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Newtothiss

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When hiking around creeks, I look for old junk and garbage, as there tends to be even older "garbage" (glass!) under it.

I don't have a probe. Is there any other sings I should be looking for, that tells me some good stuff might be underground?
 

hemihampton

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some dumps are hard to find when they are under flat land under a ton of dirt. glass shards on top can be a indicator. BUT, I sometimes look for mounds of dirt or bigger dirt hills that don't look natural & sometimes have a sudden steep slope on the ends. LEON.
 

Newtothiss

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I use my metal detector to help me out lol. I'm talking more towards creek-side hills...
 

RoyalRuby

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I use my metal detector to help me out lol. I'm talking more towards creek-side hills...

I'm guessing that you're looking in rural areas, first thing I look for before even going out is one or more satellite map sites to see if there's even a reason people would have been in the areas that I may try looking for dumpsites, camping, fishing, hunting cabins, old roadside parks (now called rest areas), and former home sites. Most of these types of places would be the kind of sites where either pits were dug for trash or thrown over a hillside like you mention. Another website I use is Historic Aerials to find former home sites, it's always a better plan to know before heading out if there were people even in the area you're going to, doesn't always pan out for me, but it doesn't mean I just over-looked or missed a dumpsite where I was looking, if I don't find one, I re-think the area and try again at a later date..... ;)
 
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Newtothiss

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Where I'm at has no shortage of hills and creeks.

I try to find old homesite and roads. Apparently, back in the day, if you threw garbage down the hill, in/towards the creek, it ceased to be garbage?

Some are easy to find, but I'm probably walking over all sorts of good stuff.
 

winmeek1

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Creeks and ravines near homesteads or towns. If you live somewhere like I do where there is a prevailing wind direction look downwind.
 

willong

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Creeks and ravines near homesteads or towns. If you live somewhere like I do where there is a prevailing wind direction look downwind.
Good tip on the wind direction!

On modest size lakes, breezes could easily have carried bottles discarded from resort docks across the water before they sink in shallows on opposite shore. I have an amber, three-piece-mold, beer bottle that likely got to where I found it via wind transport.
 

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