labradigger1
Jr. Member
- Sep 8, 2012
- 95
- 125
- Detector(s) used
- whites dfx, mxt pro, tdi, bullseye II.
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
OK ladies and gents, here is a short story of a metal detecting trip i took w/ my wife and son 2 labor days ago. sorry as i am at work out of town and do not have any way to get the pics posted yet but will next week.
as a construction superintendent we do some historical restorations occasionally and i was working on an old plantation type mansion for about 8 months. i was staying in the home in a wing we were doing no work in.
when i met the owner for the first time i ask him if it would be ok to metal detect the farm and his reply was sure, it has been in my family since the 1820's and as far as i know nobody has ever detected it.
i had just gotten my dfx a couple months prior and really had gotten to use it very little. every evening at 5:30 i would grab my machine and head out on the farm. first target was a seated liberty dime, my very first silver, a few feet away i found a standing liberty quarter, sorry i cannot remember the year. i hunted this farm for 4 hours 4 days a week for 8 months straight, let me tell you i really learned this machine well. anyhow this is not the story just some ground work. this will be a story for another time.
when i finished the job i was talking to the owner and ask him if he had any other property that i could detect on. he replied that he also owned 450 acres in culpeper co VA and 300 some acres in eastern WV, i will not be more specific than that, sorry.
he suggested i check out the one in eastern WV first.
this family had a business on the farm from 1830 until the 1980's and kept a record of everything that ever happened on a daily basis and kept every receipt they ever wrote. the farm manager gave me access to these files and in one of the cabinets was a family history of the property in eastern WV. pages and pages of information was there, plat maps from the very early 1900's to current. the maps showed where all the buildings were now and ever were.
i researched the property for a few weeks and there was an abundant amount of it.
labor day 2011, the family and myself, the yellow lab and the chihuahua all jumped in the suv w/ the camper in tow and headed to the site. upon arrival i noticed the yard was scorched brown due to a very hot summer and very little rain, leaves littered the lawn and i remember thinking that this would be a tough dig site. the first evening we got everything set up and had some camp food and it was almost dark so we all just relaxed and took in the new scenery.
at this point i should mention a brief history of the home. this is the oldest home in the county. it was built in 1789. in some of the stones of the home are the carved names and initials of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and Andrew Jackson!
you can imagine our excitement.
day 2, i was up well before dawn as i usually get up around 4 anyways. sat outside the camper under the awning drinking coffee and waiting for daylight. finally, daylight. i began searching the area immediately around the homes porch. within a few minutes i got a solid 88 repeatable signal. 5" deep and out popped a large cent, sorry i do not remember the year off hand. about this time my son got up and grabbed the mxt pro and joined me in the hunt. i walked a little more and got a iffy signal underneath a large tree root. after digging under the root out popped a 1892 barber quarter just worn down to a nub. the remainder of the day was spent digging indian heads and slave rings.
day 3, drank my coffee and began hunting around the porch again using 15kz this time. dug several mercs and a couple of v-nickels and one shield nickel. as i kept walking around the porch i wondered if anything was underneath it. the weather was just scorching hot and i just could not bring myself to go under the dusty thing. later in the evening my son dug a very large sterling silver spoon by the barn and several wheaties and indian head cents. he also recovered his first slave ring. right before dark i found a thin 1804 1 reale buried about 2" deep in the driveway.
day 4, dawn and i am out sweeping under the bushes in the lawn. found a few wheaties but nothing to brag about. i looked at the porch and thought it was about time to check under it.
now, this porch is close to ground. i could barely fit underneath it. it was so tight you could not crawl but only wiggle your way forward, there was an abundance of animal bones and feathers everywhere. it was nasty, nasty, nasty under there. signals abounded here and i ended up turning the disc up and pre amp down and ac sensitivity down. this helped some but still overwhelming signals everywhere.
