Well now I can say that I have been into fossils since the 2010 aurora fossil festival and do not see myself getting out of anytime soon. I am still hunting the infamouns Green Mill Run and a few sites along the Tar and Neuse rivers. Having so much sucess at GMR I do not want to leave, I was once told if a spot is producing dont leave that spot stay in it until it quits, well almost 4 weeks into GMR and its still giving me a few nice size teeth ever so often I am not planning on leaving.
Yesterday was the best day that I have had, I took both my father in law and brother in law that sift the spoil piles in Aurora alot to GMR for a different kind of hunting the 1st few hours in I dont think that were liking it to much b/c all they were seeing was 1/2 teeth and bones, but then I had an idea. I said lets dig over there, I will dig and you can sift well my 50 year old father in law liked that idea, I think he just wanted to see me work my A$$ off,lol. Well all of a sudden alot of big bone started comeing out of the hole, and I told him usally from my past experiences when you start seeing alot of big bone like that teeth are sure to follow. Well sure enough all of a sudden a perfect 3" meg comes up in the shovel, his exact words and I quote were " snarge let me do some digging, I have never found one that big" Well in my head I was thinking you didnt find it, I did the digging all you did was sift. But I didnt say anything, and he stuck it in his pocket, another 15 min in and out comes another this time the best GW that I have ever seen, a perfecy 2 3/4". I grabbed that sucker and stuck it in my pocket real quick.
He took over and dug for a little while pulling nice 1 1/2" to 1 5/8" GW and megs out of that hole, when he said that he back was starting to hurt, it was time for him to leave and go to the house along with my brother in law. They left with around 300 teeth ranging from 1" to my nice 3" meg. Well still in discuss that he took my tooth I stayed a little while longer, not finding much and extremly tired of digging since 7 am and its was now 6:30 pm I decided to head back to the truck, I picked up the phone and called the wife to tell here about the day that we had and about my big tooth that I "gave" away, she said "I know my dad has already called and told me that you gave a big tooth" "he said that he was very happy and that he enjoyed his time with you, and wished that my brother would spend time like that with him" Well when she said that I felt bad about thinking bad about the old man, and decided to call him myself, when I did I got so many thank yous and he wanted to know when we were going to go again.
This made me feel very good inside as the man that I thought hated my guts for the past 9 years actually enjoyed his time with me and wanted to spend more time. So I guess we should all think before we act.
Matt J.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Comparison and Opinions on Fossil Hunting
It is my 5th day fossil hunting and I belive that looking for fossils is much like looking for relics just alot less expensive. In this way I mean, you go out and buy a thousand dollar machine just to look for say civil war relics, but for fossil hunting all you have is your time,gas, and cost of the sifter if you use one, now by my book that only around $960 cheaper.
With that being said I would like to introduce myself, my name is matt I live in Winterville NC and I have been a civil war relic hunter for almost 9 years now, I have traveled the east coast looking for relics and have been in over 23 different states and recovered history, I also have a great deal of my relics in museums, vistors centers, and schools across the US. Metal detecting is fun as can be anything but I always make sure that I have the permission of the landowner or the state official before I procede to dig anywhere, this will ensure and I am sure its the same in fossil hunting that the hobby stays in good standing for a long time.
Just recently a good friend of mine that I hunt relics with in the state of Maryland got me introduced in the world of fossil hunting, he hunts the "calvert cliffs" in maryland quite a bit as well as has a good size collection in the calvert county museum. He took me to the Aurura fossil fesitval in 2010 for the 1st time, and I have to say that I had a blast, I had no idea that there were even such teeth as big as the ones that I saw and had no idea that this many people were involved in fossil hunting. Well I had to go, I had caught the itch and the little spoilage piles at the event just were not easing the pain of seeing all those HUGE teeth. I knew deep down I wasnt gonna find a 6 incher my first day, but it was always nice to think of such.
