First farm field hunt - what am I doing wrong?

[Ohio Digger]

I have permission to hunt a farm field that had a school on it back in 1874 (based on my map). I spent an hour and a half there looking for some trash or any clues as to where the school sat. I also swung while I was walking the field. It was so clean. I couldn't even find an area with heavy iron. I feel I'm in the correct spot. Could everything be too deep from the land being turned over so many times? I would think I would still pick up some iron. This is my first time in a field. The neighbor was pissing me off. He kept hobbling over on his crutches and saying "I doubt you're going to find anything." I wanted to tell him to shut his mouth before I break his good leg lol.

 

[LandOLincoln]

The plow actually pulls stuff up at the same time it burries other stuff deep. You should be getting some iron signals at the very least. If you aren't seeing any brick, broken glass, or other signs then maybe you are in the wrong spot. I have a church that shows up on 3 maps from the 1870s -1890s and I haven't even received an iron grunt in that area. Sometimes areas are just busts.

Most of my decent finds from old schools are near the roads or turn-ins into the field.

 

[hershey1]

What mode are you hunting in? Minelabs don't like freshly plowed fields but I have done pretty well using the relic mode. If targets are too deep for your E-Trac I would find another site to try. HH

 

[sprchng]

pm the gps coorrdinates to g4e and see if he's already been there

 

[roygpa]

I am far from an expert having had my E-Trac only a couple months but on most of my hunts I cannot get away from Iron so I discriminate it out and use a coin hunting discrimination mode.

Have you tried a wide open screen discriminating nothing?

I don't think I could go 5 feet like that without hitting some sort of Iron target.

Makes me realize just how sloppy people have been (not just current generations but way down the line) not cleaning up after themselves... for sooo long.

 

[Goes4ever]

your in the wrong spot, you might be just missing it by 50-100 yards who knows, I have found a lot of times those maps are off by a little bit, rds are sometimes moved as well, you need to expand your search to find the iron spot. But the map might also be completely wrong, I had about a dozen spots this yr where the map said the homesite or school was there and even with three guys we could not locate it, people make mistakes.

Did an old timer tell you they remember it being there, their memory might be off too if it has been gone for 30, 40 or 50 yrs............

 

[Dale(Ia)]

your in the wrong spot, you might be just missing it by 50-100 yards who knows, I have found a lot of times those maps are off by a little bit, rds are sometimes moved as well, you need to expand your search to find the iron spot. But the map might also be completely wrong, I had about a dozen spots this yr where the map said the homesite or school was there and even with three guys we could not locate it, people make mistakes.

Did an old timer tell you they remember it being there, their memory might be off too if it has been gone for 30, 40 or 50 yrs............

Agree! Can't be the right spot!

 

[robertj298]

your in the wrong spot, you might be just missing it by 50-100 yards who knows, I have found a lot of times those maps are off by a little bit, rds are sometimes moved as well, you need to expand your search to find the iron spot. But the map might also be completely wrong, I had about a dozen spots this yr where the map said the homesite or school was there and even with three guys we could not locate it, people make mistakes.

Did an old timer tell you they remember it being there, their memory might be off too if it has been gone for 30, 40 or 50 yrs............

Yep I've even had maps that show a school or church on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Goes4ever]

oh yes I've seen that many times

 

[Ohio Digger]

The landowner is in his 70's but pretty sharp. He said "it was right on the corner of my property". In hindsight I wish I had asked him if he recalls seeing the structure while it was still standing. I'm not sure when it was demolished but based on some online maps it was still there in the 50's. I'm going to try and expand my search a little more. I'm pretty confident I'm at least on the correct side of the street. My concern is that there is a more modern house that is basically notched into his farmfield and I'm hoping this is not where the site was (as it was the pain in the #ss neighbor that kept coming over).

 

[Bell-Two]

Yes the old maps can be misleading for sure. And you might not find a spot with heavy iron. We had a field where I was pretty sure where the house was, went to the spot, no brick, no glass, no crockery and almost iron free. We thought the old map was wrong, until my wife hit upon a Large Cent, we started going over the area and we got three more Large Cents and virtually nothing else....weird So give it another shot, dig virtually any signal to see what it tells you.

 

[Dale(Ia)]

Yes the old maps can be misleading for sure. And you might not find a spot with heavy iron. We had a field where I was pretty sure where the house was, went to the spot, no brick, no glass, no crockery and almost iron free. We thought the old map was wrong, until my wife hit upon a Large Cent, we started going over the area and we got three more Large Cents and virtually nothing else....weird So give it another shot, dig virtually any signal to see what it tells you.

Almost sounds like a coinpurse or pouch loss........maybe from horseback. I found five large cents the same way. My buddy found a Capped Bust half dollar, half-dime & Draped Bust quarter all in a field with no other finds..........I went back later & found a Capped Bust dime. You never know!!
Iowa Dale

 

[Bill M]

I look for DEBRIS, no debris you are just in the wrong spot. Terry is absolutely correct, you may be just 50-100 yards to the edge of your school site. Just throw your machine over your shoulder and hike around till you see something in or on the ground. If it was just a one room school there may not be a lot of debris, but you will see something to indicate you are in the nearby area. good luck.

 

[DirtyDeedsDugDirtDeep]

I agree with the last poster. Even if most of the building materials were recycled, or salvaged, they couldn't have gotten every little thing.
There should be broken bricks or glass, and plenty of nails or tin roof fragments.

 

[mclucky]

The school may have been moved to a new spot..leaving little...this was done alot ..moved in one piece to a farm nearby to be an out building.Should still be a few goodies though...I'd try again and widen the search area. Good Luck!!

 

[surfchunker]

maybe the guy you thought was a jerk knew where it was and if you had been nice to him he would have told you where it was even if it was on his land he might have let you MD there .... I never have a problem with other people usually unless it's them calling the cops on me.

 

[ironsight]

your in the wrong spot, you might be just missing it by 50-100 yards who knows, I have found a lot of times those maps are off by a little bit, rds are sometimes moved as well, you need to expand your search to find the iron spot. But the map might also be completely wrong, I had about a dozen spots this yr where the map said the homesite or school was there and even with three guys we could not locate it, people make mistakes.
Did an old timer tell you they remember it being there, their memory might be off too if it has been gone for 30, 40 or 50 yrs............

I agree with Goes4ever and others. Even if it was moved, there should be some target indications that it was there.

Since as you say its 'clean' and if you have a big coil, sweep the whole dam field.

But first, try to find another different map and compare sites.
I got my eye on another old one room school site only a mile away from my property line in a corn field. Problem with that one is that two different old maps show it in different locations by about 1 to 2 hundred yards apart!

I got permission and hunted an old turn of the century one room school house site located on the corner of a bean field.
Nails, nails, iron and more nails every sqr. foot is all i found except one old button. It either burned to the ground or was dis-assembled for lumber with the pulled nails tossed.
The nail/iron hits ended abruptly in roughly a 25 X 25 square yard area. Outside of that area, nothing, quiet. There was definitely a structure there at one time.
Gonna go back there with a smaller coil next Spring and see what happens.

 

[jughed440]

As stated already, the map is off. Early 1900s USGS topographic quadrangle maps are far more accurate than the 1870s plat books. They show the sites' actual locations rather than just the general area. Some schools may have been gone by the early 1900s, but most weren't.

 

[ChicagoJohn]

Maybe nothing is wrong with you and just few or none out in farm field. Coins might go deeper and deeper! I know old school in corner in rural area and no school today. lawn look so nice and probably bull dozer remove whole things and add new 12 inch of soil plus grass.