anyone relic hunt with their tractor?

[Tpmetal]

So a hunting buddy of mine keeps saying how great it would be to take a tractor into and around a cellar hole and scoop up the top soil and sift it. I agree all too readily that this would be awesome. So let's hear it, anyone relic hunting with tractors here?

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

Indirectly. I mow our pasture and a few trails with a 5 ft cutting deck behind my 'ol Ford 640 (1956) and then sweep the trails or pasture.

Hundreds of shotshell bases, occasionally an iron chunk or implement (found a mostly complete horse-drawn cultivator). A few lengths of chain (one 20' logging chain I still use) and a jack knife glob.

One pie tin. Boy did that give a great signal!

The body of a small bronze valve 1/4 mile from any house.

Never a coin or bit of jewelry.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

So a hunting buddy of mine keeps saying how great it would be to take a tractor into and around a cellar hole and scoop up the top soil and sift it. I agree all too readily that this would be awesome. So let's hear it, anyone relic hunting with tractors here?

In my line of work (street sweepers), I work around other construction equip, tractors, etc... And I do a lot of old-town urban demolition hunting. So I have SERIOUSLY thought about investing in a tractor. But the frequency of having a site where you'd have the liberty to come in and move soil around, is going to be very slim. I mean ... how often can you just go up to a property owner and say "Hi. Mind if I take my tractor and scrape 6" off your vacant lot?" So I've never gone through with my tractor notions, haha

 

[against the wind]

If it is your land and there are no ordinances against it, I say, "have a ball"
Keep in mind though, you can do a lot more damage to relics with a tractor than if you were using a hand tool.

 

[3cylbill]

how about a grapple bucket to dismantle the stone foundation of an old barn on my farm , all the dirt that i scraped is in piles to be spread out . i have removed the chicken coop and am down to a couple buckets of ruble to go through before i get to the ground . the yellow jackets are faster than my kioti so i have suspended until the first frost . tales of hidden treasure were told to me by my grandfather as he worked on the farm about a hundred years ago and he has been dead for twenty years . there is a large target under a tree in my yard that i haven't investigated yet . this old farm had a gas well and heated the house with it . imagine not having to chop and saw wood all summer to keep warm all winter and gas lite .I have removed a few falling down outbuildings loaded with pipe fittings and parts from the oil fields over the years and found small treasures ,bottles and coins .....

 

[Tpmetal]

In my line of work (street sweepers), I work around other construction equip, tractors, etc... And I do a lot of old-town urban demolition hunting. So I have SERIOUSLY thought about investing in a tractor. But the frequency of having a site where you'd have the liberty to come in and move soil around, is going to be very slim. I mean ... how often can you just go up to a property owner and say "Hi. Mind if I take my tractor and scrape 6" off your vacant lot?" So I've never gone through with my tractor notions, haha

Actually i have one with an old school house from the early 1800s. haha Its built up 2 feet of dirt around it based on pics from the past.The owner actually asked if I was interested in digging it out to see what we find! I just gotta find a few days to do it and get it cleaned up so it doesn't sit a mess for weeks.

 

[Tpmetal]

how about a grapple bucket to dismantle the stone foundation of an old barn on my farm , all the dirt that i scraped is in piles to be spread out . i have removed the chicken coop and am down to a couple buckets of ruble to go through before i get to the ground . the yellow jackets are faster than my kioti so i have suspended until the first frost . tales of hidden treasure were told to me by my grandfather as he worked on the farm about a hundred years ago and he has been dead for twenty years . there is a large target under a tree in my yard that i haven't investigated yet . this old farm had a gas well and heated the house with it . imagine not having to chop and saw wood all summer to keep warm all winter and gas lite .I have removed a few falling down outbuildings loaded with pipe fittings and parts from the oil fields over the years and found small treasures ,bottles and coins .....

Your giving me too many ideas haha

 

[pepperj]

Have two tractors Ford 3000/5000 early 70's models. The 3000 I can transport on the car hauler where the 5000 I'd have to drive to a site. I've scraped down a section off my own land, small area 50' x 50' and recovered some more finds. The option I want to get is a sifter that I could run off the PTO like a mini shaker plant. Have the bush hog that I use on the property to mow the grass/weeds down when I want to detect a certain area. The 3000 only has a tip bucket on the front, like to upgrade to a loader front end in the future.
There is a site where I want to sift out the whole area, the iron is in three layers and the soils are like butter so it would be easy to sift. Just need the time to do this one as I know there's more buried in the iron. It would be a full 2 acres to do completely including cellar hole and well areas.
Great thread to expand on with ideas of ways to do projects as this.