A day after the return to Greenville and 300 tiny sharkteeth later I figured that me and my neighboor would go try GMR "Green Mill Run" in Greenville NC. Now I grew up only 2 miles from GMR and knew about it the whole time it just never registered that it had fossils in it. The 1st day there again we really didnt know what we were doing and this was only my 2nd time ever looking fossils. Sure we found some by digging and sifting but again all baby teeth. Well after about 7 hours of my back throbbing and again alot of small teeth we decided to call it quits. Upon getting home I was starting to reconsider my fossil hunting adventures and think that this might not be for me. Got online and asked to meet up with some better knowleged people and maybe learn a few skills from them.
With that being said I would like to introduce myself, my name is matt I live in Winterville NC and I have been a civil war relic hunter for almost 9 years now, I have traveled the east coast looking for relics and have been in over 23 different states and recovered history, I also have a great deal of my relics in museums, vistors centers, and schools across the US. Metal detecting is fun as can be anything but I always make sure that I have the permission of the landowner or the state official before I procede to dig anywhere, this will ensure and I am sure its the same in fossil hunting that the hobby stays in good standing for a long time.
Just recently a good friend of mine that I hunt relics with in the state of Maryland got me introduced in the world of fossil hunting, he hunts the "calvert cliffs" in maryland quite a bit as well as has a good size collection in the calvert county museum. He took me to the Aurura fossil fesitval in 2010 for the 1st time, and I have to say that I had a blast, I had no idea that there were even such teeth as big as the ones that I saw and had no idea that this many people were involved in fossil hunting. Well I had to go, I had caught the itch and the little spoilage piles at the event just were not easing the pain of seeing all those HUGE teeth. I knew deep down I wasnt gonna find a 6 incher my first day, but it was always nice to think of such.
A day after the return to Greenville and 300 tiny sharkteeth later I figured that me and my neighboor would go try GMR "Green Mill Run" in Greenville NC. Now I grew up only 2 miles from GMR and knew about it the whole time it just never registered that it had fossils in it. The 1st day there again we really didnt know what we were doing and this was only my 2nd time ever looking fossils. Sure we found some by digging and sifting but again all baby teeth. Well after about 7 hours of my back throbbing and again alot of small teeth we decided to call it quits. Upon getting home I was starting to reconsider my fossil hunting adventures and think that this might not be for me. Got online and asked to meet up with some better knowleged people and maybe learn a few skills from them.
Sunday roles around and I figured I would go out one last time and try it on my own this way, there would be noisy neighboor talking and I could concentrate until my help arrived, walked down to the creek in the same spot and started digging and sifting small tooth after small tooth and when I say small I mean like 1/8 of an inch. 4 hours later I finally see someone walking down the creek with a shovel and a sifter, so out I come and I start following him. I didnt want to take his secret spot or annoy the man just wanted to see if it was the person that I had talked to on the internet the night before. Finally I caught up to him and he was just as nice as he could be explaining that he drove all the way from Tenn. just to come hunt GMR, he told me about the differnent fossils and what to look for, feel for and how to dig. After seeing him pull a monosaur tooth at about 1 1/2" I wanted to dig, so I picked a spot beside an old fallen tree and started digging...
At first the same results small teeth and bone, THEN my first actual big tooth, now what I was considering big was anything bigger than an 8th of an inch,lol. So I stayed right in that spot pulling good sized teeth out left and right apparently someone had missed that one little spot, it wasnt until the guy that I had spoken to on the internet arrived that I finally realized how many teeth I actually had. This guy was from Raliegh NC and he asked if we were finding anything, I reached in my pocket and to my suprise pulled out about 14 teeth all measuring anywhere from 1" to 2.14" only 4 of these 14 were almost perfect with the root and tooth still intact. Well needless to say I was freaking hooked like fish now. The day finally ended and my total was around 16 or so good sized teeth, but I wasnt done I was gonna come back the next day and hunt that hole out.
