Jump to content

New Sites Aren't As Fruitful As I'd Hoped


Recommended Posts


Some potential with the 2 Indians and silver jewelry. I hope you can go back to that slope and work it over some more. I like EMI areas because most people just give up there. Some of the other items are interesting too, like the barrel tap and the item below it with the tree? on it. Always fun to try and see what you can get that others missed.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like even in your 'bad' photo you got some interesting buttons and a couple of fairly old buckles. I've never hunted a public park or school, but the age of the map is a help I see. Nice stuff!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much for this post! As a beginner, I really appreciate learning how you go about finding and evaluating potential sites.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still not bad runs considering you got more than zincolns.

Old Line Paul, good starter site to poke around at is www.historicaerials.com where you can cross reference old maps and old aerials photos back to the 30's in some places. If you have access to property lines and ownership that will help you so your not trespassing and even give you leads to ask for permissions.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Old Line Paul said:

Thank you so much for this post! As a beginner, I really appreciate learning how you go about finding and evaluating potential sites.

OLP, I use the OnX hunt app on my cell phone, if you are willing to pay the ransom, it will show you real time where you are and who owns what you're standing on. Thing is it's sometimes inaccurate, I have one permission where the property lines are off and I had to ask what the deal was. The guy who owns the adjacent property gave me permission to all his land anyway so it's all good 🤣

You can go to historic aerials or USGS (old maps had dots where houses were/are), and mark building locations in OnX by comparing terrain features.

Glad to see you moving along, guess you're hooked now. 

Sorry GB 😬

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Some of the other items are interesting too, like the barrel tap and the item below it with the tree? on it.

5 hours ago, strick said:

Some of those bads are goods in my book.

Yes, non-coins can be interesting, occasionally valuable (not here though), and always reveal something about a site's history.  That cask/barrel tap was a neat find at the Wheatfield.  The item below it, though, has a dinosaur image (actually on both sides) and is a modern souvenir marked with two places -- Plant City, FL and Cave City, KY.  Also from the Wheatfield.

Other interesting items in the photo are a brass disk from site 3 with what looks like a bullet hole through it (just to the right of the dino), a large aluminum lid with a women's high heel shoe emblem and a woman in a long dress (both embossed) -- could this be a condom tin lid??  That also was from the Wheatfield.  The rusty iron wheel with four equally spaced holes in the upper center came from Site 2.  It might be off a heavy duty cart but I think it's more likely a flywheel off of either a toy or some kind of scientific demonstration apparatus.

11 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

...A couple of fairly old buckles.

Yep, small one lower right (from Site 2) off of a shoe?  Others are probably also from clothing but I do get a fair amount of horse tack in sites that were once farms/ranches/etc.  That turns out to be most of my parks and schools since quite a bit of Indiana was settled and converted to tillable or pasture land prior to the Civil War and that practice continued through the remainer of the 19th Century.

Thanks to all for your responses.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its good to see you've found some nice items to make time spent researching, swinging and digging worth it.  :biggrin:  I've started to do more research and made a goal like you to try to find new areas instead of always hitting the same old tired spots.

The past 2 months I decided to really learn my Nox and also have looked at historic aerials online to help zero in on some older sites.  This is a very helpful website to help visualize where things used to be.  I've found a few spots that once had an old school, but are now parks or community centers.  I've managed to find a few dozen wheat cents, a few silver dimes and some older nickels after putting in a lot of hours. 

Sticking to the most original dirt has been the key for me.  The majority of the areas in my sites have been disturbed or filled in, paved over or are off-limits.  But by concentrating on fringe areas that are still somewhat original, I've managed to pull off a few good finds like you have.  EMI has been a big pain in towns, but by going slow and digging a lot, enough good finds have popped up to at least keep me motivated. 

All the sites I've been on have been detected in the past.  I think research is going to be the key to finding some lesser-known areas that haven't had lots of detectorists over them the past 30-40 years. 

Good luck in your future hunts and congrats on some sub 1900 finds!

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Calmark said:

EMI has been a big pain in towns, but by going slow and digging a lot, enough good finds have popped up to at least keep me motivated.

Your sites sound exactly like mine -- lots of overfill/backfill likely hiding old coins too deep to be picked up with IB/VLF's, best ground paved over, land gone from public to private, cherry picked by previous detectorists, etc.  And they've left me a few crumbs but it ain't the 1980's anymore.  😪

You probably know this, but turning down the recovery speed can really help with EMI sometimes.  I run RS = 4 as my default (maybe I need to experiment with RS = 3...).  Very seldom does the Noise Cancel feature help me because most of the time the EMI is too broadband, I think from power lines -- often buried in curb strips.  I'm going to write up a post about recent experience with 4 kHz on the Eqx, but it's in no way as good as MultiFrequency, at least in my sites (moderate ground ==> 2-3 bars Fe3O4 on the Fishers).

Keep us posted on your finds!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...