Getting Ready For Relic Hunting Season

Do yall have any concern about relic hunting during deer hunting season?
Safety isnt always the issue but if you spook off that big buck they have been tracking all summer can get them pretty made.
 
Do yall have any concern about relic hunting during deer hunting season?
Safety isnt always the issue but if you spook off that big buck they have been tracking all summer can get them pretty made.
Not really as I lay down on the horn for about 2 minutes when I go in to let them I know I'm in there and I really care about the deer hunters as there are relics to be found.
 
Not really as I lay down on the horn for about 2 minutes when I go in to let them I know I'm in there and I really care about the deer hunters as there are relics to be found.
We can always depend on you to be the subtle type.
 
My son-in-law told me to get my black powder target practice finished before the season opener.
And you listen to your son in law????????????????
 
Do yall have any concern about relic hunting during deer hunting season?
Safety isnt always the issue but if you spook off that big buck they have been tracking all summer can get them pretty made.
I don’t go during hunting season. Deer season ends the first week of January in Va and spring gobbler turkey season comes in in late April or early May and is open from sun up tell noon. So I start my season after deer season and only go in the woods after 12 noon during the spring. I don’t go at all from the start of hot weather until the fist week of January. There are a few exceptions , ie when I am on property I know hunting isn’t permitted.
 
But you would be surprised the land owners who will let you go if you just ask ….. keeping in mind you run into a lot that , impolitely tell you no
On second thought there is considerable land owned by timber companies but they tend to lease rights to hunt clubs- who tend to not welcome strangers and many of them relic hunt too.
It’s been a few decades, but I didn’t have denials at that time. I have no doubt times have changed a bit. I recall driving in and out of a hunt club near a Civil War area and received an unwelcome reception.
 
It’s been a few decades, but I didn’t have denials at that time. I have no doubt times have changed a bit. I recall driving in and out of a hunt club near a Civil War area and received an unwelcome reception.
Yea. Those boys sometimes pay big $ for use of the land and don’t want anyone around that hasn’t paid dues. There are a few exceptions.
 
Yea. Those boys sometimes pay big $ for use of the land and don’t want anyone around that hasn’t paid dues. There are a few exceptions.
I had a friend of mine who joined a hunting club at Champions Hill just so he could get access to the battlefield land and I would go over and meet him as his guest. It worked out well.
 
Like I said - you’re one lucky son of a gun.

A great deal of the property along I 95 in VA was and is still good hunting. Especially around the US Marine corps base at Quantico. But it’s now off limits to relic hunting. When it was legal, we did exactly how you described. Someone would drive and pull over several of us would grab machines and go over the guard rail and the driver would return at a pre determined time to pick us up.
When I was about 17 yo in 1963 ( yes I am a dinosaur) I 95 was beginning to come through VA when my brother and I found a virgin camp that was going to go under concrete. We practically lived in the camp and found many prized items. We never cleaned it out but we tried. Near the end we took every relic hunter we could gather in there and nice items were still coming up.
One memorable item I found - and have never found another was a tin type. It was a photo of a lady in a flower garden. Before we could get home the image faded until it was just a thin piece of tin. But I will never forget it and often wondered who she was and where she was from
Interesting story about the tin type photo. Did sun exposure cause the image to fade? It would be nice to be able to save those kind of relics.....oh, the stories they could tell!!!
 
Interesting story about the tin type photo. Did sun exposure cause the image to fade? It would be nice to be able to save those kind of relics.....oh, the stories they could tell!!!
I am not sure what caused the tin type to fade, but I presume it was the air. When I dug it I just thought it was a piece of tin but the edges were still smooth so I decided to do a light cleaning with water to see if there were any manufacturers information and that’s when the image stared appearing. I looked at it a few seconds and put it in my pocket. I checked it a few hours later and the image was still good. When I got home later in the evening it had faded significantly but you could still make it out. Two days later the image was gone.
Maybe if I had thought to put a coat of Shellac on it to seal it, it might have lasted.
It was the only one I ve ever found.
I also was in a different camp and wasn’t doing well when I got a tin reading and with it being a slow day decided to dig. Just a few inches under the surface I dug the tin but large amounts of hardtack started coming up under it. I didn’t save any but wish I had. I went back a couple of days later and the hardtack I dug was still laying around the hole
 
I am not sure what caused the tin type to fade, but I presume it was the air. When I dug it I just thought it was a piece of tin but the edges were still smooth so I decided to do a light cleaning with water to see if there were any manufacturers information and that’s when the image stared appearing. I looked at it a few seconds and put it in my pocket. I checked it a few hours later and the image was still good. When I got home later in the evening it had faded significantly but you could still make it out. Two days later the image was gone.
Maybe if I had thought to put a coat of Shellac on it to seal it, it might have lasted.
It was the only one I ve ever found.
I also was in a different camp and wasn’t doing well when I got a tin reading and with it being a slow day decided to dig. Just a few inches under the surface I dug the tin but large amounts of hardtack started coming up under it. I didn’t save any but wish I had. I went back a couple of days later and the hardtack I dug was still laying around the hole
For hard tack to be intact after all those years speaks volumes about how that stuff probably affected the soldier’s stomach 😂❤️❤️❤️
 
You are welcome anytime. Here is a photo I took of some of the stuff that was eyeballed in the field.
View attachment 418612

There are still a lot of places to hunt and as @Woods-walker research and walking but I have found with all the interweb tools we have now days, that the more research you do the less walking there is.
Lucky for us those Confederate “I” buttons fell off so easy. If they didn’t there would be a lot less around to find and collect!
 
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