Getting Permission

[digdan]

I used to be a Geocacher, than I one upped myself and got into treasure hunting. The one HUGE difference is the good sites for treasure hunting are mostly on private property, or worse, on government protected land. Here is what I have ran into :

1. Civil war era military fort. Owned by a government, and I fear our government.
2. Old ghost town now has AT&T fiber optic running through the middle of it. Signs says I could be arrested for digging in the area.
3. Previous town now smack dab in the middle of private property. The property explicitly indicates they will prosecute trespassers, but give no indication who the owners are. I have no way of figuring this out (since its in the middle of nowhere)
4. Last building in the town, and the owner of the largest property of the town, is owned by a man who is so old(almost 100) he does not use telephone,email,snail mail, or anything else (I think he is too old to open the door too, and yes, thats OLD).
5. School yards. Found some great ones, but can I just dig up some school yards?
6. Fences, Fences, Fences. I hate those fences... but I will not give MD'ers a bad name and cross them without permission. I once saw a log cabin out in the middle of nowhere, with ancient potential trinkets half buried in its yard, surrounded by a fence.

If you could help solve any of my problems I would be very regretful. I have yet to make a major find, and this is my largest obstacle. I've practiced, read, and studied... just can't figure out this hurdle.

[bigfrank]

Originally Posted by digdan

I used to be a Geocacher, than I one upped myself and got into treasure hunting. The one HUGE difference is the good sites for treasure hunting are mostly on private property, or worse, on government protected land. Here is what I have ran into :

1. Civil war era military fort. Owned by a government, and I fear our government.
2. Old ghost town now has AT&T fiber optic running through the middle of it. Signs says I could be arrested for digging in the area.
3. Previous town now smack dab in the middle of private property. The property explicitly indicates they will prosecute trespassers, but give no indication who the owners are. I have no way of figuring this out (since its in the middle of nowhere)
4. Last building in the town, and the owner of the largest property of the town, is owned by a man who is so old(almost 100) he does not use telephone,email,snail mail, or anything else (I think he is too old to open the door too, and yes, thats OLD).
5. School yards. Found some great ones, but can I just dig up some school yards?
6. Fences, Fences, Fences. I hate those fences... but I will not give MD'ers a bad name and cross them without permission. I once saw a log cabin out in the middle of nowhere, with ancient potential trinkets half buried in its yard, surrounded by a fence.

If you could help solve any of my problems I would be very regretful. I have yet to make a major find, and this is my largest obstacle. I've practiced, read, and studied... just can't figure out this hurdle.

Its tough here too. I just got turned down on a piece of property tha tis for sale that had an old school on it. I know there is some good stuff, but cant get out there. Here is California, everyone is scared of getting sued, so its near impossible to get on to the private stuff. I will monitor this thread to see what answers you get. Good luck...

Frank

[Lt1stone]

Welcome to TQ! Go to your county court house and check with the registar of deeds, should be public records and find out who the owners are. Another is the public library and research all areas. They should have maps also.Suprising what all you can find out. Sounds like good places to hunt, and if you ask all they can say is no.

[Chalkie31]

HI
Over i the uk there is Department of the local council called the land registry, we can look up the owners and size of the land. Do you have the same sort of scheme's in the US?

[grasshopper]

your county may have something called a GIS or geographic information system. i have used this to locate some owners of property. basically you use find the site and click on it and it tells you who pays the taxes for the land. it provides an address for the person and sometimes a phone number. try looking for one for your county.