Long time lurker and first time post.

I found this on another hunting website and the thread has had some amazing posts and stories in the thread. Some folks while hunting in the field have truly found or come upon bits of history. Others have found weird, disturbing, and even some items worthy of 'WTF'! With a larger website, I was curious what would turn up on this board.

So, what are some of the unusual/interesting/strange/curious things you have found while hunting, camping or hiking??

P.S. Sorry, but no one will believe you found D.B. Cooper!

Jimmy Hoffa

One year a friend and I were out scouting Elk and he picked up a gold bar that was about 2 inches long and one inch wide. Nothing else around in the canyon. It was kinda neat. No markings etc.

While hunting in South Texas with a friend he found 2 dead illegals that had died a while back. Rancher said it happens every so often.

Wen I was about 15 about 45 yeas ago, I was kickin up old stuff from a real old burned down place and and shooting it with my 22. Kicked up a wide mouthed, clear glass jar of about 1/3 gallon that says "Coors Golden Colorado" Just like what is written on a bottle of beer today. I still have it. Best I could ever find was there was probably Malt in it when if left Coors.
Found a couple of nice knives while hunting. Old Buck 110 440C steel and a fixed blade from J.A. Hinkles.
Nothing like a lot of guys for sure.

Nothing too interseting here, but I once lost a slug load from the shotgun shell bandoiler I was wearing and a couple years later I found it while squirrel hunting. It actually fired!

Mr. Schnitzengruben:
Welcome to the Campfire from a bit north of the medicine line in southern BC.

Well since the local pastime seems to be pot grow ops we�ve bumped into the leftovers from a couple of them over the years. The harvested ones concern me less than the ones needing picking as the pickers can be testy, or so I hear anyway.

One year I found where someone or a group of someone�s had slaughtered 13 chickens and laid them out in a nice circle around a bonfire. I found it before the ravens did, so it wasn�t long after the party had broken up. I also found somewhere else I needed to be right then.

One year I found a front wheel and strut assembly off of a small plane. I walked in big circles for about an hour looking for any other plane parts, all the while praying I wouldn�t find any if you know what I mean?

Many years apart, I�ve found 2 truck campers lying in the middle of steep sections of logging roads. I can only assume the previous owners figured hold downs were a waste of time? The fridge was still running nicely on the last one we found, and it had been in fairly good shape up until it was unloaded there. I was curious how they planned on reloading it onto a pickup on that steep and narrow portion of the road, but not curious enough to stay and experience it first hand.

Lastly, I�ve come onto a couple motor vehicle wrecks, the last one where the two hunters were still standing on the road, one meditating on his new Mazda pickup that was on it�s side and the other contemplating the barrel on his shotgun that had been modified to shoot around corners in the ensuing melee.

When I consider the list I�ve compiled, I�m either unlucky or maybe just unlucky to be around?

Again, welcome to the Campfire and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Regards,
Dwayne

In Idaho, I found opium vials in the ruins of mining camps where Chinese supplied the labor. In Colorado, wonderful graffiti carved on aspens by the Peruvian shepherds who herded sheep up there in the summer, and a 1914 Nash touring car. In New Mexico, .45-70 carbine rounds and .30-40 cartridges, as well as a curved steel butt plate from who knows what. Also, a cave with really old arrows, and sandals woven from beargrass, yucca or some other fibrous material.

Modern day finds (courtesy of our undocumented workers from south of the border): red patent leather high heels, a bikini top, a hair dryer, a red wig, a pair of polka dot jockey shorts about size 50, and tons of trash...

I've found a fair number of arrowheads and old indian sites.
Some old trappers cabins waaaayyyyy back in the backcountry.
I have found several old junker cars from the 20s or 30s and wondered how they got that far from a road. (maybe there was a road in the vicinity back then?)
Old horse drawn cart parts are fairly common.

Ive found lots of stuff, but for some reason what sticks in my mind was a baby Horned Toad, found north of the Missouri Breaks in Montana...didn't know they were that far north...

Ingwe

an old Hayner Whiskey Bottle in the hollow of a tree.

a clip for a Rem 7600. No one in our group uses one.
(That went to PIF in classifieds)

a treestand that was not tagged on our property (Family rule: You have to put a tag on your treestand or it gets taken down. Makes it easy to tell if its a relative or a trespasser.)

a box of 12 ga 3" turkey loads (minus 5)

My dad found a Winchester 94 in 30-30 just leaning against a tree one time in NW Wyoming. By the looks of it, it had been out in the weather for 20 years or more. I always wondered what happened to the guy that lost it -- Did the bears get him or what?

I've lost a few flannel shirt pockets here and there, if you find one, I'd just leave it there!

A quart Mason jar full of pot....

ahem...lynn, did you burn that pot, so no one else was hurt by it

Finding it in the cupboard doesnt count...

Well, yes, I burned it, and others burned it too, and after a while it was all gone, and we were all sad that it was all burnt up....

If you weren't happy about the time it was all burnt up...


You were doin' it wrong.....


Ingwe

yep, caught them all the time out at my grandparents in northern McCone county along the tops of the badlands on their place.....havent found any here in Roosevelt but i also havent found a habitat on the north side of the river that is close to the same as the badlands 10 miles south of where im sitting....that and the lil buggers are VERY well camouflaged....

that's the only responsible thing to do. burn that stuff up and make sure it's gone.

