Hunting Backwards

By Bob Krupicka (RelicHunter Bob), Brookline, NH

It all started in March 2008. I was attending DIV IX in Culpeper, Virginia. For those not familiar, Diggin' In Virginia (DIV) is an invitational hunt dedicated to the ideals of friendship, fun and the proper recovery/identification of historical artifacts. They are held on private property under contract with the land owners. On this hunt there were about 300 of us on a 1,200 acre farm where there had been documented Civil War activity.　 I had been on several of these hunts over the last two years. They are three days long starting on a Friday held each year in the Spring and Fall. They start with a Thursday night pre-hunt meeting where we get to hear the rules and where we will be the next morning. There are usually several tables set up where vendors offer some metal detecting related items. At one such table this time, for display only, was this new Whites Pulse Induction (PI) machine. I had read about this rumored new machine for several months. Here it was. Big Bobby, one of White's long time distributors, had a prototype that he was going to be testing at DIV IX.

This part of Virginia has highly mineralized red soil. It makes it very tough to detect in until you become experienced detecting in it. At my first hunt, DIV VII, I was in a corn field on a 3,400 acre estate with about 250 other people. I was using my DFX in Relic mode as had been suggested by many. Hunt in all metal mode and dig every signal they had said. In my first 15 minutes I got a strong signal that was showing about 5" deep. I cut out a plug and got a signal in the plug. I broke it in half and a signal in the half I was holding. I broke it in half again. I had two soft ball size clumps of red soil. I took a guess and laid one down. Bingo, the signal was in the clump I had. I slowly took it apart not wanting to damage a potential brass button. Nothing, I scanned the crumpled dirt and nothing. However the other clump showed a signal. I repeated this process with it and then the other half. I checked the hole with my DFX and pin pointer and no more signals. A newly made friend from Pa., who had hunted here several times, explained to me that I had just had my first experience with the red mineralized soil. I went on hunting and over the three days I found my first Civil war relics. Brass finds: eagle button, kepi buckle, rifle sling buckle, J hook and rivet. Iron finds: various belt and pack buckles, watering bit for a horse, horse and mule shoes and lots farm parts and nails. Many, many nails! Also found a musket ball and several types and calibers of two and three ring mini balls.

Lunch is put out around 11:30 each day. Some grab a lunch and head out and others sit, eat and chat about the mornings hunting. It was on this first day that we started hearing how Big Bobby was doing with the TDI. He was finding tons of bullets and buttons. Many in areas others had just hunted. He would even follow a short distance behind some of his friends to show them what they had missed. At the Sunday BBQ you are encouraged to display your finds. Bobby had a large case full of brass items he had found. The most interesting fact was that after 2 1/2 days of hunting he had only dug several nails.

The rest of us were digging several nails an

hour! It was at this point that I decided I wanted one of these new White’s TDI's for relic hunting in the Virginia mineralized soil.

I got back to NH and contacted Streeter to find out about getting one of these new machines. George said you want a what? Seems White's hadn't officially announced the machine so their dealer weren't aware of them. George, a long time White's dealer, called one of the White's Distributors & directly placed an order for one. It was going to take a few weeks as they weren't in production yet and were being handmade.

Sooner then I thought, I got my TDI and started learning how to use it. For those not familiar with this model, it has no display. You just hear high and low tones. With the TDI you have the option of hearing both tones or just one.

My wife Wendy & I were selected for Div. X with about 350 other people. The estate, we were to hunt was about 2,000 acres. I couldn't wait to try the TDI out in Virginia. Two days into the hunt and I had only found one button, my mail target. I spoke on Saturday night with friend Doc Rodney who also had recently got a TDI. Doc is an ER doctor by trade. He is an avid relic hunter in his free time and a walking encyclopedia on the Civil War and relics. He told me of a hill that had been named button hill there were some many buttons found there. He said there was part of it that had tall grass and hadn't been hunted much. He said hunt in low conductivity mode in the grass area if you want to find buttons. I knew where the area was and headed there first thing Sunday morning. The tall grass was about waist high. Now I knew why it hadn't been really hunted. The area I was looking at was about 50 by 90 feet. How do you swing a 12" coil in heavy tall grass. The answer is you hunt backwards! It is easier to pull than push through the grass. Furthermore, as you walk backwards you are flattening out the grass. I checked out the area and there were no holes, rocks or branches to worry about tripping over. On my first pass I found an eagle button. After a few passes I had a wide enough area to do a good size swing on each subsequent pass. I ended up finding one ball and 12 eagle buttons, two brass rivets and an iron gun tool. The gun tool although only 4" deep hadn't registered in the low conductivity mode. I found it with my pin pointer while looking for a button. This was all found in the bottom half of the tall grass area. Two others were trying to hunt the rest in the traditional manner with little success. Best find was a gold gild Eagle I button.

So next time you see an area not being hunted because it is over grown, consider hunting it backwards. It worked for me.