Old Home Sites.....Tips for beginners

m bryan

Hero Member
Jun 12, 2010
691
49
east texas
Detector(s) used
Delta 4000 and Garrett 300 Teknetics T2 Minelab Explorer SE Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Detecting old home sites is a great way to get started in the hobby. Relics ,jewelry, coins and other neat things can be found at old home sites. The good thing about old home sites there is no end to them. There are several that I have hunted and they produce something almost every time I go back. Here is just a few things that I have learned over the years.

1. Around where the front porch is (or was) is a good place to hunt. Coins were dropped around the porch area. People would drop things on the porch and they would fall through the cracks to the ground. My very first find was a wheat cent I found at my wife's grandparents home.

2. Around old clothes lines is a good place to detect. Things would drop out of the pockets after they were hung out.

3.Drive ways is a hot spot. People would get in and out of their vehicles or buggies and drop coins etc...

4. If old trees are still standing hunt around them. People didn't have A/C back then and spent a lot of time outdoors under the shades in the summer.

5. Look for a place that looks lower than the rest of the yard. Could be where they dumped and burned their trash. Relics and old bottles can often be found there.

6. Around the old well is a good place to hunt also....

7.When detecting, slow down and take your time. Good targets are often missed by trying to cover too much ground at once.

8. Detect from different directions. East to west and then north to south with the coil. Some targets will sound going a certain way and not the other.

9. Keep the coil level with the ground at all times(even at the end of your swings). It keeps the coil closer to the target and can detect the deeper targets.

9. Don't get discouraged with the hobby. Have the mind set that you are going to stick with it. I have been wasp stung, fire ant stung, poison oaked and hunted all day and nothing to show but a couple pull tabs and some rusty nails, but the next time out found some keepers.

10. Practice and learn your detector. It makes a world of difference if you know your machine.

11. If you have trouble finding old home sites, talk to an older person and they can tell you where they were. Ask your friends about their parents, grandparents or great grandparents where they were. Many times they still own the old family land and you can get permission through your friend........These are just a few of the tips I have learned. I am still learning and am a work in progress so maybe the more experienced guys or gals can chime in on this topic.
 

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Good tips, thanks for posting. I usually hunt parks, but tried an old hunting cabin I found recently. It produced my oldest coin to date (1900 IH). I'll definitely keep this in mind on my next outing. Also, I here the path to and around the privy produces.
 

Excellent advice! Congrats on the IH also Jay
 

Detecting old home sites is a great way to get started in the hobby. Relics ,jewelry, coins and other neat things can be found at old home sites. The good thing about old home sites there is no end to them. There are several that I have hunted and they produce something almost every time I go back. Here is just a few things that I have learned over the years.

1. Around where the front porch is (or was) is a good place to hunt. Coins were dropped around the porch area. People would drop things on the porch and they would fall through the cracks to the ground. My very first find was a wheat cent I found at my wife's grandparents home.

2. Around old clothes lines is a good place to detect. Things would drop out of the pockets after they were hung out.

3.Drive ways is a hot spot. People would get in and out of their vehicles or buggies and drop coins etc...

4. If old trees are still standing hunt around them. People didn't have A/C back then and spent a lot of time outdoors under the shades in the summer.

5. Look for a place that looks lower than the rest of the yard. Could be where they dumped and burned their trash. Relics and old bottles can often be found there.

6. Around the old well is a good place to hunt also....

7.When detecting, slow down and take your time. Good targets are often missed by trying to cover too much ground at once.

8. Detect from different directions. East to west and then north to south with the coil. Some targets will sound going a certain way and not the other.

9. Keep the coil level with the ground at all times(even at the end of your swings). It keeps the coil closer to the target and can detect the deeper targets.

9. Don't get discouraged with the hobby. Have the mind set that you are going to stick with it. I have been wasp stung, fire ant stung, poison oaked and hunted all day and nothing to show but a couple pull tabs and some rusty nails, but the next time out found some keepers.

10. Practice and learn your detector. It makes a world of difference if you know your machine.

11. If you have trouble finding old home sites, talk to an older person and they can tell you where they were. Ask your friends about their parents, grandparents or great grandparents where they were. Many times they still own the old family land and you can get permission through your friend........These are just a few of the tips I have learned. I am still learning and am a work in progress so maybe the more experienced guys or gals can chime in on this topic.

Need this in pdf form and emailed lol
 

Wonderful tips... Thank you! :)
 

Agreed all great tips its my most fun thing to do is relic hunt old foundations & home sites research & knowing what ur machine is capable of is half the battle, it does also help having either different detectors,or different sized coils, for different areas of a property
 

Thank you for sharing. I've passed it along.
 

I always go straight for the big old trees that have just fallen. The roots that are pulled up can be a gold mine.
 

Need this in pdf form and emailed lol

Excellent ideas ! I always get hits around big, old trees just for the reason you suggested. Old clothes lines are another good place but I never thought about wells but it makes sense. I also have never heard about going in different directions, I'll try that next time. Thanks !
 

The last old house I detected was slated for construction, so I could destroy the grass if I wanted and didn't have to be too careful about digging. I found probably 90% of the old coins under the cloths line. Many of them were 8+ inches down, and weren't necessarily a good repeatable signal on my ATP.

I dug all signals higher than the low iron range. I found a SLQ sandwiched with a buffalo nickle, that was giving off a low iffy signal like a pull tab. If you have the time and aren't in a well manicured lawn, DIG EVERYTHING.
 

The last old house I detected was slated for construction, so I could destroy the grass if I wanted and didn't have to be too careful about digging. I found probably 90% of the old coins under the cloths line. Many of them were 8+ inches down, and weren't necessarily a good repeatable signal on my ATP.

I dug all signals higher than the low iron range. I found a SLQ sandwiched with a buffalo nickle, that was giving off a low iffy signal like a pull tab. If you have the time and aren't in a well manicured lawn, DIG EVERYTHING.

I appreciate the advice. I'll remember that !
 

The area around where the mailbox was is also a good place to detect.
 

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