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Beginner's luck, how to detect it?

Outdoorsman258

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2022
Messages
28
Location
The Quiet Corner of Connecticut
There is a Boy Scout camp near my house that is 950 acres. On the property there is a house and barn, and stone walls from a house at least from 1833. I asked for permission, and they said yes! The house belonged to a local church and the Reverends live there. Where do I start?
 
There is a Boy Scout camp near my house that is 950 acres. On the property there is a house and barn, and stone walls from a house at least from 1833. I asked for permission, and they said yes! The house belonged to a local church and the Reverends live there. Where do I start?


There
 
Around the house, pathways to features around the property, etc. If you're close to me I'll come over šŸ˜
 
Well, at the risk of differing with your prior responses : It will depend on what your objective is. It would be knee-jerk response, to start the "oldest spot" within that 950 acres. Right ? Ok, sure, then that qualifies as old homestead cellar-hole type hunt feel/niche. Ok

And if that homestead site is still in modern usage as a modern farm-yard, it could be plastered with modern iron/aluminum debris. But by all means, try there .

But you also mentioned boyscout camp. Was that necessarily at the location of the 1830's homestead ? Or was that somewhere else in the 950 acres ? Not sure how old the scout camp part of your question is, but if it's an older scout site (1920 origin ? 1940s or 50s origin ?) , and if you're the first person to hunt it, thenL Those can often give up a LOT of silver coins.

Another note : The current person, who tells you "yes", might also say : ".... And no one's ever md'd here before..." I've heard this type suffix before, and it's not always the case. They just might not know that it's been hunted before. Eg.: through some other family member's say-so. Or the ranch-hand employee said "ok" to their friend in the past, etc..... Ya never know.
 
The house is still standing along with the barn. The scout camp is about 150 yards away. I don't think there is any scout activity near the house. If fact I have never seen anyone at the house. I am looking to find cool stuff and learn my machine.
 
You might also want to look into the usage/history/era of the scout camp.

For example, there's a scout camp in my area, that it turns out was only used a few times, back in the mid 1960s, and never again. Needless to say, think I got all of two memorials. Doh !
 
The house is still standing along with the barn. The scout camp is about 150 yards away. I don't think there is any scout activity near the house. If fact I have never seen anyone at the house. I am looking to find cool stuff and learn my machine.

Scouts started in early 1900's. You said there's a foundation from an "at least from 1833" house.

What would you prefer to find?

If for some reason you're wanting Scouting relics, then hit the camp. If you prefer the possibility of 200 year old coins and relics, then hit the foundation.

If your permission is extended for as long as you wish to hunt it, then in the big picture, it doesn't matter much, hit it all.
 
....What would you prefer to find? ....

I don't know what it's like on the east coast, but here in the part of CA that I'm in, I can drive through the country-side, and ... point to COUNTLESS barns and farmhouses that date to ..... say .... 1890 or 1900. But NO ONE is going to these looking for seateds and barbers. Might there be some there ? OF COURSE ! But no one is knocking on doors saying "can I search your yard".

Most of those-type-yards here, if they are still functional farms/barns, up-to-the-current, are a mess of industrial farm debris, burn-pit-debris, etc....

Instead, we seek out the recreational camps and past fraternal lodges camps, where people went for the express purpose of recreation, camping, sleeping, etc...

Or the stage stops which were for the express purpose of traveler stopping, spending, etc...

Sure, I make exceptions if we're talking an 1830s site. Sure . ESPECIALLY if it were defunct and erased from the landscape by 1880s. :roll: But I can point to many such 1830s/40s homesteads, which have a modern home/barns on the spot, that it will be murder. D/t still in use up till now.

The junkage ratio at a scout camp will be much less punishing. Newer ? Yes. But ...... you have to pick your poison.
 
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