This old acreage I live on has yielded very little. Is that normal?

[Jamie Rullestad]

I have a question for you all. Ive been living on a rural Iowa acreage for the last 40 years. My Dad was kind enough to deed this little 2 1/2 acres to me, from the 120 acre farm he bought in 1967. The farm was homesteaded back in the late 1880’s. My home, I believe, is the second home built here. We have been actively farming this place since the day Dad bought it.
As I got into metal detecting about a year ago, I figured this place would be a treasure trove of coins, jewelry, and artifacts. But what I have primarily found is old grease tube caps, blown fuses, and beer cans. (OK, the beer cans are getting a little embarrassing, as I know many of those are mine.)
But anything of value? Nope. Three modern Lincoln pennies from when my home was built, and that‘s it.
My Legend works great at parks and campgrounds, but nothing here? What am I doing wrong?

 

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[kac]

Not surprised. I have hunted private properties and typically find more relics than coins. Old parks and public places tend to have more coins and jewelry as you have more people active over time rather than a family and a few workers. as you would see on a farm.

 

[CoinShooter01]

Have you tried hunting in the Beach wet program?

 

[CoinShooter01]

Sounds crazy, but there was some discussion a short while back, where the beach wet program on the legend, was performing best. You might try it and see what happens.

 

[Jamie Rullestad]

I can certainly give it a shot. It’s not like it’s a long drive from here, and I don’t really have anything to lose.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Not surprised. I have hunted private properties and typically find more relics than coins. Old parks and public places tend to have more coins and jewelry as you have more people active over time rather than a family and a few workers. as you would see on a farm.

Agreed, once in a while you find coins but mainly relics on farms. At least my experiences.

 

[releventchair]

I can certainly give it a shot. It’s not like it’s a long drive from here, and I don’t really have anything to lose.

I interpreted the "beach wet" program as meant for you to try at the homestead , not the beach.

My different brand detector I do better in jewelry mode , usually.
Could be the detector, could be me.
But try the beach mode on your property and see what it does.

Homesteaders in the eighteen hundreds were seldom well off.
You don't need a pocket full of coins to go out and labor where there's nowhere to spend money. And a dime was a lot of money!

You still have layers of history there. Your beer cans are in just one layer of time.
Keep track of your deeper relics. There is a basement level somewhere of the 1800"s. Are you reaching it?

Have you detected after a heavy rain event?
A coin on edge at ten inches is just a slight peep sometimes. And in poor soil (too little moisture) conditions might only be a blip you miss.
Hunt them peepers...Slow as you need to to get your detector working it's best. And you working your best.

Evidence of past occupants is there in one form or another.

I know the head scratching of no old coins jewelry and gold and silver bars on old sites.
A multi generational friend's farm I hunted produced a dozenish cents worth of modern coins. Old jar lids ect..
I told my friend he had neglected to tell me his family was poor!
Though I had prior had some eyeball finds out in the cornfields.
Oil fill cap or radiator cap for a tractor ect...

 

[kac]

High traffic areas are best and surprisingly because the ground is generally packed more the targets tend to be shallower. Entrance and exit ways, walkways, where clothslines were once. Looking for buildings that didn't have cellars you generally hunt for the nails. Finding where the iron is can be crucial to finding other stuff. Hunting in iron can be tricky. My single top producer for hunting in and around iron infested areas is my Tejon with 8x9 concentric as it is the least prone to masking when compared to many modern machines. Good separation is one thing but if a coin is below iron it's a whole nother story. Narrow smaller dd coils can be very effective also as they can have great separation.
When hitting around iron, make a pass at different directions with your coil and listen for a spike and try to isolate that to see if it's something else or just dig it. Hunt by audio more than numbers and chase the deeper softer targets. Modern trash tends to be at higher levels than the older stuff and why hunting with audio can be more effective than chasing numbers.

 

[pepperj]

It's not unusual not to be putting finds in the bag from a homestead.
If there is only one home, original, same footprint, then the finds will be close to the house, and not really anywhere else on the property.
Sure there's the farm implements, fence wire, spent lead, the occasional button/bell.

I just did 4 sites on a new permission, kind to get a feel of what they were going to produce.
Nadda really-no multi non ferrous targets of any sorts.
Never even took a picture of anything that was dug.
Now I know there's stuff there, but the tall grass is a hindering the easy hunting.