On a deer lease in Texas about halfway between Sanderson and the river, there was an old stage road, where you could still see the wagon ruts, and insulators from the telegraph lines hanging on the mesquite trees. There was a tumbledown adobe grick stage station, and we found some rotten harness, a singletree from a coach, old whiskey bottles and some .45-70 cases.

Good camo..no kidding!

This little guy was south of Glasgow...close to Triple Cross Res......

Seen a few in the Pryors...in the desert, south of Billings...

Ingwe

Actually I was with my Dad hunting, it was November 1978, it was near Uxbridge, Ontario. He wanted me to go with him, maybe spend some extra time learning to shoot. My Dad liked the outdoors, hunting, fishing and he shared it with my Mom, myself and my brothers. Some of my fondest memories of time with him were in the outdoors. God rest his soul, I hope there is plenty of hunting and fishing in the beyond, I'd like to think he stills gets to do his favorite things.

Lynn

Nah, we did it right. But we ran out of it, and wished we had more, or burnt it more sparingly. The jar is still around today, fulls of nuts and bolts and odds and ends

ABSOPOLUTELY !!!!

Found a cave in the side of a cliff with a water fall coming out. Found several old homesteads in the way back country and a couple of graves. Found an old kerosene drop cook stove miles from anywhere. Found a couple of deer and three bears and shot them.

Guess I never found anything real strange.

Well...at any rate, its good that you did your civic duty...

and destroyed the contraband!!!


Ingwe

I normally find a lot of stuff outside of hunting season or when I cruised timber.

Lot of stuff people used to work the woods with. I've found a ton of those little tin pans that are half moon shaped that they used to stick on the side of longleaf pine trees for turpentine.

Found a Remington 700 leaned up against a tree that had been there a long time. I never could get the bolt open.

A metric ton of pocket knives that apparently people kill a squirrel or something and go to skin it and stick the knife in the tree and walk off and leave it.

Once in Katirina TX I was walking down a sendaro in the summer and a little 0.10" rain came up in the middle of a big draught. On the walk back after the rain I probably found 100 arrowheads in the same 200 yards I had just walked before it rained and didn't see any. Was barely even a rain.

You find a lot of homestead style stuff in the national forest here because it used to be cotton farms before the government bought it. Old jars, fence stuff, chimneys standing by themselves. That sort of stuff.

never found them down in the badlands, always found them in the short grass in about a 20 foot strip along the top of the badlands and not really anywhere else, though that may just have been where they were thickest.......we would walk slow, staring at the ground watching for movement and thats how we found them.....but it was one of those things where we knew they were there we just had to find them......wouldnt doubt ive damn near stepped on them in other places but they are hard to see unless your looking for them......have caught them from lil tiny hatchlings that could sit on your thumbnail to adults 4 or 5 inches long....

This guy was thumbnail size...thanks for confirming rattler!


Ingwe

I think that's my Buck.

decaying bigfoot,I thought they ate their dead?

Mostly those were Spanish Basques and Mexican sheepherders until more recent times. We had several carvings on quakies on our property by one of the most prolific--and talented sheepherder-carvers--in West Central Colorado. One of the carvings on our place was a very detailed nekkid woman about 2 1/2 feet tall on a very large quakie. Alas, the tree died and soon blew down in the early 80's. We tried to preserve the bark with the carving on it but it fell apart.

Those sheepherder "quakie art" carvings from the 40's-60's are fast disappearing in these parts as the short lifespan quakies die, and sheep ranching is a small fraction of what it used to be--I really hate to see that history lost.

My buddy and I were hunting near Gunnison when he found a very old M92 Winchester under a tree wrapped in some kind of oil soaked leather--it was in pretty poor shape. Found a pack saddle with the panniers full of gear--it was obvious that it had been sitting there for at least a few years. Found my pocket knife i lost in the middle of the forest 2 years before--it wasn't near a trail or anything--I didn't even recognize the area when I found the knife!


Casey

A couple years ago on some public ground in Wyoming on an antelope hunt, I found a Bushnell Laser Rangefinder. Blew the dust out pushed the button and it still worked. A bit bulkier than my dad's Leica, but gave nearly the same readings out to 800 yards. Guessing somebody was laid down in the little bowl, ranged a goat, shot, got excited and forgot to pick it up, then couldn't locate it afterwards.

if we're counting finding your own stuff.....I found my streamlight flashlight I lost during spring turkey season two years and a half years later during deer season....took a seat on the same ridge and sat on it. Changed batteries and it still works.

Found remains of several moonshine stills. old cars just out in the middle off nowhere. One Swiss Army knife while hunting at Ft. Bragg.

Mike

Found an old rock house in the mountains above Calico, had a pile of cans next to it and a bed frame, in some mountains North of Baker, way in the sticks we came across an area littered with
bras and panties, and suitcases, and what appeared to be six mounds. We called the Sheriff and he said that the wind must have blown the bras there (and put bullet holes in them) and the
mounds were probably from prospectors. Left there with a bad feeling. Another trip found us in the mountains of Northern Cal, and we found a burning camp fire, a sleeping bag and a
big red stain on the ground, which we deduced from the ketchup bottle next to it, was ketchup. Never did figure that one out either. In the mountains behind Paria Utah we found a Ford
Model T body half buried in the mud, and also some grave markers that were not on the map.

