Silver ring, gold ring, man on stretcher

BillZ · Feb 28, 2009

In the usual haunt today.

This was our first find :shock:

That's the biggest Garter snake I have ever seen. It was about 30" long by my estimate.

Then I found this...

The wife found a 9 wheaties and a military dog tag. That's the 2nd one we have found! I went for about an hour with nothing but a penny and some trash Then found this...

Found a couple of 40's nickles that are in bad shape and a few more wheaties. Then this sterling ring popped up. It is smashed pretty badly but it's silver.

The gold ring is a 1952 class ring from nearby Bladensburg High School. You can see in the following pics that there are also initials inside. When I took it out of my pocket at the end of the day I found that it had broken but I hope it can be fixed. I emailed the Bladensburg Alumni group and asked them if they could help me find the owner.

Here's the dog tag my wife found...

So why did I mention a man on a stretcher?

It's kind of weird to find it along with the dog tag. I felt like that after this hunt. It was a long 5 hours in 40 degree weather.
I am beat!

frog · Feb 28, 2009

Dang,man...I would have thought it a bit early for snakes...

Nice digs. WTG on that ring. Nice of you to try to find the owner. Good deal.

Janster · Feb 28, 2009

..Very nice hunt! Congrats on the Rings!

BillZ · Feb 28, 2009

frog said:
Dang,man...I would have thought it a bit early for snakes...
Nice digs. WTG on that ring. Nice of you to try to find the owner. Good deal.

I know it really surprised me to see the snake this time of year but I think now is when they mate, we found mating garter snakes this time last year. You can't see it in the pic but just above the snake is a hole at the base of a tree, so it looked like he wasn't venturing far from home.

ewemule · Feb 28, 2009

Awesome ....

One cool thing about the class ring is that the hunt has just begun. I hope you find the owner. Very cool. Beautiful snake too !
Marty

Bearharold · Feb 28, 2009

Great gold and silver finds and the snake was out really early I would think . Most snakes are cold blooded and hibernating right now .
Very nice work finding the good stuff.

HH Harold

FXDiz · Feb 28, 2009

Nice hunt! You two found a lot of personal history today! Hope you are able to find the owner of the class ring! make sure you let us know if you do!

skydivdav · Feb 28, 2009

I must admit I too had to double-check the date of this post when I saw the picture of the snake. Man am I surprised to see that in February!
Let us know if you find the ring's owner. How cool!

david

GiGi · Feb 28, 2009

snakes in winter?????

Geeezzzzzzeeee Louiseeeee! I just posted a thread a couple of days ago asking about snakes in winter, and EVERYBODY told me not to worry about it! We live out in the country, and I'm wanting to hunt an old well site that is in the next pasture. I think I'll wait till it snows again to hunt! :no:

Great finds in your hunt! That's great!
GiGi

SeabeeRon · Feb 28, 2009

Great finds you guys! Very neat old class ring!

RickAZ · Mar 1, 2009

Nice hunt your guys!
GL on finding the ring's owner.

HH,
Rick

emdees · Mar 1, 2009

Ah! The opportunity to research to find an owner!! Best of luck, and great hunt (except for the snake)! :lol:

emdees

Got_4by4 · Mar 1, 2009

Who's afraid of a little snake?

December 2006 here in SoCal I met this little guy in the middle of my trail.
Happy Hunting, Stay Safe!

~Alan~ · Mar 1, 2009

Thats an interesting mix of finds Bill. Were all these finds made in one small area I wonder ? If so they could be related to each other ?
You should also be able to trace the history of the car licence plate.

I take it that the snake is non-poisonous ? I would still have gone in the opposite direction

jcham · Mar 1, 2009

Nice post congrats

jamie

dave+bobbie · Mar 1, 2009

great hunt wtg on the finds
hh
dave+bobbie

BillZ · Mar 1, 2009

~Alan~ said:
Thats an interesting mix of finds Bill. Were all these finds made in one small area I wonder ? If so they could be related to each other ?
You should also be able to trace the history of the car licence plate.

I take it that the snake is non-poisonous ? I would still have gone in the opposite direction

The area we found these items in has become our regular spot. It is a roughly 1/2 mile by 1/4 mile bit of woods that formerly had housing for workers of an adjacent airplane factory during WWII. After the war, they were torn down. The woods is full of about 30 odd concrete foundations and mostly buried roads. It is unlikely any of the items are related because they were not found close together. My wife prefers to wander and I usually stay in a small area so we are normally in different parts of the woods and keep in contact with walkie talkies.

The pic of the woods I posted in this thread shows the most productive area so far. It is near the center of the old housing project and from what I can tell by the historical aerial photos, had a neighborhood baseball diamond. It's also relatively free of underbrush, making for easier hunting. A lot of this woods is full of briers and wisteria and is very difficult to hunt. That's one reason why we are hunting there almost every weekend during the winter. In the summer, most of it will be pretty thick with vegetation and it will be too warm to wear protective clothing for the pricker bushes.

Garter snakes are normally very harmless and docile although I always keep my distance because I am not fond of snakes and have always been afraid of them. The zoom function on the camera comes in handy.

I can handle spiders and other creepy-crawlies but not snakes.

SeabeeRon · Mar 1, 2009

"...I can handle spiders and other creepy-crawlies but not snakes."

Not me!! I am just the opposite, give me a snake over a spider anyday!!

foreverRich · Mar 1, 2009

Congratulations on a very successful hunt. Even though you didn't wind up with many coins, you sure found some nice things. You know there has to be a lot to be found in the area. Good luck with your future hunts.

P.S.

You don't have to worry about the snakes, unless they are shedding their skin. Then they will strike out at any threatening movement because they are unable to see very well. But at least they are not poisonous.

NCBounty15 · Mar 1, 2009

Nice hunt! What are the dates on the wheat pennies? Any oldies? HH
NC

Silver ring, gold ring, man on stretcher

BillZ

Elite Member

frog

Janster

BillZ

Elite Member

ewemule

Bearharold

Official Pull Tab King

FXDiz

skydivdav

GiGi

Elite Member

SeabeeRon

"Can Do" Moderator

RickAZ

Elite Member

emdees

Got_4by4

Junior Member

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~Alan~

jcham

Elite Member

dave+bobbie

Elite Member

BillZ

Elite Member

SeabeeRon

"Can Do" Moderator

foreverRich

NCBounty15

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