Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR Old black powder casings and earlier hunting impements

I have always walked with my eyes to the ground, and as a result have found large quantities of nothing really valuable. I have included a picture of just a few of these finds.

The top casing is a 50-70 casing I found while fishing the Little Bighorn river for catfish in the 1970's. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was old.

If you were to look down to the southeast, from the Reno-Benteen battle site at the Custer Battlefield, that is where the casing was found. I have never taken it to the museum there at the battlefield, as I figured they would take it from me.

Whether or not it had anything to do with the Custer Battle, I don't know, but I would guess it was related somehow.

The 2nd casing is a 45-70 that I found on the shore of Hebgen lake, Montana. My mother and I used to race to the shoreline each spring to hunt for these Indian artifacts, and I happened to find the casing in the same area. This is some indication of hunting by whites in an area that was known to be an Indian hunting ground, which is evidenced by our large collection of artifacts.

The knife on the left is of real interest because of it's shape, indicating it's age and even moreso that it is intact. The square scraper on the right is actually a flint from an old flintlock rifle that some Indian had modified to be used as a scraper. The arrowhead is a classic example of what we typically think of when we see an arrowhead.

After researching these artifacts, and studying the ancient history of the Indians, you perception changes dramatically. What we think of as knives, and other tools, don't match what the Indian actually designed and used. Most of our arrowheads were of an older design, this one being of more recent adaptation.

We have plates of this stuff and the Feds logged and used our collecton in determining whether or not to allow a ski area to be built in the Red Canyon area near Yellowstone Park. That was 30 years ago and they haven't started the ski area, I guess it won't happen.

Interesting collection! I'm surprised the Feds let you keep the stuff. They are pretty much against anybody (except the Indians) from collecting and keeping anything today.