The coolest thing was a feral pigs tooth stuck in the stump of a large oak. Being Indian I've been taught this finding is a good omen and when worn or in my possession I am protected by positive spirits. I'll accept that and thus, always have it when I hunt.

Has to be found stuck in the tree, however. That is the magical find.

I found an old grave on top of a little hill in Alabama with my name on it.

Your whole name? That makes you stop and think for sure.

Found a pair if Zeiss binoculars in Colorado about 20 years ago. The ranch owner said nobody had said they had lost them, so keep em.
John

Yep, my whole name. I didn't hunt that hill much after that.

Friend found a human skull while bowhunting up in the Sierras. After freaking and running a ways he came to his senses, walked back to it, packed the skull out and turned it in to the forestry service. Officials later determined it belong to the wife of a doctor who both disappeared while on a backpacking trip a few years prior. The doctor's remains have yet to be found.

MtnHtr

almost new coleman hunting knife on fresh gut pile on private land where someone didnt have permission .my 94 win 30-30 that cameout of my saddle scabbard in the fall found in spring ipzzzme off looked for hours just befor snow .in

spring walked right up to it ..go figure that one.
not hunting doing cleraing Knight Inlet B.C. old site ,half box of 40%dinomite under track of machine//

I've found a bunch of pocket knives,a couple of really high end flashlights,screwdrivers,and other things of that nature while hunting.All were usually found in the same general area in a short time frame,meaning that it was most likely a pot growing operation.

Came up on what was left of a meth lab once.Someone must have mixed a bad batch and/or pissed off the wrong person,as there were bits and pieces of that tin shack spread all over the hillside.Must have been a hell of an explosion as there were parts of the roof at least 100 yards away.

Have found lots of old cars and trucks out in the middle of nowhere.Some of them make me scratch my head as they are in some country that is pretty difficult to hike into,let alone get an old 1940's pannel truck into.

My best friend once hunted deep into some very wild country that doesn't get hunted much.I don't recall the exact details,but he stumbled upon both an old miner's cabin that was mostly intact,and an Indian burial ground,both of which were in close proximity to each other.Neither had been disturbed and he automaticaly started thinking,"Wow,think of all the cool artifacts I'll be able to take home!".He sat down on a rock to catch his breath before starting to search around.He heard something to his right and glanced over..........only to see a 100 foot tall douglas fir tree falling right twards him.He said he couldn't move at all-he was totally frozen.The tree literally landed at his feet.

He said he got the hint.He turned around,hiked back out to his truck,and went home.He's never been back.

Brian.

Found plenty of pot farms in Nor Cal and hawaiian islands back when I used to run dogs for hogs

Saw Coyotes running illegals through the Mexican border area below Arrivaca and found a backpack with bricks of cocaine[I think- I didn't hang around] while bowhunting Coues deer in Arizona. Took the GPS cooordinates and the border patrol could care less. Dry washes in those areas just littered with junk- terrible.Its the wild west down there.

Found a couple of indian arrowheads while bowhunting Northern Nevada and those were cool.

I have found a few knives rusted out tho, I shot a buck with my longbow, it ran off not much blood never forund it 2 years later I was walking a deer trail, and found the broadhead, with 5 inchs of arrow laying in the trail!
John

not much exciting for me, guess a Gerber Steel and my own sunglasses 3 years later at least 300 miles from where I live.


but the reason I go, is dang near everytime I find what I was meant to be a hunter.

not much sets me right as well as being in fine country with a good rifle in my hand.

it just seems that's really how we were meant to walk the earth

Beware of taking both prehistoric and historic artifacts on public property. It's a felony. An arrowhead isn't worth losing your hunting and gun ownership rights. See a pretty rock? Leave it lie.

That said, my cousin and I found a brand spankin' new Model 94 Winchester on a gravel road in a game reserve. We figured a hunter set it on top of his car and drove off. As my cousin saw the rifle first, he claimed it.

Ingwe.
"Ive found lots of stuff, but for some reason what sticks in my mind was a baby Horned Toad, found north of the Missouri Breaks in Montana...didn't know they were that far north..."
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Range maps show the Mountain Horned Lizard (phrynosoma douglassi) through most of MT and a little blip up into Canada along the Sask/Alberta border.
The coolest thing I've noticed about finding little lizards is how they react to eye contact. They're looking you right in the eyes on every encounter, you can count on it. They'll sit motionless and let you walk by but if you notice them, they bolt for cover. Pretty smart, yes they are.

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"A quart Mason jar full of pot...."
---------

Them damned Masons!
Hoodwinking youngsters by drugging is a reprehensible way to recruit! Glad you had family around for support and to help with disposal

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"not much sets me right as well as being in fine country with a good rifle in my hand. it just seems that's really how we were meant to walk the earth"
---------

Right there with ya, my good man. That or a good longbow. I like going out onto our local chunk of public land and hunting the canyons when the really bad snow/ice/wind storms roll in. I love that kind of weather. It's very relaxing. And I know I'm alone because I'm the only one fool enough to be out there.


