Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
Yesterday's productive hunt yields rare rattlesnake and stars button plus much more
It's been a very slow January for me as I've only managed to get in about 4-5 hunts which is a sad excuse for someone who's retired and can hunt every day. But my buddy Dan and I finally made it back out yesterday, and we had to brave the frigid low 20s, a biting wind and frozen ground to get in a little swinging. We returned to the spot where we found a 17th century house site in a logged area not long ago. But the finds there were sparse to say the least, so we decided to give the adjacent field another shot. In an earlier hunt, we had found what initially appeared to be a 19th century site on the far side of the field, and that's where I recovered that cool mid-1800s merchant token posted previously. But before we had left that day we started finding a few random, and earlier, targets adjacent to the house site that extended into an unassuming low spot in the middle of the field. Plus we had seen a little brick and heard some iron chirps, so we decided it was worth the effort to give that spot a more thorough look. And it was a good thing we did as we were able to spend the whole day steadily digging targets. Although the colonial coins eluded us yet again, I was quite happy with a 20 button day. And one of them turned out to be a seldom seen patriotic rattlesnake and stars button. That was a first for me, and I've been told these are quite rare. I also dug a solid silver button (oval-shaped) along with a number of other colonial buttons, an early knee buckle, a partially tinned 17th century trifed spoon handle, several lead and pewter musketballs, a cool turn-of-the century gilted locket, and other interesting items. Dan also dug a ton of relics which I'm sure he'll be posting later. Toward the end of the day we expanded our search area and were still hitting on a few random keepers, so we definitely need to make another trip at some point. But we need to refocus on getting into some productive, new sites, and its just a matter of knocking on some doors and catching folks at home. Hopefully we can make that happen soon. Had a fun day Dan - looking forward to next time.
It's been a very slow January for me as I've only managed to get in about 4-5 hunts which is a sad excuse for someone who's retired and can hunt every day. But my buddy Dan and I finally made it back out yesterday, and we had to brave the frigid low 20s, a biting wind and frozen ground to get in a little swinging. We returned to the spot where we found a 17th century house site in a logged area not long ago. But the finds there were sparse to say the least, so we decided to give the adjacent field another shot. In an earlier hunt, we had found what initially appeared to be a 19th century site on the far side of the field, and that's where I recovered that cool mid-1800s merchant token posted previously. But before we had left that day we started finding a few random, and earlier, targets adjacent to the house site that extended into an unassuming low spot in the middle of the field. Plus we had seen a little brick and heard some iron chirps, so we decided it was worth the effort to give that spot a more thorough look. And it was a good thing we did as we were able to spend the whole day steadily digging targets. Although the colonial coins eluded us yet again, I was quite happy with a 20 button day. And one of them turned out to be a seldom seen patriotic rattlesnake and stars button. That was a first for me, and I've been told these are quite rare. I also dug a solid silver button (oval-shaped) along with a number of other colonial buttons, an early knee buckle, a partially tinned 17th century trifed spoon handle, several lead and pewter musketballs, a cool turn-of-the century gilted locket, and other interesting items. Dan also dug a ton of relics which I'm sure he'll be posting later. Toward the end of the day we expanded our search area and were still hitting on a few random keepers, so we definitely need to make another trip at some point. But we need to refocus on getting into some productive, new sites, and its just a matter of knocking on some doors and catching folks at home. Hopefully we can make that happen soon. Had a fun day Dan - looking forward to next time.
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