A Tale Of Two Fields!

[Bell-Two]

Field season is starting up here in South West Ohio, so far we have been hunting two fields that have been cut while waiting for the others to be harvested. The first field a new permission is a very junky site, with a barn that had been taken down recently which masks some of the better items. The best item found was an 1881 Seated Dime by my nephew Paul unfortunately do not pictures of it at this time. I found a few wheat pennies, two crotal bells, a nice decorative brooch face and a 1933 Dog tag and a St Joseph Medallion made of aluminum.





The second field is a site from last year which I only got to hunt a couple of times, making some nice relic and button finds. This year it was in beans so the hunting is easier to swing a coil. This site is small and has massive iron deposits with a constant grunt interrupted occasionally with a high tone. Last week I got a Cracker Jack token and the 1888 Canadian Fish Scale. We hunted this for about an hour on Sunday and I got an 1899 Indian.



This Wednesday Diane and I went back and we both made some interesting finds

I found a rolled upped spoon, small brass keg tap and a “Good Over All” button



Diane’s good find was an 1864 plain Indian, in decent shape for a field Indian and unusually for this site she said it was a 12-34 on her E-Trac with no iron near it.



My best find was this 1909 vintage Coca Cola Watch Fob at first I was not sure what it was but when I was able to see Coca Cola on the bottom I knew it should be a good item! Research shows that it an uncommon early and scarce find.



[video]http://youtu.be/1mopMjaGn4U[/video]

 

[GKMan]

Nice post and finds Tony! I look forward to watching the video

 

[mcb613]

Watch fob is cool, for sure!

 

[sube]

That's a great looking coke a cola item those are cool . sube

 

[CT Todd]

Where's the bells. I love those. Nice post tony

 

[MINELABMIKE]

nice finds, like the old coca cola fob

 

[Stogger]

Nice post and nice finds! I'm just getting into searching fields, and I've been granted permission on a couple here close to an area that 16,000 of Jackson's troops were taken across the mountain. So far, I've found a few 1950s/1960s bottles and lots of trash. In the center of the field there are almost no signals.

Being new to this, what settings do you recommend? So far, I've stuck with the standard beach mode using "High trash" and "Recovery deep" settings. I usually use pattern 2, until I find something. Then check against pattern 1.

Any advice for searching fields greatly appreciated!

Mike

 

[mcb613]

I think Id be searching near any water access. Not an authority on CW hunting, but if not a campsite, then have to figure out where they could have stopped. Good luck!

 

[Bell-Two]

Nice post and nice finds! I'm just getting into searching fields, and I've been granted permission on a couple here close to an area that 16,000 of Jackson's troops were taken across the mountain. So far, I've found a few 1950s/1960s bottles and lots of trash. In the center of the field there are almost no signals.

Being new to this, what settings do you recommend? So far, I've stuck with the standard beach mode using "High trash" and "Recovery deep" settings. I usually use pattern 2, until I find something. Then check against pattern 1.

Any advice for searching fields greatly appreciated!

Mike

Research is the first thing, checking old maps find where houses, schools, churches, etc were located in the past. Then do a google search to see what is now at those locations, if it now farm fields find out who owns them and get permission to detect them. As for settings I use a combined with 4 tones set for my preference, iron at 25 ferrous coin and wide open screen. Listen for the high tones. If there is a lot of iron...and there will generally be at old home site listen for the small squeakers between the iron grunts. Don't be afraid to dig junk....going to be a lot of it... my second screen in my pattern has just a small bit of discrim for nails and small iron bits I generally use that around old existing home sites. First pic shows how I set my tones up...but set yours anyway you like the second shows the screen I use with small discrim but as I said I am generally hunting with it wide open.

 

[Stogger]

Thanks very much Bell-Two! I've done some research on the area and there is a house (still lived in) that was built around the late 1700's, and some around mid 1800's. there are 2 churches nearby 1812 and one later 1800's. The field I'm searching is one of the only flat areas here that would accommodate that many soldiers (16,000).

I'm just now experimenting with the Ferrous Coin setting. I see that you have "Recovery Fast" chosen as well. In the field, near the stream there are many more targets mostly modern trash. In the center, there are almost no targets detected. So far, I've found a few 1950's or early 1960's bottles. I usually use the standard beach setting (Screen 2) ; but with this, the detector picks up every tiny bit or flake of metal.

This also answers questions I had about old home sites. There is an old home site I've received permission to search, it is in a wooded area at the base of a mountain. Everywhere I sweep the detector there is something there. I've dug lots and lots of nails and other metal scraps and pieces that I don't know what they are. The detector also finds small (5 sq mm piece) of metal flakes in the soil. I think there must have been a fire because about 6" down the dirt is more like ash then Forrest compost. All that is left of the house is a chimney, piles of rocks, another building or wall is about 50 yards from the house. The chimney is made of rocks but with a steel beam support. Also there are lots of broken bottles. (Not bottles you normally see today.) Metal flakes are everywhere; I'll try your Ferrous Coin setting to see how that goes. I usually go open screen with no discrimination unless I'm checking something more closely. As of now, searching this area has been crazy because it takes hours just to clear a 3'x3' area of metal targets. But I want to stick with it because there is so much metal. There must be a coin or something here that gives more indication of the time period the house was lived in.