Question for you field hunters...

[wayne_etc]

Hey folks. I've been thinking about getting into field hunting rather than the usual parks/homesites/schools. There are a few mid 1800s farm houses near me with acres and acres of farmland surrounding the houses. So how do you decide where to start detecting the fields? Do you randomly wander until you start getting signals and then slow down at the "hot spots" or is there some other method you use to pick where to hunt? I'm assuming any finds would be items lost by those who had tended to the crops over the years. There is no evidence of any homesites on any of the land other than the main (still standing) house
Any tips would be appreciated.

w

 

[Ism]

There are many better suited to answer your question than I, but I will offer my limited advice.
www.historicmapworks.com A fantastic source for old plat maps that often show the location of old homesteads in the late 1800's that no longer exist, and some that still do.
I'm not sure how far back their maps go for states other than Michigan.

If I hunt a field that I am not sure of, I do a cursory search to see if I can find concentrated evidence of civilization.
If I do, I focus on the area to see if it has any potential.

 

[scubadetector]

Wayne, I treat a field the same way I treat underwater. I go fast till I start hitting targets then I slow down and clean the spot out. Do I miss things, absolutely. I have found gold rings in the middle of nowhere. BUT to hunt every lake bottom and place that people swam and hit the whole thing, it just isn't going to happen. Sure you can find a coin in the middle of a wheat field. BUT your really looking for where the house was, or an orchard, or where the horse and buggies were parked or where they had the family reunions. Maybe where they met to have a barn raising? In the midwest all the neighbors came to help with that. So one lone swimmer lost a ring in the middle of a lake and yes I have stumbled upon them. But I am still searching where there was an old beach and be able to find lots of rings and coins and yes I have done that quite well.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Scubadetector pretty much summed it up........ you look for past activity. I use old plat maps looking for where schools, houses even towns used to be in what is now farm fields.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The 3 answers you have so far sum it up: The answer is, no, you just don't go "randomly wandering" fields, forests, etc.... There has to have been SOME sort of activity there, for there to have been coins-to-have-been-lost, to begin with.

Might there be random field-worker losses, in cultivated fields ? Sure. But it's simply not worth it, given the young age of the USA. I mean, do you really want to wander for 8 hrs. for an occasional wheat penny or something? Perhaps it Europe they can just wander out into any cultivated fields, and find things, even without ever knowing what went on there. Since those fields have been continuously cultivated for 2000+ yrs. (the first 1900 of it by hand work!) But here in the USA, our history (of metal carrying individuals) was/is just too short. Thus over here, we usually research to know where things were. Eg.: stage stops, camp sites, forts, habitations, structures, parks, etc.....

 

[Flintstone]

I have hunted just plowed fields some and find that if you start at one edge and go all the way around, you will find spots that the Wife bough lunch to the farmer and they set on the plow or on the ground and eat. You can find a coin or spoon or thing that they lost. I have even frond clay pipe just on top of ground after being plowed. Good luck Flintstone

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi Wayne, great advice from all the guys! You said your sites had standing houses, so I figure you already know to concentrate on the high traffic areas around the houses. Well/toilet/shade trees/Smoke house/woodpile/barn / garden etc. Most every place had a garden fairly close at hand(as with the toilet) and would have spent time there.Back yard was usually high activity area with all trails leading from the back door.Check for more than one toilet depression as they were moved from time to time. Check your Topo maps for elevations to give you a feel for where crop layouts and utility sheds may have been.on higher ground. Realize that if fields were claimed from forrested land that those fields were cleared over a period of time and that there would have been plenty of activity there "early on", throughout the entire field clearing period.. Just keep that in mind when you work your chosen areas. Hunt in AM and going to Disc.in the naily activity areas. You will be surprized at the amount of scattered areas of cut nails/ glass/ mud chimney/ house (?) that you may find over large sections of an old place.It is important to always allow for the high possibility that there were multi dwellings on many older places. Most likely a first makeshift/leantwo type building was errected for the time spent there while clearing the land, then a more stable building, then later when the family grew, a larger home would have surely been built or added to the old. Many old places burned down and had to be replaced, so there is no end to the possibilities of" field hunting". Keep watch for old graves also, as they are also a possibility.One more thing is to check your area BLO Patent Records and Original Plat Surveys (on line) if possible. The Patents may show the earliest time periods when a place was lived on and from the Legal Land Descriptions you can determine somwewhat of an idea as to where the original owner may have first built (big house) after land was cleared.Original plat surveys sometimes show farms and fields , at some of the very earliest of time back to the 1820s'.Just some of my thoughts. Have fun and HH, Charlie

 

[Robert2300]

I never wander randomly.
I start around the edges of the building if there is
is a building using the sniper coil so I can get close in.