On the topic of finds, couple years back I found a hatchet at a public camp site someone had left behind. It lives on the front porch now for hacking chunks of kindling when needed. A few weeks later found a USA made Schrade "Old Timer" folding lock blade. It stays in my daypack and is with me on every hunt. Found that when I stopped to identify tracks crossing a country road. A critter darted across about 3/4 mile ahead of me on this desolate road and I couldn't tell what it was. Looking at the tracks I noticed the knife half buried up in sand and gravel but in really good shape. Couldn't tell by the tracks what the critter was but didn't care by then, too busy smiling about the knife.

Those werent' hunting finds, though. Mostly what I find while hunting is dead deer others left behind. Usually with the head cut off. We get more than our share of quality "hunters" around here... [bleep].

Stumbled over lots of stuff over the years. A rusty hunk of iron that turned out to be the remains of a navy colt after soaking in kerosene for about a month.

A clovis point and what the experts at Texas A&M said was a mammoth tooth. They wanted me to show them were I found it. I wouldn't.

Lost treasure. Found under a hearth stone in a long abandoned house a glass jar, the old bail type with 22 silver dollars and a ten dollar gold piece. Latest date was 1881.

What they said was a metorite. About the size of your thumb. Burnt iron/rock.

BCR

I found a metal silhouette target partially buried in my creek bed.

Thing's worth several hundred $$$. I was (and am) a happy camper!

Josh <><

On a rabbit hunt in the Tennessee hills my dad and I found a working moonshine still. The owners must have come by later and found our tracks in the snow, because the next the whole outfit was gone.

We had a tornado that came through the Airport Rd. area in Huntsville back in 1989. Businesses, schools, churches, banks, doctor's offices, etc. were hit.

The tornado's track took it over the mountains of Jackson where we hunt about 30 miles away. For the next several years we found debris from the Airport Rd. area. We found family pictures, children's story books, canceled checks from the bank, medical records, etc. We also found the bow of a fiberglass boat and lots of building materials. The quantity of material was surprising.

Not while hunting, but my brother found a Case sheath knife and a fly rod while fishing about 40 years ago. Bamboo fly rod, but not a high quality one. Looks cool hanging on his wall as a decoration.

I've stumbled across a number of cars from the 30s, 40s and 50s abandoned in the woods. Lots of bullet holes and usually more than a couple of trees growing out of them. Some of those drivers must have been real willing to take chances on a not very good dirt road.

Found old cartridge casings on tops of hills. Often wondered if they were shooting at food or defending themselves. Old vehicles far off the beaten path, old homestead cabins/miner's shacks.

I found a meteorite,about 20 years ago,hunting in eastern NC. My youngest daughter has it now in a glass box on her mantle..
I claim it to be mine,since it tried to hit me....

Not while hunting but speaking of cars I found an entire river bank up in Cherokee built entirely out of squashed cars. Must gave been 10 cars high and a couple of miles long.

Not on a hunting trip, but once I climbed the West ridge of El Diente Peak and near the top I found a green plastic container with typed note taped to the outside. The note stated that on a certain date the ashes of someone (I can't remember the name) were scattered to the wind at that location. I just walked away and left it alone.

KC

I found a backpack with $40 and two beers. The backpack had been there awhile, but the beers sure tasted good on the way out!

I found a pair of $100 Ray Ban sunglasses in great shape on the side of a Caribou trail in Northern Quebec that was a two hour float plain ride from Kuujuuak. We were "supposed" to be the first hunters to use that section since the guide got the concession. Still was a great trip.

There's NO telling what that gold piece is worth depending on the condition of it! Nice find!

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.

Fishing from a canoe, we found a Winchester model 12 that was rusted shut on the bottom of the river.

Back in the late 1970s, I found a Ski-Doo Elan snowmachine that had been run off a cliff in a remote area near Sawyer Pond in the White Mountain NF. I gave the registration # and location to the USFS office in Conway and never went back to see if it had been recovered.

In the early 1980s, I found a Honda CL-450 in the Republican River bottom-ground at Camp Whiteside ROTC Summer Camp area on Ft. Riley. I gave the description and location to the MPs, but never went back to see if it had been recovered.

Jeff

Back in the 80's, we were pheasant hunting the Teton river breaks north of GF Montana (bootlegger trail)and my dad went into some bush to retrieve a bird and came out with a rooster and a cannonball that is slightly larger than a softball. Must've been from calvary operations at Fort Benton which is maybe 20 or 30 miles east of the area we were hunting.
Another find I was told about... my brother's father-in-law lost a pair of binos while sheep hunting in the Bob Marshall wilderness past Augusta, Mt. Many years later he became friends with a fella, and their families became close. On a joint family hunt, one of the children of the friend handed a pair of binos to my brother's FIL. FIL's name was etched into the binos.
Apparently the befriended guy had been in the area just after they were lost high on a shale slide where the FIL either left them or dropped them. They were given back to the FIL and he was happy.

on a long hike trip a few years ago i found a pair of swaro compacts in the soft case with the bino's still in the original plastic. i was at least a mile from any trail and about 7 miles from the nearest road.

very cool about the bino find.... and thought I'd confess to watching your avatar to see if anything else would happen...
Best-Mike

Found a Civil War era bayonet in a stump near Nokesville, VA. Blade was in OK shape, socket was a mess. Gave it to a collector friend who owned the property.

