Date 1-13-07 Location Type Old Site Detecting Time 6 hours Detector Minelab Explorer SE

I finally got to meet some of the guys I have met on the Dirt Journal and DFXOnly forums. Mike (Will.Change.Name.Often), Steve (ssehunter), Tim (Bazooka), Anthony (Klopek), Tim (TXTim) and I met at Memorial at 8AM and decided to hit a part of Memorial I had never heard about. One of the concerns about hitting this site was a homeless dude inhabiting the site that acted kind of strange the last time they hunted there. We figured that six of us were enough to take on one homeless guy...unless he started taking us out one by one...lol.

Our six vehicle convey made its way to the site and we got our equipment ready. Everyone was swinging DFX's except Mike (BH3300 and I (SE). We walked down the dirt track into the center of the park and came upon the homeless guy's domicile. It looked like a comfy little place, actually. Tent, firepit, stacked wood...a regular camp site. The guy was standing off the trail with a roll of toilet paper in his hand. I am glad we didn't arrive a few minutes earlier. We said hello and told him what we were doing. He was cool and asked us not to tell anyone that he was living there. We went ahead into the brush, found a clearing and started detecting.

I had the 4x7 coil on the SE. Being new to the SE I was not sure how I would do at a site like this. I selected the all metal pattern with ferrous tones. I got constant signals, but they were all iron which, being a low tone, was easy to listen to. I went off into the woods and found a lot of arrows, some bullets and shotgun shells. Only one us us found an old coin (TXTim, Barber Quarter). When I made my way back to the group they were hard at work on a spot that gave up many buttons and dog tags. I mosied off again and found a watch back and a few other items. I found a small eagle button. I did not realize it until I cleaned the finds the next day.

Randy regaling TXTim with his stories

After a while we all congregated on a rise above an old dump. This dump could probably produce some excellent finds if you spent some time on it. TXTim and the homeless guy, who now had a name, Randy, were talking and we were going through our finds. TXTim brought Randy over and told us that Randy had a story we might want to hear. In short, Randy was bumming through Georgia (I think) and found a large old abandoned house off in the woods that he decided to camp in. Two men came in the house and told Randy that they owned the property, but he could stay the night. They also told him that there was a treasure hoard in the house that they could not find. That night Randy walked around the house and noticed that all the floor boards creaked, except in a certain area. He pried a board up and could not believe his eyes. He put the board back. In the morning the two guys came back and Randy showed them what he had found. Under the boards was a huge metal box filled to the very top with mid-1800's coins. These coins were wrapped in their original cloth coin rolls and in mint condition. The men gave Randy $5000. Randy heard later that they had made $14.5 million off the hoard. It was an interesting story, and very possibly true.

Anthony, Tim, Mike and Steve shooting the breeze

Some of the guys left at this point. The rest of us hunted for another hour or so. My luck was not as good as most of the other guys. Maybe I was swinging the SE too fast. No excuses…some days are better than others. After we said goodbye to Randy (gave him $5) we left and Steve and I hit Picnic Lane for an hour. Steve scored a 1945 Mercury Dime nestled up against a tree. I kept my record going strong by not finding anything (lol). Regardless, it was a great day and a lot of fun.

HH! The Beep Goes On

Watch back and possible inner watch part, eagle button, 10 gauge shell, buckles, etc.

Watch back

Eagle button