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

That, my friend, is Zern or McManus in quality.

Found this in a creek under about 2" of water. All I saw was the hole at the base and started digging. Once I got it cleaned up I took it to a museum and found out that it was about 500 yrs old and had stared to fossilize from being under water.It hangs in my shop now less

In the middle of the White River National Wildlife refuge I came across a smoke generator device for WW2 B24 or B25 bombers. It was shaped like a bomb, but about as big as a 55 gal barrel. Still painted OD and the brass data plate was still legible. Hang from a wing and used for generating smoke screens from the air I guess. It must have fallen off of a plane and floated down the river during flood stage, as it was miles from the river and nearest road. Probably still there.

This old coffin cover sits just into the woods from the camp next to ours. Several times I've seen tire tracks from folks that had ignored the " Private Road Keep Out " sign and then decided a hasty U-turn was suddenly a good idea

Coolest thing I ever found I wasn't hunting game but just poking around in the desert NE of Carrizozo, NM, and I found a Spanish Silver Real from the late 1600's or 1700's (can't remember date for sure, gave it to my Dad).

I was deer hunting on Madkin Mtn. on Redstone Arsenal in Alabama back in the late 80's and found an M-16 with blank adapter and a magazine full of blanks. I hid it and very briefly entertained the idea of keeping it, but quickly decided it wasn't worth losing my job over, so headed to the Provost Marshall's office. When I got to the bottom of the Mtn, they already had the road blocked and were getting ready to start searching for the weapon. They were going to search my truck also, and when I told the Lieutenant that I had found what they were looking for, he looked at me incredulously, then I told them I had found an M-16. He and a Master Sgt. standing there had a HUGE look of relief come over them. I led them back up the Mtn., and took them to the rifle. The Lt. gave me the magazine full of blanks. I still have it.

Was deer hunting in Lauderdale Mgmt area near Waterloo, AL, and found a Mossberg 835 Ultimag shotgun wedged in the fork of a double-trunked cherry tree and wrapped around one of the trunks (with extreme prejudice, I might add). I straightened it out enough to get it off the tree and took it home with me. It looked like it had been there just a couple of weeks. It took me a while to finally get the action open because the receiver was very warped, and there was a 3 1/2" mag hull still in the chamber, and the magazine tube still had a couple of shells in it (#2 shot IIRC). There weren't as many salvageable parts as what you would think, but I got enough out of them on E-bay and GunBroker to make it worth my while to disassemble the thing. I still wonder what incident provoked the ruination of that shotgun.

Came across a nice bumper-pull camper trailer WAAAAAY back in the boonies elk hunting in the mountains of the Rio Grande National Forest in CO back in the early 80's. It was at least 2 miles from the nearest Jeep trail and was hidden down in a grove of ponderosas. The only way I could figure they got that thing in there was by helicopter....

Curious if there are others who might have other stories to add?

xcedrin headache #1. A friend found this while we were birdhunting. The hide and skeleton was about all that was left, except for some rotting flesh and maggots. But he wanted a bear skull for his den so he took it and cleaned it up by boiling I guess. If you look from the back of the skull, (not pictured) you can see the broadhead in cranium. We did not know about the arrow until he cleaned it.

Here in Oklahoma while turkey hunting I found an old bottle that took a cork top that had "Syrup of Black Draught" embossed on it. Have no idea what it is, or how old but was knida cool.

Another time turkey hunting I found an old maul in a creek bed that looked like it had been forged. It looked as though several layers had rusted off, no handle around.

Lost: Weatherby Accumark with Leupold scope near Southfork, Co. Had a mule wreck in a snow storm. Tracked my mules for 2 days before I found them. The only thing missing was my rifle. I backtracked twice and never did recover my rifle. I reported it stolen. But if you find it let me know, it has a lot of sentimental value. By the way its got a mag full of 150 NPT and shoots 2.5" high at 100.

I've lost a bunch of good knives. I'm the guy that lets you "finders" have something to add to this post. Your welcome.

Joseph

Joseph

Black Draught was a powder like stuff that comes in little boxes about the size of an old snuff can. I have a box of it around here somewhere. It's one of those old things people took that cured everything like castor oil. I guess someone mixed some up to make a syrup.

