Anybody else have this hobby? I've recently picked my detector back up, but I'm running out of places to hunt.
Playgrounds, you might find some stuff in the sand there. Also along the trails in parks, people lose things often while running.
Farm fields can be good too. My grandfather had several coffee cans full of arrowheads (which would not be found) and miniballs (which would be) that he found plowing the fields.
State owned only? What about county and/or city parks? Pro tip: make sure you check out the benches because that is where the adults sit and lose their jewelry!
We used to have quite a collection of arrowheads and indian beads from when we'd visit my grandparents farm in middle-of-nowhere, Illinois. (Not that either would be found with a metal detector, but they were still fun to find!)
My Mother did this for years after my parents retired. My parents were "snow birds" and traveled south in a RV in the winter. She used to detect mainly in campgrounds. I was never good enough at filling in the holes that I dug so she would go behind me and tidy them up. I never got very good at it, but I would go out with her because I knew she enjoyed it. We would go out for a few hours, she would come back a pocket full of quarters and I would find dog crap and a bunch of cigarette butts. Two years ago we were down at Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach. She was 79 years old and still at it. They had just removed the old ice cream shack near the beach and we went in where that once stood. We found over $60.00 in two days in that spot. That was the last time we went out because she died in her sleep two months later. Around here I go out to school playgrounds and such once or twice a year. If I find a couple of quarters its a good day. I found a 1943 silver dime in Smithfield near the river. That's the only thing of any interest I have found.
Harvey, city/county owned depends on the municipality. They all have different rules. I contacted one land owner near me with a 60 acre tract that I thought would be cool to hunt, but she leases it to a hunting club and didn't think it would be safe for me to go out. I went down to the Neuse this weekend, and found a piece of metal off the old bridge and a bobby pin! LOL I'm gonna check out the ballfields soon, but with ball season starting, I have to find a time it's not being used.
you're welcome to scout out my yard... I only have an acre and a half, but I know it was once part of a big plantation years ago.... might find some interesting stuff.
A few years ago when the meteorite hunter show was on tv, a guy came out to the farm to hunt for them. We've been farming for decades. Poor fellow dug himself to death on plow points, chains, bolts, and bearings. I Know a guy who found some musket balls in one of our fields. He says during the civil war, army came through here and camped in our field because it was elevated enough to see the enemy approach and had a water supply. Don't know if thats true but it sounds like a good story.
