Where do most of you hunt?

[mr10gauge]

As a rule where do you spend most of your time dirt searching? and what are YOU looking for ARTIFACTS , COINS or JEWELRY?
I live in Lincoln Nebraska, we can hunt any city or state property, but WE can NOT DIG on city or state property at all, and that includes probing the ground with a tool {so that kind of defeats the purpose}, the original 8 square blocks of our city are covered over in CONCRETE, and all the late 1880's houses {all three} that have ground are listed on Federal HISTORIC PLACES register and can NOT be touched, about 90 percent of the homes are mainly 1950 to present and all of the old churches and such were all cleaned out before I got a machine {1979 Garrett groundhog ADS} which I plan to pass on to my Grandsons next year when I get back into this hopefully with a new GTI 2500 and new pin pointer, I have been out of MDing since about 1982, more family, makes for more work to feed the family, I do collect coins, and I know the ones I find will never compare to the ones I buy, but I also know the ones I find are worth more to me, {it is only about the hunt} but I am NOT against relics, or silver and gold {jewelry} I think I have found one silver quarter{1963}, but I have never found a half dollar clad or silver, I can find silver dimes{1880's on up} and silver dollars {1880 up to 1900} OK, but not the older quarters and halves, for some reason they elude me, and I guess that's why they mean so much to me, is because I want one of each, to CLAIM as the one I FOUND!
Any THOUGHTS to help me?

Thanks and Take Care,
Larry

 

[bob1350]

1st -sport fields 2nd - Beach's 3rd - anywhere thats looks good

 

[Mark652]

I feel your pain. I metal detect in Northern Virginia and the challenge around here is just about everything has either been plowed under by the developers or it is a national or state park and off limits. I knock on doors. I look for places that used to be farms that have been developed with homes on large tracts---2-5 acres. Usually the land away from the house has not been disturbed too much and "treasures" can be found. Of course many turn out to be busts, but you just have to persist. I hunt for either relics or coins. I just go knock and ask. Of course I explain who I am and what I am doing, I also have a card I made up and I am very, very careful with private property. I make sure the owner sees how I dig plugs and restore holes when I am done. About 1 in 5 or 6 owners tell me "no" and I politely excuse myself and don't bother them again. But I have had cases where an owner said no and the neighbor said yes. The first owner then gave me the OK after seeing how careful I was on his neighbor's property, so you never know. I am currently working a number of homes that were built each on 3 acres of farmland that is located about 3 miles from a Civil War site. the homeowners have been very friendly and I have been having some success in my hunts. Just today, I was out for 5 hours and found 10 bullets, including one .69 fired, and a bullet that was sliced to make a checkers piece. I also found an 1851 large cent that is in "fine" condition. The coin was a surprise, a welcome one.

I hunt with a GTI-2500 and one of the new Garrett Pin-Pointers. If you are looking for a good pin-pointer I highly recommend this one, it is excellent and I have changed my digging habits because of it.

Good luck!

 

[sasquache]

i Hunt mostly wooded areas where old foundations once stood.

 

[gordygroover]

sports complexes, school lawns, the yards of empty houses, any park and playground in the city limits.
I live in a fairly young city (1923) and most of it was empty until after the war. An old coin around here is still Clad unfortunately.

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Welcome to the forum and much of the info posted above will be useful .
I hunt mostly baseball fields and soccer fields.
The sidewalk boulevard have been good for me and hunting them is allowed.
City parks and picnic sites are all open for hunting.
Site where they hold music and folk festivals are good locations here.
Amusement park are also good possibilities.
I think that if you do some research on the past and check the historical society information you'll come up with many good sites.
Here we don't have any restrictions and few detectors for a city of 750,000.
Historical Park you can't touch Provincal Parks no restriction..

 

[Uncle Willy]

That's why I love the West. Everything out here is wide open to detecting, excluding state and national parks and monuments.

Bill

 

[treasurefiend]

I hunt the woods 99% of the time for old coins. But tot lots is where I found all of my gold.

 

[dahut]

I have a two pronged approach. There are two kinds of hunting for me - and these decide the hunt spot. They are:

1. Quanity detecting.

2, Quality detecting.

