I Walked 8 Miles For A Button

[F350Platinum]

Got back from a day hunt in Culpeper Virginia yesterday, usually I post immediately but struggled with a title 😀

This post is more an ode to the Deus 2 than anything spectacular, I'd be in a world of cramps and pain today without it. 🤔

This farm is in Rixeyville VA, it was a part of the Battle of Brandy Station in 1863. The owner hosts hunts there, it's a beautiful place with an incredible old house called Liberty Hall. The hunts are "limited" to 100 detectorists, and despite the absolutely miserable weather there were only 5 no-shows out of 82 signed up. I saw every kind of detector in use,  from an Ace 400 too the WS6 Master, and PI's galore. I don't know how they do it.

It doesn't get much more miserable than 42 degrees and heavy mist that turned to rain. Luckily it only rained for a couple hours. Add to that the heavy mineralized sticky Culpeper red clay, and you've got quite an adventure. 😀 I had to keep wiping my pinpointer off in the grass just so I could push the button!

I'm not complaining, my time in the Army both in winter Basic Training and the muddy hills of Germany helped me mentally overcome adversity, Chase was there to get trigger time on the Axiom, but he hunted with the D2 as well. According to him the place has been hunted for quite some time now. He made quite a stir with the PI guys.

Turns out that hunting the fringes and woods of this place was the way to go, they seeded some stuff but mostly prize tags, and on 220 acres that wasn't much. I think only 9 of them were found. Most successful finds were made in remote areas.

Here you can see my track in OnX Hunt, many of the areas had horses or cattle in them and were off limits. I mostly tracked around the marks I made, pickets and cannon emplacments and such. Seemed like all the walking was uphill. 😀 I'm 63, and still have a bit of "go" in me so I was able to make it through 7.75 miles of up and downhill. Yikes.

Sadly I didn't photograph my trash, it was meager but covered with red mud so I left most of it there. I got an iron "Chain Trace" that was identified by one of the participants. The rest was wire and nails. I did find a couple of .223 shells, but stopped digging them and left that area.

Here's my ode to the D2, if I didn't have that light machine I would have cramped arms and a bit of a rough time today. Despite the heavily mineralized clay, every good signal was a good find, I just didn't get my coil over many good targets. Iffy signals were all iron or junk. I have complete confidence that I can hunt with the D2 and come home with a minimum of junk.

I used my Reaper program almost exclusively, which while acting somewhat differently because of mineralization still gave me the returns I expected with a VLF. With SteveG's carbon fiber shaft and the 13x11 I was able to cover a lot of ground, my legs did the rest.

All I got in 7.4 hours of hunting and walking was this Yankee General Service button, I'll post better photos after cleaning it up more.

It has the shank and should have backmarks. I followed a hunch, went to the top of a hill on my last push to find something, and there it was. An "11th hour" find that made the day worthwhile. 🙂

It was by far the toughest hunt I've ever been on, my wife wasn't happy with all the red clay on my clothes but she managed to get them spotless. 😀 Some of my gear now has nifty "battle scars". 🤣

[Rick N. MI]

Great hunt, great button, beautiful place.

Is that your heated gloves on your detector?

[F350Platinum]

3 minutes ago, Rick N. MI said:

Great hunt, great button, beautiful place.

Is that your heated gloves on your detector?

No, and I wished I brought them for the first couple hours, but the red clay and rain would have messed them up. 😀 I had heavy socks on so my feet stayed warm. It never got above 52 despite predicted 71.

[Chase Goldman]

Great find Bob.  You worked hard for that one and it's a beauty.  I got skunked for the first time ever there and that did not feel good at all (decided not to just remain static and dig bullets in the well known CW camp firing range - been there, done that a few years back and came away with over 80 minies in one day).  But that's the nature of the detecting "biz".  But learned A LOT about how that Axiom behaves near Culpeper with the small 7x11 DD (had already made a couple runs with the larger stock DD) and different settings.  Hopefully, that knowledge, plus a little better luck, will serve me well at DIV this week.  But you never know.  It's typically boom or bust at these events as the CW finds diminish with every visit.

[F350Platinum]

12 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

It's typically boom or bust at these events as the CW finds diminish with every visit.

You'll find plenty at DIV for sure, if we go to Liberty Hall again the fringe areas and woods are the way to go. 🙂

For a noob I was grateful to get ONE thing 😀 it didn't seem like there was much overall, and most of it came from the woods. There's still a lot of area we haven't been over there. I was really pleased with my program overall, but it definitely was a different animal there. Undesirable finds were all "false and cut".

Wish I had more time to create a better program for red dirt, but I did test the Reaper against Relic, and it went just as deep. 👍

[TJ Jeepguy]

Good to know it did well in that dirt. I hope to get down that way sometime to detect and maybe pan for a little flour gold. 

[ColonelDan]

An exciting find.  You beat me with that one.  😊

Good job soldier…..👍🏻

[Lodge Scent]

Nice one F350! Glad the Reaper performed for you in those conditions. 8 miles of swinging a coil is a good hunt at 36, never mind at 63. I have a year on you but like you say, the Deus is light enough so it is really just all about keeping your legs in shape. 

[F350Platinum]

2 hours ago, TJ Jeepguy said:

Good to know it did well in that dirt. I hope to get down that way sometime to detect and maybe pan for a little flour gold. 

Thanks TJ. Chase calls that area the "gold belt", there might well be some in the Hazel River that flows through the farm. I have no idea how you would get in there, but you also might get some CW relics as well. Hope you get a chance!

I'm used to hunting my area where there is no gold, and "them thar hills" are maybe 200' max. 🤣 All my terrain is flat for the most part.

[F350Platinum]

1 hour ago, ColonelDan said:

An exciting find.  You beat me with that one.  😊

Good job soldier…..👍🏻

Thanks Colonel! it was a hunch that paid off. Even though we're taught not to "skyline" ourselves, some can't resist being King of the Hill, I guess... 🤣