matt93
Junior Member
Some days are quite forgettable out in the field; other days are memorable and leave you shaking your head in disbelief. Saturday was one of the later.
I got an invite from a buddy to visit a couple of sites in far Eastern Oregon. Two of the three sites turned out to be a bust, the third however was amazing.
The third site was situated right near the Oregon Trail, so we stepped out of the truck with the expectations of finding plenty of iron targets; wagon parts, horse and other livestock tac, maybe even some bullets and some pork chops.
The first target dug by my buddy turned out to be exactly that...some pieces of iron from a harness that were obviously hand forged. My first target on the Nox was a small, low conductor that turned out to be a .22 short shell casing. Yep, more of the same "stuff".
Literally my second target hit a solid repeatable 20 in multiple directions and showed merely 2 bars deep. With expectations tempered to perhaps a shotgun shell base, I dug a shallow hole and flipped the plug.
My mind was blown.
I didn't have my phone to take photos in-situ, so I apologize for the later photos, but you get the idea...
I'm having difficulty in uploading photos in correct order to go with my story, so bear with me. The second target was the half dime.
My partner then dug two pieces of U.S. Cavalry spur, and the abused general service Eagle Button. My second amazing find made about an hour later was the US Cavalry bit boss...all bucketlisters made at the same site within a couple of hours. We also recovered (4) .36 calibre roundball, two of them drops, and two of them fired, as well as what I believe to be an awl constructed from a square nail. We also tag teamed the pewter spoon which I was not expecting to find in such a site, but I shouldn't be too surprised. Most of the sites I visit aren't nearly this old out here in Oregon.
Needless to say we'll be revisiting the site next spring when there is more moisture in the ground as I'm sure there's more history there to save.
Good luck, happy hunting, and thank you for looking!
I got an invite from a buddy to visit a couple of sites in far Eastern Oregon. Two of the three sites turned out to be a bust, the third however was amazing.
The third site was situated right near the Oregon Trail, so we stepped out of the truck with the expectations of finding plenty of iron targets; wagon parts, horse and other livestock tac, maybe even some bullets and some pork chops.
The first target dug by my buddy turned out to be exactly that...some pieces of iron from a harness that were obviously hand forged. My first target on the Nox was a small, low conductor that turned out to be a .22 short shell casing. Yep, more of the same "stuff".
Literally my second target hit a solid repeatable 20 in multiple directions and showed merely 2 bars deep. With expectations tempered to perhaps a shotgun shell base, I dug a shallow hole and flipped the plug.
My mind was blown.
I didn't have my phone to take photos in-situ, so I apologize for the later photos, but you get the idea...
I'm having difficulty in uploading photos in correct order to go with my story, so bear with me. The second target was the half dime.
My partner then dug two pieces of U.S. Cavalry spur, and the abused general service Eagle Button. My second amazing find made about an hour later was the US Cavalry bit boss...all bucketlisters made at the same site within a couple of hours. We also recovered (4) .36 calibre roundball, two of them drops, and two of them fired, as well as what I believe to be an awl constructed from a square nail. We also tag teamed the pewter spoon which I was not expecting to find in such a site, but I shouldn't be too surprised. Most of the sites I visit aren't nearly this old out here in Oregon.
Needless to say we'll be revisiting the site next spring when there is more moisture in the ground as I'm sure there's more history there to save.
Good luck, happy hunting, and thank you for looking!
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