4 hours at the campground / lake = 3 rings and some medals

time4me

Bronze Member
Aug 30, 2005
1,296
44
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Explorer II, Excalibur
So yesterday was my day to go detecting after dropping the kids off at school. I made the long drive out to the old park / campground that I've been hunting these past few months, since every time I hunt this park I come home with at least a couple of really cool items. I had talked to one of the park rangers earlier in the week and he mentioned to me that the lake there had been drained down quite low revealing quite a bit of the smelly, mucky lake bottom. With this info in hand, I hit the local sporting goods store on Wednesday and bought a pair of waders with attached boots, since I knew the lake bottom was going to be very messy.

Well, I was right - the exposed lake bottom was hideous, but yielded some neat finds. The treasure did not come easy though, as it was guarded by a couple of pirates...

IMG_9306.jpg


And if that wasn't enough, I had to get past an alien as well...

IMG_9308.jpg


Once I defeated the pirates and alien, the treasure started coming. Here are the two silver rings I found in the muck...

IMG_9293.jpg


IMG_9296.jpg


It took a bit of electrolysis to clean them up, but now they look really nice...

IMG_9299.jpg


IMG_9300.jpg


Also found in the hideous muck of the lake bottom were these three swimming medals marked on the back with the initials of a local swim team and dated 1984...

IMG_9314.jpg


Additional scoops of muck produced this little first aid cross item, and a pinewood derby medal that a cubscout must have won, only to lose it in the lake...

IMG_9318.jpg


And I was really pleased to find two more of these mysterious dollar-sized gold aluminum medals. If anyone out there can identify the significance of the commemorative date 1837 and the fur-trader looking dude on the front, PLEASE let me know...

IMG_9317.jpg


Here is the coinage that was pulled from the gross and smelly muck - includes one 1952 wheatie...

IMG_9312.jpg


Well after about 2 hours of back-breaking muck scooping I was dead tired and wanted to get out of the mud pool I had created by walking around and scooping. Thank god I found this "swamp rocket" to get me out of there...

IMG_9310.jpg


With a couple of hours left to hunt, I hit the turf in the park and turned up this sweet little Navajo style sterling ring made by the same company as the larger Navajo style ring I found at this site a couple of weeks ago - Bell Trading Post Company...

IMG_9301.jpg


IMG_9302.jpg


IMG_9303.jpg


Here are the three rings together...

IMG_9304.jpg


And here is the total haul for the 4 hours, including most of the trash. The giant tokens were pulled from the lake bottom - I assume that they were tossed in for kids to dive for. Probably the same way the gold aluminum tokens wound up in the lake.

IMG_9291.jpg


Keepers for the day...

IMG_9321.jpg


If I go back to hunt the lake again, I'll take a shovel instead of my Nuttall scoop - the muck kept getting packed into the scoop and wouldn't come out.

Thanks for looking! Get out there and have a great and productive detecting experience!!!!

Jim
 

Upvote 0

jgas

Silver Member
Apr 23, 2008
3,795
2,472
Midwesterner
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
DFX, Pro 6000XL, SunRay Probe, Centech Pinpointer
Re: 4 hours at the campground / lake = 3 ringer plus some medals

Nice digs there...That commemerative is cool too. But no idea about it...A keeper that's for sure. Congrats..jgas
 

Born Free

Sr. Member
Oct 27, 2007
440
6
Davenport, IA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Xterra 705
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Pirates and treasure! There's the ultimate treasure hunt! Definitely cool stuff to make the mucking worth it, eh? That token gets the prize, though. Have no idea what it is but we know how long it's been there waiting for someone with a metal detector to find it. I vote you go back there and find some more stuff.

Born Free
 

OP
OP
time4me

time4me

Bronze Member
Aug 30, 2005
1,296
44
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Explorer II, Excalibur
Re: 4 hours at the campground / lake = 3 ringer plus some medals

jgas said:
Nice digs there...That commemerative is cool too. But no idea about it...A keeper that's for sure. Congrats..jgas

Thanks jgas. I've now found four of these gold colored aluminum commemorative tokens, but have yet to figure out what they were made for. I tried calling the company that made them, but they were no help at all. Oh well, the mystery continues.

Born Free said:
Pirates and treasure! There's the ultimate treasure hunt! Definitely cool stuff to make the mucking worth it, eh? That token gets the prize, though. Have no idea what it is but we know how long it's been there waiting for someone with a metal detector to find it. I vote you go back there and find some more stuff.

