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Thread: Road Trip down south

  1. #1
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Road Trip down south

    Earlier this month I had an opportunity to head down to South Carolina (Orangeburg area) with some friends for a long weekend of "treasure hunting" . We attended the "Relicon" hunt that was organized by Axel Macon and Clyde "Kandi Chilson" on a 1000 acre piece of property with supposedly a Civil war skirmish. Its sad to say they hyped up the event way too too much , it was a $200 for a three day hunt and it was a big let down . I and many others spent the whole first day in the 2 fields available , they lost permission to the large oval fields marked on the map Name:  SC property map.jpg
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Size:  44.0 KB(or should i say never had permission to it in the first place ) the night before the event with little to nothing to show for it. Supposedly they had been planning this event out for the last year but neglected to provide any restrooms for the hundreds of people who shown up , this event was very poorly run and the hosts didn't really seem to care or help people locating any finds. This is not the first time that I've heard Axel and Clyde do this type of shenanigans unfortunately it was long after the hunt though. My only find were some very small lead buck shot , shotgun shells and miscellaneous brass scrap or tubing . I did recover a small pistol type bullet that was id'ed as a .36 colt pistol but that was wrong .

    There was some glimmer of hope that took place after the first day , many people complained at the lack of finds and huntable land as most of the 1000 acres was swamp near the Edisto river so the organizers got the neighboring field permission but it was not a huge strip of land with a very newer home built on it but it was something. Late our first day one of the friends I was with bumped into a gentleman and 10 year old daughter digging for native American artifacts , he invited us to dig with him and that he would never be able to dig it all in the next day or two so we gladly accepted . This good man was Chad Childs and well known for finding and excavating ancient artifacts from all around the south , it was great to meet him in person and "Pick his brain" so to speak , the man is a wealth of knowledge of native American items .

    We shown up early at the site 6:30 the next day and went right to work , we had brought down with us a full sized sifter , water detecting sifters and shovels to do some fossil hunting later in the weekend down here too so these worked pretty well for finding arrow points and pottery Name:  south carolina arrow hunting.jpg
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Size:  95.3 KB , the nice 3 legged sifter worked flawlessly but I had to wear gloves as I found out the hard way that the tiny knapped flakes of chert were still razor sharp after thousands of years in the dirt.Name:  SC first point area.jpg
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Size:  147.3 KB . My first day i claimed first point Name:  SC first point.jpg
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Size:  69.9 KB a small arrow "bird point" , if i wasn't sifting i'm sure i would of missed it . A few of the friends I was with (in the pictures) found broken points or bases but Ron got a beautiful point (here it isName:  sc Ron's point.jpg
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Size:  59.0 KB ) its more than twice the length of mine and had a nice semi-translucent appearance held to the light . We dug most of that Saturday and went back Sunday again early but only until noonish my stone, flakes , tools ( the grinding stone near the antler ),points and pottery from both those days Name:  SC pottery and stone finds.jpg
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Size:  74.6 KB the deer shed was eyeballed detecting through the woods (i got 2 that day) Name:  SCpottery point.jpg
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Size:  65.9 KB . here is the small point and an unfinished larger point Name:  SC first point and unfinished point.jpg
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Size:  52.4 KB . Mr. Childs saved our hunt at the Relicon as he was unselfishly gave us his time about where to look and information and timelines about our finds , he was a great host who helped many others who came down to dig.

    our last day Sunday we finally got into the river to find prehistoric shark teeth and fossils , our backs were pretty worn out because of the digging and sifting the last day and a half but we all want some shark teeth and particularly a Megladon tooth. Name:  SC fossilized shark teeth.jpg
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Size:  71.6 KB needless to say after a couple of hours I had about 200 teeth and a broken meg tooth plus some good others .Name:  SC fossilized shark teeth 2.jpg
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Size:  85.3 KB So we did have a backup plan to fossil hunt if the detecting hunt was a bust , sorry for not showing any detecting finds . I mainly posted for all to be aware of any future "Relicon" hunts or any hunts that involve Axel and Clyde , these two have set a bad precedence to misguide and false advertise their events just to profit off others.

    Dan
    "Honesty is an expensive gift ,
    so don't expect it from cheap people"

    XP Deus II , DFX ,TDI sl -

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  2. #2
    Very cool Dan! Some nice points, lots of pottery. Broken meg, looks like some juvenile megs also. Lemon and snaggletooth sharks as well.
    Oldest find: 5,000 year old copper spearhead
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    "He who would search for pearls must dive below."

  3. #3
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lodge Scent View Post
    Very cool Dan! Some nice points, lots of pottery. Broken meg, looks like some juvenile megs also. Lemon and snaggletooth sharks as well.
    Yes , you know your teeth well , the small broken Meg is about 30 million years old and the Angustiden tooth is closer 50 million years old .
    "Honesty is an expensive gift ,
    so don't expect it from cheap people"

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  4. #4
    Elite Member The Rebel's Avatar
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    Wow, Dan sorry to hear that this happened. I'm surprised that there wasn't an angry mob looking to get even.

