Anyone Else Having This Problem?

[undertaker]

I've lost 3/4 of my arrow heading fields to farmers that have decided to hang it up because they weren't making a profit. Some have stopped tilling and planting and just grassed their fields for hay while others have sold or rented their fields to solar panel corporations. Some of my favorite fields have gone to a new shallow till process that also makes fields impossible to look. If I was a digger I'm sure I could always find stuff but I'm not. Hoping for something to open up this year while still looking creek beds and searching for new fields. I'm use to posting my finds but they have been harder and harder to find.

 

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[Peyton Manning]

The problem in Indiana is that farmers never plow anymore
They do that slit planting

 

[ptsofnc]

You are not alone.

 

[Older The Better]

The spots I look have been no till as long as I’ve been looking, I’d love to see what would come up if they’d just turn it over one time. And there’s too much clay in the soil to sift.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

No one around here deep plows the ground anymore. The best we get is some farmers do use the chisel method which basically is a long tine with what looks like a whale tail on the bottom that makes a trench about 9 inches deep but only about 3 inches wide. It throws the dirt up in the untouched areas and it looks like the entire field was plowed. We still find stuff, just not a lot. After discing and planting is when we do our best.

 

[southfork]

No plowing in my parts gophers do most of the work .

 

[Peyton Manning]

The deer go deeper in my field than the farmer

 

[Kevin in IN]

lost all mine to no till

 

[old digger]

A lot of the property I hunt is private that is pasture land with sage brush and grass for grazing. I hunt the hard pans for artifacts. Most of the farmed ground that is owned by the farmer is leased out to outfitters and they would rather you not jeopardize their clients ability to harvest any game by your scent being in the area (). It is sometimes difficult, but some of the best areas to hunt is above and along seasonal streams where the dry pans are.

 

[releventchair]

No till drills for planting are quite a subject.
Less weed killer needed which is always good , but moisture retention and reduced erosion are of great benefit too...

Depending on crop , working more than four inches gains little benefit. And exposes any seed bank below.
Soil amendments like fertilizer and lime to affect P.H. don't go much deeper in a season.

I understand the loss of easy hunting grounds/ searching fields by sight though.
A long time fallow field an ancestor used to plow to plant pickles produced an astounding array of lithic artifacts.
As of course have others.

 

[sandchip]

It's been a problem for me since the 80s. The last time my two best fields were bottom plowed was 1987. And harrows, if used at all, just continue to crunch whatever is in the top 2 or 3 inches over and over again, so if you find anything, it's usually damaged. Also, many old fields were placed in the CRP and now are nothing but stands of Loblolly pine.

I've got other problems too, but a website can only hold so much!

 

[ToddsPoint]

Bring back the mold board plow! We don't care about erosion...we want arrowheads!! A chicken in every pot, and a mo-board plow in every barn.

Here's a BIG 21 bottom mold board bringing up the arrowheads...without breaking them.

No one uses them here anymore. You can buy them cheap and most end up in the salvage yard.


Gary

 

[Tony in SC]

Just lost the 144 acres next door to housing. Artifacts, deer and two great streams gone!

 

[IAMZIM]

I can only basically rely on natural erosion to find stuff. Because I live high in the mountains, near the continental divide, there are not many fields to look in here, and in the ones I have checked with permission, I have never found anything. Most of what I hunt is pasture land with rock and sagebrush like Olddigger, or on the banks of reservoirs or lakes/ponds, some creeks. It's why it is said we find about one good point for every mile of walking/searching, IF you even find one lol! Also, no digging whatsoever for artifacts is allowed unless you have permission on private land.