Working Corn Fields

[sibbley]

Going to hit the field again this coming Saturday. Both the 1700's house and the 1900's house were by two well-traveled roads. On Sunday I worked the area that would have been right behind the house. About 20 yards from the road. I did find a lot of trash. Nice sounding can slaw.

The field is about 100+ acres. Would you guys start working the more toward the center of the acreage rather than where the houses were? I'm thinking less trash, but maybe less chance for good finds. It's going to be slow going since the stalks are still about a foot tall. Would you go with a smaller coil that's better in and around the stalks over a larger coil?

I'll be using my Impact, it worked very well on Sunday. The Legend was quiet. The Manticore factory coil will be too large, I think.

Any suggestions for corn field hunting?

Thanks...

 

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[ToddsPoint]

I avoid cornfields. I know they will likely be in beans the next yr. The key is having enough permissions so you are always hunting in beans.

 

[Blackfoot58]

I avoid cornfields. I know they will likely be in beans the next yr. The key is having enough permissions so you are always hunting in beans.

Bean stubble is definitely more detector friendly that corn stalk stubs.

 

[sibbley]

I avoid cornfields. I know they will likely be in beans the next yr. The key is having enough permissions so you are always hunting in beans.

Yuck, these fields are always corn.

 

[pepperj]

If the need to hunt/option is only corn let it be silage over corn at least. (for the ones that aren't familiar of the difference is the silage corn will be harvested to a lower stalk over corn (fuel) stalks.
Smaller elliptical coil seems to work better at times.
For swinging in the corn rows I have done drag, diagonal, short back and forth, and have found that working the opposing row swing diagonal is the most productive.
Old stalks will break, or fall over if pushed with the boot, fresh green isn't going anywhere quick.

The question on where to start?
It depends on the site also. You know already where the house are located. Start in the iron/trash go outward in each direction to define the site area where 95% of the targets are. This will give you a sense of area actually in feet/
So for example the main target area might be 100' x 50' and the scattered targets are out of that zone.

Detect then in the main area then take a break in the quieter outside fringes just to give the ears/mind a little quiet time. Working some sites like this will give you a idea of also where back or the front of home faced.

Note also there's always a chance of another earlier structure (home) that was a temporary home(first home) till the main house was built. Usually these will be with in a few hundred feet of each other. Less debris, quieter, and older finds also.
Best of luck with the hunt.

 

[pepperj]

Yuck, these fields are always corn.

Usually the farms will do rotation crops so they don't deplete the soils of minerals with a single crop continual planting.(might be just a tenant/lease cash crop operation also where they don't care)
Corn, beans. corn .beans, winter wheat, corn, beans, wheat, alpha for 5 yrs (some will even put a cover crop in between these plantings-one needs to live very near to catch between harvest/manure/planting.

 

[sibbley]

If the need to hunt/option is only corn let it be silage over corn at least. (for the ones that aren't familiar of the difference is the silage corn will be harvested to a lower stalk over corn (fuel) stalks.
Smaller elliptical coil seems to work better at times.
For swinging in the corn rows I have done drag, diagonal, short back and forth, and have found that working the opposing row swing diagonal is the most productive.
Old stalks will break, or fall over if pushed with the boot, fresh green isn't going anywhere quick.

The question on where to start?
It depends on the site also. You know already where the house are located. Start in the iron/trash go outward in each direction to define the site area where 95% of the targets are. This will give you a sense of area actually in feet/
So for example the main target area might be 100' x 50' and the scattered targets are out of that zone.

Detect then in the main area then take a break in the quieter outside fringes just to give the ears/mind a little quiet time. Working some sites like this will give you a idea of also where back or the front of home faced.

Note also there's always a chance of another earlier structure (home) that was a temporary home(first home) till the main house was built. Usually these will be with in a few hundred feet of each other. Less debris, quieter, and older finds also.
Best of luck with the hunt.

