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Woke Her Up After Nearly 160 Years...

BuckleBoy

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Location
Moonlight and Magnolias
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Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Whites DualField PI, Fisher 1266-X and Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello All,

As many of you know, the Iron Brigade has been trying to find a difficult housesite for a week now. After two separate hunts leaving empty handed, and double and triple-checking the GPS coordinates, and more research, I'm pleased to say that we finally found it. :)

Since it was *only* going to be 93 degrees today ::) , we got an early start. After arriving on the site and entering the new GPS coordinates, we loaded our gear into our packs and got deep into the woods. To be honest, neither of us felt much like getting into those same woods that we'd been swallowed up and beaten by the last two hunts. On our way in, we realized that we weren't alone. This little baby was sitting there stock still. The only thing moving were its nostrils.

6-05-08 Deer.webp

After a good hike through the brush, we got to our location and set up base camp.

Well...those changes to the coordinates I made since last hunt Certainly paid off. We took about ten steps away from base camp toward the east and found the iron patch. :thumbsup: Although we'd not had a good iron patch to whet our appetites in several hunts, I wasn't quite convinced yet. Not until that first cooking pot fragment, eating utensil, cast iron stove piece, or other housesite item came up would I be ready to do some dancing...

It didn't take long. The first decent target I got was a suspender clip. We gave some Serious high-fives and Hallelujah's, then started the Serious hunting. Here's Rodeo beating back the brushy, ticky woods with his Ace 250:

6-05-08 Rodeo Brush.webp

We dug some harmonica reeds and pewter spoon fragments, but the targets were very thin and the iron patch was very small--perhaps 30' x 30'. It appears that the structure was an old log cabin. There was no trace of it--not even foundation stones or a cellar hole. I think the small size of the iron patch was one of the reasons we didn't find it earlier. I also think that the geography played a role as well. There are lots of small knolls everywhere--each of which could easily have been the site of the house.

We brought a tarp with us--so that we could have a place to sit or lie down without the Ticks crawling up us the whole time. With the forecast High Temperature being what it was, I didn't want to take chances on us running out of energy. And so we took breaks between shifts of hunting throughout the morning to lay on the tarp and relax a bit. Here I am having a leisurely, sweaty cigarette on a Highly Flammable Tarp deep in the Tick-Infested Woods. ;D

6-05-08 Buckles Lazy Smoke.webp

Now let me preface this part by saying that most of the time I don't thumb the knobs on my Fisher 1266-X before I dig--unless it is an "iffy" signal to begin with. It's faster to just dig it out of the ground.

Well... I got a typical signal just like any other (the analog users will understand)...but what I didn't know is that if I had thumbed the knobs on the Fisher it would've read Strong "Coin"--probably "Quarter." So it was a Beautiful surprise when I saw this in the hole:

6-05-08 Coppa!.webp

It was an excellent Large Cent--1851. :thumbsup:

Here's a photo I took of it back at the car after the hunt:

6-05-08 LC Dirty.webp

So we continued to work the site hard, drinking up and sweating off gallons in the process. A few more interesting items came up, including some nice suspender clips for Rodeo Recon, and a GREAT little buckle. When the finds had become very slim, we packed our gear and headed home.

Here are the cleaned up clips, buckle, and Large Cent:

6-05-08 Clips, Buckle, LC.webp

And all of the iron, tin roofing, and junk we dug to get the goodies:

6-05-08 Everything.webp

And of course, some photos of the cleaned-up LC. I only used water and a soft tootbrush, since the coin seemed like it wasn't very corroded.

6-05-08 LC Obverse.webp

6-05-08 LC Reverse.webp




Regards,


Buckleboy
 
Upvote 0
Hill Billy said:
I had the same thought.Cover Boy of Playgirl Magazine.He'd make a nice centerfold wouldnt' he. :icon_scratch:

Yeah I'm a real Hugh Hefner in Army Green.  :D


Get over here and get huntin, HB.  Ain't afraid of some heat and ticks, are ya?  As long as I've got great people like all of you Iron Brigaders to hunt with, I'll keep the sites FLOWING.  :)
 
Congrats on finally locating that homesite, I can only imagine how frustrating it is to know its right close by and not being able to pin point it. Great finds as usual. How does Rodeo's Ace 250 fair on the old homesites? Is that what he's been using to rack up the old coins all spring? Way to go and HH..........
 
