Visual Research

[osros]

Wondering how you folks do your, should I say visual research?

Im researching several sites, while some have buildings and Im okay with getting permission. Others however dont have buildings or your guesstimating where an old town, trading post or whatever was. Im at the point where I need to go and eyeball these sites see if I can find evidence of a trading post or homestead in the woods, not to actually MD at that time.

Are you honestly getting permission first to access the property just to maybe find out your not at the right place and its not worth doing MD there?

Or do you give it your best shot on the research, get the permission first then go prepared to MD whether you find your spot or not?


Just wondering how you guys handle that when your not 100% sure of the site.

[rip]

Best to always get permission first.What if you go there scouting the area,find what your looking for and as your leaving you get caught trespassing ? I dont think your odds of getting permission after that would be very good.

[l38ranger]

I would have to agree with boobie and rip... don't get caught tresspassing...

[bigbillinsc]

Dont get caught trespassing.... Point is dont trespass and you cant get caught. ASK permissin FIRST. It will pay off in the end.

[Bill W.]

ALWAYS ask permission. It can only help the hobby. Like other have said... sometimes it leads to other sites the people own. Sometimes they're even better than the original site you asked permission for. It's strange how things work out sometimes. There have been sites that I thought weren't going to be that great that end up being very good sites. Then there are those that just 'have' to have a nice silver coin there that don't produce like you expect them to. Never hunt a site once and pass judgment on it. I say this because I had an experience that taught me a lesson 2-3 years ago. We had stopped by an old park and detected for about 2 hours. I didn't really find anything old so we scratched it off of our list. A year later we were in the area and decided to give it a second try. What we didn't know was we detected the worst spot the first time were were there. At last count I was a 700+ wheaties and almost a 100 silver just from this park! HH!

-Bill

[Toadie]

Alway, always get permission if at all possible. Otherwise you could giving a negative image to the property owners towards other MDers. As far as visuals, go to the local library and see if you can locate old pictures of the places you are considering hunting. You would be amazed what landmarks never change over time. Could be a knoll on the hill, or maybe a depression where a public well once stood.. I have even spotted some small trees that were in a couple of early pictures that were huge now that helped me figured out the layout of an area.

Don't be discouraged if you get told no about hunting a place. There are several others that will say yes.. When all else fails, hunt a sure fire spot.

Some of the best areas that have paid off for me are the grassy medians by the curbs where they used to have parking meters.

James