    Thank God you ran into Mr. Childs and he offered to share his spot. How old are the points?
    Minelab Manticore / SPECTRA V3i, Pro-Pointer II. Lesche Digger.
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  5. #5
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Rebel View Post
    Wow, Dan sorry to hear that this happened. I'm surprised that there wasn't an angry mob looking to get even.

    Thank God you ran into Mr. Childs and he offered to share his spot. How old are the points?
    Thanks Roger , the small bird point seems to be the newest that dated from about 750 to 1000 years old , my buddy Ron's was from about 3500 to 5000 years ago and neither stone was native of the area
    "Honesty is an expensive gift ,
    so don't expect it from cheap people"

    XP Deus II , DFX ,TDI sl -

    Click here to view my finds album


  6. #6
    Amazing finds! Why did you bring a sifter with you? For the shark teeth? You really made lemonade out of that lemon. I was toying with the idea of doing a group hunt in RI but glad I decided against it. I did one years ago and watched 200 detectorists go at an "undetected" farm for 90 min. I never saw ANYONE digging. I quickly left and lost my fee. Hope your trip was memorable with friends.
    On Instagram- oxshoedrew

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by del View Post
    Yes , you know your teeth well , the small broken Meg is about 30 million years old and the Angustiden tooth is closer 50 million years old .
    No not really, I do watch Paleo Chris videos though
    Oldest find: 5,000 year old copper spearhead
    Oldest coin: 1699 William III halfpenny
    Purdiest coin: 1832 Capped Bust quarter
    Coolest find: USA button with blue threads still on shank

    "He who would search for pearls must dive below."

  8. #8
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    Well at least you were able to hunt for different items other than the intent. Hope the trip was still worth it. Finding those artifacts and shark's teeth would be pretty fun to do (minus the back pain).
    Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Waterproof Pinpointer, CTX3030 with 6,11,17" coils.

  9. #9
    Veteran Member BTV Digger's Avatar
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    Sorry to hear about that Dan, but nice to see you put a positive spin on the experience and saved some history nonetheless. Plus you met some nice folks!

    John
    Vermont relic hunting, one swing at a time.
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG2...OLib30A/videos

  10. #10
    Senior Member fyrffytr1's Avatar
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    Was this the same hunt a guy "found" a belt plate he had purchased on E-bay?
    My wife does all the driving, I just hold the steering wheel!

  11. #11
    Great report and very exciting finds. Interesting to see how much our European Neolithic arows resemble those of the Native Americans. It must have been a great feeling to get lucky while sifting. The shark teeth are also very nice. What a lot!

    I didn't know that events like this existed. Too bad it didn't bring the success. What qualifies the organizer to take 200 dollars? The research or the land ownership?


    Thanks for the report.

    Greetings

  12. #12
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    Sorry to hear the original hunt was a dud but good job making lemonade out of lemons. I was thinking of doing something like that but you have taught me to do some real good research before sending money. Thx for the summary. Wd
    Total silver 3 - Goal 50 (2024 Finds) - 0 Washington - 0 Barber Dimes - 0 Mercury Dimes- - 3 Roosevelt Dimes - 0 V Nickels - 0 Buffalos - 0 War Nickels - 0 Indian - 10 Wheats - $ 3.44 in clad
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  13. #13
    most of those hunts are social events
    Dig Colonial or Go Home

    Personal Website www.cttodd.com

  14. #14
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CTTodd View Post
    most of those hunts are social events
    I'm not into social events , I want finds .... I must be one of the few "John waynes" left in in this hobby who doesn't have a you tube channel and have to arouse my followers with continuing to produce finds . That must be so much pressure on some , I guess it's why some take the easy route and just plant stuff.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
    "Honesty is an expensive gift ,
    so don't expect it from cheap people"

    XP Deus II , DFX ,TDI sl -

    Click here to view my finds album


  15. #15
    Glad you got into the Native American area. I have never found Indian pottery. This is exactly the reason that I will not go to paid hunts anymore. The last one I attended in VA (by well known organizers) soured me on these types of hunts. They always announce the "bad news" about the site the night before the event --- after you have paid your money for the hunt and invested gas, hotels and food in the trip.
    XP Deus

  16. #16
    I wished you had come by...I would have taken you hunting.
    Best finds GW Button and John Adams Cufflink.
    Trust in the Lord...

  17. #17
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by calabash digger View Post
    I wished you had come by...I would have taken you hunting.
    I may take you up on that the next time I'm down that way in fact we may be in Calabash NC this fall for a week .

    Dan
    "Honesty is an expensive gift ,
    so don't expect it from cheap people"

    XP Deus II , DFX ,TDI sl -

    Click here to view my finds album


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