How would you start on my property

[93civEJ1]

So, I had been using a cheap HF50 harbor freight detector. The other day I finally got a simplex with the wireless phones and pulsedive pinpointer.
Ive been out a little the past 2 days swinging in my yard. I have 10 acres available to detect. To my knowledge in the past, its always just been open field and pasture. The ground mixes from soft to a majority of it being pretty rocky in spots. There appears to be a lot of iron everywhere also.

When you start walking a lot like mine, how do you go at it. Do you start at one corner of the square lot, and start walking along the edges, and then scoot over a couple feet and walking back the direction you came, and then do the same again. Basically going back and forth?

So far I a have been using field mode on 2.78 and 7 sensitivity. I decided yesterday to take my sensitivity down 1 notch.

 

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[Irishgoldhound]

Yup you got it. Grid sections of your 10 acres and detect.

 

[Indian Steve]

I always hunt the area between where the car/ truck/wagon would have been parked to the nearest door of the house. Then I do sidewalks, clotheslines, paths to sheds & outhouse, springhouse or well.

 

[93civEJ1]

I always hunt the area between where the car/ truck/wagon would have been parked to the nearest door of the house. Then I do sidewalks, clotheslines, paths to sheds & outhouse, springhouse or well.

hahaha thanks...except there has never been a home until we built on it. It has always just been open field / pasture with nothing.

 

[Mackaydon]

I would first research the history of your ten acres using archived maps; looking for improvements or recorded incidences that may have been constructed or occurred on your site, yet are currently unknown to you.
Don..........

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

When I'm hunting lawns I try to think like I'm cutting the grass. Organized rows, back and forth, etc. Overlapping each lane so I don't miss anything. You'll find stuff regardless of the homes age, especially if it was farmland previously. Have fun and let us know what comes up.

 

[Megalodon]

If it was farmed, there could have been a barn on the property, or a route to a neighboring barn. Also, could it have been a route used in any CW campaign or travel? Is there a drinking water source nearby?

I believe that I would be inclined to walk the property with or even without a detector to look for any signs (broken glass, ceramics, bricks) of some feature that would have had some human activity, including prehistoric.

Don't focus on what is not there (homesite) but on what is - especially if the ground is turned over or has some topography.

 

[marjam]

If it is one big field, I would look for high spots in the field. There could have been a structure built on the higher ground once upon a time. All the other tips everyone else has mentioned too, research old maps, walk the field and look for signs of habitation.

Another good way to find concentrations of iron in the ground would be to walk the grounds with your detector in all metal, not swinging it, just have it on with the coil level to the ground. By doing this, you can pinpoint pockets of iron. Take flags and mark where you get signals by doing this, and then look for a pattern in the flags, like if you have some in a cluster, for example. This is a quick way to find an area you might want to concentrate on. I have did this at new places I dont know alot about, and it has paid off for me.

Good luck...

 

[hbrown66]

historicmapworks.com

 

[beepbleep]

historicmapworks.com

Right here. I've found three old homeplaces on my property with the aerial photo viewer. Some years are fuzzy but the really old black and white ones from the 1950's showed me where the old barns and sheds were. The old driveways at the houses, dropping things in the dirt getting in and out of cars and wagons. What a resource for everywhere.

 

[teleprospector]

Since you don't have to be in a hurry on this, if you really want to get good coverage, and the land is relatively uncluttered, flat and trimmed, put together a 4' square of pvc to search in. Start in one corner of the property and move it as you go. Secure it with plastic stakes so you can keep it square as you move and grid each 4' square. Make a drawing with each section numbered and mark down which ones you got a signal you want to investigate. If you need to come back later, measure over from the property lines to these sections and do a careful search with larger coils, ect. This method really makes you feel you have not missed an inch of ground even on small yards and feels less overwhelming on large pieces of land.
Jon

 

[DownNDirty]

Concentrate on the areas where the heaviest concentrations of iron are. Dig some of it and see what you've got. If there are nails are they round shank (20th century forward), cut nails (1800s) or square shank (prior to roughly 1800)? If you dig square or cut nails, hit that area hard-there was likely a house in that area a very long time ago. Swing slowly; take your time.

 

[Swaveab]

You could use those little flags that push into the ground to mark off areas. Utility workers use these often and you can find them at Lowes and maybe even Home Depot.

 

[93civEJ1]

Since you don't have to be in a hurry on this, if you really want to get good coverage, and the land is relatively uncluttered, flat and trimmed, put together a 4' square of pvc to search in. Start in one corner of the property and move it as you go. Secure it with plastic stakes so you can keep it square as you move and grid each 4' square. Make a drawing with each section numbered and mark down which ones you got a signal you want to investigate. If you need to come back later, measure over from the property lines to these sections and do a careful search with larger coils, ect. This method really makes you feel you have not missed an inch of ground even on small yards and feels less overwhelming on large pieces of land.
Jon

Interesting. Thats a good technique. 4 x 4 square seems pretty little though. I probably swing about that wide.

 

[93civEJ1]

You could use those little flags that push into the ground to mark off areas. Utility workers use these often and you can find them at Lowes and maybe even Home Depot.

Another good idea. I have some from an invisible dog fence.