The beauty of this permission is I know where everything was from Ariel views from 1939. Plus, I have a friend that actually lived in the 1700's house. She grew up there, is still of sound mind and showed me where each building stood. She did tell me a general area of where the early 1700's house was. The house she grew up in was mid to late 1700's two story log structure. The early structure was a single room log cabin.

She's hoping I can find the well pump. The farmer told me where they buried everything from the two story house, but short of using a back hoe, I don't think searching for the pump will be feasible.

I just talked to the farmer, he opened up another 100 acres for me to hunt. He tells me that there were houses on that acreage in the mud 1800's. He's hopping I can give him an idea where they were. Too much pressure! More map diving this week to see if I can find a map depicting the houses.

 

[sibbley]

Usually the farms will do rotation crops so they don't deplete the soils of minerals with a single crop continual planting.(might be just a tenant/lease cash crop operation also where they don't care)
Corn, beans. corn .beans, winter wheat, corn, beans, wheat, alpha for 5 yrs (some will even put a cover crop in between these plantings-one needs to live very near to catch between harvest/manure/planting.

The corn is for fuel. I don't think they care. It's been corn for as long as I can remember. I call the owner a farmer, but they actually are into land development.

 

[pepperj]

The beauty of this permission is I know where everything was from Ariel views from 1939. Plus, I have a friend that actually lived in the 1700's house. She grew up there, is still of sound mind and showed me where each building stood. She did tell me a general area of where the early 1700's house was. The house she grew up in was mid to late 1700's two story log structure. The early structure was a single room log cabin.

She's hoping I can find the well pump. The farmer told me where they buried everything from the two story house, but short of using a back hoe, I don't think searching for the pump will be feasible.

I just talked to the farmer, he opened up another 100 acres for me to hunt. He tells me that there were houses on that acreage in the mud 1800's. He's hopping I can give him an idea where they were. Too much pressure! More map diving this week to see if I can find a map depicting the houses.

Never think of it as pressure-but as an open ended opportunity to find some keepers. (Unless you have a set window of time to detect all the land)

You need a historical atlas for the area that shows where some homes were at the time of printing.

In Ontario there are the Historical Atlas for each county. 41 in total-printed in the Victorian era and very detailed to who owned the lot and if thee was a structure.

A photo/map/book will only tell a person so much information, the rest is to be discovered.

Most homesteads were built on high ground-view, water.
Walk around the raised portions of the field-it won't take too long to figure out where the iron patches lay.

 

[srcdco]

Never think of it as pressure-but as an open ended opportunity to find some keepers. (Unless you have a set window of time to detect all the land)

You need a historical atlas for the area that shows where some homes were at the time of printing.

In Ontario there are the Historical Atlas for each county. 41 in total-printed in the Victorian era and very detailed to who owned the lot and if thee was a structure.

A photo/map/book will only tell a person so much information, the rest is to be discovered.

Most homesteads were built on high ground-view, water.
Walk around the raised portions of the field-it won't take too long to figure out where the iron patches lay.

Here is a link to the 1874 atlas for Northampton county:

PA State Archives - MG-11 - 1874 Northampton County Atlas Interface

Here is 1860:

Ancestor Tracks: Northampton County Landowner Map, 1860

Scott

 

[sibbley]

Here is a link to the 1874 atlas for Northampton county:

PA State Archives - MG-11 - 1874 Northampton County Atlas Interface

Here is 1860:

Ancestor Tracks: Northampton County Landowner Map, 1860

Scott

Thank you, I'll have a look tonight.

 

[cudamark]

If time is not a problem, I'd wait until the ground is plowed and ready for planting, then hunt with a big coil. If you have just a small window of opportunity now, use a small coil and do the best you can. If the Manticore coil is too big, I'd choose the Legend with a small coil.

 

[sibbley]

If time is not a problem, I'd wait until the ground is plowed and ready for planting, then hunt with a big coil. If you have just a small window of opportunity now, use a small coil and do the best you can. If the Manticore coil is too big, I'd choose the Legend with a small coil.

