AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
If someone had told me in January that I would still be detecting one or two of my farm field permissions in June, I wouldn’t have believed it. Well, here I am in June...and I can still hunt not just one or two, but every single one of my field permissions. Here in NW Ohio, conditions have been so wet, almost no fields have been planted. As bad as it is here for farmers, I know other areas like Iowa are even harder hit. I suppose as a detectorist I should be elated at the extension of the field hunting season, but as a living creature than needs to eat in order to live, I recognize the reality of the effects down the road, not to mention the hardship on the farmers. On Tuesday I went to visit a local farmer who’s given me standing permission to hunt several of his fields as well as his home site - I just wanted to check in with him and see how he was and confirm that it was still ok to be in the fields this late. I ended up talking with him for a couple hours and there’s no doubt - the hardship and anxiety is real, widespread, and overwhelming. This particular farmer likely won’t get his crops in the ground at all - and this year may push him over the edge to call it quits.
Despite the bleak conversation, he was still in surprisingly decent spirits and said it was certainly fine to detect at my leisure, and then he rode off to clear debris out of some catch basins. I spent a little bit of time detecting around his front yard, which I’ve hunted before with my previous machine, and I was able to get over a couple of new targets with the EQ800. First was a cool lady’s lapel/brooch pin maybe from the 1930s or 40s which rung up as a solid 14. It seems like it was probably gilt at some point as I can see some vague remnants of the gold wash in spots, and I thought it was neat that the pin backing still swings freely! Also got excited by what seemed like a “no-doubt” deep quarter signal. It stayed pretty solid at 31-32, but occasionally hiccuped up or down enough to worry me. Digging down about 8 inches revealed a nice round disc, but not shiny - and I could see a couple spots of corrosion...not a coin, but I could definitely see numbers and letters. Clean up at home revealed by far my oldest dog tag yet - from 1919! I couldn’t help but feel like my old boy, who I lost a few weeks ago, had been on the hunt with me:
You sure got that right, DbblTap!
The dog tag find actually prompted me to visit our county auditor (who handles dog licensing) with all of the old tags I’ve found to see how far back they kept records and maybe tie some personal information to the tags. While they were amazed to see the old tags, their records only go back about 15-20 years. Oh well - it was a long-shot, and you never know unless you ask!
Anyway, after spending a short time in the farmer’s yard, I moved to my real area of interest, which was one of his fields about a mile away that showed a structure on an 1886 map. I scouted around for a bit and just used my eyes to try and find some surface evidence of something once being there and at first I wasn’t seeing anything. But when I moved a few corn stubble rows north, I started finding a few chips of glass and old painted ceramics - not as much as I hoped to see, but definite evidence something used to be there. And then I spotted a really cool, huge clay “shooter” marble! It’s got a pretty neat bullseye pattern on opposite sides, a faint greenish line that runs around the circumference in between the two bullseyes, and roughly 1” in diameter:
The clay shooter marble already made the visit worth it, and I quickly went back to the car and grabbed my detector. Since the field had been corn last year, I strapped the 6” coil on to help maneuver more easily between the stubble. But even with the tiny coil, I was surprised how difficult it still was to systematically swing and get effective coverage. I hunted for a little over an hour total and got very few diggable signals, until about the 40 minute mark when I got over pretty solid 15-16 tones. Fully expecting a shotshell headstamp or other shard of brass, I was momentarily surprised to see a coin roll out of the plug! An 1863 fatty Indian!! I always forget about how they ring up until one pops out of the ground, so they’re always a fun reward for digging the mid-tones. It turns out to be in better condition than any of the other fatties I’ve dug, doubly surprising for coming out of a farm field where fertilizers/chems usually do a number on coins!
After another 20 minutes, I was getting too annoyed with the corn stubble, and that annoyance was compounded by the lack of real signals, so I decided to move on and maybe save this site until it turns to beans. The farmer says he found evidence for an old oil well deeper in the field when he originally bought the land, but I couldn’t scout it out - the entire middle section of the field was a lake/swamp. Hopefully that changes soon, too - for both of us.
Despite the bleak conversation, he was still in surprisingly decent spirits and said it was certainly fine to detect at my leisure, and then he rode off to clear debris out of some catch basins. I spent a little bit of time detecting around his front yard, which I’ve hunted before with my previous machine, and I was able to get over a couple of new targets with the EQ800. First was a cool lady’s lapel/brooch pin maybe from the 1930s or 40s which rung up as a solid 14. It seems like it was probably gilt at some point as I can see some vague remnants of the gold wash in spots, and I thought it was neat that the pin backing still swings freely! Also got excited by what seemed like a “no-doubt” deep quarter signal. It stayed pretty solid at 31-32, but occasionally hiccuped up or down enough to worry me. Digging down about 8 inches revealed a nice round disc, but not shiny - and I could see a couple spots of corrosion...not a coin, but I could definitely see numbers and letters. Clean up at home revealed by far my oldest dog tag yet - from 1919! I couldn’t help but feel like my old boy, who I lost a few weeks ago, had been on the hunt with me:
He will also let you know he is around as he will visit from time to time. A good dog never stops loving his pack.
You sure got that right, DbblTap!
The dog tag find actually prompted me to visit our county auditor (who handles dog licensing) with all of the old tags I’ve found to see how far back they kept records and maybe tie some personal information to the tags. While they were amazed to see the old tags, their records only go back about 15-20 years. Oh well - it was a long-shot, and you never know unless you ask!
Anyway, after spending a short time in the farmer’s yard, I moved to my real area of interest, which was one of his fields about a mile away that showed a structure on an 1886 map. I scouted around for a bit and just used my eyes to try and find some surface evidence of something once being there and at first I wasn’t seeing anything. But when I moved a few corn stubble rows north, I started finding a few chips of glass and old painted ceramics - not as much as I hoped to see, but definite evidence something used to be there. And then I spotted a really cool, huge clay “shooter” marble! It’s got a pretty neat bullseye pattern on opposite sides, a faint greenish line that runs around the circumference in between the two bullseyes, and roughly 1” in diameter:
The clay shooter marble already made the visit worth it, and I quickly went back to the car and grabbed my detector. Since the field had been corn last year, I strapped the 6” coil on to help maneuver more easily between the stubble. But even with the tiny coil, I was surprised how difficult it still was to systematically swing and get effective coverage. I hunted for a little over an hour total and got very few diggable signals, until about the 40 minute mark when I got over pretty solid 15-16 tones. Fully expecting a shotshell headstamp or other shard of brass, I was momentarily surprised to see a coin roll out of the plug! An 1863 fatty Indian!! I always forget about how they ring up until one pops out of the ground, so they’re always a fun reward for digging the mid-tones. It turns out to be in better condition than any of the other fatties I’ve dug, doubly surprising for coming out of a farm field where fertilizers/chems usually do a number on coins!
After another 20 minutes, I was getting too annoyed with the corn stubble, and that annoyance was compounded by the lack of real signals, so I decided to move on and maybe save this site until it turns to beans. The farmer says he found evidence for an old oil well deeper in the field when he originally bought the land, but I couldn’t scout it out - the entire middle section of the field was a lake/swamp. Hopefully that changes soon, too - for both of us.
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