"Hunted out" cellars vs "Poor" cellars

This year I have encountered several sites that looked good when I got there. No dig holes, iron on rocks... So I put the coil down and end up usually dissapointed and pull out 1-2 buttons, a relic, some shot gun shells and occasionally a stray copper. The strange thing is I've been to other sites this year where I saw a bunch of dig holes and still pulled out more objects. It's gotten me confused. How long do dig holes in the woods usually last on average? There's been a few towns located near each other where it seems almost every site is like this, no dig holes but simply no targets. Most of the sites I'm talking about are colonial and were abandoned prior to the introduction of the maps. Are these sites just "poor" and thus dropped very little or were they hunted 10 years ago? It's been bothering me all year as it seems to Mostly be the case in a select few towns all located near each other.

Jim , there are several reasons for the lack of finds ....

yes the original people that lived there could have been very poor and "bartered" for most of their goods , this was done more back then them most people realized.

Coinage was is short supply just before and after the Revolutionary war and what money there was out there people kept it tightly.

Most sites out here have been detected for the last 30 to 40 years from one to dozens of times , so its not like park hunting where you will get quantity . if you pick up a couple of goodies like a few buttons or a coin and buckle then consider it a win .

As far as dig holes they can be years and years old before there is enough leaves to fill them all the way.

Some towns just seem to be hit less than others, I still really don't get the logic of this. Maybe it has to do with how accessible the cellar holes were to people 20-30 years ago but I really don't understand it. It could be just one of those random things.

Jim , there is no rhyme or reason for it and you'll go bonkers trying to figure out if there is any kind of logic. I seen an old road with many cellars and everyone of the 6 holes were pounded but the second one in was almost untouched :dontknow: . I just now access how bad its been hit in the first hour or so by the types of items i do find in the obvious areas around the site . this has proven to be pretty accurate .

Idk how long it will take to cover holes, but if they were filled in enough with the original dirt that one coating of leaves should have covered it so it wouldn't be seen. Imagine how your back yard looks every year with the leaves falling and how much gets covered. I did go back yesterday where I found the buckle. For some reason, the two holes right there the plugs were flipped up again. I know I filled them, and the other holes were still ok. Maybe some animal was looking for grubs (which I saw quite a few there and one massive one yesterday).

Not all sites were hit, but the majority of them were. Think too if they are public land sites, they are most likely hit. Think of someone would be doing research to areas close to him and hit as many as they can in the same general area. That's the answer why certain towns or areas of towns are more hit than others. You find a nice site, you look for more around it, and stick to the areas that produce best. Dan and Bri went to the same spot two weeks in a row. I thought I had a good spot to check last week because there was no pass through of the street. The current road just turns left. The rest of the road is blocked, but it ends at an old bridge which only has the foundation stones remaining. I was thinking that the only way someone knew was to either research it like I did or have been told about it. Sure, it was in a wooded park so public land. There were two horrible holes behind the foundation stones of each cellar. Holes were 2 feet wide and not filled in. I only found 2 of the three sites, while one that I did find looked like it would be an unknown 4th site based upon it wasn't in the location on the map as one should be. I think because there is fishing in the area, that's how someone was told about it and they were hit. I'd go along with what Dan said to consider sometimes a few buttons a win.

Its a hit or miss game... I don't have an answer for that. It's like some of the fields we detect, ones that seem like they should produce don't and then you get the field the owner says has been detected and "you won't find anything" ends up being a field of dreams. Thats what I love about this hobby.