Everything seems small in comparison to my find. I was hunting by myself, as I usually do, and found a perfectly good 2004 Ford F-350 4X4 truck with the keys still in the ignition. I have had it for several months now, the problem with it is it needs new tires. Any reccomendations?

"I have had it for several months now, the problem with it is it needs new tires. Any reccomendations?"


Call the owner. Maybe he's got extras that he no longer has use for

You tried to find the owner right ?

Yeah even, your right, we was recruited, and as recruits how do you say no ??????

Yep, family, a wayward Uncle, two brothers and a couple of seedy cousins. We didn't tell my Mother or Father, they would have made us give it up to someone, like the police, or something stupid like that

Once while in the 1980's I was duck hunting tidal marshes on the New Jersy coast and I saw at my feet several 50 caliber bullets that had been fired with the lands and grooves etched in and within 20 feet as the tide went down I found 3 bomblets about 12 to 14 inches long with the fins on one end and the rounded end that looked like the top of a bowling pin on the other. I was so amazed I picked them up and stacked them together near where my seat was and then had a WTF moment and realized that there was no way to figure out if they were inert or not. I walked about 50 yards away and stayed away. There is a lot of unexploded ordnance on the coast still. Just last winter they did a beach reclamation project and a lot of WWI era munitions ended up on the beach and the army spent a fortune clearing the beaches.

Lots of stuff. Hunting fish ( bowfishing) I have found backpacks, and a half dozen purses in the creek, several bison skulls, mastadon teeth, and two guns. One was a 45 Auto loaded but useless. Four years later I found a single barrel shotgun with barrel chopped to 12 inches.
Both guns were on the same side of the bridge. Several knives, tools and whatnot. When a kid, I ran into a broken-into safe. Turns out it was from a regional county club burglarized a few months before.

Couple pocket knifes and a hatchet.

A camo Denim shirt, Has been my favorite shirt when huntin since then.

Also a guy in I'm guessing his mid to late 60's. Who shot himself in the face with a 30-30.

Bob testing his special pig pee...

Found a well one time! Luckily not the hard way, but was close.

Mike

I'd say but the statute of limitations hasn't fully run yet.

I found a roll of det chord once. It had rolled off a truck on the way to a remote mine that my neighbor owned. I gave it to him and you should have seen his eyes light up.

Other than that, it's just a knife or saw here and there.

Hidden wells are a real danger in New England. I've seen old wells that could easily swallow a man, woman, or child without a trace, often not anywhere near there was any suggestion of an old foundation.

Jeff

oops almost forgot, I was more thinking of things you could keep, but others stories jogged my memory. specially the well

was bird hunting outside of Minto one time and came upon a game pit I guess, they'd dug out a hole 4'x6' about 5 ft. deep, it had logs crisscrossed at the bottom with spikes, lotsa spikes sticking up outa them.

crazy loons, a guy could have been hurt bad in there, it was covered over with little sticks, grass and leaves.

A working moonshine still in N. Georgia. Several old stills that had been torn up.

A 20 m/m cannon at a mock ambush site, probably left by army training in area. Left it where I found it.

Thousands of fired and live .308 blanks in same area.

About 5 gallons of used condons in a remote spot on a old logging road. They were all in a neat pile.

Someone, or several someones, must have had some type of party.

I found something about like that while shooting on a local river bar several years back.From what I could gather,it must have been an orgy.Used condoms were strung out for 20 yards,along with bottles of lube,some blankets,evidence of a pretty big bon fire and about 100 empty beer bottles.

I've never smelt that kind of stench before.You could smell it 50 yards away.

Brian.

Found a dead guy on Rollins pass. I was packing out camp and coming down the trail with the mules on the way to the trailer when i seen a small car parked next to the Needles Eye, upon getting closer the back window was covered in red goo and a dead guy with a note taped to the windshield.

Other than that some old mining tools and lost hikers have come my way.

I find myself...everytime I go hunting.

what did the note say?

Ha Ha Lynn that's funny!

It wasn't me and it wasn't hunting, but you reminded me of a story I know of a big find!

A friend of mine is an auto body man. So is his dad. The dad often goes around to government auctions and buys cars (junk) cheap for the fenders and what not.

Well he bought this car back in the eighties from a neighboring county's sheriff's dept. sale and had it parked around for a year or more at his place.

After all that time, another guy bought it from him to turn into a demolition derby car -- but this guy got a crowbar and opened the trunk and found 10lbs of pot in there!!!

He called the sheriff and gave it back -- My buddy and I were young and kind of wild back then and had saw that car a thousand times and never once thought of opening the darn trunk!!!

I wouldn't of been calling anybody anyway, but the funniest part is the sheriff's dept had sold the pot to my pal's dad!!! LOL

Hey! if somebody finds my glasses in Wyoming seen them back. Please.

I hate when the hoodwinking happened.

Make what you will of this but THAT I would have kept. For a rainy day and medicinal purposes you know!

When she was with us in this life my 80 year Grandmother found 5 very large patches of pot on her mountain in Asheville. Turns out it was the caretaker whom she fired on the spot. Then she pulled it all up and burned it herself. I'm still shocked that she even knew what it was.

The space shuttle fell all over my deer lease a few years back, but it wasn't hunting season.

The note I left alone, the Colt 1911 Officers model caught my eye. The Sheriff told me no.

