Harvesting the field of dreams

Even small towns these days can support a huge sports complex with large lighted fields and concession stands and these can be a delight for the persons who enjoy metal detecting. Understanding what these fields may possess requires skills that the novice may have not developed. Many things must be taken into consideration such as the age of the field and how much the fields may have been filled in with sand over the original fields that may have existed here long ago. The type of grass is very important and you must look to see if there is grass around the concession stand or free standing phone booths.

Look for clues as to the age of the field from the amounts of rust on the stand supports to the fences and for signs of settling in any buildings and the tracks where people walk through the grass as to how far these trails have been worn into the soil. Talk to the sports maintenance people (the older ones) and ask about how long there was a field here and to the city parks department about early sports fields. You can get some information about fill that has been layered over the soil but you can tell just as fast by digging a small hole until you find the hardpan clay layer of old earth. While it may be possible to dig through six or seven inches of sand to find an old coin down an inch or two in the old soil it is more likely to leave a large hole and disturb the grass. If I ever decide to go after the deep ones I will slowly cut a six inch circle about seven inches deep and slowly extract the plug of grass. If this is a fine hybrid grass that was planted in the infield it will be necessary to bring a cloth to set the plug on so as to not leave crumbled sand all around the extraction. After the object has been located and removed then lift the cloth to put the crumbled sand into the bottom of the hole and then place the plug of grass back into the hole and then I take the trowel and comb the grass to look like the surrounding grass and when you remove your cloth and tools it will be impossible to tell where you removed the coin!

There are several types of targets to look for here from the older coins that lay buried in the ballfields and walk trails, to the area around the concession stands or phone booths. In the spring when all of the fields are full almost every evening there is a constant supply of new coins that just lay on top waiting for the cleaning crew to pick them up and if you want to take your share of these you must be there early before the trash people start the cleanup. These are lost fastest in the areas of deeper grass where a coin dropped by kids running will fall just out of sight until the morning sun makes it visible. This last spring it was fun for me to check the fields in the morning and you could never tell just what you could find there. Often there would be stacks of coins all piled in one place as if it got too heavy to carry and the owner just dumped them. Always look on the seats because often coins will fall out of pockets onto the seats at night and will not be seen until the cleanup crew comes in the morning. Grassy trails to the stadiums are loaded with new coins and ten minutes walking through the park will have your pockets bulging.

There are places you can look at the ballpark for the better finds like gold rings and jewelry that are often found behind home base to around the pitchers mound and behind the bases in the outfield. Hot evenings will cause players hands to sweat and when they pull the glove off the rings come with it. One more strange thing that I have discovered is that often women will remove a valuable ring or jewelry and fold it up in a napkin and then forget where they left it. Always swing the coil over these objects because a nice diamond ring may be laying in the ditch in a napkin waiting for the cleanup crew. Also since it has become popular for women to wear the pinky rings they almost never fit very well and are easy to fall off when they stand to applaud the team. Look under and around the seats for these and of course, you will have to turn off the discrimination to find them.

Soccer fields are fun to hunt but require a grid search pattern to be effective. You can simply learn where the most coins will be found which is along the sides where the spectators sit and in the circle in the middle of the field. I have discovered that where there are stadiums set in the middle along the sides of the field and the observers are required to walk through the deep grass to get to a place to sit down there will be a nice trail of coins in the walk path. To work this correctly you must walk a grid pattern to search the entire field and turn off the discrimination. Be prepared to dig everything! When beginners first start metal detecting they don't want to do anything like work! But if this is YOUR field close to your house that you will search year after year then begin by removing all pulltabs and trash where you can search it and look for rings and coins. The biggest lesson is that you yourself will have to maintain your hunting areas and keep them clean so you can maximize your hunts and pick up the rings and small jewelry that is lost in the grass or sand. If you think that this is too much trouble then consider what I do at the beach! I water and beach hunt and while everyone tosses pulltabs and junk into the water and on the sand I "myself" remove it as I detect these areas. The water at times will become loaded with pulltabs as a high tide pulls them off of the beach and into the water and as most of us know most gold rings ID as pulltab! I work hard at removing this trash and do my part with the other hunters who realize what must be done to enhance metal detecting on the beach and in the water. Others of course simply just freeload off everyone else but they generally look disgusted if they see other hunters on the beach and consider it hunted out when in fact the reverse is true! Those responsible who help to clean and prepare our good hunting areas know that there no hunted out areas and the more we clean it the easier it is to hunt. Not to mention that sometimes when I reach for just one more pulltab it turns into a gold ring!

Just a note about the play lots that spring up everywhere these days. If you are lucky enough to have some sand filled play areas in your area do not overlook these. I find some things in the ones filled with woodchips and a few things in the gravel ones but sand continues to provide coins and jewelry. Remember a diamond wedding ring may ID as foil or iron and believe it or not, some nice finds have been made is children's play areas. Often parents will stand and push the kids in the swings and loose a ring in the sand. One of the strangest things that I have discovered was that the small children want to bury their toy cars! When I was a kid I wanted to hold onto anything that I might get but not these kids. Take the new toys to the sand and quickly bury it deep and go off and leave it. Strangely enough this happens in winter more than summer and maybe the kids are dumping old cars before Santa comes I'm not sure, but it sure is strange.

Football fields are a good place to look for rings and of course the nearer the goal lines the more intense the play. I like to look on the walk trails to the stadiums if they are grass and for one reason or another I have never done well under the stadiums. Perhaps I have been outdone by another coin hunter but I do well in the grass behind the stadiums and where the crowds block the gates and the people walk through the grass to get to the exit. Always focus the search around the goal posts and in football fields it is generally better to look for jewelry than coins because you wouldn't want to ruin a manicured grass field. On digging in the grass that has been planted, fertilized, and watered by a caretaker remember to follow the Golden Rule and leave it looking like it has not been disturbed. I will not dig these fields while the caretakers are working it because I know myself that if I were taking care of it trying hard to get a nice grass to grow and someone came along with a spade to dig in the middle of it it would drive me crazy. I have witnessed a planted baseball field which was carefully planted and nurtured to provide a smooth grass cover and someone came along with a detector and a standard sized shovel and dug holes you could bury a basketball in about every foot or two all over the area and then had the nerve to heap dirt on the spot. He put the grass at the bottom of the hole and a mound of black dirt heaped on top! The field was ruined needless to say and all of us suffered from the stories that spread from that kind of thing. Right now I know where there is a field that contains a valuable diamond ring but I will not look for it until all of the activity dies this winter and no one comes to the field anymore and then I will be careful to extract the prize without damaging the grass cover.