You Want To Go Where? (The Story Behind The Cows)

Click to watch the video

The story behind this video is a bit frustrating, liberating, and funny at the same time. The cows drove me crazy! They wouldn't leave me alone.

I've been researching this new area in the video for a couple of months and I finally got permission to detect on this HUGE farm. I think it has 160+ acres. Based on my research, I'm fully convinced that there were Civil War encampments in the area. My only problem was finding them. Earlier in the summer, I found a couple of clues. While I was detecting the stream that runs just below this property, I started finding hand carved lead fishing weights which are definitely old and probably from the late 1800's. Why is this a clue? Well, when troops moved through the area, on their down time, they would often carve the lead bullets and make things out of them. I've seen pictures of chess pieces, poker chips, figures, and yes...fishing weights. Now, it is also very likely that a local resident could have made them as well out of chunks of lead etc. but I found a couple that could have been made out of bullets.

Handmade fishing weights found in the stream

Handmade fishing weight (possibly a bullet)

Here are a couple of pictures I took. The picture on the right with a various assortments of fishing weights has one that could have been made out of a bullet. Its in the shape of a bullet (the one on the far right) but just flattened. I have no way of proving it but I did find another one that is just about the same size but not flattened and it looks like the bullet but again I have no way of proving it. Even though I can't prove these were anything related to Civil War encampments it did give me the confidence to start knocking on doors to get permission to detect on private property surrounding the area. I was fortunate to get permission to hunt this property but the property is so huge and I had a hard time deciding where to begin. I originally thought the encampments were down by the water but in this location there are hills and ridges so I wasn't sure where to start. I went with my instincts and stayed low but that didn't pan out so I decided to think about the circumstances that soldiers would have faced back in that period of time. The high hills and ridges would have been great lookouts and I wondered if some of soldiers would have been up on the highest points of grounds scouting for other troops. So one morning I set off on one of the ridges. Within 10 minutes I got a high signal pitch with my Garrett AT Pro and pulled up a toe or heal tap from a boot. The first question that came into my mind, "Is it Civil War related?" Let me be the first to say that I've hunted plenty of farm fields here in Maryland and I have never found a toe tap before so could it be a 2nd clue getting me closer to the encampment? I never found anything else that morning to verify anything so again, I was left not knowing and frustrated to say the least.

Toe tap found on a ridge of the farm

58-59 cal. 3 ringer found on the farm

The next weekend I went back and decided to hunt the area where I found the toe tap and move higher up the ridge and detect an area that I didn't get to the previous weekend. I think I had been detecting for about an hour and I was finding the normal farm junk but I did manage to pull up a 1887 Liberty Cent (not shown in the video) which is always a good feeling. I never get tired of digging up an old coins. Most coins you find in farm fields and pastures are usually pretty "toasted" from all the fertilizers and chemicals that get dumped in the ground every year but this one had a year on it so I gave it to the owner for letting me detect on the property which goes a long way getting you access to other property. Moving on...I think I was about 2 hours into the hunt and  I cam across a very scratchy signal between a 61 and 68 on the AT Pro. If you've been doing this long that sound gets your heart pumping especially if you are hunting for bullets. Most of the time they are false hits but you have to dig them to find out. If you watch the video you can see my excitement when I pulled this 58 or 59 cal. 3 ringer bullet up from 4 - 6 inches underground. I couldn't believe it. I felt like my research was finally paying off but that was the only bullet I found on that property so far and I've been back several times since. My theory on why I found this bullet was that I was either lucky or maybe a soldier was on the ridge and dropped it. However, I definitely don't think they were camped on this ridge. I think I would have found other items that would have solidified by research. Unfortunately, I have not found anything else but the neighbor that is further down the road denied me access to his property because he metal detects and he told me he has found several bullets, buckles etc on his property! Even though I don't have access to his property, I did secure access the property that butts up to his land from the land owner who is friends with the land owner of this farm (who I gave the 1887 Large cent to). Do you see how this works? :-) Once the soy beans are cut and hunting season slows down, I may be the one encamped on his property.

My search continues....