Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska
New member
Today is my birthday. I'm 58. And this marks the seventh year of posting on this forum. I decided to go detecting today. I had two or three places I was going to try. The first place...
[attachment 19680 sign.jpg]
was in the field at this site. Lee and his troops were being hotly pursued coming through this area. I had tried several times to contact the people who own the field directly beside this sign. Finally last year, I was able to get hold of a Mr. X, owner of the farmland that this sign sits in front of. I talked to Mr. X on the phone, he seemed like a nice guy. I told him what I wanted to do, and he gave me permission to detect on his land. I only went once last fall, for about 20 min. before I got rained out.
[attachment 19685 oldstore4.jpg]
Sitting just 30 feet from that sign is this old building with a stone foundation. It was constructed in the early 1800's. It had been many things in its past history... an old store was one of them. I started detecting around this today, lots of trash and junk close around the building. Moving further out, the signals became more spread out, but still it was obvious this place had not been detected much. I started digging lots of shotgun shells, and various good readings that turned out to be deep junk, such as melted lead, etc. I had been there about 15 min. when I heard a car pull up. I looked up and saw this obviously irate lady slamming her car door, and heading towards the fence that I was detecting near. She was taking long, deliberate strides, and glaring intently. "Hmmm," I said to myself, "this doesn't look good." She got to the fence and hollered over, "Do you have permission to be here?" "Yes ma'am," I said. "Who gave you permission?" she says. "Mr. X," I told her. Then I told her about the conversation I had with him, and the permission given. I also told her that I had gotten permission from her 18 year old son, but thought I'd better get permission from the Dad, Mr. X, to confirm it. It was obvious that none of this made any difference to her. She was quite angry, and her butch haircut spoke volumes. "You people dig these Civil War relics, and sell them on Ebay for a lot of money, and the land owners get nothing." I told her I didn't sell anything. She said "I don't want you here digging any relics. This is my land." It was plain to see she was absolutely venomous toward relic hunters. She went on, "I turn people down all the time that knock on my door, wanting to detect here. How does it look with you out here detecting, when I turn them down? I'm going to have a talk with my husband. I don't want this going on here." "OK, I understand," I told her, and left. Well that was a real bummer... and a great birthday gift~NOT! I did ask her if she was going to buy a $1,000 metal detector and detect it herself. She didn't appreciate that... but it was going nowhere anyway.
[attachment 19687 field3.jpg]
I decided to go back to the field I hunted last year. You all remember the one where the very old horse was (he died last fall). You can see in the photograph the road running alongside the field; this was the retreat route of Lee's army from the battle of Sailor's Creek, with the Union forces in hot pursuit.
[attachment 19679 58cal.jpg]
After about 15 min. and a few junk targets, I dug this fired 58 caliber 3 ringer at 8". Well, at least I won't get skunked, I thought. Happy birthday to me.
[attachment 19681 smallerbullet.jpg]
Ten min. later, I dug three of these rare Confederate bullets called a .50 Smith. They were all within 2 feet of each other, so I managed 3 bullets in a couple minutes. These were also 8 to 9" deep. Also dug a couple of canon fuses, and one modern 25 or 32 caliber bullet. That makes over 35 Civil War bullets I've found along that stretch of road, along with 3 buttons, an artillery fuse, and other Civil War whatnots.
Before I left, I talked to Robert (who owns the land), a very nice man. He told me to come back anytime I wanted, even if he wasn't there, and hunt all of his land. He has about 6 acres. I showed him the bullets I had dug that day, and the big fat pouch of junk.
[attachment 19688 digs.jpg]
Here is my take for the day. I'm going to try and find out how much these .50 Smith bullets are worth. It says in my Civil War bullet book that they are scarce compared to U.S. made bullets.
Vernon
[attachment 19680 sign.jpg]
was in the field at this site. Lee and his troops were being hotly pursued coming through this area. I had tried several times to contact the people who own the field directly beside this sign. Finally last year, I was able to get hold of a Mr. X, owner of the farmland that this sign sits in front of. I talked to Mr. X on the phone, he seemed like a nice guy. I told him what I wanted to do, and he gave me permission to detect on his land. I only went once last fall, for about 20 min. before I got rained out.
[attachment 19685 oldstore4.jpg]
Sitting just 30 feet from that sign is this old building with a stone foundation. It was constructed in the early 1800's. It had been many things in its past history... an old store was one of them. I started detecting around this today, lots of trash and junk close around the building. Moving further out, the signals became more spread out, but still it was obvious this place had not been detected much. I started digging lots of shotgun shells, and various good readings that turned out to be deep junk, such as melted lead, etc. I had been there about 15 min. when I heard a car pull up. I looked up and saw this obviously irate lady slamming her car door, and heading towards the fence that I was detecting near. She was taking long, deliberate strides, and glaring intently. "Hmmm," I said to myself, "this doesn't look good." She got to the fence and hollered over, "Do you have permission to be here?" "Yes ma'am," I said. "Who gave you permission?" she says. "Mr. X," I told her. Then I told her about the conversation I had with him, and the permission given. I also told her that I had gotten permission from her 18 year old son, but thought I'd better get permission from the Dad, Mr. X, to confirm it. It was obvious that none of this made any difference to her. She was quite angry, and her butch haircut spoke volumes. "You people dig these Civil War relics, and sell them on Ebay for a lot of money, and the land owners get nothing." I told her I didn't sell anything. She said "I don't want you here digging any relics. This is my land." It was plain to see she was absolutely venomous toward relic hunters. She went on, "I turn people down all the time that knock on my door, wanting to detect here. How does it look with you out here detecting, when I turn them down? I'm going to have a talk with my husband. I don't want this going on here." "OK, I understand," I told her, and left. Well that was a real bummer... and a great birthday gift~NOT! I did ask her if she was going to buy a $1,000 metal detector and detect it herself. She didn't appreciate that... but it was going nowhere anyway.
[attachment 19687 field3.jpg]
I decided to go back to the field I hunted last year. You all remember the one where the very old horse was (he died last fall). You can see in the photograph the road running alongside the field; this was the retreat route of Lee's army from the battle of Sailor's Creek, with the Union forces in hot pursuit.
[attachment 19679 58cal.jpg]
After about 15 min. and a few junk targets, I dug this fired 58 caliber 3 ringer at 8". Well, at least I won't get skunked, I thought. Happy birthday to me.
[attachment 19681 smallerbullet.jpg]
Ten min. later, I dug three of these rare Confederate bullets called a .50 Smith. They were all within 2 feet of each other, so I managed 3 bullets in a couple minutes. These were also 8 to 9" deep. Also dug a couple of canon fuses, and one modern 25 or 32 caliber bullet. That makes over 35 Civil War bullets I've found along that stretch of road, along with 3 buttons, an artillery fuse, and other Civil War whatnots.
Before I left, I talked to Robert (who owns the land), a very nice man. He told me to come back anytime I wanted, even if he wasn't there, and hunt all of his land. He has about 6 acres. I showed him the bullets I had dug that day, and the big fat pouch of junk.
[attachment 19688 digs.jpg]
Here is my take for the day. I'm going to try and find out how much these .50 Smith bullets are worth. It says in my Civil War bullet book that they are scarce compared to U.S. made bullets.
Vernon
