Pre Season Scouting

[Deleted]

Ok ... so I spend a lot of time over thinking where some good spots to hit might be  ... I do nothing  ...and then Coinguy comes down  to my area and finds some awesome coins and relics !
Don't get me wrong ...I couldn't be happier for him  !

... And yes I know ...doing nothing is a big part of the equation but lack of confidence in finding potential site seems to overshadow my ability to recognize them

 I'm so pissed at myself  for not being able to find these areas !
Like every amateur ... I ask ... how do you find these spots ? 
I'm not a park and playground kind of guy so my question is ...." What draws you to a certain area ?
Can't tell you how many times I've studied the AF Church maps ... so what makes a spot a potential target dig ?


sodbuster

[Deleted]

I'm not into relics hunting, but I would go for story from old people's about old camps and settlement, for myself I would look for old foundation, threes stack up together in a field , that means an old foundation is around.

[Deleted]

Thanks retriever !
I have several books by Mike Parker that actually describe and show some circa photos of old gold and sawmill ghost towns .
Lunenburg itself was settled in the 1700's so there is a rich history here to uncover ... if I can figure out where to look. Coinguy made a good score down here last fall as well.

If this weather keeps up it has the making of an early season start .

sodbuster

[Deleted]

If You can find someone that has access to Jackson sheet maps here in NS they are also a good source of info.
There maps made before the provincial topo maps...early 1920's or 1930's...shows most of the old homesteads built in the late 1800's early 1900's.
very accurate if your looking for a old homestead that's long gone:)

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2017 19:36:24 GMT -5 @sodbuster said:

Ok ... so I spend a lot of time over thinking where some good spots to hit might be  ... I do nothing  ...and then Coinguy comes down  to my area and finds some awesome coins and relics !
Don't get me wrong ...I couldn't be happier for him  !

... And yes I know ...doing nothing is a big part of the equation but lack of confidence in finding potential site seems to overshadow my ability to recognize them

 I'm so pissed at myself  for not being able to find these areas !
Like every amateur ... I ask ... how do you find these spots ? 
I'm not a park and playground kind of guy so my question is ...." What draws you to a certain area ?
Can't tell you how many times I've studied the AF Church maps ... so what makes a spot a potential target dig ?


sodbuster

Hey there Sodbuster, don't beat yourself up too much. It all boils down to two things (mostly); Boots on the ground & luck. I study old maps all winter long and they give me some good ideas of where to poke around, but nothing can replace going there myself and having a look. 90% of the time, when I get there, it's a waste of time even looking, or things have changed, or it's private property, or..or..or, the list is endless. However, on the way there, and when you're in the area, you'll often see places that you had no idea were waiting for you.

So what makes a spot a potential target? You'll find 101 clues as identified in my new book available for only $29....just joking! The biggest clue is architecture. How old are the houses(or house)? That's the first big clue, and the most important.
Where I grew up there were homes from the 1600's, 1700's, many from the 1800's and some from the 1900's. Over the years I learned from exposure which were which, but this is something you can easily learn on your own, if you don't already know. Living in the Lunenburg area, I'd say you probably have a pretty good handle on it already. After that, you look for signs of previous activity. Driveways to nowhere, stone walls, tracks and trails, little bumps in the land that don't seem to fit in and a really good one but hard to see is a flat spot on a piece of land that normally wouldn't be there. That's a tough one to nail down but well worth the effort.

Knock on doors. Talk to people. Half will tell you "no, notinterested, go away" but the other half will be more amicable. Last summer P and I were down at the Ovens for our once-a-year gold panning day out (which was a bust in my eyes) when we decided to take the long way home and look for places to detect. The one we found was purely by luck. I pinned the house as being 1810 era when in fact it was from 1750's with additions. The field in front of it was up against the ocean and I figured there was probably a dock there at some point. I was right. An older gentleman watched us for awhile and then decided he needed to chat for awhile longer. He told us that his grandfather used to work in that field drying fish on racks. I imagine that this was an enterprise that went on for decades and decades. All those people working there. If they dropped one coin each year, for a hundred years, that's a lot of coins to find. It also explains why we found no silver coins. I can't imagine that drying fish was a high paying job. There was never a house on that field so there were no garbage targets and few bullets. we were lucky. We found almost 50 pre-confederation tokens there and nothing else. You don't often find a place like that.

Send me a PM and I'll get your contact info. We'll get together in the spring or summer and find a place to look around.
Always drive home the back roads. You'll find places.

GL & HH.

[Deleted]

Thanks so much Guys ! I think half my problem is overthinking things. I have been looking at the old AF Church map for this area and have found one spot that peaks my interest. I'm not familiar with the Jackson sheet maps . Certainly a lot of great advice Coinguy ...Thanks .  When I was playing around in the backyard when I first picked up my ATPro I made a few finds , only to find out from my Landlord that the old Homestead had sat where I was swinging . The old Lilac bush should have been a dead giveaway, and of course the wood a few yards away are littered with old debris.

I did find out that although Lunenburg is designated a UNESCO site it only includes the portion of what they call Old Town, so some other areas of town are considered fair game if one can secure permission. Guess I best get busy at developing an eye for these oddities in the landscape. Be interesting to see what the Genealogy Society has on file for mappings as well.... Damn ...there I go over thinking things again. 

With the snow being gone around here , and being my weekend off I  might just get in a scouting run in the next couple days.


Thanks Again guys 
sodbuster.

[Leslie Sarkany]

Yo Sod.....even after 48 years at this hobby there is still spots in the province that I don't know about....network me bouy!