Indiana Jones would have freaked out

[bearbqd]

Got out to a little area today that has produced a few good CW finds in the past. I came upon a large uprooted tree with several feet of dirt stuck to the bottom of the roots. I was hopeful with anticipation as scenarios like that are always good in a civil war area. I had previously found a nice dropped Sharps here the same way; I visually saw it sticking out of the dirt around the roots.

Well, I walked around to the back side of these roots and sure enough, there’s the bottom of a dropped three ringer staring at me. Sweet! I got a few shots of it before I plucked it out and then did an air test over it with my detector. Doing so confirmed what I had suspected but hoped against, my detector ain’t working too well anymore. I couldn’t get it to ring out clearly at more than about 5 inches, and it only rang correctly one way. The other way produced iron tone. I can usually get about a foot out on air tests with bullets. So, that sucks and explains why I haven’t found much in my last several times out. Time to save up for the Equinox I suppose.

So, I figured there might be more bullets hiding in there, especially since my detector could barely make them out. I start spading out large chunks of dirt and spreading it out below. I did manage one more three ringer, but then one of my shovel plunges gave me a shock......I almost cut into a black snake! I think I actually grazed the poor thing but didn’t cut into him. I messed with him for a minute and got some shots. He came out the front of the roots in the front, but then backed up again into a space I couldn’t see.

I worked my way around to the front of the roots continuing to excavate dirt. Suddenly I see a second large black snake fall out, AND THERE’S A THIRD BEHIND THAT ONE! Holy smokes, never dug into a den before. It’s funny cuz I had just told my mother yesterday, who is deathly afraid of snakes, that I had only run into two snakes my whole 13 years of detecting. And today I run into three at once, pretty ironic. Oh well, glad I got me some lead and glad I didn’t chop into the snakes, I like snakes.

Oh yeah, the second bullet turned out to be a star base Washington Arsenal, so that was cool. I have only found a handful of those over the years, including one in my own back yard where I grew up.

Also, see if you can make out the three ringer as I saw it in the full root picture.

 

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[wallrat_1975]

Those are black rat snakes. They are not venomous and are great for controlling pests. They are usually very timid and rarely bite. Cool finds!

HH
-Bill

 

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[IAMZIM]

Haha! I had to......