Old Homestead Hunt

[Fish N Chips]

Headed up to the old orchard this morning. It did not take long to find the cabin spot. A small flat above the orchard with a slight depression in the middle. It might not be as old as I though as all the nails I found were round nails, no cut nail. Although we did find some forged items. I had to ground balance a few hundred yards from the site due to the nail and iron trash. I headed back to the hole, set the discrimination to just begin to loose a nail and went to work.

I started with my 9x8 coil but was not doing well. Just too much trash. I headed to the orchard with the large coil and found some modern pistol casings. I then found an old dump and pulled a few zinc mason jar lids and found some very old bricks. They have some markings on them, so I look forward to researching them.

I headed back to the truck and put the 5.75 coil on and went back to the home site. I worked slow and listened for anything not discriminated (above a nail) and repeatable. I did much better with the small coil, I am really sold on its performance in sites like this. I began pulling out fired lead rounds that had been fired into the dirt bank. Also a number of 22 casings. This got me excited as if I could pull a 22 brass out of the nails, I should be able to find something good! I went along and got a nice hit. Out pops the top to a coin purse! I went over the spot several times and different directions, but unfortunately there were no coins in it when lost. I pulled out the tip to an auger and a leather rivet. I found a lot of brass shell casings and pieces of lead, even some 22 fired lead rounds. Nothing else of interest or value though.

I worked the small coil around the orchard trees for more lead and brass casings. I also kept getting these twisted metal rings. I knew they were large but they sounded good.

My Dad did not do that well either. He used my Silver Umax and found a large iron hoop that was forge welded and a forged nail puller made from a star drill (for explosives). My brother was using his new barska detector but I was not impressed with it. He found nothing. His detector could not work in the iron at all and was constantly fooled by trash, he really struggled with it and finally got so frustrated he just turned it off. He did find a nice arrowhead by the spring though.

It was a fun trip and we found a few things, but not as productive as I hoped. We worked the site hard for 7 hours with very little to show overall. It was worth trying and I may head back another time and work it some more. I am happy with my coin purse find and auger tip, they will look nice in a shadow box.

 

[tabman]

It sounds like you've found a good place to detect. Not every trip to a good site is productive. It kind of a hit and miss sometimes.

tabman

 

[hatpin]

Trashy sites are hard to hunt. That is one area I definitely need improving on .

 

[kaolinwasher]

I bet that is a caretaker shack, and one of his jobs was to exterminate the pests that may trouble the orchard, that may be what all the shells are about , he may have a stash as well for his things who knows it may be left behind, as he may have passed or got old and forgetful , just keep working it , when you get frustrated take a break, something will come out of it

 

[Fish N Chips]

Most the shells I found are modern 9 mm and .40 cal. I did find some older .44 and .22 shorts that could date back. The area has been used as a deer hunting camp, so that is likely where most the casings and lead come from. Most the aluminum cans laying around were all beaver tail pull tab types, so a lot of the trash is older. I dated the bricks and they were made from 1902 to 1911. Hard to say if they were used new or recycled for the site though, I found them in the trash pit. I will definitely hit it again and keep working it from different directions to unmask the good targets.

I am still learning how to hunt the really trashy areas but find myself really enjoying it. I like the very slow and methodical search, especially when I am able to pull some stuff from the nails and iron. There is something satisfying in that. Using your guys method of setting it above nails and digging it all is the way to go for these sites.

 

[3percenter]

Neat finds. For me the best part of detecting old homesites is figuring out what each recovered piece was used for. I always concentrate around the old spring houses.