Critterhunter
New member
Saturday morning I fixed my brakes on my truck and headed off to scout a new area. This is an overlook spot with a large mowed grass field. Years ago somebody who no longer metal detects told me that back in the 80's they pulled a lot of barbers out of this site. I didn't have long to hunt but wanted to scout the spot for an hour or so and see what kind of potential it has. I was happy to see after digging a few plugs that this is good fine soil with the potential to have really deep silver in it. I confirmed that for myself when I dug a few zinc pennies roughly 5 or 6" deep. Many of my sites have a mixture of lime stone clay in the soil and so don't have the potential for anything much deeper than say 8 or 9". Not all my sites are that way but a good share of them are, so I'm happy to find a good fine soil location where the 12x10 can run free and see if it can pop some really deep keepers. I'll be back there when I have more time.
Anyway, one of my hunting friends called me that night and said he was hunting the woods near a river on park land and dug a walking liberty half about 3" deep, so he wanted to hitch up with me and another friend Sunday morning to hunt those woods more. This section of woods is between a horse trail and the river. You're allowed to talk or job this horse trail but no bikes, so I didn't see a problem with hunting the edge of it. The horse trail it's self is a mixture of laid down gravel so not much point in hunting that. I stayed about five feet off the side of the trail hunting just inside the wood line.
My one friend was probably 60 yards behind me and about 20 yards into the woods, and the other friend was probably 100 yards behind me and 30 or 40 yards into the woods. Along comes two women on horse back. They stop and one woman says something to me. I couldn't hear her so I took off my headphones. "Can you stand still while we pass so you don't spook my horse?" Sure, I said. Go right ahead. "OH, and can you get your other friend (the one that was 60 yards behind me) to come out of the woods and wait for us to come back so my horse can see him." Now she's pushing it, so I told her that we have permits to be hunting this park and I'm not going to back track and get my friend to wait for you on the horse trail until you come back." She said something else but I couldn't hear her so I just put my headphones back on and went back to hunting once she passed.
Well, later on she comes back the other way and so, being that I was still next to the trail, I stood still and waited for her to pass. About an hour later I back tracked and me and my two friends took a break on a log about 40 yards into the woods. The third friend (the one who was last behind me and further into the woods) said he didn't see her the first time she went by, but on her return she told him to stand still so she could pass. Being that he was a good distance into the woods he sort of took offense to that and told her he wasn't standing still for anybody and that he had a permit to be hunting here. He went on to tell her that he's owned horses, and that if that horse is that jittery she shouldn't be riding it on public land with joggers and runners who could easily be using that trail too since it's allowed.
We then had a conversation about how we've heard some of these horseback riders in this park have a reputation for being a bit stuck up and think they own the place. I've got nothing against horse back riders but you have to understand that the people near this park that can afford the land and expense to have horses tend to be upper middle class yuppies, because nearby land is rather expensive so to have a horse stall and a field for them to roam in takes a bit of money around here.
Anyway, so as we took our break I saw somebody through the woods on a bicycle come riding down the trail. I made a remark to my two friends about bike riders not being allowed on that trail when I saw the guy stop and get off the bike. I could then see it was a park Ranger. He made his way to us in the woods and checked our permits, then of course asked what happened with the woman on the horse. We explained exactly the encounters all three of us had with her and he then said "Don't worry about it. These people who own horses around here tend to be a bit stuck up and think they own the place." We all laughed because that's exactly the conversation we had been having before he arrived. Luckily all went well from there and he wished us luck.
What did we find? There weren't many signals being that this was in the woods of course. My one friend got a war nickle, three wheats, a mercury dime, and an 1820's Canadian bank token about the size of a large cent. My other friend got a sterling silver religious medal and an indian. None of these finds were deep or masked or anything. Just the luck of the draw passing the coil over the right spot as you worked your way through the woods. I only got two good coin signals the whole time. One was a clad quarter. The other I was sure was going to be silver judging by it's extra sweet high tone but it turned out to be a washer. It's either made from brass or some other high conductive metal because it gave me a killer silver tone.
Anyway, one of my hunting friends called me that night and said he was hunting the woods near a river on park land and dug a walking liberty half about 3" deep, so he wanted to hitch up with me and another friend Sunday morning to hunt those woods more. This section of woods is between a horse trail and the river. You're allowed to talk or job this horse trail but no bikes, so I didn't see a problem with hunting the edge of it. The horse trail it's self is a mixture of laid down gravel so not much point in hunting that. I stayed about five feet off the side of the trail hunting just inside the wood line.
My one friend was probably 60 yards behind me and about 20 yards into the woods, and the other friend was probably 100 yards behind me and 30 or 40 yards into the woods. Along comes two women on horse back. They stop and one woman says something to me. I couldn't hear her so I took off my headphones. "Can you stand still while we pass so you don't spook my horse?" Sure, I said. Go right ahead. "OH, and can you get your other friend (the one that was 60 yards behind me) to come out of the woods and wait for us to come back so my horse can see him." Now she's pushing it, so I told her that we have permits to be hunting this park and I'm not going to back track and get my friend to wait for you on the horse trail until you come back." She said something else but I couldn't hear her so I just put my headphones back on and went back to hunting once she passed.
Well, later on she comes back the other way and so, being that I was still next to the trail, I stood still and waited for her to pass. About an hour later I back tracked and me and my two friends took a break on a log about 40 yards into the woods. The third friend (the one who was last behind me and further into the woods) said he didn't see her the first time she went by, but on her return she told him to stand still so she could pass. Being that he was a good distance into the woods he sort of took offense to that and told her he wasn't standing still for anybody and that he had a permit to be hunting here. He went on to tell her that he's owned horses, and that if that horse is that jittery she shouldn't be riding it on public land with joggers and runners who could easily be using that trail too since it's allowed.
We then had a conversation about how we've heard some of these horseback riders in this park have a reputation for being a bit stuck up and think they own the place. I've got nothing against horse back riders but you have to understand that the people near this park that can afford the land and expense to have horses tend to be upper middle class yuppies, because nearby land is rather expensive so to have a horse stall and a field for them to roam in takes a bit of money around here.
Anyway, so as we took our break I saw somebody through the woods on a bicycle come riding down the trail. I made a remark to my two friends about bike riders not being allowed on that trail when I saw the guy stop and get off the bike. I could then see it was a park Ranger. He made his way to us in the woods and checked our permits, then of course asked what happened with the woman on the horse. We explained exactly the encounters all three of us had with her and he then said "Don't worry about it. These people who own horses around here tend to be a bit stuck up and think they own the place." We all laughed because that's exactly the conversation we had been having before he arrived. Luckily all went well from there and he wished us luck.
What did we find? There weren't many signals being that this was in the woods of course. My one friend got a war nickle, three wheats, a mercury dime, and an 1820's Canadian bank token about the size of a large cent. My other friend got a sterling silver religious medal and an indian. None of these finds were deep or masked or anything. Just the luck of the draw passing the coil over the right spot as you worked your way through the woods. I only got two good coin signals the whole time. One was a clad quarter. The other I was sure was going to be silver judging by it's extra sweet high tone but it turned out to be a washer. It's either made from brass or some other high conductive metal because it gave me a killer silver tone.
