Going tomorrow to a property where the British camped here in Louisiana.

[Truth]

My boy Possumcop was gracious enough to invite me to a new permission he received. The red coats where there for a while and there was a plantation there at one time. We’ll be going for buttons, lead, relics any suggestions on what mode or a relic program would be best? I was gonna just bring a Minnie ball and button and bury it and see what hits best.

Thank, advice on this trip would be helpful it’s 300 acres and where do we even start?

 

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[Peyton Manning]

hear a beep, dig it

 

[Possum]

hear a beep, dig it

Are you suggesting to run the Nox in all metal? "D"

 

[smokeythecat]

A lot of the buttons were made of pewter and sound and react a lot different than CW buttons. You'll have to dig all those low quality targets or miss the best items. Best off in all metal mode.

 

[Rookster]

Yep, dig it all at that place.

 

[Truth]

A lot of the buttons were made of pewter and sound and react a lot different than CW buttons. You'll have to dig all those low quality targets or miss the best items. Best off in all metal mode.

Ah I didn’t know that smokey thanks for the tip

 

[Truth]

Yep, dig it all at that place.

Thanks rook I can lying I usually do I don’t want to but I have a built in obsession to drop and dig away.

 

[Truth]

hear a beep, dig it

[emoji1360]gotcha

 

[pulltabfelix]

have you looked at historicaerials.com? but the drawback here is the topos typically rarely go back further than the 1930's. But maybe there will be some old buildings from back in the oldest topo may showing. And maybe so of those old buildings were built or near some revolutionary period buildings. Otherwise I would spend some time wandering around on the higher ground looking for pieces of bricks or pottery to give you some clues to old places on the 300 acres. That is a lot of land to search. How long do you have to search?

 

[Truth]

have you looked at historicaerials.com? but the drawback here is the topos typically rarely go back further than the 1930's. But maybe there will be some old buildings from back in the oldest topo may showing. And maybe so of those old buildings were built or near some revolutionary period buildings. Otherwise I would spend some time wandering around on the higher ground looking for pieces of bricks or pottery to give you some clues to old places on the 300 acres. That is a lot of land to search. How long do you have to search?

Exactly my area only goes back to the 30’s. I hate that. Today was a bust anyway.

 

[Truth]

Well guys It’s was overgrown, hot as hell, no shade. So I’m gonna take a hiatus till Sept. Blanking twice in a row in 107 degree heat ain’t gonna work. Plus both my pin pointer broke AND my a/c is going out in my truck. I’m waving the white flag due to crappy luck mailing of my pin-pointers, putting the truck in the shop and STAYING in the A/C. Done

 

[CharlesUpstateNY]

I'll go detecting in 107 degrees well, never. lol Stay cool Truth.

 

[etex]

If you have shade it's doable, no shade, not

 

[Truth]

Oh AND I got poison ivy lol

 

[smokeythecat]

Best to survive for another season. It was 66 degrees today here and at the start of the 5 day rain storm I went down to the river, down to the river, down to the river to....no wrong song...look for Indian artifacts. I got a few. Nothing to brag about. It's not worth dying for. Sorry you didn't clean up but the good stuff normally hides under the highest growth areas.

 

[Truth]

Best to survive for another season. It was 66 degrees today here and at the start of the 5 day rain storm I went down to the river, down to the river, down to the river to....no wrong song...look for Indian artifacts. I got a few. Nothing to brag about. It's not worth dying for. Sorry you didn't clean up but the good stuff normally hides under the highest growth areas.

AND not to mention it was all Louisiana clay. Worst thing to dig in. Uggggh

 

[vferrari]

Well guys It’s was overgrown, hot as hell, no shade. So I’m gonna take a hiatus till Sept. Blanking twice in a row in 107 degree heat ain’t gonna work. Plus both my pin pointer broke AND my a/c is going out in my truck. I’m waving the white flag due to crappy luck mailing of my pin-pointers, putting the truck in the shop and STAYING in the A/C. Done

Blah. That sounds terrible. Hey at least no one else is likely hitting the site either. The relics have been there for 225 years or more, they can sit there for a few more weeks. Relic hunting is over for me too until things cool off. It's beach time now.

 

[dig deeper now]

I guess I would START in the middle and go outward from there, and just see what happens from then. As good a place as any.

 

[Possum]

Truth, you cooled off yet

Guy's I'm not going to lie, it was miserable. The area is huge and as a crow flies we were only about a quarter mile or so east of the Mississippi River and not much more than a mile +/- northeast of the actual Chalmette Battle field. Truth and I both had camel backs for hydration and two way radios, due to the area being so big and we were going to spread out a little to cover more area trying to find the actual encampment.