Born Free

Thanks Born Free! You can bet I'll be back to this site. I've been hunting it about a day a week for the past 10 weeks or so, and have not been disappointed yet. Seems like every trip there yields at least one really great keeper. This was the one of the few times that I did not find one or two silver dimes (Rosies) or quarters (Washingtons).

kimsdad said:
Nice finds! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Sounds like you worked hard for them...

Hi Kimsdad - yes, my water scoop in hindsight was a very poor choice for the muck as it just wouldn't come out of the scoop once it got packed in there. The scoop weighed a ton with all of that wet goop in it, and I'd end up having to reach in and clean it out of the scoop with my bare hand... GROSS! Feeling pretty sore today.

TreasurdiggrNY said:
I think you found some Piggmedals ;D

Just kidding, if you don't know what I mean by that click here.........if you dare http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,91892.0.html ;D

Congrats on the nice finds, great job on the rings very nice :icon_thumleft:
Glenn

LOL - oh yes, I've followed the piggnuts thread on the what is it forum. That thread and the other aluminum thing that looks like a counter to 15 of some sort have driven me mad. I love finding rings. I really like shallow water hunting to find nicer rings, but don't really have anywhere good to do that where I live so I have to wait for my two week vacation on Cape Cod each summer - good finds there!
 

blklab

Full Member
Jul 30, 2008
203
1
Overland Park, Kansas
Detector(s) used
White's DFX/Garrett Ace 250/Troy X2/DetectorPro Pistol Probe
Great finds Jim. Nice looking rings and coins. But you deserve them, you
worked plenty hard enough for them. Congratulations.
Doug (blklab) :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 

mikewaz

Bronze Member
May 9, 2008
1,606
4
Chicago
Detector(s) used
Fisher 1266 X Fisher F75
Lots of cool finds there Jim! :thumbsup:

Those rings sure cleaned up nice. It looks like you'll have that spot all to yourself haha.
Mike
 

catchdogcross

Jr. Member
Sep 27, 2008
55
0
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Deleon, Tesoro Tiger Shark
GREAT PRESENTATION! :thumbsup:
I'm like a kid, I love a cute story with pictures and happy ending! I love the campground find posts, keep posting!
Catchdog
 

SusanMN

Silver Member
Jun 1, 2007
4,534
4,098
Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Tiger Shark, Xterra 705, Makro Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Great finds. I've been doing the shoreline muck hunt for several months and unless you've done it you can't really appreciate the serious nastiness of what you have to dig in. Congrats on the perserverance and the rewards.
 

OP
OP
time4me

time4me

Bronze Member
Aug 30, 2005
1,296
44
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Explorer II, Excalibur
SusanMN said:
Great finds. I've been doing the shoreline muck hunt for several months and unless you've done it you can't really appreciate the serious nastiness of what you have to dig in. Congrats on the perserverance and the rewards.

SusanMN, what are you using to dig in the muck? I am thinking of getting a small spade shovel to dig with because the sand scoop doesn't work so great.
 

SusanMN

Silver Member
Jun 1, 2007
4,534
4,098
Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Tiger Shark, Xterra 705, Makro Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
time4me said:
SusanMN, what are you using to dig in the muck? I am thinking of getting a small spade shovel to dig with because the sand scoop doesn't work so great.

I've been digging with a hand spade that has a long handle and a blade about six inches deep. My sand scoop definitely didn't work for me, the goops way too thick. I dig a plop and then use the spade to spread it around until I find my target. I carry a baggie and dump all finds, good and trash into the bag with the spade so I get the least amount of muck on me. Then I wash it at home and sort it out. I've had good luck finding Barber dimes, IH's and nickles so its been worth the effort.
 

Roger Mn.

Silver Member
Aug 18, 2007
3,806
1,870
Rochester,Minnesota
🥇 Banner finds
3
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Nice finds and story.I can just picture you trying to pull your leg up and getting stuck and falling down in that mud. :thumbsup:
 

Detectingfreak

Gold Member
Apr 26, 2006
5,736
21
Bellevue, WA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE, Tesoro TigerShark
nice job on all of the silver rings and other keepers! Yup many of us did have a very productive day :thumbsup: Happy hunting! ;D
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top