Hello All,
Because of the sheer volume of quality finds the past few years, I felt like I needed to make a year-end post to put 2011 firmly behind me.
Imagine for a moment that you left your area where you currently metal detect. You gave up all your contact numbers, all the familiar property owners, and all the research you had done. Also imagine saying goodbye to your best hunting buddies. That was what I experienced after moving away from Kentucky.
Now, after a year of research, meeting a great new hunting buddy, and getting motivated, the finds are flowing once again.
Although I will probably look back and think on 2011 as a lost year, spent in limbo and crunched between the hectic schedule and mountains of work, some decent relics were dug. It was important that I put this post together for me to see that fact, and feel a little better about the year.
While visiting Virginia, I dug into a campfire pit where close to a whole crate of ammunition was burned during the Civil War. The nails from the crate were still in the pit, some firmly imbedded in once-molten lead. Two of the lead pieces are as big as my palm.
Only one bullet escaped the fire, and is still recognizable:
Normally this photo would be considered GawGag, but since it represents my only silver coin for the year, I am posting it anyway whether you like it or not.
Flat buttons, a tombac dandy, and a heel plate:
An assortment of .54 cal CW round balls, a pair of minieballs, and the remains of a Bohrman timed fuse:
And the best relics I actually dug in Kentucky during Hill Billy and my yearly reunion back in January: A nice, complete spur, 1700s shoe buckle, 1850s German-made pocket dirk with bone handle, and in the center a boot pistol with screw-on barrel marked "HERO mfg."
If you would like to see better relics than this, you are welcome to check out my team and my year-end posts from 2010:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,372787.0.html
From 2009:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,293877.0.html
Or from 2008:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,211202.0.html
Now it's Onward and Upward into a Spectacular 2012,
Buckles
Because of the sheer volume of quality finds the past few years, I felt like I needed to make a year-end post to put 2011 firmly behind me.
Imagine for a moment that you left your area where you currently metal detect. You gave up all your contact numbers, all the familiar property owners, and all the research you had done. Also imagine saying goodbye to your best hunting buddies. That was what I experienced after moving away from Kentucky.
Now, after a year of research, meeting a great new hunting buddy, and getting motivated, the finds are flowing once again.
Although I will probably look back and think on 2011 as a lost year, spent in limbo and crunched between the hectic schedule and mountains of work, some decent relics were dug. It was important that I put this post together for me to see that fact, and feel a little better about the year.
While visiting Virginia, I dug into a campfire pit where close to a whole crate of ammunition was burned during the Civil War. The nails from the crate were still in the pit, some firmly imbedded in once-molten lead. Two of the lead pieces are as big as my palm.
Only one bullet escaped the fire, and is still recognizable:
Normally this photo would be considered GawGag, but since it represents my only silver coin for the year, I am posting it anyway whether you like it or not.
Flat buttons, a tombac dandy, and a heel plate:
An assortment of .54 cal CW round balls, a pair of minieballs, and the remains of a Bohrman timed fuse:
And the best relics I actually dug in Kentucky during Hill Billy and my yearly reunion back in January: A nice, complete spur, 1700s shoe buckle, 1850s German-made pocket dirk with bone handle, and in the center a boot pistol with screw-on barrel marked "HERO mfg."
If you would like to see better relics than this, you are welcome to check out my team and my year-end posts from 2010:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,372787.0.html
From 2009:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,293877.0.html
Or from 2008:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,211202.0.html
Now it's Onward and Upward into a Spectacular 2012,
Buckles
![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
But no, only the nickel. That, believe it or not, was the only sorry coin I dug the whole year. But now it's time to move forward. One hunt here and two great hunts in KY with you and I am already doing better than 2011. 
best of hunts in 2012... MR TUFF
