Favorite hunts and the impressions they make...

By far my favorite hunt of all time was a few years back. I took both of my sons with me on a hunt not to far from our house. The land had been timbered 15-20 years prior and the loggers had knocked down the old home. There must have been a huge bag of bamboo seed in the house because the spot where the house once stood, was nothing but a bamboo forest. Everyone knows that is impossible to hunt...

 

We were able to hunt the outside fringes and the yard and did pretty well. Like all the hunts with my boys, I would find a good signal and ask them to come investigate and tell me what they thought. We exchanged ideas on what we thought and start to dig the target. We first dug a very nice Eagle button and then a few older coins. Towards the end of the hunt when attention spans were wearing out with both of them I got another good signal. We all took turns swing over the target and giving our opinions on what we thought it was. I started digging the target and out popped the most beautiful Virginia coat button I ever saw. The button was in really good shape. As we knelt there on the ground taking turns looking at the button, I couldn't help to think that we were the first people to see that button in 100-140 years. We still talk about that day.

This year I had my youngest son (Michael) with me on a all day hunt in Henrico, VA. It is a late war site and has produce a lot of relics for me over the last 4-5 years. The day was slow and we had to really work for the relics. I could tell Michael was getting tired and some what bored, so I was really swinging for a good signal. After 20 minutes or so, I came across a good solid brass signal. This time I did not say anything and let Michael find it on his own. Michael found the target and began to dig for it. A few minutes later he had the target in hand. A Mass Volunteer Militia Button. I had never seen one before and actually did not know what it was until we got home and looked it up. Needless to say he was excited and so was I. He made it a couple more hours on the hunt and then wanted to call it a day. I agreed and we headed home.

Getting kids (or adults for that matter) excited about history is tough and challenging. Both my sons have done pretty good appeasing me on our hunts. As the Dad, I have to remember they have other interest and they should. I know I did at their age. Both like to study history in school and maybe one day will relic hunt with their kids.

JCJ