Relic Hunting Made Easy

1. Find a good metal detector.
The first thing to do when looking to get into the hobby of metal detecting is to find a good metal detector. There are many good brands of metal detector to choose from. The first thing to be determined when trying to find a metal detector is what is your price range.

2. How much are you willing to pay?
The second step is to determine what you are going to do with the machine eg. water hunting(submersible units for diving), coin shooting (metal detecting for coins), Relic hunting(artifacts from time past other than coins), or all around(some units are capable of being used both on land and underwater).

3. Ground balance options
The third factor to consider is whether or not you need a machine with preset ground balance, automatic ground balance, or manual ground balance. Ground balance is a very important factor especially if you live in an area with highly mineralized ground. In all honesty if you can afford a machine with the automatic ground balance or manual ground balance go for it. Keep in mind when thinking about ground balance that know to pieces of land are the same in as far as mineralization goes and also manual ground balance has more of a learning curve but it gives you the most control over your machine.

4. My suggestion for the beginner
My suggestion for the beginner who lives in are with low mineralization in the soil is the Garrett Ace 250 my ace 250 lens for info.

Ok let's recap to find the best metal detector for you this is what you need to know:
1. How much can you spend.
2. What are you going to use it for.
3.Do you need automatic, manual, or preset ground balance based on ground mineralization.

There are many places to hunt in your area. Most public parks are accessible to metal detect. Other sites include school yards, Churches, beaches, and any where else that you can gain permission to hunt. Always remember to ask for permission before you hunt on private property. If there is any question about the legality of hunting parks in your area pick up the phone and give your local police department a call.

1.Relic hunting
There are many types of relic hunting that individuals enjoy participating in. Probably the most sought after relics are those from the Civil War. Being that the battles of the Civil War were fought through out the U.S. there are plenty of Civil War relics to be found.

2.How to find relics
Ok so now you ask how do I find relics from days past. Well its really very simple first thing to do is to determine what type of relics you are looking for example Civil War, Revolutionary War, or items from a specific time period such as 1800's, 1900's.

3.Research
Once you have determined what type of relics you are searching for you have to begin to research. Lets say I want to find Civil War relics but I don't know where a battle took place in my area one of the easiest ways to find info on battles in your area is to read what is called the O.R.'S or official records. A link to the O.R.'s can be found in my list of links above. If this does not work there is another tactic that I have found that works very well in some cases. Google offers the ability to search periodicals through there search engine. To do this go to Google and click on the link that says News on the top left hand corner of the page. This will allow you search newspaper articles from the early 1800's and late 1700's.

4. Sandborn maps
If you're wanting to find info on home site from the 1800's a great resource to use is sandborn maps.

5. Research using land deeds
Another option that you have here is go the county court house and request info on land deeds from this time period. One of the great things about home sites is that often times no research is needed to find a home site.

6.Use your head
In my opinion the eyes are the best research tool for finding home sites. Look for big oak trees, old fence post, cellar holes, flowers and trees that are not indigenous to the area that are planted in what seems to be a secluded woodland area. Another way that to stumble upon home sites is to use your metal detector always keep in mind if your hunting wooded areas and you begin to find square nails there is good chance that you could have just found and old homestead.

7. My tips
Two more small tips for this subject #1 always look at the ground no matter where you are keep your eyes open for broken glass if there is broken glass colored green, blue, pink or even clay pottery keep this site in mind for a possible home site. #2 excellent site that I stumbeed upon to find early 1800's land owner ship records this link is also listed in the list of links above.

8.Old fashion research
If all else fails you can always go to the library. Also keep in mind that most metropolitan areas have local museums with info about the city. Keep in mind that major universities and colleges have archives. Within these archives you can find periodicals as well as pictures.

Over the last year a friend and I have been working an 1800's home site very hard. This was the first time I had managed to hunt a site this old that had never been disturbed. The things we have found are unbelievable. On my first trip out to the site I was amazed at what I was digging out of the ground. At first we began to find farming implements large chunks of broken cast iron. The first major find on the site was a New York militia mans coat button from around 1870, this was found by my friend Dennis.

As we continued to hunt we began to find pieces of lanterns, horse shoes, and broken spoons and forks. The next major find was a bell and stirrup which is pictured here.
As we continue to hunt more objects from days past begin to appear we eventually find the door to the old wood fireplace/stove it had kansas no. 8 written on the front of it.

While working a site like this I am continuously trying to piece together what the home would have looked like, what type of work these people did and where did they bury there money lol. Well as we looked at the site together Dennis and I began to realize that there was a cellar hole or out house pit in the edge of the bushes. So we began to dig as we did bottle after bottle popped out along with pieces of broken porcelain dinner ware. Each time you reach in the hole and pull something else out your heart flutters with excitement you really never know what you will find next.

On the last outing to the site I found a civil war era trunk lock. This lock was imported from Brittan as I discoed in further research. A few other items that were found were keg taps, irons, and door knobs. Just writing about this makes me want to grab my detector and hit the trail.

Once you have done your research and found an area that use to be a home site you need to find what is there now. Of course you could jump in your vehicle and drive down but that wastes time and gas for all you know there may be a gas station or shopping mall built on top of your prime hunting area. This is where the use of satellite based programs comes into play. There are a few websites that make satellite pictures available to you. my favorite site to use is freshlogicstudios and of course you can use google earth both of these sites are wonderful.