bigscoop
Gold Member
- Jun 4, 2010
- 13,425
- 8,811
- Detector(s) used
- Older blue Excal with full mods, Equinox 800.
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Treasure Hunting....Mother Nature is "Factor-X"
Back in the early seventies the state introduced a habitat planting program on the large track of public land surrounding my home. After this planting was complete I can remember walking through the green grass and endless rows of tiny pine and spruce trees. One of my favorite trails was an old roadbed that skirted the edge of the water atop a wooded ridge, it was a really nice walk.
Now, 30 years later, you can't find that old roadbed, the once tiny pine and spruce trees are now thirty feet high and the undergrowth is so thick you can't walk through it. There once was a clearing where an old barn use to sit, that clearing is gone now and all signs of it have been completely swallowed up by dense growth. The thick fence rows I use to hunt as a kid are all gone, now just part of the miles of trees and forest that have gown all around. And the steep cliffs I use to dive off when I was in high school, well they have eroded away so badly over the years if you were to dive off of the top of them today you would probably hit rock long before you ever hit water. All of this in just thirty years. Now think of buried caches and stashes and try to imagine how 100 or 200 years of change might effect your chances.
I only bring this up because it serves as a reminder that even the best of research can sometimes leave you standing in awe and feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have had in my own hands first hand accounts and directions, even hand drawn maps from those oldtimers in the know, maps and directions that were guaranteed to lead me to the right location, only to learn once I got there that those maps and directions were suddenly useless pieces of paper to a place that no longer existed as recalled from their memory. Markers are gone, entire woods and fencerows have either been cleared away or sprouted up all around, erosion and the passing of time have created an entirely new landscape. Mother Nature is indeed factor "X" much of the time when searching for those things lost and forgotten. With the passing of time, few things remain as they once were. Just more food for thought for those just getting started in this fascinating hobby.
Back in the early seventies the state introduced a habitat planting program on the large track of public land surrounding my home. After this planting was complete I can remember walking through the green grass and endless rows of tiny pine and spruce trees. One of my favorite trails was an old roadbed that skirted the edge of the water atop a wooded ridge, it was a really nice walk.
Now, 30 years later, you can't find that old roadbed, the once tiny pine and spruce trees are now thirty feet high and the undergrowth is so thick you can't walk through it. There once was a clearing where an old barn use to sit, that clearing is gone now and all signs of it have been completely swallowed up by dense growth. The thick fence rows I use to hunt as a kid are all gone, now just part of the miles of trees and forest that have gown all around. And the steep cliffs I use to dive off when I was in high school, well they have eroded away so badly over the years if you were to dive off of the top of them today you would probably hit rock long before you ever hit water. All of this in just thirty years. Now think of buried caches and stashes and try to imagine how 100 or 200 years of change might effect your chances.
I only bring this up because it serves as a reminder that even the best of research can sometimes leave you standing in awe and feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have had in my own hands first hand accounts and directions, even hand drawn maps from those oldtimers in the know, maps and directions that were guaranteed to lead me to the right location, only to learn once I got there that those maps and directions were suddenly useless pieces of paper to a place that no longer existed as recalled from their memory. Markers are gone, entire woods and fencerows have either been cleared away or sprouted up all around, erosion and the passing of time have created an entirely new landscape. Mother Nature is indeed factor "X" much of the time when searching for those things lost and forgotten. With the passing of time, few things remain as they once were. Just more food for thought for those just getting started in this fascinating hobby.
