Neat Things You Found While Hunting

prizes14

prizes14

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Wondering what cool things everyone has found before while hunting. I'm talking, arrowheads, artifacts, buried treasure, gold, lost rifle, lost grave, etc.

Hunters cover a lot of ground so here has to be some neat old stuff out there.
 
Where I hunt mule deer there is strange man made rock structure. No one has ever been able to say what exactly it is. Other strange thing is the rocks had to have been hauled into this area from quite far away. I've always wanted to dig around it but I never do. There are all kinds of old western ruins and Indian camps on this place.
 
Hunted a drainage one time that I had never been in before. Deadfall jungle down in there, and having to go up and over a lot of downed trees. Hopped of one, and landed right on an old original #5 Newhouse bear trap! It was still chained to a tree that had rotted off long long ago, and no sign of a cubby. Had to have been ages before, probably by a sheep herder.
 
One time in the high country I found a pile of high end camping gear food and other gear. No one around. So I loaded it all up and took it to the forest service. I’m sure someone lost it. Good thing too because not 3 days later on opening day there was a guy complaining on this website that his camp and all his gear was stolen in the same drainage! I’m positive the gear I found would of been stolen too like that guys! I checked in a few months later with the forest service and they still had the gear. No one came to claim it. It had to be 3000 worth of stuff...
 
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Here's a pic of it.
 
The skull of a large bull elk with one antler stuck under a fallen tree. I don't know how many days it had taken for him to die.
 
Found the complete skeleton of a 46” wide 160” B&C moose in a quakie pocket one Fall. Tree had fallen and broken the back and pinned him down.
 
When I was shed hunting in Wyoming I found the base and the part where the wick would go on an old lantern
 
Once in my youth I found an 1894 38/40 Winchester still in the Winchester box.
Again to my youth I grabbed the gun and left the box, really really really wish I would have grabbed the box
 
I've found multiple cool things. 2 buffalo sheaths from way back in the day. Half of a buffalo skull in the middle of the green river. Lots of dinosaur bones Bottles arrowheads 50 cal bullets coins. I found an old canteen from ww1 with a soldier's name on the bottom! my daughter just found something really cool I will post pics later today!
 
Years ago while traveling a trail to a pit blind I built at a spring, I had a glance at some movement off to the left just in the trees, so I checked where I saw it. A gopher! But on top of his mound I found a near perfect Piute flint arrowhead. Since the original owner isn't here anymore and the gopher apparently didn't want it, I took it. Still have it!
 
In the mid 1980s found a Model 721 Remington 30.06 on a ranch I used to hunt near Steamboat in a patch of lodgepole pines. Action was rusted shut and appeared to have been there for a long time. I called the rancher and told him I had found a rifle and he said let me tell you what it is. He described it exactly and said there was a round in the chamber and asked where I found it. He said they had spent several days trying to find it years ago and that the hunter was horse back with the scabbard pointing backwards when riding through those lodgepoles. Had that happen myself but found the rifle in the trail before I learned better.
 
I was "guiding" a friend on a pronghorn hunt in Modoc County, CA and we were crawling in the sage brush and I found a pair of binos half buried in the dirt. After he shot the buck I went back and dug them up. It was a pair of Zeiss 6X30 and had a brass plate that said U.S. Army Signal Corp. I wiped them off and they were still functional. I never have investigated it.
 
so.....after I found the "double eagles" I was ready to retire.....

I took them to a reputable coin shop and asked what I had......as soon as they hit his hand and he felt the weight....he offered me $5 for them.....they were cheap plated copies......so...of course I still have them....I have no idea where they are.

The dude that salted that cabin is no doubt still laughing
 
I was deer hunting a clear cut on FS land one time and I saw a forked horn walk from the cut block into the timber at the edge where he disappeared. I knew it was a long shot but I decided to try and follow him. I followed into the old growth about 100 yards. I was about to give up when I saw a bunch of rocks stacked up in a pile. They were all covered in moss, so whoever did it, it was a long time ago. I walked over to it and there was a hole in the ground that the rocks came out of. Down in the bottom were a bunch of small quartz rocks.

I picked a couple up at random and put them in my pocket and left. When I got home I looked at them closer and they were laced with gold. I vowed to go back but I didn't until the next summer. By then all the timber had been cut and logged and I never could find the spot. I'll forever wonder if it was the mother lode. I gave them to my girlfriend at the time so even that dream died.
 
