First field of of the new season

Bill D. (VA)

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Oct 7, 2008
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Location
SE Virginia
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6
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Detector(s) used
F75 SE (land); CZ-21 (saltwater)
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Other
First field hunt of the new season

After a long and boring summer I finally had an opportunity to hook up with my good buddy Dan yesterday afternoon for a short hunt. I had made a scouting trip a few days earlier and noticed a couple of our old sites where the crops had finally been harvested. Both of these places have been pounded, but we were just chomping at the bit to get out somewhere. And boy did it feel good to be out in the fields swinging again in spite of a damp and dreary weather. The first site was a harvested peanut field which is our favorite due to the stubble-free bare dirt which allows for smooth swinging and easy eyeballing. For those of you up north that may not be familiar with peanuts I'm including a pic below showing how they look after being dug up and left to dry. Another pic shows the field after the harvest has been taken in. Pretty awesome sites to hunt. Anyway, our finds for the day weren't plentiful as expected, but both of us managed to pull out a few items. Dan made the best find of the day with a nice coin, and my favorite recovery was an intricate 18th century open-work button. I also dug a few buttons and a couple other odds and ends, but overall the results weren't too impressive. But our seasons usually start out on the slow side as we wait on fields to open up, and many of our new ones are still planted in cotton and beans so it'll still be a while. At least things are looking up, and we can't wait to see what surprises are waiting to be unearthed this season.
 

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Upvote 7
Just nice to be out searching again, isn't it? You got up some nice buttons there Bill, I hope you can get out again soon.
ZDD
 

Cool buttons. Thanks for the peanut tutorial. Us Nawthurners thank you :laughing7:
 

Bill - Go out there and get some! I'm looking forward to your future posts. Big open button is great - don't see those often.
 

Beautiful buttons, and I like finding the lead wrappers to gun flints.

Great that y'all have peanut fields there. I miss those, as well as soybean fields. Corn is a pain, due to stubble, but the sugarcane down here can be bad as well.
 

Very few fields are ready around here. A few corn fields are cut, but most farms switched to soybeans versus corn this year.
 

Nice finds sir, I was out Tue. checking on some fields, mostly corn and soybeans, I have been working on one permission where the neighbor told me there are three cellar holes from 1700's behind his neighbors field, he also told me he would help me get permission there. I think I'm going to chase down that permission today.
 

Uh oh....someone's out of hibernation!

Nice start to the season Bill. I look forward to getting in a few hunts with you this year. I see a hammered gold coin in your future.

Joey - that reminds me of that comment you made to Dan about me last season that was something to the effect of "don't poke a sleeping bear" .... haha! I guess the bear has been officially poked. And I hope your prediction of hammered gold comes to fruition. BTW - I was checking out some of the stories on your website, and you should consider submitting to one of the detecting magazines. Especially the one about the site where you found that enormous 8 reale cob. That would make for a great article.
 

Beautiful buttons, and I like finding the lead wrappers to gun flints.

Great that y'all have peanut fields there. I miss those, as well as soybean fields. Corn is a pain, due to stubble, but the sugarcane down here can be bad as well.

Thanks Buck. That's the first time I've heard of a lead wrapper for gun flints. Can you tell me a little more about that?
 

Thanks Buck. That's the first time I've heard of a lead wrapper for gun flints. Can you tell me a little more about that?

Sure. The way to secure the gun flint in the jaws of the flintlock musket was with something soft which would conform to the flint, yet hold it in place. Leather or lead were the preferred materials. The UK finds database shows many lead "flint wrappers" on the page. Scroll down.

All images on the database - Page: 1 - Database


Cheers,

Buck
 

Really nice button! Love finding any old buttons but when one different like that pops out sure is exciting. Congrats. Know what you mean about peanut fields...one of our site was planted in peanuts and they flipped them already but now waiting for them to pick them up. Looking forward to hitting it then.
 

Bill, looks like you will have another great hunting season this fall & winter as I would expect that a veteran digger like you would have. WTG & HH, Q.
 

Beautiful buttons can't wait to get into the fields here, they are just stating to harvest.
 

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