Hunting a field?

At first I'd say no....but then again what can it hurt?You may stumble on something that no one knows about....short term civil war military camp/staging area.... old wagon road....old farm implements....old coins/relics past farmers dropped.

we can hunt around our public ball fields.....just not the playing field itself.

Depending on location (history) people can do very very very in fields...

I'm sure the parks and schools would be upset if you dug holes in their fields. However, I'm hoping that you don't recover targets by digging holes and just leaving them like that... Cutting plugs, when done right, are practically invisible.

This question comes up often and again someone needs to say loud and clear that "Yes! Fields are worth it!". Detecting them requires patience and a bit of luck though. Of course having a farm house somewhere in the area helps, but it definitely isn't a requirement.I am not sure what part of the country you live in but these fields were the site of human activity be it blood, sweat or tears, or a combination of all three for hundreds of years and what type of field it was so things were dropped.

Now if I had a choice between hunting near or a farmhouse or away from one of course I would be right there near the farmhouse, but sometimes either because I have detected the area near the house many times, or I just feel like getting away to another part of a field you will open up a lot of possibilities. People that believe fields are a vast wasteland of nothingness are so wrong...

Let me try to convince you what is out there.

Barber quarter and V nickel spill a couple weeks ago a half mile or so from nearest farm house http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=191543

Large cent spill
Woods now,but along a rock wall that used to a field, again about a half mile

Crotal Bells
You are going to find them all over fields

Flying eagle cent
Hundreds of feet from a farm house

Buckles buttons of all varieties
You can find them all over any field

Wheat Cents
You can find them all over any field

Finds I have seen recently by others I have been hunting with

Large cent
Middle of field long ways from a farmhouse

Spanish 1/2 reale
Middle of field long ways from farmhouse

And these are just the ones I can think of quickly

No, just wandering out to any old cultivated field is not worthwhile. There has to have been something that went on there. The finds in the example GKman cites, are where, apparently, "something went on there".

I'm not saying that a random wheatie wasn't ever lost by a field laborer, etc...., but if you just walk out to "any old field" (that never had any house, activity, etc... on it), you're going to find yourself looking LONG AND HARD for that lone wheatie or crotal bell, etc.... Maybe in Europe where fields have oftentime seen continuous cultivation for 2000+ yrs, it might be worthwhile to just turn on a detector any place. But the USA is just too new.

You want to go where there had been a camp, or a stage stop, or a home, or some such reason for people having congregated there, in the first place. JMHO.

As for what Paper is saying, I believe he's honing in on your "dug holes" statement. Because let's face it: what is the implication of that? HOLES , of course. And yes, you're right ANY place would be upset if you went and left holes. But wait, were you planning on going out to ball-fields and leaving holes? No, of course not. You're planning to cover them, flulff them back up, etc.... Right? So if you've left no trace of your presence, then presto, problem solved. Turf hunting (parks, schools, ball-fields, etc...) goes on all the time. And sure, don't be any eye-sore nuisance begging for attention (because yes, detectors have ... uh .... "connotations".)

I found a sweet Capped bust dime in great shape in the middle of a field......

Tom_in_CA said:

No, just wandering out to any old cultivated field is not worthwhile. There has to have been something that went on there. The finds in the example GKman cites, are where, apparently, "something went on there".

I'm not saying that a random wheatie wasn't ever lost by a field laborer, etc...., but if you just walk out to "any old field" (that never had any house, activity, etc... on it), you're going to find yourself looking LONG AND HARD for that lone wheatie or crotal bell, etc.... Maybe in Europe where fields have oftentime seen continuous cultivation for 2000+ yrs, it might be worthwhile to just turn on a detector any place. But the USA is just too new.

You want to go where there had been a camp, or a stage stop, or a home, or some such reason for people having congregated there, in the first place. JMHO.

As for what Paper is saying, I believe he's honing in on your "dug holes" statement. Because let's face it: what is the implication of that? HOLES , of course. And yes, you're right ANY place would be upset if you went and left holes. But wait, were you planning on going out to ball-fields and leaving holes? No, of course not. You're planning to cover them, flulff them back up, etc.... Right? So if you've left no trace of your presence, then presto, problem solved. Turf hunting (parks, schools, ball-fields, etc...) goes on all the time. And sure, don't be any eye-sore nuisance begging for attention (because yes, detectors have ... uh .... "connotations".)