It's not that unusual, though typically I find the keys in the gas cap. It's not that hard to find the owner - they are always on the wrong side of town and will give you a reward for bringing it back . . .

My dad found a guy sitting on a stump once who was lost down around the big thicket - sitting there drinking out of a flask. He told me later I think I drank all that guys liquor and might have left him sitting on that stump.

I think a griz is wearing mine! Left them up on the mountain when I was sheep hunting.

Luckily I find my way back to camp. Every time.
Allan

I found my check book,hunting on foot while grouse hunting,lost it a year earlier, to the day, doing the same thing.

Several years ago there was a story going around here that a local kid had bought a beater car from a seized property auction to use as the base for his auto shop project. Later, when he was trying to do some sheetmetal work, he found 5 kilos of cocaine hidden somewhere in the body. The teacher called the Sheriff, who in turn called USMS, who in turn were rather red faced and they seized the car again. A local attorney who likes to take on easy high profile cases that get his face on TV jumped in on the kid's side and got the USMS to "donate" a newer "clean" vehicle from their garage. The kid made out well, but it is too bad that he didn't get the street value of the cocaine to.

Jeff

You take a check book hunting? Winn Dixie?

Other than a cheap hunting knife or two, a good box call, and a real nice buck - at least what was left from the coyotes outside Cleveland, OH, the thing I'm most glad I found was a clip from my 6mm Rem 788. I lost it as a kid in a snowstorm. When it melted off, I rode my bike out of town and back up on the hill and searched until I found it. 35 years later, with them going as high as $100, I'm glad I took the time.

didnt take it on purpose.Never knew what happened to it,till I found it.

re: returning the money.

In one of the lesser Liam Nisen (sp) movies "Rob Roy" he says to his wife, "Honor is the gift a man gives himself."

How copy?

Was fishing a nearby lake and found a a spot where a trapper had obviously lost a whole pack of Connibears. Was able to salvage about half of them and put them back into service.

Dad used to talk about a place high in the hills up in Pa. somewhere east of our camp in Dubois where a B-36 had supposedly gone down. It was supposed to be a popular hiking destination.

I stumbled upon an old trapper's cabin out in the middle of nowhere in southern Columbiana County, Ohio. Lots of bottles in the nearby dump pile. I found a frizzen and hammer from a muzzleloader.

Lots of miscellaneous brass casings here and there. One was a single 300 Savage casing up on the hill where Dad used to sit. 'Can't be sure but am willing to bet it was Dad's. Reason why? There was only one casing, and Dad never needed a second one.....

Might want to check with HOUNGIRL on that. I think she misplaced some things prior to the raid. GW

My BIL found a complete street light in the middle of
nowhere while small game hunting in PA. The entire pole
was with it.

I retired from the telephone co. One day, a man called and said he had a bunch of pay phones and asked if I would come pick them up.

There were several--I don't remember, but he said that he had a grappling hook and he would go to bridges and throw the hook in. He had a small building full of Coleman lanterns, plus a lot of other fishing tackle.

On one of his forays on a bridge, he found the pay phones. Someone had stolen them, busted them open, took the money, and threw the phones off the bridge and into the lake.

Yep.

The girls would been another matter!

I found an old still that had been busted up. Later on I met an old man who knew exactly where it was and was a regular customer of the owner. Other than that it has just been arrowheads and sheds.

In a case somewhat similar to the above, a teacher, with whom I taught at Cody Middle School, was packing out of the upper South Fork south of Cody, Wyoming, when he found an 8x56 Swarovski porro binocular. It was pretty well dilapidated, not only, from being dropped on a well-used muddy horse trail, but also, from being thoroughly mauled and chewed by a grizzly. I talked him in to calling Swarovski to determine whether or not they could be sent in for repairs. It was possible, the binocular was shipped, and the folks at Swavarski were so impressed with their grizzly-chewed product, they wanted to keep it and sent my friend a brand new replacement binocular! A rather "high-end" find!

If I could only be so lucky,
M Bell

Good grief, guns & binoculars I should be so lucky.

I was hiking one day in the Perdenales Creek/State Park area north of Austin, when in the creek bed we came upon a camera spot meter. These gadgets are most commonly used by folks with medium format or view cameras, that have no built in light meter. Picked it up, kept walking. Around the corner walks a tall guy with long hair and beard, and a 4x5 view camera and heavy tripod. As he walks up I say, "you look like someone who might have dropped a spot meter?" His eyes lit up in relief, because his excursion was done without it.

In a few places in the Sierras I have found abandoned mines, and miner's shacks. Sometimes the mines are sealed shut, other times wide open. I walked into one with a large entrance, that had a vertical shaft going down. I looked around, reflected a bit, and decided Curiosity might be hunting cats in that mine.

In case you think the miners of the Old West didn't have a hard life, check this shelter out:

Cool pic. Looks like some of the old homesteads out here! Rough life.

Is this one of the ones that you were thinking of Kieth?

Re things found while not hunting. My S-I-L has found three separate items at the side of ramps leading to a multi-lane highway. First was a wallet filled with several hundred dollars (both Cdn. and US) along with credit cards. When he got home he called the person whose name was in the wallet and was able to return it. He was well rewarded for his efforts.

Apparently the owner had filled up with gas and laid the wallet on the roof of the car then drove off without picking it up. I guess the wallet stayed there until the turn was made onto the highway ramp.