Nice large cent.
Dman
 
Nice large cent.

I love to find the old stuff. The woods are were I like to be. It's cool you guys do it as a gang. Gives you alot better of a chance to find the site.

HH Jer
 
Man,why don't you leave those sites for late fall/winter when the folliage,heat and ticks are down.There are too many very bad diseases carried by ticks to risk it.No matter how much DEET you use in that setting ,some are going to get you.
 
great post buckleboy ! the fawn pic reminds me of the same kind of pic I took while MDing almost 4 years ago to the day ! So what did this foundation look like ? did it have a cellar hole ? If not do you think you could have walked close by it on your earlier hunts ?

fawnFRM6-3-04.jpg
 
Beautiful fawn pic I love those type of photos!
 
redlined said:
Congrats on finally locating that homesite, I can only imagine how frustrating it is to know its right close by and not being able to pin point it. Great finds as usual. How does Rodeo's Ace 250 fair on the old homesites? Is that what he's been using to rack up the old coins all spring? Way to go and HH..........

Yeah, this one was frustrating but I'm glad we got it. I think this was the toughest one on the slate so far for us...I knew that going in. Yes, Rodeo is a one-machine-owner. I had my doubts about his Ace when we first started hunting...but after CW hunts where he's nailed deep relics, and plenty of housesite hunts, I can say that he has Thoroughly Mastered that beginner's machine. I'm always impressed with what he digs with it. And his finds prove his knowledge of the machine.

JerDfx said:
It's cool you guys do it as a gang. Gives you alot better of a chance to find the site.

HH Jer

That's part of the strength of having a great team. Keeps us busy finding sites though.


Pa.Billy--there was no foundation or cellar hole. No trace of where the structure was. We had to figure that out ourselves--the same way we do in the plowed fields that had housesites on them.



Regards,


Buckleboy
 
christ-first said:
i would love to find just one large cent. maybe one day soon.

You can do it. There's one out there with your name on it.
 
Nice cent find ! Good pic's of the deer too.
Looks like a "Indiana Jones Adventure" Who is that guy in the hat anyway ?
Congrads !
Robin
 
Robin said:
Nice cent find !  Good pic's of the deer too.
Looks like a "Indiana Jones Adventure" Who is that guy in the hat anyway ?
Congrads !
                    Robin

That dude in the hat is Mr. Rodeo Recon.  :thumbsup:
 
I knew you could find the spot....so many times people get frustrated and give up when things dont come easy....You showed us what persistance and a little hard work can do.....Congrats on the large cent ...its a beaut...Steve and I tackled the Ozarks in record high humidity this week also....came away carrying more ticks than I want to ever see again....Next time I am packing a tarp too and bathing in Deet!
 
Glad you were able to find the spot, paid off for you guys too, congrats on those great finds.
Glenn
 
Great LC and great relics! I like that buckle in particular!
 
Hill Billy said:
kindafoundabuckle said:
HMMMM.......This is just to easy. Two guys in the middle of the woods laying on a tarp after swinging your rods. Thats as far as Im going with it. The thought of it just cracks me up.

I had the same thought.Cover Boy of Playgirl Magazine.He'd make a nice centerfold wouldnt' he. :icon_scratch:

LOL ;D ;D I was gonna go there, but it looks like the MALE members of the team got there before me. I know that metal detecting is just an excuse for all of ya'll. ;D

Anyway, glad you found the site. I bet it was worth the trouble just to have your first two holes turn up a large cent and a suspender buckle!

~DG
 
A HEARTY Congrats B.B. -- I was glad to see ya found that old homesite !!! :hello2: :headbang: :hello2:

And a salute to the Lg Cent ! :icon_salut:

I'd have my OWN tarp tho !! :icon_thumleft: :sleepy2: :icon_thumright: :idea1:

Congrats :icon_sunny:

Derek :icon_scratch:
 
EDDE LOL. :D
 
Nice finds. Way to go on the LC. Looks like you guys definitley go through some discomfert to find the old virgin sites.
 

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