Looking for a digging partner in Muskoka, ON Canada for the digging season

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b.ecollects

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Hello. I would like to try bottle digging, but I do not know much about it. I would like someone to teach me about bottle digging: what the recommended spots to dig are and what precautions I should take.

It's a bit hard digging on my own as I don't know where to start and what equiptment to bring (other then a shovel). Also, I can't drive, so that'll pose a challenge.
 

Leep1660

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Hello, that's neat your getting into bottle digging, I believe it helps bring more unknown bottles to market and helps retain history for the future generations through glassware. I'm from simcoe county ( not too far) been digging for over a decade now, but its getting harder these days to dig since we both no that are areas are getting developing crazy fast for homes/cottages from Toronto moving north. Though Muskoka's was Toronto summer vacation dumping grounds for close to 150 years, were every turn could be a dump. I do suggest do ur research on muskoka's history like all the main port and sawmill towns like port Carling, brace bridge, deerhurst, gravenhurst, bala, Huntsville, etc. Also another route is try to find old maps of Muskoka and overlap with the a modern map of today, finding where roads don't exist anymore like in the woods, etc. As a tip, try to get a Rootslayer shovel, there amazing and cut through roots and hard dirt like butter especially your in the rocky Canadian sheild :) I got mine on amazon. Also if you see rusty cans on the surface, always a good sign because in a dump the thin cans rise to the top when rusted out but bottle drop below. Google map can be a great tool for finding those lost pockets in the woods where things are dumped, abandoned car can be seen quite well if u put it on a fall season where theres no leaves on the trees on google maps/earth. Muskoka/ parrysound area are renown for its ghost towns so that's also another route. As ethics : don't dig in people backyards hah, dig where your aloud, thou digging at bottle dumps sometimes can be a Grey area especially with dealing with crown land.
 

b.ecollects

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Hello, that's neat your getting into bottle digging, I believe it helps bring more unknown bottles to market and helps retain history for the future generations through glassware. I'm from simcoe county ( not too far) been digging for over a decade now, but its getting harder these days to dig since we both no that are areas are getting developing crazy fast for homes/cottages from Toronto moving north. Though Muskoka's was Toronto summer vacation dumping grounds for close to 150 years, were every turn could be a dump. I do suggest do ur research on muskoka's history like all the main port and sawmill towns like port Carling, brace bridge, deerhurst, gravenhurst, bala, Huntsville, etc. Also another route is try to find old maps of Muskoka and overlap with the a modern map of today, finding where roads don't exist anymore like in the woods, etc. As a tip, try to get a Rootslayer shovel, there amazing and cut through roots and hard dirt like butter especially your in the rocky Canadian sheild :) I got mine on amazon. Also if you see rusty cans on the surface, always a good sign because in a dump the thin cans rise to the top when rusted out but bottle drop below. Google map can be a great tool for finding those lost pockets in the woods where things are dumped, abandoned car can be seen quite well if u put it on a fall season where theres no leaves on the trees on google maps/earth. Muskoka/ parrysound area are renown for its ghost towns so that's also another route. As ethics : don't dig in people backyards hah, dig where your aloud, thou digging at bottle dumps sometimes can be a Grey area especially with dealing with crown land.
Thank you for the tips! I really appreciate it. I'll do everything you said and take everything you said and make a journal about it so I don't forget. This will really help me a lot. How do you find the bottles themselves? Do you have to just find a spot where you think a bottle is buried? Or is there like a glass detector? I'm sorry but I'm a noob when it comes to this.
 

Leep1660

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Thank you for the tips! I really appreciate it. I'll do everything you said and take everything you said and make a journal about it so I don't forget. This will really help me a lot. How do you find the bottles themselves? Do you have to just find a spot where you think a bottle is buried? Or is there like a glass detector? I'm sorry but I'm a noob when it comes to this.
there's no real way to know if there's glass in the ground unfortually unless you got an expensive ground penetrating radar haha. I look for the back road end or like a curve in the roads a good sign, people around here use wide mouthpitch forks so they don't damage the bottle and you get use to a surtain ting* sound when u hit softly a bottle underground, compared to a rock is a thud" and etc. Also heard long metal poles too so u can cover more area in less time. Muskoka's is also really great to find hillside dumps in to the thousands of those mini lakes there. I like to think when I'm digging, where would I hide my garbage back in day. Lastly I forgot to mention this is for random dumps if you want to get into the township of muskoka dump/waste disposal site registries ( they have records online just hard to find) from the late 1800s right up to the 1990s
 

Leep1660

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Thank you for the tips! I really appreciate it. I'll do everything you said and take everything you said and make a journal about it so I don't forget. This will really help me a lot. How do you find the bottles themselves? Do you have to just find a spot where you think a bottle is buried? Or is there like a glass detector? I'm sorry but I'm a noob when it comes to this.
there's no real way to know if there's glass in the ground unfortually unless you got an expensive ground penetrating radar haha. I look for the back road end or like a curve in the roads a good sign, people around here use wide mouthpitch forks so they don't damage the bottle and you get use to a surtain ting* sound when u hit softly a bottle underground, compared to a rock is a thud" and etc. Also heard long metal poles too so u can cover more area in less time. Muskoka's is also really great to find hillside dumps in to the thousands of those mini lakes there. I like to think when I'm digging, where would I hide my garbage back in day. Lastly I forgot to mention this is for random dumps if you want to get into the township of muskoka dump/waste dispo registries ( they have records online just hard to find) from the late 1800s right up to the 1990s for larger dumps
 

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