In the wierd but true stories of stuff lost and found but not hunting related.

My great aunt in the early 50's was at the local river swimming and lost her high school class ring.

In the early 90's my cousin from the other side of the family FOUND IT at the lake that had been built in the meantime by damming up the river. He was using a metal detector when the water was down.

Neither had met either but he recognized the name from my mom talking about her.

He gave it back to her about 40 years late. Even wierder is neither lived in the area. She moved after school and he never lived near there but was using the detector while visiting family. They lived about 5 miles from each other the whole time.

Found half a mammoth pelvis one time while boating. Had to pee like crazy and figured other family members might as well. Waited 'til we round a point of land so we'd have a bit of protection along the shore. There it was as if waiting for someone right on the water's edge.

I found half a canoe while steelheading,I pulled it on to a big bar and stood it up. Then when I got home,I phone it into the mounties. They went looking for,I guess there was some history,they called me when they couldn't find it.

I have found two different dead people while out hunting. One when I was about 13 years old hunting caribou on the Nabesna Road. We couldn't find the skull but his clothes matched the description of a backpacker who disappeared in the area about 20 years earlier. We turned them in to Dr. Pineo in Glennallen who just passed away.

The other I found out sheep hunting. He had shot 30/06 ammo that was too hot and it blew the bolt threw his jaws. I packed up the remains for the troopers and hucked them, the messed up rifle and everything else out. I think that was 1992. We figured that it was the remains of a GI from Fort Richardson who was thought to have gone AWOL about 10 years later.
I have found lots and lots of camps that are left out in my walkin area. Many times people leave all kinds of stuff rather than pack it out.

I also found a differential tempered Japanese Whaling knife that I gave to my dad. It is over 18 inches long and 5/8 in thick at the spine.

I own a horse barn up above treeline near Nugget Creek in the Wrangells(don't even ask who I got it) and I found a mine shaft that was full of dynamite. I didn't screw around with that.

I have found lots of cabins.

Sincerely,
Thomas

I repeat this warning. Some of you guys will be sorely POed if a by-the-book ranger sees the arrowhead or rusty old tool you found on public land.

These are great stories. A couple more finds comme to mind. I stumbled onto an old coal mine near our camp in Pa. 'Came to find out the mine had been worked by the old hillbilly that keeps an eye on our camp when we're not around. At some point the state shut them down because they couldn't keep the mine de-watered well enough to safely work it. The opening in the hillside with the narrow guage rails for the ore carts are still visible in the side of the hill.

Dad told me about finding an old bear trap up in the Bish Flats on Boone Mountain. He set the trap up on a stump with the intention of hauling it out when he was done hunting. 'Never found it again-it may still be sitting out there.

I stumbled into a cultivated patch of pot in the middle of a big sumac thicket while grouse hunting in Columbiana County, Ohio one time. 'Left quickly as I've heard they don't appreciate visitors.

I've run across lots of family burial plots on old homesteads out in the middle of nowhere. Usually one or two tombstones are the only indication someone's interred there.

Not hunting so to speak, but fishing. I walked around the back side of the Oberlin Reservoir and found two collage girls nude sunbathing. They saw me and made no attempt to cover themselves, they just said hello.


Being modernized women, one of them was very lucky there were no rabbits looking for a place to hide. A pair of sunglasses on her hip and she could have passed for a member of Z Z Top.

I was telling my older neighbor about this thread and
he told me that about 30 years ago he found a man hole
cover while small game hunting. It was a long ways
back in the woods and he said he had no idea why anyone
would carry something like that so far.

Schnitzengruben, welcome to the camp fire. I've found the remains of vehicles in places I had to wonder how they got there. No roads or remains of logging roads. It's neat to find cut stones used for the foundations of farm houses. Some of the places I've found them obviously took a lot of work to get them there.

I've heard those schnitzengrubens will wipe you out!

You prodded my memory. Found one like that when I first moved here. It tried to dig it out as you did but did not have the same success.

Not that one in particular but some in not quite as good shape over SW of the Peak and some around Shawnee