I use the Ace 250, a killer of a machine.

After that I put on my 9x12 coil for greater depth.
It is good for hitting those Cash's that might be hidden
near or behind the house, assuming they didn't bury it
too deep.

I lay out a grid pattern and begin searching the
grid.

If the ground is moderate, I'll run the sensitivity full
throttle, and back off if the ground seems to m minerallized.

If you have the GT2500 you might want to get the Treasure
Hound for very deep cash's. I hear the 2500 is a killer.

Regardless of the detector you are using, a systematic search
is bound to get you something!

I ran in to one old boy who was ALL OVER the place.
I have no idea how successful he was but I can't imagine he
found all that much jumping all over the place.

If there is an existing building or just a foundation
you might look for depressions where there might have been
an out house or a bottle dump.


Good luck
Robert2300

 

[rglyons]

If I don't currently have any info on good sites I will randomly search a field and almost always find something of value. At times I'll use even the "iron" setting and have found a lot of horseshoes, farm tools, along with the occasional OLD coin. Remember, the fields have been there forever in some form.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

all great advice as previously mentioned...... i found an 1860 map online of my area that showed property owners names and location of the houses..... found one on the map that was on the 1860 map but not on the 1874 map.... it was a great spot once i found it..... another tip that has paid off for me is if you know any arrowhead pickers in your area just ask them if they know of any areas in local fields that have old broken glass or pottery pieces as these would be prime areas to hunt...... also if you know the general area of an old homestead try hunting near a source of water such as a stream or spring as this would have been a high traffic area for watering horses,washing clothes or even drinking water...cant survive without water.... happy hunting.... dave..

 

[Robert2300]

bootyhoundpa:
Good idea about asking arrow head pickers.
Robert2300

 

[GunnarMN]

Well, 40 Acres is 1320 feet across and i figure if you where lucky you could cover one pass a day of 1320 that is 1/4th mile it will take that will take you 440 passes or well over one year just to do 40 acres and this only when the weather is good and crops are not in the feild., BUT thear are some good things in those feilds, you can see if somone lost somthing are they going to spend a year looking for it I took a summer to cover 16 acres of farm feild and found 3 silver quarters just out in the middle of nowhear all of them hundres of feet away from one another , and hords of slugs and old tools and farm machineray, hunting feilds is GREAT HUNTING it can get boring somtimes but then you find somthing I figure i did good for minnesota I still have lots to hunt I grid search the whole thing and keep track of whear i have been by land marks and notes just somthing about being in the feild that is so nice . 1926 standing liberty- 1905 barber- and a 1948 canadian silver quarters came out of 16 acres and not a few wheats and indians, but the copper coins are shot when lost in farm feilds as the firtilizer corrodes them to wothlessness.

 

[1859large]

I hate to say, I lost a gold ring 35 years ago swimming across a lake. I agree looking for it would be fruitless, it ain't going to be found.

I can still see the ring, 22kt, wafting down through the sun lit water as I tried to catch up to it.

Good advice, try to figure out where people hung out, passed by or around. I always search the borders of fields first. House sites are good, paths and gateways.

HH

1859

 

[Robert2300]

Your llibrary should have plat maps showing the area you
want to detect. They will show where old houses, schools and churches were
back in the day.
Robert2300

 

[JimmyCT]

Bro,

you are a machine to cover that much land

Well, 40 Acres is 1320 feet across and i figure if you where lucky you could cover one pass a day of 1320 that is 1/4th mile it will take that will take you 440 passes or well over one year just to do 40 acres and this only when the weather is good and crops are not in the feild., BUT thear are some good things in those feilds, you can see if somone lost somthing are they going to spend a year looking for it I took a summer to cover 16 acres of farm feild and found 3 silver quarters just out in the middle of nowhear all of them hundres of feet away from one another , and hords of slugs and old tools and farm machineray, hunting feilds is GREAT HUNTING it can get boring somtimes but then you find somthing I figure i did good for minnesota I still have lots to hunt I grid search the whole thing and keep track of whear i have been by land marks and notes just somthing about being in the feild that is so nice . 1926 standing liberty- 1905 barber- and a 1948 canadian silver quarters came out of 16 acres and not a few wheats and indians, but the copper coins are shot when lost in farm feilds as the firtilizer corrodes them to wothlessness.