But if I was new to the hobby, and just started off even in the easy going pasture, I would be scratching my head wondering what I was doing wrong as there's plenty of large iron-but little of anything else.

I've hunted areas over the decades where there was not one coin lost.
Get's kind of discouraging when going out to multi different sites, and not getting much.
Sure the relics are there, but I just mark it up as the folks were dirt poor, and every penny was accounted for in the purse.
Early Quaker homesteads are a good example of no money lost.

So the short answer you're not doing anything wrong.
If it was never dropped, we can't find it.

 

[Jamie Rullestad]

Well, I did give the Beach Wet program a shot, and it did produce a couple of modern coins that I’d previously missed. I’ll continue to use that program in hopes that more will be found.

Someone mentioned detecting after a heavy rain, and frankly, I have been a little concerned about our current soil conditions. It’s been abnormally dry here, and I don’t think I’ve had a single weather event that left more than an inch in several months. I can’t help but believe that a good rain would certainly help. I do get the occasional higher profile chirps, but most are so slight and unrepeatable that it’s difficult to start digging ghost signals without at least some level of confidence.

I farmed this place, and others, with Dad and Grandpa since the 1970’s, and I can attest that farmers have to be among the most tight fisted people on the planet. If anyone dropped so much as a dime, the world stopped and looked to the ground until that dime was safely back in the correct pocket. Nonethelss, I‘m still hoping that someone, sometime, had a lapse of focus, and dropped that big silver coin somewhere on this property.

 

[SD51]

I have typically found coins at old homesteads under the clothesline and on the path from the house to the outhouse. Unfortunately, you won't be able to locate these spots. The other problem I have found is many times the backyards were considered the dumping grounds. Open the back door and fling it. If there are older trees, I search around them in the hopes that they had picnics in the shaded areas.

 

[pepperj]

I have typically found coins at old homesteads under the clothesline and on the path from the house to the outhouse. Unfortunately, you won't be able to locate these spots. The other problem I have found is many times the backyards were considered the dumping grounds. Open the back door and fling it. If there are older trees, I search around them in the hopes that they had picnics in the shaded areas.

I wish it was like that, 95% of all my sites are just a blank canvas.

 

[releventchair]

I have typically found coins at old homesteads under the clothesline and on the path from the house to the outhouse. Unfortunately, you won't be able to locate these spots. The other problem I have found is many times the backyards were considered the dumping grounds. Open the back door and fling it. If there are older trees, I search around them in the hopes that they had picnics in the shaded areas.

I'll add water sources to that. For both human and livestock.
Areas where snow accumulates there could be drops around horse care areas too. Bending over to clean hooves. Raising a coat to warm a bit before putting it in the horses mouth. Tossing fodder and a ring coming off . Or pulled off by removing a glove ect..
.

 

[1637]

i go to the desert allot and i find its hard to slow down when theres so much ground, i would set up a grid of maybe 50ft sq and do one at a time. slow down and think this is the only piece of ground, also maybe a bigger coil , think about inviting a local cub out for the day,good luck

 

[CreakyDigger]

I have found coins in yards, but the houses were generally 150 years old or older, so there was a lot of time for someone to drop something. Also, if your place was very rural there was no need for anyone to carry any coins around during the day. Older coins that I have found in yards (mid 1800's) tended to be in places with old sidewalks and parking strips.

 

[kac]

Salt and beach modes are intended to adjust the ground balance so the machine runs stable in wet sand and surf where the ground is conductive. There is no reason to use those modes in land if your machine can be ground balanced normally and not false.

I always run my machines as balanced as possible and disc out if necessary any small iron bits, coal, hot rocks etc. Coins and relics are all well above the ground phase range.

If your in trashy grounds then smaller coils will be better for separation. If you you have a lot of iron ie rusty pieces of sheet metal, cut nails etc then a concentric is in order. Larger round coils are fine for low trash areas.
High mineralized soils a narrow dd coil will work much better. IE if you have a narrow smaller coil and a larger round one, take them out and compare the ground phase reading. Typically you can see 10-20 pt lower ground influence on a narrow dd.

Figuring out the ground your hunting and the right coil for the job can make things so much easier and much more enjoyable. It isn't that difficult to hunt in high trash areas where the most activity has been and where your odds of finding something great without struggling and no need to do a dig all approach.

hh