They won't let me in after its plowed and tilled because of the chemicals they use on the field right after. I used the Legend with the small 6" coil last week. It didn't do too well. Like there was very little in the field. Grabbed the Impact with the 11x7 coil and that's when I started finding can slaw and iron. Now that I'm thinking about it, I may have had the Legend in custom with 0-20 and 56-60 notched out. I need to check that and switch to all metal.

 

[sibbley]

Here is a link to the 1874 atlas for Northampton county:

PA State Archives - MG-11 - 1874 Northampton County Atlas Interface

Here is 1860:

Ancestor Tracks: Northampton County Landowner Map, 1860

Scott

I checked the 1860 map. Either the houses weren't there yet or they were gone by then. Just field in 1874. Maybe the permission owner got bad info.

 

[cudamark]

They won't let me in after its plowed and tilled because of the chemicals they use on the field right after. I used the Legend with the small 6" coil last week. It didn't do too well. Like there was very little in the field. Grabbed the Impact with the 11x7 coil and that's when I started finding can slaw and iron. Now that I'm thinking about it, I may have had the Legend in custom with 0-20 and 56-60 notched out. I need to check that and switch to all metal.

Wow, what in the world are they spraying on that field that is so hazardous that you can even walk on it? Not sure I'd want to eat anything grown there. I've hunted fertilizer sprayed fields many times......just a day or two afterward mainly due to the awful smell.

 

[pepperj]

Wow, what in the world are they spraying on that field that is so hazardous that you can even walk on it? Not sure I'd want to eat anything grown there. I've hunted fertilizer sprayed fields many times......just a day or two afterward mainly due to the awful smell.

There was a permission across the pond back a decade ago that it was a no detect because they sprayed the field.
(Sucked as the options were limited where to go actually)

Weed control need to go back a decade or 2 as this no till spray the crap on the fields has seen its day.

A few of my permissions are going to a heavy discing and roller, or just a disc harrow and leaving it for the winter.
The only time they're spraying now is to the crop rotation from hay/alfa to corn/bean again.

So most of the time the top 10" is getting worked. It makes a real difference I have found at a few of hte sites for recoveries.

But the no till/spray isn't an option for the future of weed control

There are currently 523 unique cases (species x site of action) of herbicide resistant weeds globally, with 269 species (154 dicots and 115 monocots). Weeds have evolved resistance to 21 of the 31 known herbicide sites of action and to 167 different herbicides. Herbicide resistant weeds have been reported in 99 crops in 72 countries. The website has 3260 registered users and 696 weed scientists have contributed new cases of herbicide resistant weeds. View Recent Additions, Site of Action Summary, or the Herbicide Classification System.

 

[sibbley]

Wow, what in the world are they spraying on that field that is so hazardous that you can even walk on it? Not sure I'd want to eat anything grown there. I've hunted fertilizer sprayed fields many times......just a day or two afterward mainly due to the awful smell.

I don't know, I just do what they ask. Maybe it is just fertilizer, I assumed it was bad since they didn't want in there after.

 

[sibbley]

Going today. I decided to start with the Manticore in the area where the original early 1700's is thought to have been. I'll probably come home with a lot of trash. Have to wear orange since hunting has started even though nobody should be hunting in these fields.

 

[pepperj]

Going today. I decided to start with the Manticore in the area where the original early 1700's is thought to have been. I'll probably come home with a lot of trash. Have to wear orange since hunting has started even though nobody should be hunting in these fields.

Best of luck
The last corn field I detected got me a gold

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Went on a road trip today to get some detecting in. About 60 miles across country to the permissions. 6 sites were planted in winter wheat. 2 sites in a 1 foot plow, and 1 site partially cropped. So first target after 30 minutes 1867-1967 penny I said that needs to a 100 yrs older. 1.5 hrs...

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[sibbley]

After two hours I walked away with crap. We'll see what tomorrow brings.