metal detecting fields....

[switch]

Hey everybody. I am new to metal detecting and am figuring out where I can go to detect...

Do any of you have any idea if it would be worth metal detecting a field while discriminating against all of the iron tractor garbage? Or would the reason to do it only be finding old tractor pieces and harness parts? lol

Thanks!

[hunter1]

Dig were ever you can , with permission . I'v dug fields , people worked there and they lost stuff to. One time i dug and found tractor parts were they must have repaired it in the field. i found a tool. broken tractor partys and also silver coins that fell out of some ones pocket while working on the tractor, Some times i dig it all.

[switch]

Dig were ever you can , with permission . I'v dug fields , people worked there and they lost stuff to. One time i dug and found tractor parts were they must have repaired it in the field. i found a tool. broken tractor partys and also silver coins that fell out of some ones pocket while working on the tractor, Some times i dig it all.


Thanks for the info. I have permission, the owner actually owns a ton of fields all surrounding me pretty much and I have permission to dig them all.

[MassDirtFisher]

I find detecting fields can be very good places to hunt. Some fields have been worked for hundreds of years, where the farmers and workers lose many great things. You find old tractor parts and animal shoes too, But if you tweak your machine and you are patient great things will come from the soil for you. I work a few fields , but at the moment they are full of corn and hay. So until harvest Im patient, I wish you luck on your upcoming hunts. Remember.....Low and slow wins the race. The stuff in the ground has been there a long time, and isnt going anywhere until you unearth it. Happy Hunting!!!

[switch]

Remember.....Low and slow wins the race. The stuff in the ground has been there a long time, and isnt going anywhere until you unearth it.


Thanks for the advice. :-) I was just about to go up into the field behind my house and it started to rain. >:/

[coinnut]

I've done some fields that were just junk and modern coins, and I have done some fields that produced my first Half Cent, and my first Flying Eagle Cent along with a lot of other neat finds. General rule is, the closer to the older part of town or an old home, the better the fields are. I never turn down an offer to do some fields :yes: Minimal discrimination (just disc out nails) and the biggest coil you have, should do the trick. Go a nice slow but steady pace. Good luck and I hope you find something good :drool:

[switch]

I've done some fields that were just junk and modern coins, and I have done some fields that produced my first Half Cent, and my first Flying Eagle Cent along with a lot of other neat finds. General rule is, the closer to the older part of town or an old home, the better the fields are. I never turn down an offer to do some fields :yes: Minimal discrimination (just disc out nails) and the biggest coil you have, should do the trick. Go a nice slow but steady pace. Good luck and I hope you find something good :drool:


Thanks! Me too! Going back at it tomorrow, hopefully it wont be raining. >:\

I will post with any info of finds...if I have any. :)

[aloldstuff]

I love fields. Made friends with some farmers and I could go anywhere anytime. Those fields gave me 8 seated, 4 LC's, numerous IH's, barber, merc rosie, wheats. Sad to say that this farm will be closing down in Sept or Oct so they didin't plow this year. It's like I lost a dear friend.

[whammy]

The fields are just like parks. Sometimes you hit great things, and other times you can go for 6 hours and find nothing. I hit a hay field on my grandfathers farm a few years ago. Not knowing what was there, I found the location of a log cabin site in the middle of the field. I pulled over 10 large cents, 3 1700s spanish reales, a broken gold wedding band, an 1850s percussion pistol barrel, several indian head pennies, and lots of horse equipment. Just don't get discourged. Things have a way of working out. Enjoy your hunting and good luck.

[bob_e99]

I started a bit earlier this year and was asking the very same question. In some areas, most obvious locations have already been pretty much hunted out but from what I see on this site, if you're good you can probably still find some targets so it never hurts to try them. For me, I started out in a small wooded area that yielded a large piece of copper that may have been a coin and two large cents. Not great in quantity but enough to get me really excited about detecting. From there I tried to get creative about potential sites. I rowed out to a very small island on the nearby lake and while I believe it's already has been detected, did find my first and only Barber dime. My point is drive around, look at maps and try to see the potential. One very important point is to look at it as it may have been 50, 100 or more years ago. Trees fill areas in quickly. Also, talk to some of the older folks and ask them about the town/city when they were growing up. I've gotting some good potential sites like that (unfortunately, others probably did also as I think I only got two nickels from about four sites :( )
As others have said, be patient and enjoy the hunt. Good luck.