[attachment=61190:GMR 001.JPG]
Monday the 7th myself and 2 frineds go back to that spot where I pulled all the bigger teeth from and start digging, before to long we all are pulling meg chuncks then a few nice GW's here and there. Well one of our buddies had to leave b/c he had to work 3rd shift and had to get some sleep. So we continued to dig I dug out my original hole as big as I could until I was getting into the sand that I had sifted out the day before. I ended up with about 6 more GW teeth, huge bone fragments, meg chunks, fossilized fern print and a snail. Bobby did pretty good as well, he got around 4-5 GW's in great condition and lots of other fossils as well. About the time that we gonna leave a man approached us introduced hiself as a photographer for the Daily Reflector Paper here in Greenville NC and wanted to know if he could take some pics of us. He snapped a few pic and asked a few questions and we answered them to the best of our knowledge, and then all of a sudden we made the front page of the local section that following Thursday.
[attachment=61189:GMR 006.JPG]
It only took me 7 years to make the paper in Relic Hunting but yet only took 4 days in the fossil world. Anyway this is my story and how I am now a certified relic and fossil hunter.
Please sign up as a member on our website forum as well at www.wedigdixie.net
Thanks for reading!![/center]
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Filling in your holes!
This blog will be based on the importance of proper artifact exavation and the importance of filling your holes when you are finished.
Ok when you go Metal Detecting you are of course hoping to find something, and sometimes you do and others you dont. Sometimes you may be hunting Private Property, other times it may be at a public beach. Wherever you are you want to make sure that you recover your treasure with the best possible care, making sure you dont damage it right?
But when you are done recovering your treasure you also want to make sure that the land is left the way that you found it. After reading this blog you will learn the importance of recovering your artifact and filling your holes properly, and the impacts that one person can have on us all if not done properly.
Lets start by learning the proper way to recover you precious treasure.
Example... You are swinging your brand new machine in an open field that you know has alot of potential, because you have found many treasures in it in years past. You havent done so well all day, but then you get a great reading on your machine. You know that this is a good signal but dont want to take the chance in hitting it with your digging tool and cause possible damage to the item will digging.
Ok pause... 1st you should determine how big the item is, swing your machine over the target, in front, back and both sides. Swing until you dont get the signal, determine the center of which your treasure lies. Now after you have found the center, carefully dig a big enough plug around the outside where you dont get a signal, this should ensure that you are not going to hit the target, knowing that you have your target in the center of your dirt pile ,plug, or clump.
Now before you go scooping dirt out of the hole maybe you should consider putting an old shirt, towel, or tarp on the ground 1st. Something to catch the dirt that you dig out. Yes I know we all dont do that, but that is the right way. Even if you dont have anything to place your dirt on put it on the ground so that it is not 10 feet away from your hole.
Once you have your dirt out swing your detector over the clump until you center your target again. Now carefully break or sift away at the dirt with your hands until your target is clear and free. Now that you have your target make sure you put it somewhere where it wont get damaged. I like to use a pill bottle with cotton for small items such as coins, buttons, and other small items. A ziplock bag with either toilet paper or kleenex will work for you larger items.
Ok well now you have your treasure, but what about the hole that is still open. Unfortunally we have to many people in the hobby that are not aware of the damaging effects that not filling in the hole has on the rest of the hobbyist's. By not filling in your holes your are not only making a bad name on yourself, but the next person and the entire metal detecting community. How you may ask?
Take this for example... You are out in a Park, Field, or even the beach and you dig your target. You leave the hole wide open, not think it can do any harm. You go on about your buisness for the rest of the day leaving hole after hole open. The next hunter comes in to hunt that same spot it may not be the next day or even the next year, but soomeone else goes to hunt it. They walk out into this area that you were hunting at one time and see's holes that are left open everywhere. Then all of sudden the landowner, park ranger, or anyone else comes by and see's them as well. The person in charge is automatically going to think the person detecting that day left them open, no matter how old they are. They are outraged, and ask the person detecting to leave and not return. You may say well their loss my gain?
This is true but now you have lost that spot with all that treasure in the ground forever and nobody has a chance to hunt it now. Before to long word travels that someone is leaving holes everywhere, word of mouth is a powerful thing! And before you know it you cant anywhere to detect b/c of your actions so long ago. The same goes for always asking permission but that is for another blog.