I found a dead guy that had committed suicide the day before. I parked next to a truck at the end of a dirt road, got out, glanced into the window and there’s a dead dude with a hole in his head, eyes opened glazed over looking my way. I wigged out a little, started saying the F word a bunch! I can still see his face in my mind. Drove down and got the cops. That was an interesting day.

Thats not what I call neat but it Is usual and a little scary so thought I would share, sorry if it doesn’t fit here
 
AB: Those days suck. Went fishing one day, and at the end of the two-track a car was parked at the turn around. When I got closer, there was a garden hose running from the tail pipe into the back window. Ran out of gas, so no idea how long it ran, but it was enough. Dead guys look DEAD!
 
So my daughter and I was sneaking on a goat last week trying to get her a shot. She found something cool half way to the goat out in the middle of nothing. It was all discolored and could tell it was something really old. I cleaned it up when we got home but still didnt know exactly what it was!
She took it to the history teacher at school because we couldn't find any info on it. Turns out its a gun plate off an infantry gun 1840-1860 iether Mexican/American War or Civil war! Need to take a detector out see if the rest of the gun is around.

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I was hunting up by Hogle Zoo above there in the 70's on an extended deer hunt and I hiked up to a rock pile that I thought would be me a better view. When I got to the rock I was working my way around it trying to find a way up and looked under the overhang there was a knife. The top was completely rusted but when you turned it over the other side was in good shape. It was very old and was from the Pioneer times.
 
eelgrass said:
I was "guiding" a friend on a pronghorn hunt in Modoc County, CA and we were crawling in the sage brush and I found a pair of binos half buried in the dirt. After he shot the buck I went back and dug them up. It was a pair of Zeiss 6X30 and had a brass plate that said U.S. Army Signal Corp. I wiped them off and they were still functional. I never have investigated it.
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Those were mine Eel..appreciate it if you would mail them back to me...Lost them in High School Days....:cool::cool::cool:
 
hornkiller said:
So my daughter and I was sneaking on a goat last week trying to get her a shot. She found something cool half way to the goat out in the middle of nothing. It was all discolored and could tell it was something really old. I cleaned it up when we got home but still didnt know exactly what it was!
She took it to the history teacher at school because we couldn't find any info on it. Turns out its a gun plate off an infantry gun 1840-1860 iether Mexican/American War or Civil war! Need to take a detector out see if the rest of the gun is around.

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Off a rifle that was made in France,,probably during the days of Pancho Villa...
 
Found a lost horse on a backpack elk hunt. It was in the middle of a stream and the saddle had flipped over with the belly strap cutting into its back. It had stepped through the stirrup and was very skinny. I dont think it could walk with the saddle how it was and I was able to walk out into the stream and cut the saddle off which made it start bleeding pretty bad. I set up camp pretty close by and lured it out of the stream with an apple but it had a hard time walking. I also had a good amount of hydrogen peroxide in my first aid kit for some reason so I poured that on the wounds. I would go and check on it in the afternoon and it improved everyday and eventually started walking, grazing and doing a little better. I didnt feel like I could lead it down the trail because there is a very narrow section with a drop off and it was still not walking great. When I left after 5 days I put a note on the trail head that I found a horse and left my info. I borrowed a horse trailer the week after and went back up but it was not there. Someone called me after I got back and said they had lost it on a bear hunt and that they got it back after it walked down the trail and into some farms. He thanked me and said the horse is doing good and his name was topper.
 
Several years ago I found a lion hound that was wandering around and looked beat. Gave him some water and fortunately he had a tag with the owners name. After a quick call the owner came up and retrieved him. Said they had been looking for him for about a week.
 
I have found a couple of weather balloons. One was still in pretty good shape and had a pouch inside that was to be used to mail the instrument part back.
 
When I was a young guy in Kentucky, I was hunting in a place the locals called Fort Ridge Hollow when I found several earth mounds in a pine tree thicket. Turns out they were Indian graves and later in years the University of Kentucky archaeology team came to the location and did a study. - there was also a large sandstone cave in the area with steps leading to the top.
 
Another nohunting find from today... I’m doing a complete seismic upgrade on a 120 yr old building....
found this above the old lath and plaster ceiling...
They stopped making this bourbon in 1922 because of the prohibition.... They started making it again in 2016 and the first bottles will be ready in 2021, I’m going to try and get one....