[Mudder]

I agree with the other members, there is not a site in the world that is not worth swing over a few time. Hunt where you can (get permission), and as often as you can. Until you get a good feel for your machine dig all the targets. I have been hunting for months now, and still dig all my targets. It never ceases to amaze me as to who dropped what where. Happy Hunting

[switch]

Thanks everybody! :)

[OxShoeDrew]

I've been open field hunting only 6 or 7 times. I have a 20 acre fallow field that I was able to search for about 4 weeks this summer before the clover took over. The field has been farmed for over 200 years. I got a 3 ring minie ball, 1860s heel plate, brass lover's heart, 19th century pocket watch innards, half pewter spoon, etc. I've grown very fond of my field. No navigating around trees or roots. Every target is a surprise. Dig some of the iron if you want some buckles or relic type things. I agree with the others in that it REALLY depends on where the field is located.
You have a nice coil for large fields, it doesn't miss much. Good luck with it.

[MartinL]

I thought about hunting the fields that my grandparents farmed, and literally cleared by mule and chain way back then, I'm 60 so you figure the time, but it straddled the 1800-1900 times easily. I was raised on that 160 acre farm, and I still know, even today, where the tenant homesteads and the bigger old homes used to be. It is all an expanse area of open land now as far as the eye can see.

As far as the fields themselves...we had human cotton pickers in then there fields, me included. I seriously don't think that anyone who was hard up enough to have to pick or hoe cotton in the fields would ever have two nickels to rub together, much less lose in the fields, but maybe I discount the 40s and 50s. IMO, I would only search where the old houses used to be standing back when I lived there, 1950s. Even those will be slim pickings being the poor-stats of the locale. About the only way I'd do a field would be all metal or relic, a huge coil and accept a lot of farm junk. Other than that, there's just too much open space, and like I said, very unlikely those hard labor workers woulda had valuables to lose. He!!, I wouldn't have ever picked or hoe-d cotton one day if my father hadn't made me. THAT FRIENDS is some dismal, hot, hard (expletive) work. I certainly didn't lose anything in them fields myself. I did make allowance walking around money working for other farmers, so I can't blame it all on Dad. Dad paid me too, it wasn't a bad life now that I sit and ponder it all. :yes:

The old houses(not all on my old home spot of 160 acres mind you) are now long gone, would be fun. I remember finding old bottles and stuff when us kids would pilfer the vacant old places, busted up a lot of good glass I'm sure. We were kids, that is what kids did/do. I do know now that the whole section has had the land leveled(conglomerate farming), so whatever was there, has been scooted around. One last thing...that spot was named for the Indian mounds there long ago in history, but you seldom hear much about it. There was also a major asteroid to hit close by, so who really know if chunks landed in my fields! I found many arrow heads, and my aunt had a collection that filled here entire house before she passed away. You can be certain that arrow head hunters would love the movement of soil during the land leveling. That was some serious relic hunting if you wanted Indian artifacts. I was born on it and raised on that spot, and never appreciated it back then. It was just a piece of delta land with a small crop of trees that kinda gave shade to us in our small frame tenant farmer's house,,,all of it stuck out in nowhere.

MAN! Did my aunt have the arrow heads of every size, and all other implements they used in the Indian days. I wonder what happened to all that stuff, gotta try and find my uncle if I can? I know the general owners and have a basic permission to hunt it, but it is nearly 2 states away. It still tempts me now, especially after recanting the history like this, and take a trip up there and rent something for a week or two once the crops are gathered, and go nuts with the detector and a shovel. I wish that I had a Bigfoot coil for the V3i.

Maybe I will have a nice September-October! martin

[switch]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice everyone. :yes:

[tanacat]

I liked your story Martin- thanks for sharing that. Good luck finding your aunt's arrowhead collection :)

I've been hunting plowed fields for arrowheads for about 20 yrs, but only md'd one time in a field -I didn't find anything exciting. But want to try it again. I remember quite a few areas in the middle of plowed tobacco or corn fields where there were signs of old homesteads. Broken china, trash, marbles, etc...

I keep meaning to go back to those spots with my V3i :drool: