Fore me a rifle grown into a tree.Kawi

That's where I put it!

Nice try.

A Canon AE-1 camera. We were camped elk hunting at 11,000 ft in the boonies of the Colorado and had walked a ridge top critter trail about 6" deep in snow. Three or four days later, with snow melted, I walked the same trail and there is the camera. Brought it home, snapped the remaining pictures and had them developed. All that had been taken prior to mine came out perfect, mine didn't. Camera worked fine thereafter but like the other paper fed's it sits in a desk drawer.

Hunting the Limpopo are around Tuli once, climbed up a ridge with a client and from the top had him shoot an Eland Bull with a 30/378. He ejected the case and I stooped to pick it up without looking down and grabbed two cases at the same time...the second was a Martini Henry .577 case...probably more'n a hundred years laying there! The old and the ultra modern new!

Camping while grouse hunting north of Spokane WA on National Forest land. One side of the road closed to hunting, it's a military survival training area. We were on the open side of the road. Went to "take care of business" away from camp. Found a suitable tree to lean against. While busy, I looked over and saw what looked like a string or something hanging from a branch on the next tree over. Finished business, investigated string, which turned out to be paracord, old and mildewed. One end tied to a rock on the ground, line led up and thru a buckle, like from an old seat belt or pack, then to a little squirrel/rat sized wire noose! I'd found an old snare. Either one of the survival trainees didn't know which side of the road to be on or the training area was larger in the past. That thing must have been there long enough for the trigger to rot and the rock fell to the ground. It was so cool I had to keep it and it sits on my "patio" now.

Myself.

Lotsa arrowheads...

A GPS in Arizona...Had all kinds of elk hotspots on it...Tried to find the guy who lost it but he didn't have home on it.

Several knives over the years..

Yep, lots of dart points for me too. Coolest thing I ever found was at a place where a very old, abandoned for years, road crossed Boggy creek. The water was low and I spotted a hunk of something out of place half buried in the mud.

Turned out, after I cleaned it up some, to be a Navy Colt. Mostly rust and the stocks were rotted away as was the trigger and loading catch and most of the nipples. The hammer was cocked and the cylinder had four empty and two loaded.

Often wondered what story that old hunk of rust could tell.

Someone's pot plants.

Last year my son and I wandered across 10 teepee rings on a grassy ridge over loooking a creek in Montana. I often wonder what year it was and what thoughts were going through the men and women as the rolled those rocks off their teepee for the last time.


ddj

Four me...nothing special. But I tried to grow a rifle into a tree. When I watered it all that ever happened was rust...

4 very old empty 44/45 cal casings on a hill in a bit of a depression. Often wondered if that person was shooting at game or defending his life. Various stone artifacts.

Several dead moose and a couple of poachers.

Found my ding dong, fished it out past my boxers, my long johns, my blue jeans, my bib overalls and my parka.

All stretched out like a wrung chicken neck, I
used it to pee on my left boot and a little on my knee.

Sheds, skulls, odd and ends of clothing, etc.
The most unusual thing was a rifle. Parked in one of my Montana elk hunting spots and noticed a black strap sticking out of the snow. It was attached to a .308 bolt action rifle, still loaded w/ five in the magazine and a nice Burris scope. Turned it in to the SO and, as luck would have it, the following year the sheriff let me take it home. Traded it for a 760 Remingtom, 30'06, with some custom work done to it.
My dedicated heavy cover elk rifle. E

Arrow heads, horse shoes, and my sanity.

A 105 mm dud a good 1/4 mile from West Point off limits, artillery impact zone (wrong charge)close to NYC! Also shot a buck that had stepped through the ring at the base of an artillery round, as a fawn, and his hoof had grown around it!

Found a microwave about 2 miles from the nearest road in some real rough country.

A dead Miget was my worst find.

Few years back I was duck hunting in the vicinity of an old mine town. Hadn't been operational in nearly 100yrs. I saw a white piece of ceramic sticking out of the sand in a small creek. Nudged it with my toe and out came an intact marmelade(sp?) crock. All the print on the jar had been glazed on so you could still read everything perfectly.

I think the annual Rainbow Family powwow was there last year.

Did it have a rake in it's hand?

A few yrs ago while hunting near Castle Rock Washington I found 10,000 unmarked 20-dollar bills, many with serial numbers beginning with the letter "L" and most carried a "Series 1969-C" designation.

I kept em and didnt tell anybody.

Worst thing I ever found was a dead man.

I lost a GPS in AZ a few of years back, wonder if you found it? Was it in unit 5B south?

Found a 30-06 and 7mm mag rifle proped on a fence post.

Like yours I found an old cheap wood stove and coffee pot at the bottom of a hill two miles in.

[bleep] aliens, they can beam up a hunter and exclude the weapon in the beam transfer.

Two weeks ago during the elk/mulie opener, I found two guys with a Dodge truck stealing diesel out of some roadworking equipment on E.Fork Rd. South of Duboise.

No, he didn't have a rake, he was stripped down to his underware, sitting up againsta a tree. The troopers were looking for him as his car had been abandoned a couple days before. Apparently he had walked off, gotten hypothermia and sat down and died.

holy...


didn't think you were serious.

there was some midget talk in a joke post in the main forum with a rake... never mind.

sorry.

They told me that if I grafted a rifle to a tree I would be able to harvest a rifle off every branch in five years. You done ruined the whole thing

The best was a part of a human spine with an arrowhead stuck in it & some parts of a carpet bag, & what looked like boot heels while shooting p-dogs on a private ranch north of here while I was shooting prone from an small gully.
Later found out it was one of 3 robbers who held up a coach in the late 1880s and all dissapeard. The anthropolgy students that excavated the site researching it came to the conclusion they were killed by Indians a day after the holdup. They only found a few fragmants of human bones.
I got the arrowhead 2 years later, but they kept the remains.
I have lots of arrowheads & Indian stuff I fine out p-dogging private ranches that have old trails that went through them.

A squished frog in a mossy moose track was pretty neat.

Not for the frog, of course.

Found this 3 yrs ago....

There is a site based somewhere up in the Pacific Northwest
That has a very interesting thread like this but some 25 pages long last time I stumbled across it.

Funny what we find out there.

Hope it wasn't in Montana...

hmmmm no sheep plug....

Nope.

I've been looking all over for that!

That site is Ifish.net

There is something like 1500 posts on that topic.

Kawi: My list of found items is a very long one!
Among the items I have found are Indian arrowheads, 25 million year old fossils, shed horns, all manner of Hunting equipment including knives, gloves, several game calls, a watch (I always inspect game kill/clean sites!), a pair of Zeiss binoculars (unfortunately they had been damaged when lost - Zeiss America helped me locate the owner via the serial number), a full box of 270 factory ammunition and a LED flashlight.
I have LOST several knives and a couple of pieces of Hunting paraphenalia over the last 50 years.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Fun thread! Lemme think....The usual arrowheads,Indian pottery(parts of the Paunesegaunt are loaded with it)as well as lots of mule deer sheds;elk sheds, sea shell fossils at 9000 feet in Colorado;pieces of dinosaur bones in Eastern Montana...a dead Golden Eagle.Old cartridge cases...

A slate top grave sight with Indian and Russian inscriptions,near a remote bay on Baranof Island.....must have been 8" of moss covering the slate.

A pair of pants. label on the inside said - J. Hoffa. Did a Google search. Came up no known manufacturer. Figured that they must of been taylored cut.

Taconic.....think you found the burial site!

or Wyoming

Me too....last year, while accessing our hunting area on ATV's (2 of us), I found two doe's standing in the middle of the road....and unwilling to move off the road. No no no, not what you're thinking....we each had a bull tag, cow tag...and I had a buck tag. Not a doe tag between us. Sat there for probably 10 minutes before they moved on.....*grumble grumble grumble*

About 100 yards up the trail, I found a brand spanking new "dead sled" critter hauler on the road. That one, I didn't need a tag for.

Most fun find was while spring bear hunting ten years ago... bent down to pick up an old shell casing (30-06 stamped 1917) and right next to the casing was a fossilized Aspen-like leaf in a stone.

In 1980 I found an Indian scraper chipped out of quartz near Buffalo WY. in a cliffy hillside. Killed a nice 8 pt. buck that evening also.
In 1986 my buddy and I came across plane wreckage on a mountain near Hot Sulphur Springs, CO.. Local leo said it was a doctor, wife and 2 kids killed about 15 years prior. Couldn't make it over the mountain top due to icing and crashed - came straight down.
In 2000 hiked up to a rocky outcrop to glass for elk in NM. Sat up there, glassed, soaked in the sun, had some snacks and took photos. When I got up to go, I looked down and there below the large 5 foot rock was a black square looking metal object. Turned out to be the first generation Leica range finder. Still worked, was a bit weather beaten, had been snowed on and melted. When I got back home, I called Leica with the s/n inside the battery cover. No one registered the unit so no known owner.

Yeah, after they lost their wood stove, they decided to modernize and buy a microwave. Couldn't find a place to plug the damn thing in.

Nevada, It was in a Lion's grave yard den approx 6000'. There were also some Mule deer horns, but I grabbed the better choice. It measured 155" according to the outfitter.

I was offered $600.00 from the outfitter(didn't realize it was worth that much). I refused & brought it home....closest I will ever come to killing one I suppose.

Kool find but just so you know in Wyoming ( Not sure about other states) even "finds" on sheep are supposed to be checked in and plugged by the G&F.

Back in 1973, my high-school buddy and I were rabbit hunting along the Salem River, and we happened upon a still that was in operation - the coals under the boiler were smouldering. We backtracked out of there in a hurry, but not before relieving the owners of a machete and a flashlight.

You sure it's legal in Utah? Reading their Administrative Rule, shown below, I don't see how a lion killed bighorn would qualify...

R657-5-21. Possession of Antlers and Horns.

(1) A person may possess antlers or horns or parts of antlers or horns only from:

(a) lawfully harvested big game;

(b) antlers or horns lawfully obtained as provided in Section R657-5-20; or

(c) shed antlers or shed horns.

(2)(a) A person may gather shed antlers or shed horns or parts of shed antlers or shed horns at any time. An authorization is required to gather shed antlers or shed horns or parts of shed antlers or shed horns during the shed antler and shed horn season published in the guidebook of the Wildlife Board for taking big game.

(b) A person must complete a wildlife harassment and habitat destruction prevention course annually to obtain the required authorization to gather shed antlers during the antler gathering season.

(3) "Shed antler" means an antler which:

(a) has been dropped naturally from a big game animal as part of its annual life cycle; and

(b) has a rounded base commonly known as the antler button or burr attached which signifies a natural life cycle process.

(4) "Shed horn" means the sheath from the horn of a pronghorn that has been dropped naturally as part of its annual life cycle. No other big game species shed their horns naturally.

eh76;
I hope this finds you and yours well this fine and finally cool weekend. We're just back down the hill from our last weekend looking for 6 point bull elk and first weekend for immature bull moose. We've also got bear and whitetail tags still good to go, but wouldn't you know it, we only managed to see a young ram this morning.

As to finding horns in this part of the world, sheep found here in BC need to be plugged as well.

We had a die off here in the local herd of California's awhile back and I know a few folks who found dead rams. Nobody that I know had any grief from the MOE in getting the finds plugged.

To the OP, while out hunting I believe I've found a pocket knife once and one short and one long handled spade as well. Nothing too exciting for sure.

All the best luck to you all this season.

Dwayne

Found a guy sitting on a stump who was lost and drinking out of a flask. He was pretty glad to see me. I drank a little from his flask and then moved on. The next day I was thinking and I'm not sure if I ever gave him directions on how to get out of the swamp. For all I know he could still be sitting there on that stump.

Well, I didn't actually see the Lion kill the BH so..........

Dwayne,

It finally cooled off here this past week, but then today which is the opener for elk in my unit, it is almost 80 F and windy as can be. I decided to let the anxious hunters have the mountain and stayed home to get some chores completed.

Always enjoy your posts! Best of luck to you and yours this season.

Keith

The point of our posts is to keep you from getting yourself in trouble with the G&F......possessing a non-plugged sheep skull can be a stiff fine at the very least.

I've found one winter kill Bighorn (skull only)... I let it lay. In Montana the penalties are severe. FWP values sheep above all other game, and for good reason.

I found a nice knife when I went to open a gate. Checked with the land owner and he said that no one with permission had told him that they lost it. I have carried that knife on every hunt since.

Nice job changing from Utah to Nevada. You might want to read Nevada's regs though...

Where would you like to try next?

Disneyland.

Problem is quotes don't change from the original post....

I don't really give a [bleep]. Truth is...after drinking a bottle of Bacardi & 'snortin some cocaine, I drove thru your state of Wyoming and night poached it with my 2 zillion candle Brinkman Q-beam & .260rem.

Please don't tell nobody. Thanks

You don't really have a clue as to how far G&F will go to prosecute do you?

My son found this next to a fire pit while on our New Mexico elk hunt last year.
It was returned to the rightful (and thankful) owner.

Fixed it for you.

Like I said....I don't give a [bleep]! WTF eh76!....go hunting/shooting & stop worrying about it.

What exactly is a plugged skull?

Anybody got pics?

Tom;
While I don't have photos of the plug in my ram - and I'd have to bring in a ladder to get the Euro mount off the wall - I'll do my best to explain it.

Up here in BC, all sheep horns are inspected by Ministry of Environment - MOE - personnel and an inspection sheet is created giving the age of the sheep and location of the kill or find.

The MOE then drill out the back side of the horn with a special Forstner type bit and save the horn particulate from the drilling. This enables them to confirm where the ram spent his life if a question arises. Like our finger nails, the horns of a ram will tell a biologist where it came from and spent it's days.

It really isn't used much, but would be used in the case where say a hunter would claim to have shot a sheep in an open tag area, but really shot it in a LEH or closed area.

The plug itself is, as best as I can recall without looking - aluminum and about 3/8" in diameter with a serial number on it. Different series of numbers will go to different areas of the MOE and I'd imagine different states/provinces as well.

The serial number, that is to say the plug in the horns and inspection sheet will accompany the horns if they are given away or sold by the original finder/hunter.

Hopefully that made sense?

All the best to you and yours Tom.

Dwayne

Thanks Dwayne for the explanation, it does.

"Pluggin a sheep" has different meanings to different people.

Just sayin...

Tom,

Unlike a few here, Dwayne (BC30cal) only seems to post on things that he actually knows something about. I haven't seen him post anything incorrect... yet!

He is right about the analysis of the sheep horn: we can get quite detailed analysis of diet at various times, and localize a sheep to a given area (in some cases, even to a particular river drainage).

If you are interested, HERE is a little more info from a web page.

John

Indeed! I have heard of velcro gloves and rubber boots supposedly being used in Wyoming, Australia and Scotland... The Aussies insist that this is only done in New Zealand however.

If any of you recall AC/DC's song "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" here is a great parody: "Dirty Deeds Done with Sheep"



I heard that Ingwe stars in the video... however, it is still safe for work.

John

What a laugh!

Thank you jpb for the link, I have to say one can learn quite a bit on the campfire.

Thanks guys.

You need help man....my condolences to the people around you. I'm not worried a bit about it...but you should be.

Thanks, let me know if I can do anything else for you.

And my "people around me" are more crazier than I am.

Hope innocent finds are left alone as they should be, God knows I would have strapped that to my pack and left for home, but also might have sold that to the outfitter for 600. Have found some stuff nothing fantastic or terribly interesting, a chunk of a canoe 8 miles from where a tornado went through. What I've been meaning to find is some empty casings from the deer I shot when I was a kid off "the log". I know there to be at least 15-20 of them laying there from the years I sat there as a kid through 20 something. Need to borrow a metal detector and see how many I can find.

MM

I found 24 pot plants in buckets when I was a chap.

How many trips did it take to load them all in your truck?

before sun-up one morning back around 1964 or so, while dad and i were driving to our favorite quail hunting spot, we found a guy very dead (messed up if you get my drift) in the road. he had been hit by a car we believe. just laying there on the edge of the highway. another car came by, we told them, they went to the nearest town for the law, law came, we told them what we found, they took dads statement and let us go on hunting. when we came back through later that afternoon, one couldn't tell anything had happened at that particular spot.

That actually happened to a friend of mine while we were hunting mule deer in Northwestern Utah. He found the remains of an old Winchester 1873 rifle that had been left leaning in the crotch of a pinion pine tree about a half mile from the old Kelton to Boise trail. All of the wood was gone, but the metal parts were rusty, but still there. He took a chainsaw and cut the section of the tree with the rifle out. Last I heard, he still had it in his den.

I wish the rifle could tell it's story. Not many people would have walked off and left their rifle in the late 1800's. The Kelton to Boise stage line was one of the most dangerous/often "held-up" stage lines in the West. I have often wondered if the owner's bones are in the dirt near that old tree......

Chet

I came across the remains of an elk camp in the Sangre de Cristos about a month ago.
I found this original artwork on a toilet seat painted by some hunter.


I've found at least 4 nice knives (lost one of my own).

I always like finding arrowheads on game trails or crossings. Can't help but think about the guy's hunt that happened there decades or centuries before.

Found the remains of Kit Carson's cabin up behind the Sand Dunes. It's location is documented but it isn't well known.

Found a hollow spot in a mountain up near Silverton. When I kick the ground there it makes a low DOOOOOOONG kind of reverb sound and the ground vibrates. I always said I'd go back with a shovel and pick someday. Never did.

I've found an assortment of duck and goose decoys while waterfowl hunting. My spread looks like one from every brand now.

ahmmm how do i say this tactfully. i found a battery operated adult" massager" about 5 miles form a maintained road in the owyhee mts. of idaho. it even had been shot as well. very bizzare

Maybe someone was unhappy with the performance of the device.

Bluegillman,
maybe it was shot by a gelious boy friend!!!!
Bob

Keeping in mind the topics on the 'Fire, I have to ask...

Was it a large bore or small bore?

John

Found a nearly intact, old Bushman pot when in Africa. Pity I could not bring it back.

ND,
I don't think it was aliens.I yhink it was someones that were not to be hunting there.Drag marks under the fence to the road.Thinking they shot from the road ,chased,got it and left in a hurry.
BBJ

Besides the usual arrowheads, fossils, skulls, etc.

Otis cleaning kit, wool hat, a pair of womens underwear hanging on a branch, turret cap for a scope, a banded bald eagle carcus, the bayonet of a Vietnam era m16 stuck in a tree holding some kind of cloth with writting too faded to read. It had been there quite awhile.

Wierdest, about a mile back on State WMA land was a working oscilloscope, with all the chords and manual, leaning against a tree. No trails, waterways, or obvious entry points to be seen.

What pi##ed me off the most was the two crushed cigarette butts in the platform of my treestand on private land a couple years ago.

Ahh, in that case it serves em right for losing their rifles.

Knives are my most common find. I have found cameras, a pair of Zeiss Classic binos (I knew who they belonged to and promptly returned them) and two years ago I found an australian shepard. I was quite a ways in, away from any roads, and the dog came to our camp. She was pretty hungry but was well behaved and stayed in camp while we were out hunting. I did manage to locate her owner by calling all of the nearest vets.

Same here, only I wrote my name in the snow. I still love doin' that.

While hunting a dark timber ridge later named �chit magnet ridge� I found a tube sock on the ground.

I was having a good laugh once I got past the yuck factor that some poor hunter had an emergency call of the wild which resulted in him using his sock to wipe his azz with.

Well, I made it maybe 10 feet past the discarded sock when a force like none other overtook my lower digestive system. it came on as suddenly as a lightning strike and there was no question that not another step would be taken. My colon said "Drop trou, right now."

I did as commanded and narrowly escaped further difficulties.

My underwear were surrendered for the same fate the tube sock suffered.


Many hours later at spike camp we found ourselves huddled in a small nylon tent that was building an outer layer of ice from freezing rain.

Inside the freezing dome of misery was my dad, my step brother and myself.

As we were peeling off cold wet clothes I volunteered my story of the tube sock on the ridge followed by my own emergency call of nature.

I was joking about the poor SOB that had to give up a sock and walk bare foot in his boot all day.

Just then, my step brother removed his boots.

There he sat, one sock on, one sock gone... with a sheepish grin on his face.



He said the same thing, no warning at all just an emergency bowel evacuation as he passed through that spot.

Sounds like you may want to avoid that area in the future. Or at least be better equipped.

I walk around that area now.

It would be a good place to go to if you were constipated i suppose.

I found an early 1900's (can't remember the date) silver dollar when antelope hunting with my 7 year old.

Most interesting is an 1812 penny.

If anyone finds a pair of early 1990s Swarovski 8x30 binos in Unit 71 (SW Colorado) they are mine. I dropped them somewhere last year while ML elk hunting.

RH

Just think how much more game you guys would see if you took your eyes off the ground a little more often!!

I found 2 blue heelers pups while pheasant hunting. I stuck them in my camper shell.
Later that morning I shot a rooster and when I go to put it in the cooler they both tried to pull it away from me. I think they had been surviving on wild birds.

I started checking around the local area and found they were drop offs.
The vet said they were 5 months old.

I couldn't bear to separate them and luckily found a cattle rancher who said his Aussie would train them to work cattle for him.

Found a dead 18 year old young man, that one sucked bad.

some game calls, old cartridges, arrowheads, cannon ball, girls panties, lots of sheds etc. but the item I found that I like the best was an old spur I found in the red desert in Wyo.

Still looking for a rifle or pistol. I have been on trips where firearms were found but never came across one myself.

That one just brightened up my sleepy boring afternoon.

My dad's neighbor found a S&W revolver on his land many years
ago. He was going to turn it into the local PD the next day,
but later that day while he repairing a fence a young man
approached him and asked him if had found anything. He asked
him what he was looking for and the young man said you wouldnt
believe me if I told you. It turned out the young man had
just completed police cadet training in the last few months
and dropped his weapon while small game hunting. He offered
to pay him a reward but he refused it. This was back in the
early 70s in PA.

I never found much. I have found 2 knives in the boundary waters 27 mi. back in the woods. Two guys in a canoe drifted by and asked how many days to get to Lake One, a few days huh? I said no, it's 10 am, you could make it out before dark if ya hurry. They took off like crazy. No doubt their knives. I found a 25-35 Case on the south fork Flambeau river about 20 years ago just up stream from where they still cross often. I also know where there is an old loggers camp in the Flambeau river state forest. My bil found a jar of peanut butter there. The stove is there, a bed spring and some old beer cans. Near by I found some loogers tools on a log near by but didn't know the camp was there till 18 years later .I found a small balloon from a weather station that was let go in Kansas. It was also in the Flambeau river State forest in Northern Wisconsin. Never found an arrow head and look al the time. I almost forgot I found a jon boat last year on the south fork Flambeau river last year too. Found the owner too. Water was so high last year it floated 8 mi. down stream.

I found an old weather ballon/station deal while antelope hunting 3 years ago.

Found Ingwe's old mule deer grounds, whiskey pint bottle was half covered by dirt.



And of course it was bone dry...grin

Sammo...those arent my old stomping grounds...when you go that far back in, you carry something bigger than a pint....

While elk hunting outside of Cimarron, New Mex. I found an old belt buckle on a very well traveled elk trail on a very long ridge. It had a very faint US on it.

Laughin'!

Among other things.....

Now that would be cool!

I bet you find all sorts of things down there.

Yes OOPs +1

That is a Savage 1899!!!!!

Cool thread.
I can't belive the percentages of people posting that have found dead people. Especially a midget. I would have thought, hmmm someone left a garden gnome out here, at first glance.

Yes that gets me aswell.

I've probably found 50 or more of those metal catch deals that they stick in the side of trees to collect turpentine in East Texas. Half moon shaped. I've picked up 1-2 or two and put them in the barn but wind up leaving most of them.

While some of them could have been used in loblolly pine trees I'm guessing most of them were in longleaf. Makes you realise how much longleaf was out there that just isn't there anymore.

Many of them were probably worked by German POW's in the war as well as there was a giant POW camp there for harvesting timber and turpentine during the war.

It wasn't while hunting but fishing in the middle of the night more than 50 years ago. Two of us were tied up on a cement pier and taking a rest (in those days we couldn't afford a motor and had to row). From some shoreline lighting we saw another rowboat move erratically past us going upstream.

Another boat was tied up just above us. A few minutes later we heard a cry for help. At this point the persons and boat above us took off. They had a motor.

After looking carefully we saw a person struggling in the water. We rowed out and let the man grab the side of our boat. We had to threaten to punch him out to prevent him from trying to climb into our boat which probably would have capsized us.

After getting him to shore we went back out and retrieved his boat. In addition to the man being drunk the boat had mismatched oars. The combination is what resulted in the boat moving erratically up river.

If we hadn't responded someone else would have had an unpleasant find later in the morning.

Who said hunters and/or fisherman don't do any good.

Jim

That savage find is awesome. Thats the kind of stuff I would love to find.

My finds arent nearly as cool as others. I found a motorola radio hanging from a tree branch. Obviously been there since the previous fall (it was Spring). Also, happened on an old glass cork top bottle, 4 oz or something, labeled Syrup of Black Draught. Both on a military training facility in NE Oklahoma.

Also found an old splitting maul in a wet weather creek bed. Was rusted with deep deep pits. Had to be 100 yrs or more old. Found a quarter mile from the Grand Neosho River in Oklhoma.

Set of cheapo binos in Lance Creek, Wyoming.

LOST a Weatherby Accumark off a mule in South Fork, CO. wearing a leupold scope. Long story, but I loved that rifle.

Joseph

I found a pile of, what i assume, were used condoms. I didn't feel the need to inspect them closely. Guess some HS kids wanted some privacy.

If you found one or two buck hunting knives in Daviess County MO., they're mine. Lost them in the mid to late 90's.

I found an elk antler with an aspen tree growing around it.

Found the usual arrowhead, and found the stem of an indian pipe. It was made of sandstone. Showed it to an archeology professor at college, and he confirmed it.

One time while shed hunting, I came across a weight bench and some weights. Probably 1/2 mile uphill from the nearest houses. Thought it was odd someone would pack it all the way up there to lift weights.

I wasn't hunting but I found a LOT of live shells in my friend's back yard. there were 30-06's 30-30's I think some .270's. they were buried about a foot under ground..... also in almost the same spot I found about four bucks in pennies, just pennies.

My dad found someones cabin while hunting in PA many years
ago. He said it was a very small well made structure, about
the size of a small bedroom. Even had a cot and a chair inside
of it. It was raining the day he found it, and he said the
roof didnt appear to be leaking. Didnt hang around long, as
he figured it looked like someone actually lived there.

Solitude, companionship, excitement, boredom, food, hunger, awe, disgust, quarry, nothingness, and a whole lot more contrasts to urban existence!

My coolest Alaska find

That is cool!

dang!! What would ges the age?

castnblast,

Best description yet!

Jim

w4b,
That is pretty cool, is it made out of ivory?

Looks like soapstone I think.

A great item to be sure!

John

Its greensh brown. looks kinda like uncooked jade.

Watch4bear

Now that is kewl if it is old.

Cool even if it isn't

I found my friends wallet that he lost two week earlier. I saw something white on the ground about 40 yards from my treestand and checked it out with my scope. He was happy when I gave it to him because he had checks from jobs he had done and cash in it.
One guy I know got his truck hung on a stump when he was truning around in a cutover. The stump turned out to be a large brass dinner bell from a old home place. He cleaned it up and put it on a post in his yard.

Close but not in 5A, although you coulda spit in 5A with a good wind...I pm'd you...

In the Eastern Sierra Nevada I was climbing up a steep hill, in fairly thick brush, when I come up to a metal box about as tall as me, and two foot square. Curious, I shake it some, but couldn't really figure out what it was. I walk around the other side, and find a sign that says "Earthquake Monitoring Station - University of Nevada". No doubt I got somebody excited, when I was shaking his station

I found a guy with his @ss hanging over a dead fall, grunting and looking ahead through his binocs. I just turned around and snuck back out of there without saying a word, trying not to laugh.

Found a prairie swift fox today while out guiding deer hunters. Coyotes had played tug-o-war with it. Pulled it plumb in two.......ass end was about 50 yds from the front.

Makes you think about the swift part.

not quite swift enuff...

A lot over the years. Two guns, seven years apart, under the same bridge. One a loaded 45 Auto was hopelessly rusted, and the other a SS shotgun with the barrel length "adjusted". A broke open safe from a robbery of a country club locally. Knives, a watch under a long ago gutpile, several bison skulls and other buffalo parts. Last month an unendorsed cashiers check for $450, purses (two),and a lot more that I have forgotten about. I'm especially observant and keep my eyes on the ground.

The soul of the universe.

dang Huntsmen22 if that is not wild.

My brother-in-law had bullets whizzing over his head when he found pot plants while exploring a remote creek in SoCal one time.

I found a fossilized sea shell in a SoCal creek bed while deer hunting. It was about 50 miles from the coast.

A moonshine still. Actually there are still many operating in these parts.

I found an unexploded mortar round, along with what eventually turned in to a far few pieces of ordance, called the bomb squad out and they did the rest

well the only thing I can think of was a fossilized "sea shell"... can not think of their name but they have a spiral shell.. in MO... thats a long ways from an ocean these days....

Grandson and I found some mammoth ivory this hunting season...I want to incorporate this into a couple of knives..

There are many types, but the most common are Ammonites. There is quite a bit of variation, but their general appearance is often like this:



They can be quite beautiful, but if you section one you might get a really striking piece to display. Just visit your local maker of granite tombstones -- I had an ammonite sectioned years ago at one of these places and the cost was just a large pizza for the guy to do both the diamond saw work and polishing. The picture below isn't mine but I wish it was.

Imagine the ammonite sliced in half so that something like the top picture is visible at it sits on you coffee table, and when your guest picks it up and turns it over, they see something like the bottom photo.



John

I found a gutpile once on a snowy mornin in WNY state and as I was walking away I noticed a shotgun leaning against a tree. It was a nice Ithaca model 37 pump with a 26 in slug barrel. The drag marks in the snow showed the way the successful hunter had taken. It was an easy trail to follow. I took up the trail, shotgun in hand and soon found a young man sitting on a log resting from his labors. At his feet was a nice little 6 point buck.You could tell by hs grin that he was a happy young fellow on this opening morning. I inquired as to where he got his buck and he gladly shared the story of his first deer kill. I was happy for him. I then asked what he shot it with and he told me he got it with his new Ithaca he had recieved from his grampa the pervious christmas. I inquired as to where this fine firearm was as I would like to see it. He gave a hasty look around him and the color drained from his face. He started running back up hill toward the gutpile leaving his prized buck laying there. I stopped him mid stride with a shout and held up the gun. " Is this what you are looking for?" I asked. The lights came on and he Grinned mightly. He was again a happy young fellow.
We had a good conversation and I helped him drag his prize out of the woods. We had many good conversations over the years and I have taught him a few things and he has taught me much as well.
So what did I really find that snowy day in the woods?
A FRIEND!!

you are a class act and that was a great story

This was the best find/post of the entire thread. Well done...

that is exactly it and WOW, I never knew about sectioning them! That is incredible! I'll keep that in mind...

Lonerider,

That is truly a fantastic story! Thank you for sharing!

Todd

Years ago in central NH my dad and I found a popped weather balloon with the attached "black box". We mailed it back to the address with the enclosed post paid bag that was hidden inside a small door in the box. Kinda cool. It had been sent from a university in Vermont, I forgot which school though. Rich

One shotgun, leaning against a pine tree in GA. A Smith & Wesson revolver in 22 LR that a friend had lost the day before, another pistol, can't remember what exactly, but a semi-auto that another friend had lost the day prior as well, a camoflaged wallet with nearly 5 grand cash and a nearly new Haz-Mat CDL license in it that a friend had lost a few hours earlier that day. I seem to have a knack for tracking and finding, but I am a retired Investigator. I have found many precious gem stones over the years, but I do live in Sapphire Valley, where sapphire, emeralds, and rubies abound, if one knows where to look. I have found some gold as well, and I enjoy dredging with a friend. Mostly, when hunting, I find ways to resolve the difficult issues that arise in life when raising 4 kids on a single income. looking back, hunting has kept me sane. I have found that I made many friends while passing on some of the tricks of the trade in bear, deer, and turkey hunting. I enjoy helping new hunters get into the game.

Man, that's harsh. As an ex-gunsmith, I've still got pieces that were never picked up, or deposits made, despite repeated notices, and 20 years out of business.... I'm about ready to recondition some of them... there's this LC Smith Double...

Long story here cut short.

Found caribou low down - stalked. Accosted by (very large!)wolverine. He was beautiful on his hind legs at 30 yards thru 9X binocs! And yes, he was seemingly deciding whether or not I was WORTH the "taking", not "if". I think it is a perception thing...

Re-found caribou high up- stalked. Killed. Gutted/ propped open (after sunset).

Beat feet for camp- 2 miles away, 1500 feet lower, across ridge. Bloody and sweaty. Accosted by brown bear at base of ridge. Nearly chit pants. No harm done either party. Good time made back to camp thereafter.

Found same brown bear on kill site next morning. Much yelling/cussing. Brown bear leaves.

Finish dressing out caribou, rifle close at hand, cluster of blue and yellow party balloons drift over ridge, spooking hell out of yours truely (corner of eye)....

Not that I was twitchy or anything.

A fork in the trail - so I took it. Also GPS unit, spotting scope and tripod, several knives and bottles, and a set of hobbles hanging near 12 ft off the ground on a tree limb. The chain was near paper thin from swinging in the breeze

Ruana Knife, leatherman

Yea, too bad the ministry of enviroment up in BC doesn't inspect and plug all the infected snatch and save a lot of medical bills.

Used matches and used rubbers

An M-60 tank and an F-4 Phantom.

An absolutely razor sharp older Rapala knife laying back in a cut bank. And an old, old, old hand made knife with a deer bone handle I found in a little cave I found by accident. There was a small fireplace or oven type thing built out of rock and red clay against one wall where there was a short crack above it that let the smoke out. From the scorch marks and smoke stains it must have been in use for quite a while. Pretty neat setup.

Peace and tranquility.
Total escape from that which is life.

While dove hunting with my BIL, found a woman who attempted suicide with alcohol and pills on a back dirt road. Called 911, and last we heard, she was gonna make it.

Found a nice broadhead while cutting up the backstraps of a 6 point I shot it was 1/2 in under the spine and had healed perfectely. Glad someone missed his shot.

haven't found anything interesting hunting, but i found a pocket pus sy while fishing. spotted it about 100 ft away. as i moved closer thought it might have been a di ldo. Was a little rough from the sand, but still in good working order

bleeps'll fake you out, fer sure....

I have found a Native American hide scraper in the Texas Hill Country.

In the Deep East Texas Piney Woods I found a Zebco 33 on a Zebco rod in the middle of the woods, no water within miles.

Years ago hunting east Of Wagon Mound NM, I was hunting PJ country, nothing but soil and shale so when a small red and white boulder was sitting there is was unusual and right with it was chips and a nice scraper about 4" wide and 6 inches long. Guess my ex's family have the scraper.

Found a shale arrowhead in the same general area. Not much, but bet it was easy and quick to make,

About 1985 or so in a remote patch of timber in SW Montana I tracked a bull elk right through an old hunting camp. There were pack and riding saddles still on log rails, bridles, paniers, lanterns and set-up tent poles. By the age and amount of weathering and porcupine chewing on the saddles and various other junk laying around I'd say it was from the 50's. It looked to me like the owners left camp one morning and never came back. I left everything as it was and continued on my way. To be honest, it all seemed a little "spooky" to me. I've looked for that camp several times since and can't find it.

I've also found two rifles, one a very nicely engraved custom 98 job with AAAA wood in .338 mag, and a fully loaded pack horse. Both rifles were hanging from tree staubs after being pulled out of saddle scabbards. Found the owners to all of those. Owner of the pack horse lost him in a blizzard. The horse roamed around the hills for 3 days never losing it's load. I came across the horse 10 or 12 miles from the trail head. Now there's a guy that knows how to pack a load. Maybe not so good at keeping track of horses though.

I haven't found anything worthwhile. I have lost stuff though.

Interesting thread.

Our country is not as vast and free of human penetration as some parts of yours but hunting in some regions makes you find strange things. Most of them are war "souvenir".

Twenty years ago while hunting with a friend in the southern french Alp, in a remote part of the mountain i saw a piece of metal emerging from earth. Digging with hunting knives we found it was a barrel, bent, rusted, but a barrel.

Digging more we came to an old Browning M2.50cal flexible mount gun. It was destroyed, a bit crushed. Sneaking around found some links with or without cartridges, rusted and mostly bent and what looked like a steel plate of flight armour vest some gunners used to wear.

To avoid long paper filling with administration we buried the whole thing again.

It seem we were on a return path for US bombers who came in and out from Italy in 1944 to bomb the southern coast and german bases.
May be one B17, B24 or B26 was hit by the flak. Coming back to its base the gunners thrown away weapons and weight they did'nt need to lighten the wounded bird. No sure but quite an explanation. For sure the M2 was an aircraft model, the one they used on the side port of the plane.

In some places i also found mortar rounds (fired but not exploded!) piece of equipment and all that come with them...Plus knives, gloves, lamps belonging to our time hunters.....

Dom

I've found that the mountains are a lot higher and steeper and the air's a lot thinner than they were 20 years ago.

A puppy...while stalking a logging road out in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't just leave him there. So I took him to camp and then home. I eventually found a home for him. I still miss that little guy....

Just right There garyb11s! And to everone !! some good people!

Just right There garyb11s! And to everone !! some good people!Kawi!!

Kind of brings new meaning to sex on the beach.

