approach to metal detecting!!!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I know that popular lore, after reading lots of treasure lore stories, and watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, will have you thinking that treasures are likely next to landmarks (especially if they are "un-canny", oddly-shaped, or whatever. But I think that's just over-zealous "treasure fever" imaginations. Here's why:

I have found 6 different commissioned hunt caches. 5 of them were for deceased persons, where the children or grandchildren had a clue that their patriarchs had buried stuff. So I was called out to help find. 1 of them was for a still living person, who simply couldn't remember exactly where it was buried (15 yrs. later, when he came back to retrieve, since trees and bushes had grown up and/or been pruned, etc....).

And in EACH case there was very little rhyme or reason. Just buried at the base of a window. Or along a fence post. Or under the house along an ordinary border. Or in the yard simply random. Or in the floor of a barn.

Oh sure, at the time the person stashed it, I'm sure they're staring at a tree, or fence post, or chimney, etc..... But stop and think: there are millions of TREES, FENCE POSTS, and CHIMNEYS all around.

The "treasure symbol" and "cyrptogram" type crowd , IMHO, has over-active imaginations.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I recall that "after-thought" of the persons who'd found that. An after-thought of a what they surmised to have been clues and markers . Here's the problem with that: If they/we were totally honest with ourselves, we'd realize there's "un-canny" stuff (markers, clues, graffiti, shapes of rocks, strings on trees, etc... EVERYWHERE.

But when someone FINALLY finds a goodie, it's very easy to look around them, and think "aha ! I knew it!". That's just the trick of memory bias selective memory at play. All day long, everyone of us TH'r sees and thinks lots of landscape clues. All of which turn out to be nothing. Or the md'r who hears and digs 200 signals in a long day's hunt. All of which he thinks "this sounds different". But only when he finds the goodies, does he then remember his premonition (or study the landscape for "clues") and think "Aha!" . This is all just the psychological trick of memory bias.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yes, each time we move hither or yonder in a detecting field, to "follow our gut instinct", we're saying to ourselves "I bet over there is something". Or when we get each signal, we think "this one sounds different".

But when we find nothing, or the target turns out to be junk, then we subconsciously say to ourselves "Yeah, come to think of it, it didn't sound that good afterall". etc... But when we FINALLY find the pocket spill or goodie, THEN we remember our premonitions and think "aha ! I'm psychic". I believe this is just the trick of selective memory.

 

[Doc Holliday]

But stop and think: there are millions of TREES, FENCE POSTS, and CHIMNEYS all around.

The "treasure symbol" and "cyrptogram" type crowd , IMHO, has over-active imaginations.

Wow, three posts in a row, you must be really upset. Why all the negativity? I'm not talking about 'Templar Knights' signs and symbols here and I'm not talking about the 'millions of TREES, FENCE POSTS and CHIMNEYS'...I'm talking about the ONE LONE TREE, or the odd-shaped rock or some other unusual landmark, not 'under a window' or 'a fence post'. You NEED an 'over-active' imagination to think like someone back in the 1700 or 1800 era when it comes to hiding something valuable and where to look for it, especially out here in the wide open West.

Smart metal detecting begins even before you turn on your machine.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... Wow, three posts in a row ..... Why all the negativity?....

"Negativity" ? I was answering 3 people's posts/questions in a row. Wasn't the one to bring up the subject.

.....I'm talking about the ONE LONE TREE, or the odd-shaped rock or some other unusual landmark,........

Sure. I understand.

But when it comes to "treasure signs to lead treasure hunters", I'm pointing out that .... if they're honest with themselves, that all-such "symbols" are everywhere. And , as we both know , mean nothing. So in-so-much as a treasure "might be next to an un-canny looking rock" (or large boulder with a squiggle on it, etc...) so too could uncanny boulders likewise (most likely) have nothing next to them. And a treasure could be next to a "normal" boulder or chimney, etc.....

Just adding balanced comment , food for thought. The vast majority of caches are found by simply digging hubcab and soda-can sized signals. And to the extent that someone, as an after-thought, sees an "un-canny" something nearby, they will likewise see the landscape filled everywhere, with "un-canny" stuff. Meaning, .... ultimately, it's random.

 

[Doc Holliday]

If you want to randomly detect without any plan or pattern, that's up to you. Have at it and I wish you luck. I certainly won't criticize your method, but don't be so quick to dismiss a more logical, deductive way of detecting, either. Proper research and being familiar with hiding methods from years gone by can only help in a search.

 

[still looking 52]

If you want to randomly detect without any plan or pattern, that's up to you. Have at it and I wish you luck. I certainly won't criticize your method, but don't be so quick to dismiss a more logical, deductive way of detecting, either. Proper research and being familiar with hiding methods from years gone by can only help in a search.