Point is point blank it looks bad, people can get hurt in open holes, equipment such as tractors can break, and it puts a bad reputation on the hobby, for something that takes 15 seconds to do. If you are using your dropcloth ie, your shirt, towel, tarp, etc... just slide it back over the hole and dump the dirt back in. If you dont have a drop cloth, use your foot. It will take you longer to recover an item than it will to fill in your holes.
Think about it....
Ok when you go Metal Detecting you are of course hoping to find something, and sometimes you do and others you dont. Sometimes you may be hunting Private Property, other times it may be at a public beach. Wherever you are you want to make sure that you recover your treasure with the best possible care, making sure you dont damage it right?
But when you are done recovering your treasure you also want to make sure that the land is left the way that you found it. After reading this blog you will learn the importance of recovering your artifact and filling your holes properly, and the impacts that one person can have on us all if not done properly.
Lets start by learning the proper way to recover you precious treasure.
Example... You are swinging your brand new machine in an open field that you know has alot of potential, because you have found many treasures in it in years past. You havent done so well all day, but then you get a great reading on your machine. You know that this is a good signal but dont want to take the chance in hitting it with your digging tool and cause possible damage to the item will digging.
Ok pause... 1st you should determine how big the item is, swing your machine over the target, in front, back and both sides. Swing until you dont get the signal, determine the center of which your treasure lies. Now after you have found the center, carefully dig a big enough plug around the outside where you dont get a signal, this should ensure that you are not going to hit the target, knowing that you have your target in the center of your dirt pile ,plug, or clump.
Now before you go scooping dirt out of the hole maybe you should consider putting an old shirt, towel, or tarp on the ground 1st. Something to catch the dirt that you dig out. Yes I know we all dont do that, but that is the right way. Even if you dont have anything to place your dirt on put it on the ground so that it is not 10 feet away from your hole.
Once you have your dirt out swing your detector over the clump until you center your target again. Now carefully break or sift away at the dirt with your hands until your target is clear and free. Now that you have your target make sure you put it somewhere where it wont get damaged. I like to use a pill bottle with cotton for small items such as coins, buttons, and other small items. A ziplock bag with either toilet paper or kleenex will work for you larger items.
Ok well now you have your treasure, but what about the hole that is still open. Unfortunally we have to many people in the hobby that are not aware of the damaging effects that not filling in the hole has on the rest of the hobbyist's. By not filling in your holes your are not only making a bad name on yourself, but the next person and the entire metal detecting community. How you may ask?
Take this for example... You are out in a Park, Field, or even the beach and you dig your target. You leave the hole wide open, not think it can do any harm. You go on about your buisness for the rest of the day leaving hole after hole open. The next hunter comes in to hunt that same spot it may not be the next day or even the next year, but soomeone else goes to hunt it. They walk out into this area that you were hunting at one time and see's holes that are left open everywhere. Then all of sudden the landowner, park ranger, or anyone else comes by and see's them as well. The person in charge is automatically going to think the person detecting that day left them open, no matter how old they are. They are outraged, and ask the person detecting to leave and not return. You may say well their loss my gain?
This is true but now you have lost that spot with all that treasure in the ground forever and nobody has a chance to hunt it now. Before to long word travels that someone is leaving holes everywhere, word of mouth is a powerful thing! And before you know it you cant anywhere to detect b/c of your actions so long ago. The same goes for always asking permission but that is for another blog.
Point is point blank it looks bad, people can get hurt in open holes, equipment such as tractors can break, and it puts a bad reputation on the hobby, for something that takes 15 seconds to do. If you are using your dropcloth ie, your shirt, towel, tarp, etc... just slide it back over the hole and dump the dirt back in. If you dont have a drop cloth, use your foot. It will take you longer to recover an item than it will to fill in your holes.
Think about it....
Friday, January 1, 2010
Finding a Metal Detector that suits you.