a little further under the porch and next to the wall there was a basement window and a groundhog hole. when i waived the coil over the hole i got a great signal. re swept and right on the top of the tailing pile was a 1907 v-nickel. i checked everywhere under the porch and this was the only good target to be found.
when i got out my wife looked at me and told me to take a shower and i could not have agreed more. after my shower i talked my wife into trying the detector out. she supports my hobby totally but just does enjoy doing it herself. i told her i had a small area in the yard i had been saving for her. she agreed and i gave her the machine and walked beside her and was trying to explain the signals she was listening for when i heard a faint high pitch. i told her how to pinpoint the target and she did. i got down on my knees and cut a flap and began to bring out the dirt onto my towel. 8" deep and out popped a sterling university of Virginia pin with 1814 on it. after 3 steps she got another signal just like the first one and i dug it and there was a beautiful floral sterling cuff link. i was super excited for her as these were the first targets she ever dug. i ask her if she was hooked now and she replied, no, it's ok. you would have thought i ask her to pass the salt or something.
day 4, woke up and it began to rain. we decided to go home as the forecast was looking very bad. we really got soaked packing up. after i got home and began to think about the v- nickel under the porch i remembered that the groundhog hole was next to a basement window. the more i thought about it the more it made sense to me that the only way the nickel could have been on the top of the tailing pile is if it came out of the bottom of the hole. this was a long week at work thinking about the hole. Saturday morning we left to go to eastern Virginia again. upon arrival i made a bee line to the porch and under i went again. i swept the hole and no signals. i stuck my arm down into the hole as far as it is long with my pinpointer and no signal. i dug the hole down 4 feet and still nothing. oh well at least my curiosity was appeased.
long story short here, when ever you see a groundhog out and about you may want to follow him to his hole, he may have a surprise for you.
i hope you enjoy reading this story as much as we had living it. we had a wonderful time. i am fortunate as we do these type of trips 2 or 3 times a year. as i mentioned i am at work and out of town but i do have a pic of the silver my wife dug. my avatar is from this trip as well. the pic is with my 13 year old yellow lab Noah. he is my loyal hunting buddy and often digs the hole once i start. this is how i arrived at my user name labradigger. if you look in the background you will see my mxt pro that my son was using.
as a construction superintendent we do some historical restorations occasionally and i was working on an old plantation type mansion for about 8 months. i was staying in the home in a wing we were doing no work in.
when i met the owner for the first time i ask him if it would be ok to metal detect the farm and his reply was sure, it has been in my family since the 1820's and as far as i know nobody has ever detected it.
i had just gotten my dfx a couple months prior and really had gotten to use it very little. every evening at 5:30 i would grab my machine and head out on the farm. first target was a seated liberty dime, my very first silver, a few feet away i found a standing liberty quarter, sorry i cannot remember the year. i hunted this farm for 4 hours 4 days a week for 8 months straight, let me tell you i really learned this machine well. anyhow this is not the story just some ground work. this will be a story for another time.
when i finished the job i was talking to the owner and ask him if he had any other property that i could detect on. he replied that he also owned 450 acres in culpeper co VA and 300 some acres in eastern WV, i will not be more specific than that, sorry.
he suggested i check out the one in eastern WV first.
this family had a business on the farm from 1830 until the 1980's and kept a record of everything that ever happened on a daily basis and kept every receipt they ever wrote. the farm manager gave me access to these files and in one of the cabinets was a family history of the property in eastern WV. pages and pages of information was there, plat maps from the very early 1900's to current. the maps showed where all the buildings were now and ever were.
i researched the property for a few weeks and there was an abundant amount of it.
labor day 2011, the family and myself, the yellow lab and the chihuahua all jumped in the suv w/ the camper in tow and headed to the site. upon arrival i noticed the yard was scorched brown due to a very hot summer and very little rain, leaves littered the lawn and i remember thinking that this would be a tough dig site. the first evening we got everything set up and had some camp food and it was almost dark so we all just relaxed and took in the new scenery.