Done with finger paint?

I found a Civil War bayonet sticking in the ground, 1/2 rusted away, while squirrel hunting once. Not all that unusual as it was in an area set up as a defensive position to cover Lee's retreat from Gettysburg, not far from the Potomac river. Subsequent trips yielded a bunch of Mini� balls and buttons, but it took a metal detector to find them. I like to think the stuff was all Confederate, but who knows?

While hunting on my property I found a really nice Yamaha grizzly four wheeler with a really pretty young blonde girl setting on it, I thought to myself this has got to be my lucky day. Like really a pretty girl and a four wheeler on the same day, Well just my luck her boy friend showed up to claim both.

I gave him a trespassing ticket and sent them on there way.

+1

Interesting thread.

We came around a bend on a wilderness trail way out in the wilds - and this almost made my girls jump out of their skin.


But -my girls soon found him to be friendly.


Someone went to a lot of trouble to make a good prank.

Thats cool. Looks like everyone is packing bear spray.

Hunting an haystack and a deer horn in the tire.

Your door is ajar, your window is a spoon...

Fork you. A door is a door.. not ajar.....

A door not ajar is a wall.

Hard to keep the vittles in ajar, but a jar works better for storing eats,it is easy to close a door ajar and also easy to close a jar...

Yet its no easy task to jar a door.....

a old cracked 60 qt styro-foam cooler with new size 11 cowboy boots,in a plastic bag and a very old sandwich, laying in an old logging road

While packing my truck to go home from a bowhunting trip this year I found a full grown German Shepherd sitting in my front seat as if he was ready to go for a drive. I made him get out and petted him. An SUV came up the gravel road in about 20 minutes looking for him.

Ron

Nope just an 800 doller rear tractor tire and i'em hunting the mice that have got the idia that bail twine is good. .177 cal.

Wasn't hunting, but when I was about 12 years old I was staying with my grandfather north of Roy Montana on the ranch. I would do that in the summer time for about a month helping him around the ranch.

We were moving cows back to the breaks and we came upon a really nice 5x5 mule deer buck skeleton hanging high up in a tree. It was hung up so the nose was at least 6 feet off the ground and was hanging by his rear legs. The complete skeleton was intact and was all bleached out. Hard to say how long it had been there. As anyone who has hunted the Missouri Breaks will agree, it is wild country and it's easy to lose your bearings. We guessed that some hunter shot this great big buck and he and his buddy put him way up off the ground to protect him from coyotes and other animals and would come back later to retrieve the deer. Likely they could not find the spot again so there he stayed.

Sure wished I would have had a camera with me. It was pretty darn neat. I imagine some poor hunter was just sick to himself after taking all that time to make sure his trophy didn't get eaten up, only to not be able to find him again.

My hunting buddy found a 4x4 buck that had died some months before.
The antlers have some crazy corkscrew twists at all 8 points.
Not sure if CWD got him or what. I bought the rack for the $50 bucks he owed me.
I'm not smart enough to post the pics. but shoot me a PM, I'll email them to one of you.

found that as well

When I was pretty young me and a buddy found a case of dynamite hidden under a bridge. Never did learn what that was all about.

Found a pair of Australian Shepard pups that were too young to have been weaned when I was dove hunting just east of the White Tank Mtns west of Phoenix about 15 years ago. Someone had dumped a fresh litter out there, and these 2 pups were all that was left. They were skin and bones and covered with ticks.

I took one, and a buddy took the other. I seriously doubted either one would make it, as they were too weak to even hold their heads up anymore. Called my wife on the way home to tell her about it.

Long story short, both dogs survived, named mine "Lucky", mine lived almost 12 years before cancer took him. Good dog.

Back in the early 70's, found a couple of WWII era fighter plane drop tanks while Coues deer hunting outside of Patagonia, AZ.

Found an old WWII era Willy's Jeep in the same area, about the same time.

Turkey hunting, found a plane that had crashed in the San Mateos sometime during the previous winter. Just the tail was sticking out of a melting snow bank and the pilot's body was still inside.

Found a buffalo skull sticking out of the bank of an eroding arroyo. Gave it to the landowner who was nice enough to let me cross his ranch to access some good Coues habitat.

Found a nice double shotgun early one morning while putting my john boat in one of the lakes on the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge. Ran into the guy that lost it later that day and returned it.

Found a cave in the Animas Mountains with sandals made of yucca fiber, a bow with a fiber string of some kind and some arrows in a rotting quiver. Donated them to a local museum.

Found two rifles: one in the Buffalo Mountains of Colorado during a muzzle loader deer hunt (a Rem 700 that had been lost the previous year) and one on the divide above the middle fork of the Salmon River (a Win 94 Big Bore in .375 Win that had been stolen from a cabin in Warren a few weeks earlier).

Lots of rusted knives, none of which were worth trying to restore.

I found a complete bull moose skeleton 4 or 5 years ago. Looked like it laid down in a depression in the ground and died. We've also found the remains of old logging camps.

I found a wallet. Had a drivers lic. and all the normal stuff. I called the guy and he was surprised and glad to get it back.

Not me, by my wife's uncle found a brand new M70 leaned up against a cottonwood on their little river bottom ranch this deer season. No idea how it got there, and no one's came by looking for it.

I found a digital camera a few years back that had been run over by snowcats or something on a gated logging road - pretty wrecked, but the card inside seemed good. It turned out to have naked pics of a guy's lady friend. That same trip yeilded an unopened gallon of vodka elsewhere in the woods.

Hilarious!

Bloody well done. Bravo!