Well after hunting for quite a while, all caught up in the hunt and continuously moving from high ground and ridges, because I figured that's where they would set up above the water line (swamp) and on level ground. Anyhow it was about that time I realized I hadn't heard or seen Truth for quite some time, so I pulled back one of my headphone ear pieces and hit the radio alert, but no response, so I hit it again and followed with an audible call, but again no response. The other thing that I noticed was that I couldn't hear the traffic that kinda kept us oriented to our location.

I took my phone off of airplane mode, pulled up the GPS and after the GPS page loaded I like to have fell smooth out when I realized I was at the far northwestern corner of this property that was covered with palmetto, vines, briars, Kudzu, spiders, snakes, wild hogs and other plants and shrubs that I had never seen before. Well I finally made contact with Truth and told him that it was going to take me a while to get out. He wanted to know how my water supply was and that he was not leaving the property until I came out.

I took my westerly mark and set off, but soon realized that for every 30 yards or so west I walked I had to walk twice as far north or south to find a suitable area before I could return back towards the west. It didn't take but about 2 hours and I was completely out of water but being a Warden and in the woods all the time, I always carry a survival straw.... ah, reality check.... it wasn’t there, I don't know what happened to it, all I can figure is it fell out of my bag somewhere in this miserable swamp.

About an hour later I could hear the traffic and was able to speed up a little since I didn't have to keep stopping to confirm my westerly azimuth. Well I kept on fighting this “Jungle” hoping to eventually run across an ATV trail that was so numerous when we first started hunting, but of course all I found was game trails that just zigzagged all over the place.

I’m not lying, those palmetto, briar, Kudzu and other vines and weeds were killer, not to mention the felled rotting trees that were still there from the past hurricanes. When I got to an area that was overgrown with this stuff and it was not feasible to back track, all I could do was place my shovel horizontally in front of me and mash that crap down and repeat this over and over again until I came to another clearing where I could move a little faster… God what I would have given to have my Kukri or Camillus with me, but of course both were in my bugout bag in my truck several miles away!!!
Truth stayed in touch via cell phone and asked if I could here his trucks horn? I just smiled while spitting cotton balls and calmly told him I could only hear his truck horn through the phone… LOL

Well about 30 minutes or so before I finally found my way out I found what appeared to be earthworks that ran in and almost perfectly straight line in a SSW to NNE direction and yes I started following them looking them over really good and taking GPS reading and photos of them before reality hit me in the face with a big old, “Hey Stupid, You’re really dehydrated and need to get back on track!!!”.

Well I eventually made it out onto a levee and about a mile or further to the south I could see Truth’s white truck. He kept to his word and refused to leave a man unaccounted for, he’s a great guy to hunt with and he will not leave you, I promise!!! I began trudging towards him and eventually I found a shade tree on the east side of the levee road and ditched all my gear for a later retrieval. My boots were soaked with sweat and water and were slipping on my feet rubbing them raw.

Unfortunately, Truth couldn’t drive his truck to me, but being the down to earth person he is, he grabbed a gallon jug of water and set out on foot meeting me half way and I mean not a moment too soon!!! After he go there his biggest concern was that the water wasn’t ice cold, but instead lukewarm, I just looked a him and told him it really didn’t matter it was wet and I needed it cold or not, and I thanked him for waiting on me!!!

We didn’t find the encampment this time, but after some more in-depth research, cooler weather and a more precise plan of action, we’re going back.
I suppose the moral to this story is, even though I’ve been relic hunting for many, many years, an being a veteran, an experienced wilderness survivalist and Game Warden to top it all, I wasn’t properly prepared which broke every rule in the book and because of my costly mistake of not being properly prepared I felt like a rookie and fortunately God was with me and mother nature schooled me!!!

I’m not embarrassed or ashamed of what I went through and I hope this may reach someone to show them no matter how much training you have, an if you don’t do your homework and properly prepare yourself for the current conditions it could mean the difference between life and death.

I want to again thank Dean “Truth”, whom I’ve never met in person before, but in true metal detection comradery and his being a down to earth good Christian guy, he stayed and refused to abandoned me. I truly consider him a lifesaver and friend and will hunt with him anytime, because I know he’s got my six!!!

I know a lot of you may think I’m being melodramatic about my situation, but believe me I honestly don’t think I could’ve walked to where Truth had his truck parked, and where help could’ve been found because I was becoming more and more unsteady on my sore, aching and raw feet, nauseated and close to heat exhaustion.

Just to clear up any lingering questions or comments, the only reason Truth didn’t call for help was because I never let on to him just how bad I was and it wasn’t until he reached me that he knew I was bad off!!!

Thanks again Truth, you're a true friend and lifesaver!!!

P.S. Lesson Learned!!!!!!!

"D"

 

[vferrari]

Wow. Glad you got out of there and not on a stretcher! Thanks for the reminder on how important it is to pack and drink plenty of water.

If I head down your way, I know two guys I would love to go detecting with - glad you were looking out for each other.