Click to expand...

About the only thing that went on then is about the same thing that happens these days, for example, someone had a hole in their pockets, someone dropped their pants to go the bathroom, a coin slipped out of their pocket while riding a horse or carriage. People simply lost things then as they do now...I suppose you could argue the exact meaning of "something went on there". For me however it's definition would be just be further simple examples like the ones above I just made.

Here is a great example. My father called me earlier to tell me that someone he knows found an iPod along a hiking trail... To me that is simply another example of "something went on there".

Yes fields are worth it weather it had buildings on it or not. You need to remember, at one point that field was worked by only man and animal power. Ive pulled some of my favorite finds from fields that had no buildings on it but has been worked for over 300 years. Look for low spots and work the edges and ditches!

GKman, Interesting discussion.

There is a certain field in my part of my state, that had cattle open grange land (very little human interaction, labor, etc...) up till the turn-of-the-century. Then starting about the turn of the century, sugar beats & leaf vegetables (lettuce, etc...) was introduced to our regions. Thus "cultivation" began at about the turn of the century, for this particular area.

HOWEVER: we knew that one particular spot we researched, had been the site of a contact era indian rancheria from the 1790s to the 1820's. After which time the indians assimilated into the general population, and the land was nothing. Naturally we are hunting this field for reales, buttons, relics, etc.... However, yes: occasionally a "nuisance" wheatie, or memorial, and even a silver washington and buffalo has surfaced. Those latter coins, of course, would be random field-worker losses. But it occurred to me, after several years of working this field (up to 2 dozen reales there now), that this field is the perfect example of the types of random finds that someone could find, if just relying on "field-worker" losses. The site encompasses 30 or so acres, and based on the amount of random post 1900 ("cultivation era") losses we have found, I can say for a fact that .... had it not been for the real -reason for us being there, then no, it is simply not worth covering 30 acres, over several years, at the off-chance of a buffalo, or silver washington, or wheatie. Those are the pesky "new" coins that get in our way.

Interestingly, when I calculate the 10 or so "oldies" (counting wheaties, the bufallo, the silver washington, etc...), in the 100-ish yrs of cultivation, it occurs to me that if someone were to take that ratio of oldie-losses, and extrapilate that over 2000 + yrs., (Europe) then yes: it might be worth wandering "random fields". But no, if it's just 1 wheatie per acre, I can not imagine the incentive.

Definitely worth checking out all of the fields that had homes/schools on them. I've been doing my research for the fall harvest and have come across some potential fields. Check your county atlas and use the overlay tool from historicmapworks.com. Last time I was at a field I found a '43 war nickel and a '44 wheat. Make sure you're hunting in two tone ferrous, because some of the good targets will be masked by iron. Also, once you find a field use your county's GIS website to see who owns it. If you're planning on hunting all winter long (like I do), make sure you bundle up and bring a pick axe to dig through the frozen soil. Good Luck!

I'll hunt ballfields either before or after the season. I stay off the fields during the season.

I'd never detect on an actual playing field, especially one that was kept nice and cared for by someone. I don't care how good my plugs are, we're talking about a specially prepared surface that someone worked hard to create. I stick to the spectator areas.

DavidGC said:

I'd never detect on an actual playing field, especially one that was kept nice and cared for by someone. I don't care how good my plugs are, we're talking about a specially prepared surface that someone worked hard to create. I stick to the spectator areas.

Click to expand...

Working on a school soccer field last 2 days and the quarters are just under the surface. I bought a 3/16 x 8 screw driver and am practicing pooping them out. End up with a slit but that won't hurt and the grass is so thick and nice when you cut a 3 sided plug for the deeper coins, they don't fall apart and go right back in place.. Thought It would be like in my lawn but it is way better in well kept turf! Think of the $14 in quarters and dimes I may have cut a dozen plugs..

I would say that the farther east you are the better the chance you will find some goodies!!!!

I would hunt them! There was a field for as long as I can remember. Never seen anyone there, ever! I hunted it, only scored ONE good find! It was a WAR nickel and my first silver coin!
I would spend an hour or so hitting a few different areas, if no targets move on... At least you'll know...

Possibly, depends on where you are located. Here in Va I would be there right now instead of typing this