Now, everyone wants to find gallons of silver and gold coins, but the reality is - that aint happening much anymore. There was a time when the pickings were easy and every trip yielded at least a few oldies. But those days are slipping away, and it takes more and more effort to find good places to search. This is thanks in no small part to the entry level instruments from companies like Bounty Hunter and now Garrett's Ace 250. That little Yeller Feller is possibly the worst thing that ever happend to the hobby... every one and their cat now has access to a cheap, well outfitted detector!

SO, seeing the change in the hobby happening, I made the decision to embrace both sides of the detecting realm: quantity and quality. I'm one of those that is ashamed of neither; I fully enjoy them both.

When it comes to quantity detecting, I like to make a circuit, where I travel from place to place and hit them fast and hard. I use maps to pinpoint these places and I keep an eye open whenever I am out an about for new places, or new developments or changes to the old ones. The quantity places I hit are:
Schools, parks, athletic fields, fairs and festivals, recreation areas, open arena's, water side activity areas, and other areas that have alot of people cycle through them. I also "specialise" in sand, like at volleyball courts. I have a small "sand circuit," in fact!

For Quality I tend to concentrate on old maps, old newspapers and old historical writings about my area - FIRST. I use these resources to narrow down places where things happened in the past. I especially look for old picnic areas, house sites, now gone churches, recreation areas, fairs and circuses. I also hit any old place still standing where I can either secure permission or not be bothered by anyone. I live in an old town and am always on the lookout for urban renewal projects andl ot clearing in the older sections of town. I talk to old people, too. They remember things you may not find in books or newspapers and are an exceedingly valuable resource.... one that is daily diminishing.

The other Quality sites I hit - and absolutely LOVE - are freshwater beaches. Here its not coins we're after, but jewelry. It pays to have a decent waterproof detector of your choice just for this use. I use a Tesoro Tiger Shark and hope next year to move up the Garett Infinium. Work it so you also have these beaches laid out in a circuit during the season.

I would suggest you talk to everyone you know or meet about detecting... but dont tell them you are a treasure hunter. That gives everyone the wrong idea. Now, dot hit them in the head with your zeal for the topic - just be casual and slip it into the conversation. I also use business cards I print on my 'puter. They introduce me as 'Metal Detecting Services... insurance claims searches, metallic evidence recovery, shallow water searches. FREE To Law Enforcement!' You should use them, too.

Lastly, dont look far from home. There are more places to detect within a 25 mile radius than you can likely ever visit on a regular basis. So keep your efforts close as close to home as practical, keep them well thought out and pursue them diligently. Then remember this is an outdoor hobby, and use it as such to add vigor and interest to the rest of your life.

 

[marcomo]

Excellent advice, David. Thank you!

 

[lazyaussie]

Davids advice is top notch i do the same i start a hunt by asking what i"d like to find today old silver coins-gold jewellery or cash $$$ then set my mind to finding them ( this is important )
when hunting old coins i hunt slow & i get 3-4 likely spots lined up & hit each until i start finding old coins then hit that area hard.
when i hunt cash i hunt tot lots ( bark or sand play grounds ) i find an area with 14-15 lots & clean out all the coins i usually limit myself to 30 minuets per lot & hunt fast but efficiently & turn the sensitivity down so i"m hitting only coins at 4 inch or less.
for gold i also pick 10-12 tot lots in an area & slow down a little but sill as fast as i can without missing targets & dig all targets that ring in above iron & turn the sensitivity up high & try to recover the target as fast as possible. i also hunt at the beach & in the water same thing - senc high - cover as much ground as possible without missing targets minimize recovery time.
hope this helps.

 

[camel]

any kind of detecting is great,but i usually look for the old stuff.I do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions.Some of my favorite places are turn of the century baseball lots.I also research where the old hospital were.before the days of air conditioning a lot of visitors and patients sat out on the lawns.Last but not least i grew up where the Chisholm trail crossed from Texas into Oklahoma,and i still find some good relics in that area.I have found two five dollars gold pieces at the site of an old saloon at Spanish Fort Texas.Its all fun and the best hobby anyone could have.

 

[Frankd55]

Still new to this, thought of a lot of places around.Just been to the local school playground.The place I want to go to is an old Bar that was built in the 20's where all the gold miners used to go on weekends.The place is in a town with the Pop. of 2 very seasonal and most of the mines are shutdown.I'll post up when I try it but snow is on the way and snow not removed in winter.