exactly what I've done or am doing:

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UtahRich
If you need something to do to keep busy, ...

Physically I can not do all or much of the work but we have been 'busy' with a lot of interior remodeling of this old house, and now wrapping it up with complete interior painting, then Monte Jr. will finish all of the total laminate flooring job, and then the end of September all of the ordered windows will be installed. I had a complete electrical re-wire of the whole house, an new heavy-dup roof installed, and the plumbers and city took care of running a new sewer line from my house back to the city's sewer line. I've been busy doing what I can do, staying out of the way of others, and trying to figure out how to pay for everything.

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UtahRich
I'd grab your favorite detector with favorite small coil and choose a small area, like along the front walkway up to the house, and clean it out of conductive targets; including the bottle caps. Stay within 2-3" of either side of the walkway and hunt it from the front sidewalk to the steps up to the front door.

I've used:

Nokta FORS CoRe w/'OOR' DD
Nokta FORS Relic w/5" DD
Garrett Apoex w/NEL 5" DD
Tesoro Bandido II µMAX w/6" Concentric
Tesoro Silver Sabre µMAX w/6" Cncentric

and also some mid-sized coils, like:

Garrett Apex w/'Ripper' 5X8 DD
XP ORX w/5X9½ DD


I have selected several "small areas" to hunt and clean out. The front walkway up to my front steps & porch is only about 8' long, as a rough guess. There is no front sidewalk or curb or parking strip, etc.

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UtahRich
Do this for the sidewalk in front of the house if there is one.

There isns't.

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UtahRich
If there is a path from the street / sidewalk to the front door, like a short cut from the front corner of the property to the front steps, hunt that.

There is no 'short-cut' pathway, but I have imagined there could have been and hunted that. Nothing exciting.

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UtahRich
If there is a side driveway and a path to the front or back door hunt that.

The rock/dirt driveway is on the S side road and goes to a garage or carport, or up to the big oak tree by the back gate and that goes into the patio and up to the back door. That was, and is, the most-used entrance and exit point for the house. It is also part of the general area that has produced the most modern coins and most trash and by far the most pull tabs, and especially bottle caps. Flicked out from the vehicle, or around by the patio area.

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UtahRich
If there is a large shade tree in the yard, front or back, I'd hunt under and around that.

Yep, a huge Oak tree right by the house, man-gate, patio, driveway area. Also a large Pecan tree, almost the size of the Oak tree, in the back yard. Both of them have been surrounded by modern change , and that was out-numbered by the number of bottle caps.

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UtahRich
If there is a clothes line in the back yard, I'd hunt under that.

That was the first thing that came to my mind when I first observed this old house for sale. But we have now discovered, via the remodeling, that this old house had several 'additions' through the years, and the garage was built ±1955. Also, the old wood house was covered with metal siding so that would have hidden any sign of running a clothes line from the house. There's no sign from the garage, from either of the very big trees, and I can't find any indications of poles in the yard to run a clothesline.

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UtahRich
Folks sitting on the front porch, popping beer tops and flicking them over the rail into the front yard isn't where I would start.

Very few bottle caps out front off the porch area, but an over-abundant supply of them out the backyard near the covered patio, some out by the Pecan tree where they may have enjoyed the shade near where they used to have a 20 foot or so above-ground pool. Also, the area from the back man-gate to the garage and carport had/has a lot of bottle caps to contend with.

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UtahRich
You will quickly notice if the yard is original OR if it has been redone, by the type and depth of targets, color of the dirt, and so forth.

There has been some build-up from grass clippings and leaf droppage, but looking at the house and foundation or access to get under the house, it doesn't appear to have much build-up. Not close to the house. There might have been some build-up out away from the house, but it doesn't seem so except on the S side. The folks I bought it from bought it and lived here since 1994 or '96, and he's never metal detected and there hasn't been any detecting here since they have owned it.

However, it could have been hard-hunted from the early days of the hobby, such as in the '70s, '80s or into the mid-'90s. Trust me, I have been trying to check any conceivable place where anything older might be, and sadly it does seem like this property might have been worked back in the early days. I won't give up as I am sure something might have been missed, but it has been frustrating.

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UtahRich
Good luck.

Thanks, and I need it. 'Good Luck' here on my land, and 'Good Luck' finding permissions to hunt other people's property that might be in better, un-worked condition with a low litter amount..

Monte

"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product ReviewsI'm now located in Clyde, Texas monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 503-481-8147Detector Outfit: A selection of my favorite makes and models, with the best coils mounted for the tasks I'll take on.Apex .. FORS CoRe .. FORS Relic .. Impact .. Inca .. Bandido II µMAX .. Silver Sabre µMAX .. MX-5Pinpointers: Pulse-Dive Pointer and AT Pro-Pointer .. Headphones: 'Hornet' & 'Wasp' .. MS-3 Z-Lynk*** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***