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Lots of partial arrowheads. Old cans and bottles but nothing like a few of the above.

I did find what I'm pretty sure is a mortar (like Homer's above only a permanent fixture). Hard to tell from the pic but it is rounded out at the bottom. Found near a spring where I find a ton of partial arrowheads and knapped obsidian.
Screenshot_20200921-201715_Dropbox.jpg

Also found this half arrowhead along a piece of the applegate trail that runs by about 400 yards behind where the mortar was found. Cool thing was it was found in an area that has a lot of obsidian and I believe it is made from chert or maybe flint.
Screenshot_20200921-201738_Dropbox.jpg
 
I’ve never found an arrowhead, out where I live close to the great salt lake they have found some cool stuff on the banks now that the lake has receded
 
I found a large cartridge while shed hunting that I figured was probably from a plane or helicopter. After taking it home and cleaning it up I asked around and had an air force buddy tell me that it was most likely from an Apache. Kinda interesting and always wonder what they were shooting at.
 
I found a wallet with $600 or so in it. The wallet was in the middle of an elk gut pile....in the middle of a forest service road.

I did see a Michigan DL with it, and figured I would head in to town for a burger that night and turn it in to the local SO.

But, a few minutes later I was headed to my spot and saw a truck with MI plates.
 
Back in the eighties I use to hunt in a cheap camo zip up sweatshirt. One day my wife was hiking through the sage brush headed back to camp and she found my sweatshirt. She brought it back to camp. I thought it was mine too, until I tried to put it on. It was three sizes too small. In the pocket was one of those plastic coin purses that you pinch to open. Inside was three perfect arrowheads.
 
Longun said:
Thats cool Chester...probably shot from Fremont's Mountain Howitzwer when he was surveying for the U.S. Government back in the 1840's...love to see a pic of it...
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The cannon ball sat in a display case in my grandparent’s living room for years and years. He died back in 2004, and all those keepsakes were absconded with by my sticky fingered relatives. So unfortunately no pics of it. He seemed to think it was from some sort of Indian and Calvary conflict, I never looked into it much. Your explanation makes far more sense.
 
Chesterwyo said:
The cannon ball sat in a display case in my grandparent’s living room for years and years. He died back in 2004, and all those keepsakes were absconded with by my sticky fingered relatives. So unfortunately no pics of it. He seemed to think it was from some sort of Indian and Calvary conflict, I never looked into it much. Your explanation makes far more sense.
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Isn’t it sad how that works...
 
oh yeah......fishing a creek in college I found a metal film can in the trail....opened it and it was packed with a really smelly eel country bud....

Took it back to school and we wanted to but were afraid to smoke it....

A couple days later my room mates hot little blonde girl friend came over and mentioned she wanted to smoke some pot....lol...BINGO

a sucker to safety test it....

we rolled her a pinner and watched her smoke it.... after 45 minutes she was still alive....sooooooo......
 
Homer said:
oh yeah......fishing a creek in college I found a metal film can in the trail....opened it and it was packed with a really smelly eel country bud....

Took it back to school and we wanted to but were afraid to smoke it....

A couple days later my room mates hot little blonde girl friend came over and mentioned she wanted to smoke some pot....lol...BINGO

a sucker to safety test it....

we rolled her a pinner and watched her smoke it.... after 45 minutes she was still alive....sooooooo......
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?
 
Was on the flats, just west of the Floridas in southern NM earlier this year and found an old sheath knife. Handle and sheath was gone.
Would love to know the story.
 
I was hunting for a big buck on 50 mile mountain in southern Utah. I was coming off a steep slope and kicked a rock and it made a funny klink noise when it broke. I Took a couple steps and then thought that sounded interesting! I turned around to see what made the klink sound and this is what I found. If it hadn’t of made that klinking sound when it broke I probably would not have stopped to check it out. Pretty cool fossil.. It was at 7000 foot elevation.

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Homer said:
oh yeah......fishing a creek in college I found a metal film can in the trail....opened it and it was packed with a really smelly eel country bud....

Took it back to school and we wanted to but were afraid to smoke it....

