HomeGuardDan
Bronze Member
What a wild few weeks of weather the great state of Virginia has had. I initially had a plan for a good friend to join us for a weekend hunt, only to have to post-pone it due to 5-12" of snow that fell throughout the region on Wednesday. On Thursday we almost set the record for the coldest temp on record at -2 (actual, not windchill). On Saturday morning the ground was still basically 100% snow covered but with temps warming up to about 53 my good pal and digging partner Bill D and I figured we would at least try and get an afternoon hunt in. We planned to arrive at the site about noon, hoping that the morning warm up and sun would begin to melt things off. We were wrong on that account as when we arrived the site was still 100% covered - though only about an inch or more of packed snow remained.
This is the site that I landed for us last weekend that was frozen and impossible to dig the way we typically do. We had hoped that the snow would have protected the ground from the below-zero temps - and again - we were wrong. At the beginning of the day we were dealing with about 3" of frozen dirt - breaking the cleat off of my shovel on a test hole left us with no other alternative - pickaxes! Neither of us wanted to remain inside all day so we gave it a go.
We started off by gridding the site methodically but to little success. After about two hours of gridding at what we thought was ground zero and only recovering a few buttons and other odds and ends we both went on our separate ways to look for additional hot spots. Bill and I both struck nice little hot spots and spent the remainder of the day digging target after target - this was the rich site that we felt confident we left behind last week. I will let Bill fill you in on his finds, but he struck first with the initial coin of the day - then shortly afterwards I sniffed out a worn 1798 Large Cent from about 10" down. We kept going and then at the 11th hour - with day light dwindling I struck with a piece of cut silver (spanish pistareen).
My total finds for the day were 26 various buttons (including an early glass inlay-ed button dating to the mid 1700s). I dug plenty of lead (including some early and crude pistol / shot pellets). I dug 70% of a nice colonial shoe buckle and picked up plenty of pipe stems that are littered throughout this site. This site will be a fun one multiple hunts to come - that makes four colonial coins for me in two short hunts. We also know that there is a killer pit or two there some where. The snow did mostly melt (with what was exposed to sun) but the ground remained frozen in spots - where it was not was left with inches of mucky overburden. The drive in that morning was on a solid roadbed (frozen) it took all my 4x4 could do on the way out to leave.
HH
Dan
This is the site that I landed for us last weekend that was frozen and impossible to dig the way we typically do. We had hoped that the snow would have protected the ground from the below-zero temps - and again - we were wrong. At the beginning of the day we were dealing with about 3" of frozen dirt - breaking the cleat off of my shovel on a test hole left us with no other alternative - pickaxes! Neither of us wanted to remain inside all day so we gave it a go.
We started off by gridding the site methodically but to little success. After about two hours of gridding at what we thought was ground zero and only recovering a few buttons and other odds and ends we both went on our separate ways to look for additional hot spots. Bill and I both struck nice little hot spots and spent the remainder of the day digging target after target - this was the rich site that we felt confident we left behind last week. I will let Bill fill you in on his finds, but he struck first with the initial coin of the day - then shortly afterwards I sniffed out a worn 1798 Large Cent from about 10" down. We kept going and then at the 11th hour - with day light dwindling I struck with a piece of cut silver (spanish pistareen).
My total finds for the day were 26 various buttons (including an early glass inlay-ed button dating to the mid 1700s). I dug plenty of lead (including some early and crude pistol / shot pellets). I dug 70% of a nice colonial shoe buckle and picked up plenty of pipe stems that are littered throughout this site. This site will be a fun one multiple hunts to come - that makes four colonial coins for me in two short hunts. We also know that there is a killer pit or two there some where. The snow did mostly melt (with what was exposed to sun) but the ground remained frozen in spots - where it was not was left with inches of mucky overburden. The drive in that morning was on a solid roadbed (frozen) it took all my 4x4 could do on the way out to leave.
HH
Dan
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40 years of my 70+ were spent living near Richmond & Charlottesville, and the lowest temp I recall then was a plus 9 degrees one icy Christmas season. Are you guys going thru the coldest VA winter on record? Your new site is gonna produce much more for sure! 
Andi
