10-01-2017, 06:33 PM
Went nosing around the North side of a woodsy area I've never done before after spending about an hour and a half doing the sides of some trails and finding 2 pair of busted sunglasses, 3 dog tags, all 2000 or newer, and a clad quarter.
Was in there about 45 minutes collecting headstamps and bullets when I noticed nine of those old fashioned 16 oz. brown beer bottles laying in a small group about 5 feet in diameter, some just sticking up out of the dirt sideways. Now this area is prone to flooding when it's severe flooding but there hasn't been one of those since 1908, and that one was a doozy!
So I figure there were a bunch of guys in here hunting and had a few beers. Pretty normal. Now the question becomes did they camp here or just drink and hunt or vice versa. I look around the place. A lot can change in 75 to 100 years. What is the lay of the land? Where are the real old big trees? Where are the potholes from all the old trees that died out? Are there still somewhat higher areas grade wise that would be a good place to set down a blanket and rest for the night?
All this stuff runs through my head constantly as I search with both my eyes and detector. About 30 feet away from the bottles I get a pretty good but choppy penny signal. Bouncy, like sometimes 83-84, sometimes 79, 80, 81. I dig up a toasted wheat cent. Okay, now I say to myself, BINGO, I think I have something here!! Re-sweep the area. Strong and again choppy but 83, 84 and only 6 inches away from the wheat! Dig it. 1916 PLAIN Mercury! Re-sweep the area again. Same deal but this one is solid 83, 84!!!! 1919 PLAIN Mercury! All three were only down about 4 inches. Now I know I am correct in my thinking. I slow down a lot and start overlapping my sweeps more carefully. Within 15 minutes and about 12 feet away from the Mercury's I get this 91-92 strong and clear tone. Not even digging it I cross reference and get exactly the same thing. Meter says 2" down. I am now talking to myself and saying, "NO WAY! Not possible! Gotta be a bottle cap or something." . I dig it and HOLY CRAP it's a 1903 Barber Half!!!! 2 inches down!!!
By then I am due at my son's house in 1 hour to see them and the grandchildren. I do about another 15 minutes and head for the truck. A 50 center for #50! God is smiling on me!!!
Have fun out there and HAPPY HUNTING!!!
Ed
Was in there about 45 minutes collecting headstamps and bullets when I noticed nine of those old fashioned 16 oz. brown beer bottles laying in a small group about 5 feet in diameter, some just sticking up out of the dirt sideways. Now this area is prone to flooding when it's severe flooding but there hasn't been one of those since 1908, and that one was a doozy!
So I figure there were a bunch of guys in here hunting and had a few beers. Pretty normal. Now the question becomes did they camp here or just drink and hunt or vice versa. I look around the place. A lot can change in 75 to 100 years. What is the lay of the land? Where are the real old big trees? Where are the potholes from all the old trees that died out? Are there still somewhat higher areas grade wise that would be a good place to set down a blanket and rest for the night?
All this stuff runs through my head constantly as I search with both my eyes and detector. About 30 feet away from the bottles I get a pretty good but choppy penny signal. Bouncy, like sometimes 83-84, sometimes 79, 80, 81. I dig up a toasted wheat cent. Okay, now I say to myself, BINGO, I think I have something here!! Re-sweep the area. Strong and again choppy but 83, 84 and only 6 inches away from the wheat! Dig it. 1916 PLAIN Mercury! Re-sweep the area again. Same deal but this one is solid 83, 84!!!! 1919 PLAIN Mercury! All three were only down about 4 inches. Now I know I am correct in my thinking. I slow down a lot and start overlapping my sweeps more carefully. Within 15 minutes and about 12 feet away from the Mercury's I get this 91-92 strong and clear tone. Not even digging it I cross reference and get exactly the same thing. Meter says 2" down. I am now talking to myself and saying, "NO WAY! Not possible! Gotta be a bottle cap or something." . I dig it and HOLY CRAP it's a 1903 Barber Half!!!! 2 inches down!!!
By then I am due at my son's house in 1 hour to see them and the grandchildren. I do about another 15 minutes and head for the truck. A 50 center for #50! God is smiling on me!!!
Have fun out there and HAPPY HUNTING!!!
Ed
You guys out there could do the same or maybe even better but I know your situations and stuff so it's a blessing that sometimes you all do get out. You guys will eventually and I'll be sending KUDOS but detecting for me is not so much an addiction as it is a therapy. I get to use my brain, explore places I've never been to and get a boatload of exercise. The silver and surprises are the reward. And let me tell you that sometimes it's just pure lady luck! Someday, when I'm in an old age facility, if I make it that far, every afternoon I'm going to be known not as the walker, but the swinger, because I'll be swinging my cane or walker down the halls until I hear the supper bell! 
