Anybody ever hunt the last place.. FIRST?

[Jim Vokes NY]

A TIP I learned years ago. When you are walking into a fair grounds, a church, a school yard, an old foundation in the woods or any similar type setting. Stop - Look around carefully - picture the last spot you would hunt in the entire area to be covered - then go there first.. Most all other detectorist will feel the same about the site and most probably never detect that area.

Think how many times you have hopped out of your truck/car and walked off to detect a lucrative looking site and NEVER checked the first 30 feet from the Truck etc. I know I have but I don't anymore..

How about the brush or woods just at the edge of that park/school yard where you have to fight the brush? I go there First now..

How about walking those old New England stone fences from so long ago.. Someone built them and had to sit nearby to have lunch or take a break.. Try it, it will surprise you.

In sidewalk construction on a village main street? Be sure to check the area right against the old store buildings and I mean RIGHT where the dirt butts up to the building... OH YEAH!

Good Luck!

 

[Rick N. MI]

Good info. We all keep trying to come up with new places to hunt and sometimes we avoid those hard to hunt areas when we should be getting into them. Kind of like picking Black Berries. The best ones are in the nastiest areas and we plow right in to get the berries.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Old Longhair]

Around here, it seems as though most employ your strategy. As a result, I find myself having the best luck out in the middle of the wide open areas of parks. Everyone is looking in all of the nooks around the edges and ignoring what they think is the most hunted easy areas. They spend all of their time busting brush and working the perimeter, so before they ever get to the most open areas they are out of time. Or maybe they feel overwhelmed when they look at all of the open space, and feel better oriented/more secure when closer to the edges.

One thing that I DO look for, is a spot of shade in an otherwise open area. In the heat of summer, being out in the open for lengthy periods of time is tough. Those isolated shady spots are a boon, so I hit right under and to the east side of them and have amazing good fortune.

I also use the lines made by mowers to keep myself on track when hunting open areas, rather than wandering around helter skelter. The width of the swath cut by the mowers is about right for my swing, so it's the next best thing to an actual grd.