hunting civil war relics in a suburban environment - help needed

maxxkatt

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North Atlanta, GA
I live in North Atlanta and there are civil war sites in and around Atlanta especially west and north west in Cobb county.

But, and this is a big but, commercial development and new neighborhoods have really limited where you can hunt without private permissions.

So what do other civil war relic hunters do in this situation. I know up north of Georgia you have to be facing the same type of development pressures or even worse.

I am looking at creek areas, power lines and road cuts that are in areas of Union and Confederate troop battle lines, camps and movements. Not sure what else to do except knocking on doors.

anyone have luck by mailing permission request letters? Using the GIS county property database i can get the property owner's name and address. But I am wondering how that compares to actual door knocking.

thanks all, I am new to relic hunting with my Nox 800. Getting tried of finding clad.
 
Go to your GIS system and find out who owns that particular property. Then go visit them. Letters seldom work. It is harder for them to say "no" when you are in front of them. Also, you might try following the bulldozers. And BTW you get permission easier for water hunting, I have found.
 
I disagree with letters not working, but you have to let the odds work in your favor. I write about 5 letters at a time and make myself as likable as possible in them and let the owner know that I am always respectful of other land, that I never sell any of my finds, and that I have a small museum of my finds in my home. Most say no or don’t reply at all, but because I send so many of them I have gotten some very favorable responses and have gotten on several new properties lately, each of of them being over 70 acres large. Letters do work, you just have to word them properly and send a lot of them.
 
I disagree with letters not working, but you have to let the odds work in your favor. I write about 5 letters at a time and make myself as likable as possible in them and let the owner know that I am always respectful of other land, that I never sell any of my finds, and that I have a small museum of my finds in my home. Most say no or don’t reply at all, but because I send so many of them I have gotten some very favorable responses and have gotten on several new properties lately, each of of them being over 70 acres large. Letters do work, you just have to word them properly and send a lot of them.

wow, you live in a beautiful area. We traveled by car from Atlanta to Boston about 15 years ago. We went up Interstate through the Shenandoah Valley in your state. I remember the first half of the trip the valley was on the left as we headed north and later the mountains were on the right as we headed north. Such a beautiful area. Almost like a fairy tale villages looking down into the valley from the Interstate.

but back to your post. I can easily find the property owner's address via county GIS database and cut/paste address into my database and do a mail merge letter that has been carefully thought out and a respectful request. I figure it is just a numbers game. I can send out 50 letters after about 2-3 hours of research and just let the statistics do their work. Hey, it will either work or not work. If I get skunked, I will re-evaluate my letter and try again. If skunked again, then I will probably go door knocking. Either way I am determined to get some good permissions.

I wonder what type of sharing arrangements to put in letter or none at all and maybe let them decide later when I talk to them on the phone or meet them.
 
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