A couple days later my room mates hot little blonde girl friend came over and mentioned she wanted to smoke some pot....lol...BINGO

a sucker to safety test it....

we rolled her a pinner and watched her smoke it.... after 45 minutes she was still alive....sooooooo......
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Lmao.... that’s a classic
 
Here's a hunting lost and then found tale. Many years ago now I was hunting with my son in some really thick pinon-juniper. We spotted three bucks, and I hastily helped my son use his pack as a rest. I had just started wearing glasses, and apparently in haste had taken them off. He didn't get a shot, so we continued hunting, and I didn't even miss the glasses until we got to our truck. It was too late to go back, so we headed for home. A week went by, and we were in the same area hunting. Moving through the thick trees, we paused on a rocky outcrop, when I realized it was the same spot where I thought I'd lost the glasses. We searched all over the top of the outcrop. I'd given up and climbed to the bottom of a chute on the rock outcrop. I looked up, to see my son climbing down the rock face, facing outward. I then saw that he was stuck, and chastised him for climbing down all wrong, and I had to help him. As I got into position, He said: "Dad, your glasses!", reached onto a ledge and handed my glasses to me! If he hadn't of climbed down that chute, we never would have found them! And I don't remember dropping/knocking them off the edge of those rocks, either!:eek:;)
 
While hunting chukars in southern NV, I found the back end of a Side-Winder Missile (tail fins intact). The body of the missile was sheared in half (front half missing). I assume from ground impact. I'm sure it was an inert missile used for training. I have a pic of it somewhere. I wanted to keep it, but didn't know if it was legal. So, I snapped a pic and left it lay.
 
A couple years ago my daughter and I were walking back to camp after hunting all day and found a $20 bill, then another $20, and another, then a $100 bill, then another. Over all we found $600. A little bit further down the trail we found a wallet. Using the drivers license and social media we were able to get it all back to its owner.
 
marley said:
A couple years ago my daughter and I were walking back to camp after hunting all day and found a $20 bill, then another $20, and another, then a $100 bill, then another. Over all we found $600. A little bit further down the trail we found a wallet. Using the drivers license and social media we were able to get it all back to its owner.
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Most people like me can't afford much so we just drop bread crumbs.
 
Found a 9MM Smith & Wesson with round in chamber and safety off. Don't know if someone was planning to off himself... On a stump like maybe he was taking a D.
Found a few arrowheads while turkey hunting in FL.
 
HIcountryman said:
Found a 9MM Smith & Wesson with round in chamber and safety off. Don't know if someone was planning to off himself... On a stump like maybe he was taking a D.
Found a few arrowheads while turkey hunting in FL.
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There was a shooting bench years back on some USFS Land that I used.

Well one time I went there to shoot and found a note scribed on the bench in pen.... something to the effect of.

Thanks for Smith and Wesson model such and such 9 mm. Next time leave ammo and the date scribed below it.

That would suck to go back to get your forgotten gun and find a note...
 
huntindad4 said:
There was a shooting bench years back on some USFS Land that I used.

Well one time I went there to shoot and found a note scribed on the bench in pen.... something to the effect of.

Thanks for Smith and Wesson model such and such 9 mm. Next time leave ammo and the date scribed below it.

That would suck to go back to get your forgotten gun and find a note...
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It would also suck when the owner registers the serial number as stolen and you get caught with it and get a felony and lose your right to touch s gun. Lotta garbage people out there.
 
Chesterwyo said:
This topic comes around about once a year. And it’s always fun to read. I’ve never found anything worth taking out of the woods. But my grandpa found an intact cannon ball way up on the Hoback Rim in the early 60’s.
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There was a skirmish in the area between us troops, and some traveling Indians.

Back in the mountain man era.
 
I was backpacking in the Wilderness about 12 miles in and found a Browning semi-auto .22 rifle leaning up against a tree at an old camp. I camped there for 3 days and no one showed up so when I moved on I took it with me. I packed it for about 35 miles total.

Back at home I put an add in the newspaper and low and behold a guy called and identified the rifle and the exact location. When he showed up to get it he gave me a $5 bill for my trouble. I think the add cost $7.50 back then.
 
eelgrass said:
I was backpacking in the Wilderness about 12 miles in and found a Browning semi-auto .22 rifle leaning up against a tree at an old camp. I camped there for 3 days and no one showed up so when I moved on I took it with me. I packed it for about 35 miles total.

Back at home I put an add in the newspaper and low and behold a guy called and identified the rifle and the exact location. When he showed up to get it he gave me a $5 bill for my trouble. I think the add cost $7.50 back then.
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That sounds about right.....people suck!
 
