I will respect private property and do no treasure hunting without the owners permission.
I will appreciate and protect our heritage of natural resources, wildlife, and private property.
I will use thoughtfulness, consideration, and courtesy at all times.
I will build fires in designated or safe places only.
I will fill all excavations.
I will leave gates as found.
I will remove and properly dispose of any trash that i find.
I will not litter.
I will not destroy property, buildings, or what is left of deserted structures.
I will not tamper with signs, structural facilities, or equipment.
Search those piles good
It all happened last Sunday morning, despite the very short thaw we had, I'd decided to get out with my detector and see what I could eek out of the ground. Normally I wouldn't go out in that weather (If you can remember it was a rainy day), but I had the next two days off and boy did I have the itch. Also having a friend tell me a place that was being ripped up, that has produced many tree coins in the past didn't help my decision to kick back in the lazyboy much.
There I was,sitting in the car on my way to the site. Steering wheel in one hand, coffee in the other hand, and my detectors in the trunk. Now...I don't know about you, but at my house this is about the closest I get to a break. After letting my mind run wild for almost an hour, I arrived at the site, parked my car, and then had a look around. Yup, it sure was being ripped up. As a matter of fact I was staring at an acre of dirt pile's just waiting to be searched. Faster than you can say...bing, bam, boom, I was suited up and ready to give it a shot.
At first glance it looked as if i wasn't going to be able to search the pile's due to the grade, but at closer inspection it really wasn't that bad, the back side of the pile's had a gradual grade. I started swinging my detector over the first pile on the right, slowly i made my way around the base,swing the coil up...swing the coil down, you know the drill. I was almost to the other side of the pile when i saw a hole in front of me. A HOLE, i said to myself, this must mean that i'll be picking up the leftovers today, i wasn't the first one there! I't was obvious now that if i wanted to take something home, i was going to have to approch the area with a plan. As i'm thinking about how to work the site...bingo...i get a signal, and you'll never guess where it's sounding off. Inside the hole in the ground, ya...thats right, the first signal of the day was someone's elses find! For whatever reason the person before me didn't dig it, and it's my turn to bring it into the light.
I got down on one knee and started to dig in the hole, hoping that something great was going to pop out. Move a little dirt here, move a little dirt there, and what do you know...i'm one musket ball richer. Thats cool, not the pine tree shilling i was hoping for, but still better that a piece of foil, or one of those bothersome pull tabs ! Wait...thats not all, after retrieving the fist musketball from the ground i rechecked the hole and got another signal, not as strong as the first but something was definately there. A few seconds later a rusty nail shows it's ugly head, this is probably why the first person left the hole behind.