Finding a Metal Detector that suits your particular kind of hunting can be a hard task at times. This is probably one the main questions that I hear alot on almost every detecting forum on the web. Your new into the hobby and you dont know what to choose because there are hundreds of different models and styles out there.
I have found that if you are new to the hobby you need to ask yourself a couple of questions to narrow the search, for example:
1) How much will you use the machine?
a) If your only going to hunt say, every once in a while then there is no need to buy the most expensive thing on the market, start out with something in the $200-$280 range, that way even if you dont use that often your not out of alot of money.
2) What kind of hunting will you mainly be doing?
a) If your water hunting you dont want to buy a land machine of course, if your coin hunting you could search for good coin machines such as "Garrett" known for its ability to find coins. If your going to relic hunt again search for machine known for relics there are many "Whites" "Minelab" or even "Tesoro".
3) What is your budget?
a) This maybe the most important question, if you know your budget finding a machine in your price range, will greatly narrow the search. Dont think that if you buy a "cheaper" machine that you will not find things with it, in fact some of the less expensive machines tend to do better than the $1000 machines on the market.
I have found that the best way for me to find a machine that suits my best interest in to buy something that I have done research on, once I get if I use it and dont like the way that it feels or operates then try another until you find that one thats just right.
Also remember that the more money that you spend, yes the more options you get, but also the more complicated it is to learn, and the less money you spend the easier it is to learn. I think that one of the biggest problems is that most people, see seasoned hunters go out and find coins,relic, and other valuable's on almost every outing. And most people see that if they can do so can I.
This is true you can find items just like they can but it will take time, you must use your machine and learn it, learn what different tones sound like, learn the depths, learn whether to dig or not to dig. With time, pratice and patients you will be able to find valuable just like the pro's. If you buy a new machine and go out, but dont find anything your first go around, dont get discouraged. I can personally say that in my opinion you will dig more "trash" than you "treasure" until you learn your new Metal Detector.
I wish you all the best of luck in your adventures, and may 2010 bring lots of great finds
I have found that if you are new to the hobby you need to ask yourself a couple of questions to narrow the search, for example:
1) How much will you use the machine?
a) If your only going to hunt say, every once in a while then there is no need to buy the most expensive thing on the market, start out with something in the $200-$280 range, that way even if you dont use that often your not out of alot of money.
2) What kind of hunting will you mainly be doing?
a) If your water hunting you dont want to buy a land machine of course, if your coin hunting you could search for good coin machines such as "Garrett" known for its ability to find coins. If your going to relic hunt again search for machine known for relics there are many "Whites" "Minelab" or even "Tesoro".
3) What is your budget?
a) This maybe the most important question, if you know your budget finding a machine in your price range, will greatly narrow the search. Dont think that if you buy a "cheaper" machine that you will not find things with it, in fact some of the less expensive machines tend to do better than the $1000 machines on the market.
I have found that the best way for me to find a machine that suits my best interest in to buy something that I have done research on, once I get if I use it and dont like the way that it feels or operates then try another until you find that one thats just right.
Also remember that the more money that you spend, yes the more options you get, but also the more complicated it is to learn, and the less money you spend the easier it is to learn. I think that one of the biggest problems is that most people, see seasoned hunters go out and find coins,relic, and other valuable's on almost every outing. And most people see that if they can do so can I.
This is true you can find items just like they can but it will take time, you must use your machine and learn it, learn what different tones sound like, learn the depths, learn whether to dig or not to dig. With time, pratice and patients you will be able to find valuable just like the pro's. If you buy a new machine and go out, but dont find anything your first go around, dont get discouraged. I can personally say that in my opinion you will dig more "trash" than you "treasure" until you learn your new Metal Detector.