 

[Tpmetal]

Have two tractors Ford 3000/5000 early 70's models. The 3000 I can transport on the car hauler where the 5000 I'd have to drive to a site. I've scraped down a section off my own land, small area 50' x 50' and recovered some more finds. The option I want to get is a sifter that I could run off the PTO like a mini shaker plant. Have the bush hog that I use on the property to mow the grass/weeds down when I want to detect a certain area. The 3000 only has a tip bucket on the front, like to upgrade to a loader front end in the future.
There is a site where I want to sift out the whole area, the iron is in three layers and the soils are like butter so it would be easy to sift. Just need the time to do this one as I know there's more buried in the iron. It would be a full 2 acres to do completely including cellar hole and well areas.
Great thread to expand on with ideas of ways to do projects as this.

YES VIBRATING SIFTER! I had same idea. I wonder if the damaged to good finds ratio would be worth it.

 

[smokeythecat]

Backhoe, dude. I can actually rent one for $200 a day, plus $50 for delivery and pickup. They are a blast and easy to use. Good to get rid of stumps while you're at it.

 

[Tpmetal]

Backhoe, dude. I can actually rent one for $200 a day, plus $50 for delivery and pickup. They are a blast and easy to use. Good to get rid of stumps while you're at it.

Got one on the back of my tractor Love playing with that thing.

 

[redbeardrelics]

YES VIBRATING SIFTER! I had same idea. I wonder if the damaged to good finds ratio would be worth it.

A sifter of some sort, maybe vibrating, is what I have been thinking too !
I have a JCB 217 backhoe loader that I use around the homestead. I put it to use last summer when digging out the 12' deep privy hole remaining from the older home that used to be on this property. I hope to get the backhoe into my shop later this winter to start working on a sifting attachment to mount in place of the backhoe. My intention is to be able to plow, and then sift through the top foot of soil, to recover the prehistoric stone artifacts out of my fields.

 

[diggingthe1]

There was a guy at one of the colorado dumps that had a great set up. A small loader and a vibrator hooked to a screen on the back of a trailer. It worked slick. I have plans to build one for a project and then lease an old dump.
He said over the years he knew of a dozen gold coins to come out of that dump. (Maybe it was 9,I don't quite remember) He had found quite a few of those. He had been methodically going through it but the bottle diggers came in and it was hard to find his place.
My neighbor bought a small tractor and I found small pit to have him come take the overburden off, happy hunting!

 

[sawmill man]

Used tractors, skid steers ,and bought a backhoe just for Indian relics, and yes i got the fever big time .And i almost forgot we built some log roads and i just couldn't resist going around some cliffs and pushing dirt up in pills so i could sift them easier.

 

[coinman123]

If it is your land and there are no ordinances against it, I say, "have a ball"
Keep in mind though, you can do a lot more damage to relics with a tractor than if you were using a hand tool.

I agree. Also, Like you said, if there are any priceless old colonial bottles there, then you will probably destroy them. I have a tractor to do some much needed landscaping in the backyard. The previous owners burned tons of wood with hardware in the yard (possibly a shed that used to be there), it is one steady iron signal there, and moved around a lot of dirt. Nothing very old there, so I can disturb the ground so more guilelessly. It would be kind of interesting to do so sifting with my tractor, in some areas that weren't disturbed, I have a post hole digger that can go pretty deep. I would never bring it to anywhere that I don't own, and even if I wanted to, I think it would be impossible to get it through the trees.

 

[against the wind]

Actually i have one with an old school house from the early 1800s. haha Its built up 2 feet of dirt around it based on pics from the past.The owner actually asked if I was interested in digging it out to see what we find! I just gotta find a few days to do it and get it cleaned up so it doesn't sit a mess for weeks.

How far is that schoolhouse located from Olean, N.Y.??

 

[Tpmetal]

How far is that schoolhouse located from Olean, N.Y.??

I'm like 40 minutes away from olean