The second item was another wallet, this one empty. The third item was a cell phone, it didn't work.

He must have eyes like a hawk being able see things like that while driving.

Jim

Someone mentioned finding spent cases.

I was WAY up a draw hunting caribou in Alaska. Sat down on a rock that looked to have a promising view. During a stretch break, I found an old UMC 30-06 weathered brass. Just one. Later found one Remington, two Federal and a W-W.

Figured it was just the place to sit a spell and glass for animals.

I left my own 300 win case, shiny new, and took only the meat from the 'bou. I'll bet they're still there. Think it was a Federal, in case you happen upon the spot.

Now I look for brass when ever I hike the woods. It's like sharing in someone else's hunting story.

Where to start? First find I remember was while canoeing down the Clark Fork river between St. Regis and Paradise. Saw a red glimmer in the water and stopped and picked up a nice Swiss Army knife. While still pre-teen, I found a money clip in an isle at the local store in Arlee, MT on a trip to Missoula. Never did count the money..just handed it to the lady at the counter who looked at me like I was from Jupiter.
Stopped to aid a crashed motorcycle outside of Jackson, MT and found a wallet w/ $184 strewn about just up the road. Thought it was the bikers, but the paramedics said they already had his. Looked up the number from the name on the driver's licencse and returned it to a happy fellow from the Bitteroot valley.
Later that year, while bowhunting, I found what appeared to be a large mushroom. Further investigation revealed it was a skull cap from a human. I searched the area and found the man's wallet w/ a dL from 1981 and the picture on the DL was still clear. Pretty earie seeing the pic and holding he skull. I also found his Savage lever gun, 308 win. The action was open w/ a live round in the loading port. Found a nice watch, pen, knife, and some scraps of clothes under the same tree. Never sure what the whole story was, but the man had been mising for over 20years according to the sheriff, and the family wasn't too concerned. If you want confirmation, look at "shultz saddle" "body" on google and you'll probably find the story.
This year I found a nice gerber hatchet at the scene of a poached elk. Must of scared the poacher off, as the carcass was still warm.
Found a couple logging chains and misc axes/splitting mauls, but nothing of great value. Had an old friend in South Dakota tell me about a couple kids that found a bank robbers stash. Wouldn't mind running into something like that..(=

Came across an old gold mine with the stamp mill and assorted buildings still there. Among the dusty rusty stuff was a hand made open end wrench the size of a shovel, obviously meant for the mine machinery, and a nearly full box of 70% dynamite. Another time, in a very remote and rugged spot, a buddy and I found a blacksmith made handle for what was probably a frying pan. How it got there will never be known. While gold prospecting in a remote area we came across the foundations of a small cabin and fireplace, with a fine view down canyon. We pinged the rocks with the metal detector and heard a flock of sounds, but we left it alone, like we found it. That spot was kind of spooky, wouldn't like to be there at night.

snopping around bunch of old mine sites mountain is swiss cheese ore cars rails forged drillbits ,but neatist thing was 1 shaft about 30 feet in wassolid wall of ice this is in august..glory holes 4and 5 stories high neat place but could be dangerous

One of the cooler things. The Machias river in Maine has a little waterfall. You can walk up to it, reach underneath and pull out a beer or soda any time you want one. There is a little undertow there, and people who get dumped out of their canoes upstream lose all their goodies. A lot of them get stuck under the waterfall. I've seen my friend up there reach in, like he was absolutely certain something was there and pulled out a couple cans. That's neat. He also showed me way back in the woods the nice collection of dog skulls nailed to trees. You want to feel creepy, stand there and look at all these skulls and think how they got there. What are they doing there? I found it creepy.

Seems that I keep finding knives where people sit down to hunt and they fall out, or on the trails.

Kind of wierd.

Spot

100-150 300 WM and 7mm RM fired cases all in similar, not too tarnished condition in a pile at least two hours from the nearest wheeled vehicle trail on a nice lookout up the Soap Creek drainage. Why so many in similar condition?

Hey, that's a very nice abode. Even running water. When the wind blows, that is.

I was wading through deep water steelheading and noticed a bright reflection down stream about 20 yards on the bottom. It was a Perrine fly box, and when opened the flys looked quite familiar. It was mine.

I stuffed it back in my wader pocket, and about an hour later when I decided to change flys, it was gone.

Many years ago the wife and I were tuna fishing, and in the struggle to land a fish, her wedding ring slipped into the drink. Three years later, we were fishing the same locale and landed a nice 50 pounder. We took it home and ate it. 1Minute

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

I have never found anything worth much but a buddy of mine found a Mastodon tooth in a creek bed.

I can remember them selling it in the stores. By then, it was a dark brown syrup and was used for stomach ailments. Grandma gave me some once, all I remember was it tasted awful!

I've found many of those Blue Bell Mason Jars, most in usable condition. I was going to use some of the big ones for pickles, eggs actually, but someone told me they used lead in the glass and the acid would etch it out.


I made my pickled eggs not with a beet, but with cheyenne pepper and a few small onions. I don't do that anymore, I kind of like having my wife around. Real good for a snack after pinto beans. And yes, I am being serious.

