Searching Old Home Sites Your Opinion

[iwillcya]

Hey everyone I have a question for you all. I have a new F75 & was going to start doing some searching of old abondoned home sites/foundations from back in the 1840s that I was just given permission to search anytime I want. I was just wondering what everyone's opinion is on recovering stuff? By that I mean do you pretty much just dig everything when your searching old sites like that since you never know what kind of stuff you might find, or are still trying to avoid the nails & such? Just wondering what others have done or how you have approached searching sites like this & what your feelings are about what to dig & not dig. Just looking for your opinions & what has worked for you guys. Well time to go work on the yard & clean the garage out, that time of year. Maybe I'll get out hunting later this afternoon. iwillcya in SW WI

[Buster]

I would dig everything...then you will know the trash is gone and then hunt the area again..This way you will have a clean area to hunt.. ..should be some good stuff there...Happy Hunting...Buster...

[Joker]

Dig it all and good luck!!

[colbyc28]

I agree with Buster... dig it all so it will be clean, then go over it with a fine tooth comb. It may take a while, but you can feel confident that you didnt miss as much as you would have. The two I am working right now, was pretty trashy. A lot of horse bridle pieces, old broken skillets, and etc. But I did find an old metal drivers license issued in 1935, and a 1907 IH. Good luck!

[EPC Guy]

I agree...dig it all...at old homesites, even what they considered trash at the time may prove to be a valuable collectible today...

[Cash1977]

Dig it all!
Good luck, let us know what you find!

Happy Hunting!

[EBCIII]

I like to hit a homesite mutiple times. The first couple of times I will dig pretty much any hit. After a few tips to the site and with less trash I can decide better what to dig, Beale.

[portraitartist]

Yes, dig it all is the only real way to not miss anything... it really all depends on what you're looking for, ultimately... what i normally do is start off by "cherry-picking" until i get whatever obvious targets are out there first... now, i'm not really a relic guy, so i usually never set my machine to accept iron (which is ironic, since it's mainly, and most recognized as, a relic machine!)...

then i'll start backing off of my discrimination to allow my machine to accept a few more targets, and then repeat...

this approach, at least for me, lets me dig a fair amount of "good" targets while still digging some trash, and i don't get discouraged or pooped out before i'm ready...

it also depends where you are - at the beach, for instance, i do use discrimination, but i do dig every good signal (repeatable) i get; for one, the beach changes daily, and what's there today may not be there tomorrow; and two, since i'm usually visiting or on vacation when i'm hunting the beach, i know that i only have x many days, so picking and choosing doesn't makes as much sense as it would if it's somewhere i'd go back to...

hope all that makes some sense... i'm always the devil's advocate, though

[Capt.B]

I would dig it all at first, you never know what might turn up.

[iwillcya]

I guess the thing to do is dig every signal that isn't a solid iron signal & at least save a little by bypassing the iron. I know I know but what if that iron is something way cool!!! Just have to go by feel I guess & how I feel that day, as when I hunt like a lot of you I'm sure, I often dig a signal knowing it's not a coin or something good just to see what it is that is making the signal. Got one of those off the chart big signals the other day & dug a HUGE hinge that must have been 10" in length & heavy as heck. Sometimes I just dig just to see what stuff is & that's how I learn & or teach myself so the next time it happens, I can say O'yeah it's just a !!!