I haven't found any notable new hunting spots lately so I've been rehitting a lot of my old locations to detect areas I hadn't covered well or explore other possible sites in those same patches of woods. Back on July 3rd, I headed to CT to meet up with OxShoe, Del, and Trooper Bri. Unfortunately OxShoe couldn't make it so it was Just Dan, Bri, and myself. We hit a few extremely old cellar holes but none of us did particularly well. Dan found a nice colonial button and indian head which were pretty much the best finds of the day. My best finds were a rolled up dandy button, ox knob, a bent up clad quarter, 1.5 musket balls, and 6.25 ox shoes. LOL. Well I still had a ton of fun, detecting is so much better when you are with others.
Anyways, last Tuesday I headed back to the site where I dug the Indian and the copper in the same hole a few hunts ago. I concentrated around the two cellar holes as there is a ton of thin flat iron that sounds exactly the same as the good targets. Place is loaded with it but its been getting quieter each time I go there as I remove more of it. I got a nice sounding signal on the hillside close to the cellar that leads down to the river below and popped out my 2nd ever complete crotal bell! Still rings like the day it was lost. Not sure on the age as it doesn't have any design. Also got another early horse tact buckle, carriage break, a brass spoon fragment (I lost it), and the surprise find of the day, a Pewter Musket ball! Only my 2nd ever musket ball that I can confirm is made of Pewter and this one appears to be of a pretty large caliber. That basically wraps up that hunt.
On Friday I made a long drive to a different part of Rhode Island to hit an area where I hadn't been since around Memorial day. The property is quite large and the cellars are extremely hard to get to as there are no trails. So far I have confirmed a total of 12 former home sites in these woods, all colonial era and all abandoned prior to the 1850's. Sadly, other people have beaten me to them and I am just picking up the leftovers. I made an almost two hour hike to a cellar hole I had been to before but had my batteries die before I could start swinging the coil. Of course that particular site turned out to be the most hunted out of all the places in the woods as I did not get a single non ferrous target anywhere close to the cellar hole. Rather then hanging at this cellar I decided to go a little south into the woods to hit a site I didn't spend a lot of time because there was a lot of trash there. Well on the way to the cellar hole I get a shallow 71-72 signal, expecting a shell casing but instead receive a nice colonial dandy button. I finally made it to the trashy cellar hole and got another shallow mid tone and was surprised to dig my 2nd ever cast drilled shank button from these woods. Only two inches or so down which is the same depth as most of the trash here. After digging a few pull tabs I moved away from the cellar hole and dug a pewter spoon handle. I then wandered to some stone walls and found another cellar hole very close by. Not much around the cellar so I moved behind to this small area with a bunch of small stone walls but far enough from the cellar so that I couldn't see it. Suddenly I start getting signals much more rapidly. Dug pewter shoe buckle frame fragment and several of buttons. Finally I got that sweet sounding high tone I'd been looking for and I pull a copper out of the hole. Its a King George 2, a little worn but not in bad condition. I couldn't get a date off of it but I was happy for my 12th copper of the year! I didn't stay much longer after as I was pretty exhausted and still had a long hike back. Not sure when I'll be going back to those woods but I am going to stick to the area where I got the majority of my targets the next time I do go. Overall, Happy hunting everyone!
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