I was moose hunting on the upper Selawik River in NW Alaska and found a Teletubbies mylar balloon hung up in the tundra. I spotted it flashing in the sunlight with my spotting scope and had to hike over and see what it was. Seemed odd to be out there. The Selawik River flows along the arctic circle.

On the same trip, I spotted a 50 gallon drum 1/2 submerged in a lake.... The drum was labeled "Avaiation Fuel US Fish and Wildlife Service". The lake was too small to land a plane on, and too far from the river to pack.

Had to google that one "fleur de lis" as I had never heard of it although I have seen it many times over the years.

In the '60's I had a little secretary working in my office at the Florida National Group of Banks in Jacksonville,FL, she was from a small town in Southern Georgia. When she was growing up she said it was nothing for her to walk into the house from the back porch and have at least a dozen rattle snakes running loose on the porch. Her dad was in his seventies and he would go out and gather the snakes and sell them to research facilities and serpentariums for their venom. He said it was a good supplement to his income.

On one of his trips to Jacksonville to see his daughter he dropped by our office, while there told us a story of how he had found the crash site of a Flying Saucer and that he had turned the location of the site over to the authorities and that he had kept a piece of the wreckage. He said that he had had the piece of wreckage analyzed and that it's composition was of a process totally unknown to man.

In the early 60s, while horseback riding in some pretty remote mountains near Highlands, NC, I came across a sign saying 'STOP Rail Road Crossing.' This was miles from the nearst railroad or any other type of road, other than the trail we were riding on.

It was a real sign. Someone went to a lot of trouble to take it down, carry it several miles into the mountains, and nail it to a tree.

Where I grew up Grandma Moses had lived on the mountain behind us. I used to follow the old road, then a logging trail, now a hunting lease and camp. I knew all the cellar holes, old wells, and of one cook stove in a cellar hole. Found a mason jar full of mold, still sealed in the woods, maybe a lost lunch? Across the road my father owned, now my sis's, and old barn, half house with plaster, that had been a home.

There were some old 30's-40's cars in the river I fished as well.

Lots of broken arrowheads and spear points North of Reno, NV.

When my son lived in Idaho he found an old miners stash. There was a gold pan, lantern and the barreled action from an old Marlin 30-30.

as a young boy we hunted hares in a swamp on cape cod called red gate in the town of wareham ifound a p-51 aircraft covered in moss guns etc. still on board it had been missing since WW2. the grownups were entertained by the air force officials i went to school next day. that was my reward. lol

In Wilcox Co Alabama about 10 miles or so off the Alabama River came up on 3 old graves with a rusted out wire around them. One headstone had a date in the 1780's but was weather worn. Couldn't make out the name. Had to be real frontier back then. On the same lease saw something shiny in the leaves along a creek I was following and it turned out to be the top of a Miller High Life can with two more under the leaves with it. From then on that was 3 Beers Creek.


On a dozier cut in Jefferson Co, Al on a ridge triangle between a big creek and a smaller one I started finding all kinds of flint flakes. Ended up finding a small clear quartz bird point about 3/4 x 1/2 and a smooth round slate stone that appears to be a palm guard for flaking (fits perfectly in the circle you can form with thumb and middle finger). Was turkey hunting at the time and hit it a couple of licks with a hickory striker. Actually made a good high pitch yelp but won't go so far as to call it a turkey call. Also found several chunks of raw red flint up to the size of my fist. All this was interspesed with several patches of charcoal. Since the dozier had dug down a couple of feet or so I had to speculate this was at least some sort of temporary Creek or Choctaw camp.

When I was hunting with one of uncles I kicked a small
trash pile that had been there for a long time and I found
a "Lucky Joe Bank" that resembled Joe Louis the boxer.
Actually they were mustard jars when you bought them and
a slot in the metal lid made it a coin bank. Of course
the lid was rusted away and I took it home and showed
it to my Grandma. She showed me one that she owned that
resembled Donald Duck. I have both of them now sitting on
my mantle as conversation pieces, and of course for loose
change.

Grandma in White Crik area. one could find Arrow heads --spear points along Hoosic and Owlkill of which I have found. Web

Surefire 6P...new

The owlkill is the one I fished. Never found any arrowheads.
We used to hide by the railroad tracks down from the eggfarm. When the big trucks would slow down we'd (Sister, Brother, Neighbor and I) chuck suckers in the cab windows. Was really funny to see the trucks swerving and fish flying out the windows.

A lot of real old cars and beer cans in the way middle of no where with no roads....
Figure that one out.

Mr. CraigCollier,

Sorry, but I know exactly what I would do and have done. Return the money or anything else, that did not belong to me. Once returned a grocery bag with over $34,000 in it and I didn't have rent money. Gave the sack to Dallas Police. They gave me a receipt and said if the owner did not come forward--it was mine. Turned out that it belong to an eccentric old lady that carried all her money, with her in grocery sacks! Police said it amounted to over $100,000 in five grocery sacks that she carried, everywhere she went. She had a deep seated, mistrust of banks from a bad experience back in the 1920's. The lady gave me $3500 reward. Sure appreciated that, but never expected such.

Bottom line with me and I believe with most everyone on the Fire is---if it ain't mine, I don't want it.

Doubleagle

Once while hunting in a heavy snow storm, Me and my hunting partner found the tracks from 2 guys on snow shoe's, found out we were walking in a big cricle. so dose finding your self count