All of our paid metal detector hunts on the calendar this year we canceled.
But we did find three hunts that were not originally on our list to attend. We had two days in Pennsylvania, two days in Kentucky and one day in Mississippi.
In the eastern hunt, I didn’t do well, but both Susie and our grandson, Benjamin, came home with nice prizes, plus Civil War relics and lots of coins.
On our visit to Kentucky, just Susie and I went, and we both had a great outcome.
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She found tokens for a lot of prizes and a pouch full of silver dimes and some relics.
I found about the same amount of dimes as she did, but I dug fewer tokens.
One of my tokens turned out to be the one for the best prize of the weekend. I won a new Garret Ace 450 detector. I found this special target while using my new Minelab Vanquish 540 detector.
On the advice of several friends, we signed up for a Civil War relic hunt in Mississippi. This was an eight-hour drive for a one-day Saturday hunt.
After looking at a map, we saw the hunt was in Boonesville, Mississippi, in the far northeast corner of the state. It was about an hour’s drive from a place we stay every time we visit northwest Alabama.
We knew the hotel was great, and a great restaurant (Champy’s) where all the locals eat is nearby. We booked for Friday night going down and again for Saturday night on our way home.
Colbert County, which covers this area of Alabama, is filled with many outstanding outdoor activities we have enjoyed through the years.
The Coon Dog Cemetery is here, as is the Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve, Pickwick and Wilson lakes (great fishing!), the Rattlesnake Saloon (another unique restaurant), the Helen Keller birthplace and home, and many other interesting attractions. Check them out at www.colbertcountytourism.org.
Saturday morning found us heading for the hunt site. Our GPS unit said the place didn’t exist. The MapQuest map wasn’t any better. Susie finally found our destination on her phone.
We followed it step by step to the desired location. I wasn’t surprised the GPS said it didn’t exist. Even after arriving, I wasn’t sure where we were or if we would ever find our way out again.
Immediately on arriving, I discovered we had a problem. As I looked around at the other entrants, I noticed all had short shovels to use for retrieving the buried targets. We had the hunting knives we always use at hunts.
I didn’t realize the relics would be buried six inches deep instead of the one to two inches we were used to. We were starting with a large handicap.
There were 125 participants. The hunt flyer said there would be 6,000 Civil War bullets buried plus other relics, and 50 tokens to be redeemed for additional prizes.
The first hunt was 90 minutes. After digging my second target, I dropped my knife in the long grass and didn’t realize it until I went to dig the next item. I quickly tried to backtrack and find it, but no luck.
I ran (fast walked) back to the truck to retrieve an extra knife. By the time I returned to the field, I had lost 10 minutes of valuable time. I did find more than a dozen bullets and one token. I hoped when they redeemed the tokens for prizes, I would win a really neat Civil War item.
The first hunt ended, and we had an hour for lunch. I spent most of that time sitting in my yard chair realizing how old and out of shape I was.
Then, it was time for the afternoon hunt in the woods.
Digging was easier, but fighting through the trees, brush and vines was harder.
When an hour was up, we were ready to quit. We ended up for the day with 50 bullets between us and the one token I had found in the morning.
When we looked at the table full of token prizes, there were four or five metal detectors, some neat relics, and about half were metal detector accessory items.
These were way down the list of hoped-for prizes.
I wanted a great relic.
When the number on my token was drawn, it wasn’t for a relic or metal detector.
It was for a 1/10-ounce gold coin, one of two they had as prizes. Not what I was hoping for, but a great prize anyway. It basically paid for our entry fee for the hunt.
Now the scheduled hunts are over for the year. The weather is still decent. As long as the ground isn’t frozen, it’s detector weather.
We have lined up several locations where old houses stood in the 1800s or where they still stand.
We have gotten permission to hunt these sites and are still looking for others. (Please contact me if you have an older site where you will allow us to detect.)
Depending on whether the country is shut down for the virus next year, our first paid hunt will be in Memphis in March, but we will be doing a lot of detecting before then.
The author may be reached at [email protected].