New guy in Crawford County

[Lakebum]

Just got an Ace 350, and my first two finds were the end of shotgun shells . I'm a History/Science teacher and firt time digger. Any groups of like minded people around the area?

 

[Hot zone]

I have found so many shotgun shell ends this spring that I guit counting at 50 a couple weeks back. The deepest was 11 inches with the Quattro. I did find one Indian head with the same ID so I am stuck digging them. The park I hunt must have used dogs to bird hunt as I have found remnants of 5 broken brass leash latches. Hunting treasure often turns out to be a local history lesson! Have fun with your new hobby and study all your finds, there will be a quiz!

 

[watercolor]

Welcome aboard!

You really HAVE to dig that shotgun shell brass. . . depending on soil conditions, depth, etc, those shotgun shell targets could easily be old nickels, gold, or vintage CrackerJack prizes from the early 20th-century. BTW, there's a guy on the forum (pretty sure it's "turtlefoot13") that's putting together a database of the head-stamps on shotgun shells. I've been sending him all the brass that I find and after he dates it, I have a good idea of the age of the sites I'm hunting.

 

[marinedad]

welcome lakebum, i'll never forget one of my old history teachers, he made the class interesting.

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

I know of a few detectorists down by you. Welcome.

 

[Lakebum]

Thanks for the welcome. Today i went back out in the woods and made some money! I found a 1977 penny and an 8 inch in diamiter metal ring. I dug trough some roots and it was about 6 inches deep. I had my detector set to coins so its prob some kind of nickle. Tomorrow sometime I am going to clean off the rust and see what kinda metal it is. Any tips on telling what kind of metal i found? I am not going to lie at all, I am just excited I can find things lol.

 

[Hot zone]

Large iron is conductive and will often register as coins. Rings also have a resonance that give a good repeatable sound when detected. You will find through trial and error, that digging all targets will result in being able to better predict what is under the coil. The only way to really know is to dig though.

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

Be sure to post pictures of your finds so we can drool and give you some "nice job" and "way to go"s.

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey just remember what Jason said and welcome!

If that big "ring" has rust on it, and even if it didn't, it's probably still iron. Large and small iron rings will "ring" up in the coin range very often. If it is a fairly thick band then it may be an old wheel wagon hub or band. If someone lost a tire there and had to replace it they may have lost other things very nearby. Turn that disc back down and go over that area again!

 

[Lakebum]

Thanks for the welcome.

The ring is about crown shape but really thick. I went back out in the woods again today about 5:30 and got lots of pop cans and shotgun shells again. My next mission is to find people i know with old houses to go look at. That with some rain for easier digging would be awesome.

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

if those pop cans are the old pull tab type, keep hunting. Pull tabs usually mean old coins.

 

[Lakebum]

Ok, thanks for the tip. I never even thought of that.

 

[Hot zone]

Unless you are talking about loggers, they spend every last dime on beer and cigarettes. I found in the neighborhood of 500 old style pulltabs and the only silver was the back of an old pocket watch. Apparently the watch was not really needed when it's always beer thirty.

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

logging and beer? Sounds like a bad combo!

 

[Hot zone]

I fit right in during two years of logging in the 70s. Thank god I survived and later swore off all alcohol! I think it only proper and fitting that everytime I dig an old beer can, I get to clean up some of the mess I had a hand in creating.