Found an illegal marijuana grow site in the national forest. Very scary but fortunately for me it was abandoned. An irrigation line brought water from a creek above into a cistern then distributed by smaller lines down the mountain. There were scattered fertilizer bags and bears had dug up a buried cache of Mexican food and scattered the chewed containers around.

As near as I can tell a herd of elk had come into the grove to feed on the nice new grass and apparently trampled the weed crop. An elk herd could have done that in just a few hours.
 
Didn't "find" the moccasins, they were made by a Native American Woman that was neighbors with my Great Grandparents for my Grandfather when he was born as a baby gift. While I dont know for sure, Grandpa said made out of deerskin, probably were. So, made in the spring of 1916...the pipe my Grandfather found in about 1931 when working the Hughes gardens in Hellgate Canyon.

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I have hunted the same mountain for years. Near the top of the ridge there is what we call "The murder scene." Many years ago, someone buried a flannel shirt, some old denim pants with a tattered belt and a pair of broken down boots. Everything sticks out of the dirt a few inches here and there, just enough to be seen. The pant legs have bones sticking out, made to look like human leg bones. You can just make out the bones between the pants and the portion of the boots that are above the dirt. About every three years, some white faced hunter will hit the trailhead blabbering about how he has found a dead guy up on the ridge. Makes for a good laugh, once they know the truth.

I think the bones are from a deer or elk. Our game wardens know about it and get just as much entertainment as the rest of us.
 
BuzzH said:
These I found while working...literally thousands of them on a long ridge.

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I live about a mile from the pacific ocean at about 300' elevation. There is a cut bank below our house and it's loaded with fossilized sea creatures and lots of shells. My wife discovered it while picking berries.
 
My brother inlaw and I were hunting grouse and spotting for elk and deer in Central Utah. We came across a dead horse with all the tack on it. The horse was dead for a few years, bones were bleached and all. We talked about going in there to get all the tack but never did and I still wonder if it is still there. It was not very far from the nearest road maybe 3 miles. It was tough country though. I didn't want to pack out a saddle that far at the time. This was before cameras on phones so I dont have any pictures.
I was also hunting elk with my dad when I grabbed his foot because he was about to step on a perfect arrowhead. I had it on my dresser for numerous years, I then tied a piece of leather on to it and hung it up and my brother slammed the door and it fell and shattered. It broke my heart.
 
Found a complete skeleton of a bison in a deep creek bed , I kept the skull . While moose hunting in Alaska I could see the tusk of a elephant sticking out the bank of the river but no way to retrieve it .
 
This place has a lot of stories.

www.ifish.net

Weird findings in the woods

Whats the weirdest thing you found in the woods when you were out in the middle of nowhere. I was about 15 miles off the pavement last night just taking a drive after work and came across a pile of dead animals off a spur road, covered with about 40 buzzards. At first i thought they were deer or...
www.ifish.net www.ifish.net
 
Alamosa said:
Found an illegal marijuana grow site in the national forest. Very scary but fortunately for me it was abandoned. An irrigation line brought water from a creek above into a cistern then distributed by smaller lines down the mountain. There were scattered fertilizer bags and bears had dug up a buried cache of Mexican food and scattered the chewed containers around.

As near as I can tell a herd of elk had come into the grove to feed on the nice new grass and apparently trampled the weed crop. An elk herd could have done that in just a few hours.
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I found one near the Saguache/La Garita area. I got the heck out of there in a hurry.
 
Back in the 70s, I was in Yosemite looking for a decent fishing spot. I found that and a bit further down the creek I saw two hippy chicks bathing, or whatever, naked in a pool. I motioned for them to stand up, and they did. I was gonna join them but a couple of hippy dudes suggested I should not do that.
 
My partner and his guide found a big one over in Oregon while hunting blacktails. Called it in, and they got to meet the sheriff up on the hill and show it to him thru the spotting scope, and watch as they closed in and got 4 guys, plus a bunch of guns..
 
I hiked up a very steep and dark timber mountain, several miles up and found a very old saddle, most of the leather was gone just the tree left. Always wondered how it got there. No way someone rode a horse up there.
 
I was hunting deer in central AZ, found an old mine, which is not uncommon. inside the mine it had hundreds of pounds of Ammonium nitrate along with gallons and gallons of mercury. I then discovered that i was standing in a huge pool of mercury. must have been 20-30 gallons of the stuff.
 

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