Help with "corn fields"

[AugustMoose87]

Trying to better understand hunting fields, be they corn, soy, wheat, etc. Especially interested in the thoughts of those who are further west.

When you look for a field, are you looking in to its history, proximity to something, or do you just pick a field and start swinging (with permission of course)? Places in the east where you could have metal artifacts from almost 400 years ago, I get just hitting any field you can get permission on. But at least here in Colorado, I feel like that would be a HUGE waste of time and energy - zero chance of discovering any kind of unknown colonial, revolutionary, or civil war camp/outpost. I'm going to be pumped just to find an 18XX coin out here.

Also, help me understand the mind set of hunting fields. I know when I'm hunting a campground, playground or beach, I'm looking for thing people lost while there. I'm my mind (since I don't have much history here) the things I am most likely to find are things that fell off a tractor (nuts, bolts, etc.), maybe some parts off older livestock driven equipment, and if I'm REALLY lucky, some coins or jewelry that fell while someone was working.

 

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[AugustMoose87]

... going to pork out fast-action old silver either...

I'm going to be over the moon when I dig my first Buffalo, war nic or IHP, never mind when I dig my first silver coin...

I have one park in particular that gave me hope when I dug a 6" brass face plate for a pressure gauge about 10" down (read like a silver half at 4-6" ) in a curb strip...

 

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[DannyB1954]

I feel your pain. Where I live it didn't start to get populated until the 80's. There are old mining camps and rail stops, but the Government has most now listed as protected sites. Death Valley is a good example. Lots of mining took place there, but no metal detectors allowed. One thing in my favor is not many here interested in metal detecting, so the parks are mostly mine . I did see one snow bird in a park with a detector, but it looked like he was running a marathon. His coil probably went over less than 10% of where he went through.

One thing about Native Americans, they didn't use much metal, (if any). If you had a rock detector, you might find some spear heads. In their latter days I guess they traded for white man's metal doo dads like axes.

 

[captain redbeard]

I'm finding as a new artifact hunter and detectorist that they both kind of go hand in hand. I look for the same thing in fields now for a spot to detect as I would look for a spot to find artifacts (high/low spots etc). Fact of the matter is when early settlers came over and started wandering around to find a place to settle and expand many followed native trails which led them to very desirable places to settle and who knew the land better than the natives. Many of our MAIN roads here in central new york and probably around the country started out as native trails and grew from there. Not saying one needs to be an artifact hunter to find good spots to detect, or needs to spend endless hours researching I don't feel there's one set way to find good spots, but as muddyhandz said, a good lay of the land is a good start.

 

[pepperdawg]

( I use historicaerials.com) to get .

^^Good Link - Thx!

 

[Keppy]

No Crappies-n-Coins, I think he wants to know how do people go about finding stuff in a random field.






You can't just go into some random field, start swinging, and expect a boat load of finds.
.

I will go to a random field and start hunting and i always expect to find something and i always do............... Many of times i will see a field i know nothing about ..And i just stop and start detecting and i have made many of good finds that way.. But then i do not fall into the norm way of thinking .. Well you are researching the field i am hunting it...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... i will see a field i know nothing about ..And i just stop and start detecting and i have made many of good finds that way.. ...

I can't imagine the amount of history that must be in your little area of Lake Erie . To be able to go any random farm field and .... presto, .... old coins (like they do in England). But here in CA, if you took that approach, I gaurantee you : You'd be lucky if you had a wheatie by the end of a 10 hr. day.

 

[Keppy]

I can't imagine the amount of history that must be in your little area of Lake Erie . To be able to go any random farm field and .... presto, .... old coins (like they do in England). But here in CA, if you took that approach, I gaurantee you : You'd be lucky if you had a wheatie by the end of a 10 hr. day.

I never knew that Lake Erie took up a little area .. I always thought it was a large area ... I do not even like wheaties ..i am not a coin or relic hunter if i find one i can sell that is good for me.. but i could care less about a penny , nickel or dime or quarter find now and then They do not thrill me... And England is a whole different story from us here in the states hell they go back thousand's of years and have great finds ...We only go back a few hundred years . there is not that much history in this whole USA.. But if you think i do not make good finds that is ok with me that is how i like it..No one but my family really knows what i have found over the years.. And it will stay that way..

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Yep i go in random fields for 40 years here in N.Y. some are a bust, but most will hold relics and coins .
Farms were the factory's of the old days worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week all year long much was lost, and cabin sites plowed over.
When you get the OK to the fields from the farmer/owner you will find large pieces of broken sharp farm equipment (never been in a field that i did not find that) those are poison to the farmer.
Those broken metal scraps will destroy a $1000.00 tire filled with calcium,tear up machinery, you collect them as you hunt for relics...show the big sharp pieces to the farmer, he will see you are an asset to his fields, then offer to find any vital parts he has lost off equipment any time of year.....you are now his helper...and have a reason to be in the fields even the fields he lessees.
So where one fields fails on coins others will shine in coins/relics and buttons.
Gary