I wish you all the best of luck in your adventures, and may 2010 bring lots of great finds
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Confederate Camp
I have planned to go do some more metal detecting hopefully when the rain settles maybe this coming up Friday or Saturday. I have a location that I believe to be a Confederate camp that was never found by metal detectorist, the rebels camped here in early 1865 and then again in late 1865 both time however were not much longer than a couple of days. I have found some bullets and eagle button fronts in the surrounding fields and believe that I may have just found the main camp. I will keep everyone posted on the status of this property and let everyone know what comes out of there if anything.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Upcoming Hunts
I will be traveling down around the Maryland Area on 12/11 through 12/13 2009 to do a little hunting along the Potomac River. We understand that there are some dug in huts around that area and we are going to see if we cant Recover and Preserve some history.
Some time in January we will also be traveling down to Greenville Tennesee to do some hunting around bull gap, with the newest member of the WeDigDixie Recovery Team.
We will also be attending the relic show upcoming in Charleston Sc., Winchester Va., and Raliegh Nc.
Some time in January we will also be traveling down to Greenville Tennesee to do some hunting around bull gap, with the newest member of the WeDigDixie Recovery Team.
We will also be attending the relic show upcoming in Charleston Sc., Winchester Va., and Raliegh Nc.
5 Day Civil War Hunt Finds
Well we got out 11/5 and 11/06 with two freinds from Maryland, the 1st day we went to a spot that has been pounded for many years but still managed to come away with some goodies. I a .69 roundball, lead button, part of a boreman fuse, and some little pieces of lead.
Rob did fairly well ending up with some buck balls, .69 round ball, and some brass. But ole Floyd did the best he got a nice .69 round ball, Confederate Gardner, and 2 Fired 3 Ringers. It was a decent day and we did not get started until late anyway.
The 2nd day we headed down to Bentonville NC to do a little hunting in a spot that hasn't been hunted much because of all the growth in the woods, the landowner had recently cleared the woods and pushed the debris up in big piles to be burned. Within 10 minutes of being there we had all three found at least 3 bullets. Within an Hour we had all found 5-6 bullets and by the end of the day we had all found many bullets. At one part of the day I found an indention in the ground that maybe a tree may have over turned a long time ago and saw 4 bullets on top of the ground. After we finished digging the hole we were able to recover 17 bullets which included 16 dropped 3 ringers and 1 dropped cleaner bullet. The best assumption that we could come up with is maybe a soldier was running through the woods and either got shot or tripped and his Cartridge box spilled out. All in all it made a great 2 days of hunting.
11/08 I was invited to go and dig a site close the town that I live in that I had never hunted before, we only had about 45 minutes to get some hunting time in before it got dark, so off we headed. Upon getting there the person that invited me found 3 pieces of lead with consisted of 1 3 ringer,1 chewed bullets, and a fired minnie ball. I was only able to recover 1 .69 dropped round ball but it was well worth it.
Rob did fairly well ending up with some buck balls, .69 round ball, and some brass. But ole Floyd did the best he got a nice .69 round ball, Confederate Gardner, and 2 Fired 3 Ringers. It was a decent day and we did not get started until late anyway.
The 2nd day we headed down to Bentonville NC to do a little hunting in a spot that hasn't been hunted much because of all the growth in the woods, the landowner had recently cleared the woods and pushed the debris up in big piles to be burned. Within 10 minutes of being there we had all three found at least 3 bullets. Within an Hour we had all found 5-6 bullets and by the end of the day we had all found many bullets. At one part of the day I found an indention in the ground that maybe a tree may have over turned a long time ago and saw 4 bullets on top of the ground. After we finished digging the hole we were able to recover 17 bullets which included 16 dropped 3 ringers and 1 dropped cleaner bullet. The best assumption that we could come up with is maybe a soldier was running through the woods and either got shot or tripped and his Cartridge box spilled out. All in all it made a great 2 days of hunting.
11/08 I was invited to go and dig a site close the town that I live in that I had never hunted before, we only had about 45 minutes to get some hunting time in before it got dark, so off we headed. Upon getting there the person that invited me found 3 pieces of lead with consisted of 1 3 ringer,1 chewed bullets, and a fired minnie ball. I was only able to recover 1 .69 dropped round ball but it was well worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)