Doc, I couldn't agree with you more. This planning and searching method actually makes the hunt that much more fun, I feel it increases your odds on finding good targets.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... If you want to randomly detect without any plan or pattern,.....

.... a more logical, deductive way of detecting, either. Proper research .........

...... planning and searching method .... .

...... increases your odds on finding good targets.

"more logical" ? That's exactly what I was driving at : Logic ! "More deductive" and "proper research" ? (versus looking for assassins under rocks and seeing supposed clues in each random squiggle) that's exactly what I was doing ! Increasing the odds at finding goodies ? That's exactly what I was doing ! So that your available TH'ing time is spent at more-likely spots. Versus hunting places that, if you are honest, are random objects just about anywhere.

Maybe I'm mis-understanding you guys. I am directing this at the crowd who .... let's be honest .... is looking for astronomical star alignments in tree layouts, in boulder placement on the ground, in funny squiggles on rocks, in un-canny shapes on mountains, etc.... You know, like if lie on your back and stare at the clouds long enough, you can see a smiley face, a clown, a bunny, etc.... All just random. But there's some folks that .... when they see anything un-canny, their minds run wild (perhaps watched one-too-many-episodes of Raiders of Lost Ark ?).

But just bear in mind, that OODLES of caches are, in retrospect, found at just run-of-mill back yard, next to a structure, next to a "normal" fence post or bush, etc..... Nothing uncanny, mysterious, spooky , etc....

 

[bleeohio]

My great grandma told me that during the depression, she had a milk tin buried in the garden. No banks and desperate people, they didn't keep money in the house. Whenever she added to the stash or made a withdrawal, she'd act like she was weeding the garden. Gotta believe that there are more caches out there that will never be found.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I was recently re-reading the account of the finding of the Saddle Ridge hoard ($11 Million $'s worth in gold coins) Although this is a very rare find, it just goes to show there are still hoards out there just waiting for a coil to pass over them!! This new story mentioned that the owner of the property had noticed a rusty old can nailed or attached some way to the tree that the rusty cans were buried under. I hadn't read that before and that proved again that there are sometimes subtle clues to caches and hoards, so we just might want to adopt a 'Sherlock Holmes' approach to metal detecting!!!

'rusty old can nailed or attached some way to the tree'.....

There you go! Nothing mystical or magical about it, but certainly a very clear 'signpost to the $11 million treasure' for the hider. Most people wouldn't have a clue what they were looking at but as a detectorist, keep your eyes open for those unusual clues while you are searching.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Just simply "in the garden" ? No un-canny markers (boulders shaped like animals, etc... ) ? Just eye-balled to some *normal* object in the garden, eh ?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... , but certainly a very clear 'signpost to the $11 million treasure' for the hider.....

"To the hider", perhaps. But the problem is, that : There are a million "nails in trees" everywhere. And a million "rusty cans" fixed to a million different things, etc...

 

[Doc Holliday]

.... , but certainly a very clear 'signpost to the $11 million treasure' for the hider.....

"To the hider", perhaps. But the problem is, that : There are a million "nails in trees" everywhere. And a million "rusty cans" fixed to a million different things, etc...

Oh yea, I see 'rusty cans nailed to trees' all the time...

How laughable.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... , but certainly a very clear 'signpost to the $11 million treasure' for the hider.....

"To the hider", perhaps. But the problem is, that : There are a million "nails in trees" everywhere. And a million "rusty cans" fixed to a million different things, etc...

Oh yea, I see 'rusty cans nailed to trees' all the time...

How laughable.

Dude, of COURSE there will be little repeats of any individual "un-canny" sign like that. I mean, you're right: "Rusty cans nailed to trees" might not be common. But I'll make you a little wager: The NEXT time you stumble upon a "rusty can nailed to a tree", I'll bet you dollars to donuts you can detect till the cows come home, and there won't be any treasure there.

Because here's the rub: The NEXT time someone finds a treasure, they'll scan the immediate landscape, find something that was "un-canny" and think "aha!". That can be 3 trees that formed a triangle (never mind that ANY three trees ANYWHERE, that you draw lines through will , presto, form a triangle). Or they'll see a funky rock that resembled a turtle, or puppy, or had creases that formed an "X", etc... In other words, ANY spot out in the country ANYWHERE, that you stop randomly at, you will, no doubt, be able to look around and find some symmetry, some design, something un-canny, etc..... And sure, when you walk 1000 yards away, sure, you may not find "that exact" design, alignment, symbol, etc......

 

[Doc Holliday]

Okay, since you're so convinced nothing will be there, do us all a favor and don't detect there.....more $11 million treasure for the rest of us.