30 Acre Farm, How to Hunt?

[washingtonian]

Hi folks,

I'm usually a city hunter. I'm most comfortable on the sidewalk strips and in yards. Some are busts but the density of finds is great, it's convenient living in the city, and I'm usually short of time so 1-2 hour hunts are common.

However, in the summers I usually spend some time in Island County a couple hours from Seattle. I got a permission there this past summer for a large farm. I normally wouldn't ask but I was studying old photos and from what I could tell there used to be a baseball diamond where their hay field is now.

Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that confirmed my suspicion. While hunting that large field I found a 1940s Canadian penny but that was the only real find of interest after probably 3-4 hours. I spent a couple hours hunting the side yard of the house before leaving and did find a 1960s-era silver spill.

So here's my question. This farm is about 30 acres and has been in use for 100 years. That doesn't sound old to some but it's fairly old for this area.

Given what I mentioned above, would you continue to invest time here in future hunts or would you look for greener pastures? If you were going to keep hunting it, how would you approach it? It seems like it would take a long time to cover it all and I'm a notoriously impatient guy

Any thoughts are welcome!
-Washingtonian

 

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[smokeythecat]

Find old aerial maps or maps otherwise, the older the better, and see if there were some buildings there that are now gone. Then do a "Z" style zigzag pattern to see if there is anything there to go for.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello Washingtonian,

Smokeythecat is correct!

IMHO: zigzag or just wander around looking for iron. When looking for goodies you need to be in a location where man has been. Finding iron (a home foundation would be better) indicates "we" were there doing something. Search that area first! After this area is exhausted use a spiral pattern, then grid outward from the iron. If you have any specific questions on hunting areas please feel free to PM me. I have an Artifact Recovery Business (searching cities, towns, historical properties and private lots) and have been very successful with my searching techniques,. The ones listed above are only a few.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Doc

 

[washingtonian]

Those tips are very helpful. Thank you both!

 

[fyrffytr1]

Is the land ever plowed? If so get there early in the morning and look for the glint of the sun shining on glass or pottery. Find it and you will most likely be on an old home site or a site that saw human activity.

 

[washingtonian]

Is the land ever plowed? If so get there early in the morning and look for the glint of the sun shining on glass or pottery. Find it and you will most likely be on an old home site or a site that saw human activity.

Not that I know of. I think they just cut the hay once a summer. From the historic aerials I think the buildings are in the same place they've been for 100-120 years. I suppose I could do some more searching around the buildings themselves to see if there's anything else. It'd be interesting to see if there's anything out in the fields but it just feels like an overwhelming amount of land. Maybe we'll see!

 

[HighVDI]

I agree with pinpointing past activity. That 30 acres would take you months and months to go over and do it right. The reward I think would be sub par. Even on farms here in pa that date back to the 1700's the goods in the fields are far and few between.

If you do stumble upon iron.... grid small sections removing as much as you can stand digging and you might unmask some good finds. I save these spots for when I feel spunky and want to dig. Lol.

Good luck!

 

[1320]

Hay fields are notoriously difficult to detect because they just aren't cut down low enough to scrub a coil. Sure, you'll find the larger things but scoring coins won't be easy, even with the best of detectors. You have a good problem though!

 

[pepperj]

Approach it in small sections, don't look at the big picture. If the original buildings are still intact then the finds aren't going to be spread all over the 30 acres, unless there was activity pre the present buildings.
I detect on farms that have 10-1000 acres of land, I just think of it as room to move around on the permission. I don't have to clean it out in an afternoon, nor this year or next-I treat as a place to go and detect and unwind.
The large properties might have had 3-5 older homesites on them and that's it, given that they are 100's of acres the actual sites are only an acre or two of area that the finds are concentrated.
Just go for a walk about the property, and like others stated if you hit a concentrated iron area then work the area for finds.
Hunting a homestead and farm fields are different than urban hunting, sometimes there's no modern trash, but lots of iron, and other times there can be both. Lots of times the lack of good finds is a downer but other things make up for the lack of finds. Peacefulness, having not to look out for urban problems, the comfort of using a shovel, and the fact that old finds are going to in the dirt.
Your best mentioned spot very well be the baseball diamond, finds will be there and if not hunted before can be one of your best detecting spots ever.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I personally would not hit the fields unless research showed a dwelling previously located in the fields. I would focus around the homesite, adjacent flat convenient areas for old fashion picnics, ball games. Woods near the home where kids may have played. Old carriage house paths. Around any random big trees near the homesite. Might not find a lot of silver coins but other old collectible brass relics should be around. Good luck!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

With a 30 acre farm you should concentrate where the cows may have dropped . . . oh.

I own 20 acres of what used to be farm and woods and it is sparse. Odd relics of logging, hunter drops, quite a bit of lead, pounds and pounds of barbed wire pieces.

Best bet is the fence lines where at least people worked or set their jackets (pocket drops).

 

[pepperj]

With a 30 acre farm you should concentrate where the cows may have dropped . . . oh.

I own 20 acres of what used to be farm and woods and it is sparse. Odd relics of logging, hunter drops, quite a bit of lead, pounds and pounds of barbed wire pieces.

Best bet is the fence lines where at least people worked or set their jackets (pocket drops).

There's buried fence lines, chopped and not chopped up, as well as the standing. The best are the ones that the farmer has taken the time to remove the old wire and taken it away. Buried page wire makes for noisy detecting in all metal mode.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Locate where the buildings were/are. Concentrate on these areas and work your way out away from them in any grid pattern that you wish. If the ground is planted in crops, then when its harvested I just start at the roadside and work my way in, using a grid pattern. I love hunting the fields, and the finds are hard to beat.

 

[Dr. Syn]

Another thought if you're striking out. Go back further then the 100 years the place was there. Look at old tax maps and such too. Find out what was there before the farm. Native American settlements, trading posts, trails, etc. Don't forget things like old burn piles. We had burn spots for garbage, and of course there was always a junk pile. Forgotten things left in pockets and got tossed out could have ended up in either. Ditto the old out houses, bet there was more then one. Any springs or or such there, folks may have not had a well and had to go back and forth to get water, or washed clothes.
Our farm has been around since the late 1700's, and the house now isn't where it was originally. Ditto many of the out buildings. New place is a quarter mile from where the old place was.