Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Things found while hunting?

Not hunting but going to garage sales with momma. Bought a old but in good shape backpack for $1 from a neighbor moving out of town. Took it home, checked the pockets before giving it to one of the boys, took out an envelope with $2500 in cash and another $1800 in checks.

Took it back to the neighbor. They'd owned a small business they had recently closed, and that was the last day's receipts. They had had some employee problems, and assumed the money stolen.

Boy was he happy. It's what my grandma would have wanted me to do.

Another time I was hiking in the mountains around Las Vegas, I happened upon two college girls camping with too much booze, and too little clothes.

What happened next would have given grandma cause to dis-own me ;-)

I was under the old Mississippi river bridge just out of Baton Rouge looking for metal fleur de lis that used to fall off the bridge and found a bunch of credit cards scattered about. I called the lady who owned them and she told me her kids had the windows down as she drove across the bridge and the bad one tossed them out. Found the cards, 3 fleur de lis and a wrench on that trip. Back in the 60s before the new bridge was built traffic would frequently come to a standstill on the bridge. It wasn't unusual to see people hop out of their cars and pry the fleur de lis off for souvenirs.

Did what I couldn't have done. I'd have given the checks back...but the cash...can't say I would have been that strong.

David Walter...you are a "good" man......



Hope the girls thought so too!!!


Ingwe

I would have given it all back. Not even a second thought.

Schnitzengruben-Now that's a funny movie where that word came from!!! Welcome to the CF!
No fancy finds for me. One old live mule walking up a deep canyon in the middle of public land 'nowhere'. Figured it got cut loose from it's owner. One backpack frame and a military extreme cold sleeping bag. Arrowheads, scrapers, flakes and such.
Ingwe, I found a pair of horn toads mating one time, but I wasn't hunting, just doing a veg survey on a grassland. Kind of cool though, they do it doggy style in a horn toad kind of way.

Honestly though, no one knows exactly what they would do in that instance until it happens. What if you found it and you DESPERATELY needed that money (for whatever reason)...would you still give it back? Who can say until something like that happens.

Since you just filled me in on how they mate...a classic comedic opportunity was lost...

Q: How do Horned Toads Mate?

A: Verrrry carefully....


Ingwe

If I knew for sure it belonged to someone else there is no doubt. Maybe hoping for a reward in return.. .

In that particular case it was believed that an employee stole Therefore, by returning it someone's name was likely also cleared. I believe you reap what you sow. But as you say until you're in that situation who knows.

Just me--

Another "not hunting" find while canoing. My son and I were intent on helping a novice friend get his canoe out of a logjam when two fellows in a canoe came by and told us a tale of woe. Three days earlier, a half hour after they started paddling, they had dumped their canoe in a twisting sideslip rapid and lost much of their gear.

Later my son said, "Dad, let's go find the gear they lost." We knew their starting point, guestimated where they had dumped and hiked overland to that portion of the river. We hit it bang on, a tight blind curve around a rock cliff, then the whole river sideslipped off a wicked ledge into a pool.

Clear water. Through a face mask, the bottom of the river under the white bubbles run out looked like a sporting goods store: knives, tackle, new rod and reel, etc. Never did find the stove they lost. Truly regret that we had no idea how to contact them or we'd have given it back.

really havent fond anything to interesting other than whats supposed to be there.....sheds, agates and the like.....funny thing is though my eyes are on the ground as much as up looking for critters on the chunk of land i hunt.....

the chunk of land on the east end of the Missouri River Breaks i hunt was last exposed 70 million years ago and was the edge of a huge inland sea so im constantly on the lookout for fossils...never found anything but squid fossils, few clams and what i think are the bases of tree trunks but have yet to get them confirmed.....

MT law says vertebrate fossils found on public land are public property and yah cant touch them, so any major find i couldnt keep but the local paleontologists are good bout letting you help dig them out of the ground if yah want and you get credit for finding it....couple years ago a local guy hunting the same patch of ground i do found the most complete plesiosaur(long necked aquatic reptiles) ever found in the state, and he was smart enough to keep it quite and called the local paleontologists instead of Jack Horner down in Bozeman so its likely going into the museum at Fort Peck instead of the Museum of the Rockies

Found a Buck knife stuck in a tree about 15 years ago. Obviously previous owner had been throwing it as the blade lock was broken. Sent it to Buck for repair as it was still in good condition. Fixed it for free, sharpened the blade and sent it back with a note that it was one of the older ones and worth about $100 and to this day is one of my favorties.

FOUND--a 1928 $2 rolled up tight in the springs of a large flashlight.

LOST--a Taurus 357 revolver a fews back while hiking in the Taylors Forks area of MT.

Several years ago a tornado did major damage to a small town about 50 miles east of where I live. A few weeks later while turkey hunting the woods were full of debris. I found someones w-2 form from that year. I mailed it back to the address on the form with info about where I found it, but never heard back from them.

When I was about 14 and squirrel hunting early one Saturday morning I walked up on a bunch of guys working on a stolen, stripped car that had just been set on fire. I probably set a new Olympic record for the 2 mile run getting home.

"Since you just filled me in on how they mate...a classic comedic opportunity was lost...

Q: How do Horned Toads Mate?

A: Verrrry carefully...."

Sorry ;~)

Maybe it's an ectotherm thing, but they weren't setting any jack rabbit land speed records either. Just savoring the moment, I guess.

I found a well tarnished Winchester 40-65 cartridge in the Mo. Breaks area of Montana.

I did have a young couple retreat to the woods for play time while I was "city" bowhunting. They never new I was 20 feet up in a tree stand 50 yards away. I just love Leopolds 10X bino's.

Doc

Re found money: I think I told this one before here at the 'Fire. My wife found $200 in cash, all 20's, loose in the parking lot of a small country store getting absorbed by suburbs.

We phoned the store owner as soon as she got home and he said that two men had come in asking about the money but he had not kept their names and told them there was no chance they would get it back.

We phoned the police and got an instantly rude officer who demanded we bring it in to the station where he would put it in the evidence box, that it was drug money, and that they kept no record of anyone asking about lost money, etc.

We phoned the store owner and proposed this: we ran an ad in the local classifieds telling the person who had asked a local store owner about lost money to contact the store owner again. We did not name the store. The fellow phoned the store owner, who took his phone number and gave it to us. We phoned, asked how much money he'd lost and what color was the wallet. He laughed. No wallet. We enjoyed meeting the young man when we returned his Christmas shopping cash. He insisted on giving my wife a $20.

I'm real good at finding gut piles.

just remembered borrowed frinds camper ,my truck was a flat deck,when we got to camp site opened bottom cupboards ,found about 500 in 20s he was very happy to get it back .thats why frinds are friends.

Horse hobbles hanging on a limb about 15 ft up in a tree. Leathers were hard as a rock, but still there. The free end had been swinging in the breeze so long that the link attaching the two halve was about 1/32 inch thick.