Do you hunt ones that are still used for the fairs, or stick to mainly the older, defunct ones? Obviously the older ones are better, but I live not too far from one that's still used for county fairs, and has been since at least the 40s, and all of the older ones are now industrial areas or otherwise inaccessible. Wondering if it's worth hitting since there's 60 years worth of clad on top (I'm a coinshooter, but clad just gets in the way of the cool stuff).
For you fairground hunters....
- Thread starter TrpnBils
- Start date
Bayoutalker
Elite Member
I'd hit it and check it out. How bad could it be?
Cliff
Cliff
Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 20,725
Needless to say: The "defunct" ones, assuming they were defunct by 1960-ish, are going to be the best. That predates pulltabs and clad. Why would anyone prefer the ones that are still in-use today ?
But the devil is in the details, of course: Because .... not many fairgrounds simply "went defunct" are are waiting virgin & pristine , waiting for an md'r to waltz out there.
I have had a few opportunities to be the first to hit virgin country picnic sites, that ceased all usage by the mid 1920s. And .... talk about a rush ! You can go into "dig all" mindset, and yet never dig a tab, or foil, or clad, etc.... The only nemesis was occasional bullet shells
Both are good. I have permission for a large fairground property that operated from the 1870's up until about the 1950's that is now private land. Sites like that can obviously be better since they've been private land and hit by way fewer detectors. We've pulled a ton of barbers, mercs, and indians out of that spot. On the other hand our local fairground that's still open started in 1853 and has been pounded to death for 40 years by every person with a detector around here but it still produces old coins every year. They are much fewer and far between so I usually just go there when I'm bored and not many better spots to go to that day. Just pulled this sweet semi-key date half there a few months back. Right in the infield thats hammered to death yearly. I think it was deep on edge, Nox 15" picked it out.
Attachments
Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 20,725
Azmodeus, that is one sick barber half ! And the story of your exploits at that spot are what md'ing dreams are made of ! I would love to have been the first person to have detected there.
There was a local fellow here, who .... in the mid 1970s ... was the first to detect a scout camp that dated to the 1930s. He describes so much silver and wheaties, that he could literally work around a single tree for hours. And silver so prolific, that you could just kick the duff on the ground, and see the flash of silver dimes rolling out of the banks of dirt.
Thebigd81
Senior Member
Id hit both... Have to clean out the clad to find the goodies
found such a place in '77 state park in nh.warden lived in a corner house
at the edge of the property. no one could get in there.i had just started 'decting,and "sneaked" in.found literally the world, barbers,seated,chiefs,bust,
and large cents.well,what happened was the game warden passed away,and they didn't "replace" him right away.hunted there for close to 6 months, and then finally got the boot by the new warden!..true story! no !!!!!!!!!
(h.h.!)
j.t.
I look for the old lost ones from defunct towns and what not, have a good one that had produced a couple hundred coins from the mid 1800's to about 1910. Here on the east coast the ones that are still used today that were used in the 1800's are a pick a 10 by 10 spot and dig it all day long to clear it of all targets, literally blankets of trash. But because its hard work there is a good chance for goodies.
IF you can find one that ceased operations in the early 1900's that has not been detected, it can be a absolutely mind blowing experience. These pics were of me and my hunting buddies lunch break one day(just the silvers also had like twenty something indians and a bunch of v and shield nicks that day).... with still the afternoon to hunt.
IF you can find one that ceased operations in the early 1900's that has not been detected, it can be a absolutely mind blowing experience. These pics were of me and my hunting buddies lunch break one day(just the silvers also had like twenty something indians and a bunch of v and shield nicks that day).... with still the afternoon to hunt.
Attachments
very very bad lol. like literally not an inch of space at these places without trash. I know of two fair grounds that have been used since the 1800's around me, and its nearly impossible to dig at them. like i said before you would have to dig every single signal and you would completely destroy the place.
Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 20,725
....
IF you can find one that ceased operations in the early 1900's that has not been detected, it can be a absolutely mind blowing experience. These pics were of me and my hunting buddies lunch break one day(just the silvers also had like twenty something indians and a bunch of v and shield nicks that day).... with still the afternoon to hunt.
You are going to make me vomit.
You are going to make me vomit.
That was my best day there. Think I ended up with 12 silvers at the end of the day all over 100 years old. I'm telling you, theres a dollar gold coin there somewehere
, just gotta find it.
Last edited:
Bayoutalker
Elite Member
What's worse, lots of trash or literally no signals? That's the problem I have here in a lot of places.
Cliff
Detectingman
Full Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2017
- Messages
- 197
Found some clad in the parking areas outside the gates before. There were alot of trash signals if I remember correctly.
Well in my mind its a losing endeavor. The trash usually gets replaced every event faster then you can clear it, unless you literally destroy the place digging every signal all at once. maybe conditions are different by you, but I usually end up digging down 10 inches of layered trash to find absolutely nothing on 99 percent of my trips to these types of places. The old coins have to be there I know, but the effort vs researching a better site that may be 1-2 hours further away just doesn't make it worth it in my mind. Heck I have dug more coins at poor old farmers houses than at these places. But if you got nothing else start clearing trash and eventually you will find some good stuff. Maybe i'll think differently in the future if I can't find anywhere else more productive to hunt, or if they stop offering hotdogs and hamburgers in foil and serving drinks in cans and so on. For now though my time is better spent elsewhere.
IDXMonster
Elite Member
Just go scout it out Jeff. I’ve found old silver in every fairground I’ve ever hunted and they’re ALL in use today still. I use HIGH discrimination most of the time and pass on anything zinc and lower. Dont care about the “maybe”. Use the machine to find what YOU want to find. I’ve found 2 Seated quarters,4 Seated dimes, a bunch of Barber stuff and a Morgan along with a 2c piece out of ONE of these fairs. Yours being the age it is likely won’t have super old silver but it WILL have silver.
Go hunt!
Go hunt!
Just go scout it out Jeff. I’ve found old silver in every fairground I’ve ever hunted and they’re ALL in use today still. I use HIGH discrimination most of the time and pass on anything zinc and lower. Dont care about the “maybe”. Use the machine to find what YOU want to find. I’ve found 2 Seated quarters,4 Seated dimes, a bunch of Barber stuff and a Morgan along with a 2c piece out of ONE of these fairs. Yours being the age it is likely won’t have super old silver but it WILL have silver.
Go hunt!
People must be more respectful where you live and actually make it to the trash can haha
Haldean
Full Member
Sounds like he found the "Big Rock Candy Mountain" LOL
IDXMonster
Elite Member
It’s weird, there are sections like you have described that are just about “unhuntable”, and those ARE a complete waste. The outer lying areas where people (young people) would sneak to make out and such, smoke dope, drink beer....clothes were loose to missing....ANY area except the ones by the grandstand or any “track” where they had/have demo derbies have produced something. I was hunting this fairground I speak of last year in an area with many car parts and squashed pop/beer cans and found this....in case anyone hasn’t seen it.https://youtu.be/xaufIZhfFVI
pryan67
Forum Supporter
I would love to hunt the fairgrounds near me. Unfortunately, it's privately owned property rather than city property (and it's fenced and locked up. In order to "just hit it" I'd have to climb a fence. They get ~100,000 people per year at the fair, plus the other events they hold throughout the year. If everyone dropped an average of a penny, that's 1000 dollars just in clad. They moved there in 1949 so there's potential for silver.
I haven't been able to secure permission yet unfortunately.
I haven't been able to secure permission yet unfortunately.