at this point i should mention a brief history of the home. this is the oldest home in the county. it was built in 1789. in some of the stones of the home are the carved names and initials of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and Andrew Jackson!
you can imagine our excitement.
day 2, i was up well before dawn as i usually get up around 4 anyways. sat outside the camper under the awning drinking coffee and waiting for daylight. finally, daylight. i began searching the area immediately around the homes porch. within a few minutes i got a solid 88 repeatable signal. 5" deep and out popped a large cent, sorry i do not remember the year off hand. about this time my son got up and grabbed the mxt pro and joined me in the hunt. i walked a little more and got a iffy signal underneath a large tree root. after digging under the root out popped a 1892 barber quarter just worn down to a nub. the remainder of the day was spent digging indian heads and slave rings.
day 3, drank my coffee and began hunting around the porch again using 15kz this time. dug several mercs and a couple of v-nickels and one shield nickel. as i kept walking around the porch i wondered if anything was underneath it. the weather was just scorching hot and i just could not bring myself to go under the dusty thing. later in the evening my son dug a very large sterling silver spoon by the barn and several wheaties and indian head cents. he also recovered his first slave ring. right before dark i found a thin 1804 1 reale buried about 2" deep in the driveway.
day 4, dawn and i am out sweeping under the bushes in the lawn. found a few wheaties but nothing to brag about. i looked at the porch and thought it was about time to check under it.
now, this porch is close to ground. i could barely fit underneath it. it was so tight you could not crawl but only wiggle your way forward, there was an abundance of animal bones and feathers everywhere. it was nasty, nasty, nasty under there. signals abounded here and i ended up turning the disc up and pre amp down and ac sensitivity down. this helped some but still overwhelming signals everywhere.
a little further under the porch and next to the wall there was a basement window and a groundhog hole. when i waived the coil over the hole i got a great signal. re swept and right on the top of the tailing pile was a 1907 v-nickel. i checked everywhere under the porch and this was the only good target to be found.
when i got out my wife looked at me and told me to take a shower and i could not have agreed more. after my shower i talked my wife into trying the detector out. she supports my hobby totally but just does enjoy doing it herself. i told her i had a small area in the yard i had been saving for her. she agreed and i gave her the machine and walked beside her and was trying to explain the signals she was listening for when i heard a faint high pitch. i told her how to pinpoint the target and she did. i got down on my knees and cut a flap and began to bring out the dirt onto my towel. 8" deep and out popped a sterling university of Virginia pin with 1814 on it. after 3 steps she got another signal just like the first one and i dug it and there was a beautiful floral sterling cuff link. i was super excited for her as these were the first targets she ever dug. i ask her if she was hooked now and she replied, no, it's ok. you would have thought i ask her to pass the salt or something.
day 4, woke up and it began to rain. we decided to go home as the forecast was looking very bad. we really got soaked packing up. after i got home and began to think about the v- nickel under the porch i remembered that the groundhog hole was next to a basement window. the more i thought about it the more it made sense to me that the only way the nickel could have been on the top of the tailing pile is if it came out of the bottom of the hole. this was a long week at work thinking about the hole. Saturday morning we left to go to eastern Virginia again. upon arrival i made a bee line to the porch and under i went again. i swept the hole and no signals. i stuck my arm down into the hole as far as it is long with my pinpointer and no signal. i dug the hole down 4 feet and still nothing. oh well at least my curiosity was appeased.
long story short here, when ever you see a groundhog out and about you may want to follow him to his hole, he may have a surprise for you.
i hope you enjoy reading this story as much as we had living it. we had a wonderful time. i am fortunate as we do these type of trips 2 or 3 times a year. as i mentioned i am at work and out of town but i do have a pic of the silver my wife dug. my avatar is from this trip as well. the pic is with my 13 year old yellow lab Noah. he is my loyal hunting buddy and often digs the hole once i start. this is how i arrived at my user name labradigger. if you look in the background you will see my mxt pro that my son was using.
