What was your most exciting find while hunting?

Just remembered something. I was poking around an old tumbling in cabin on the old Dawson overland trail and found a steel bar all rusted to hell. Got looking closer and saw dovetails cut in it, inside there is rifling in the rust too. Dovetails top and bottom, looks like a lever gun barrel. Likely from the days or the goldrush or up to when the highway went in and the sternwheelers stopped. I'd like to identify what kind of rifle it came off of someday. And I have to wonder what kind of stuff was being done at that old cabin where they'd be changing a barrel. It was sticking out of the dirt and looks like someone was trying dog teams to it.
 
I wasn't hunting at the time, but doing geological survey work in the boreal forest of Northern Manitoba, when we came across the cargo door of a Norseman bush plane. I would sure love to know the story behind that one!

My son picked up a spent .50 BMG bullet while hunting grouse on a military base. It has rifling marks, and is slightly distorted. It is presently sitting on my bookshelf next to a loaded .222 Rem round. The loaded .222 round is smaller than the .50 BMG slug!
 
not really amazing but got the heart pumping. this year when I was scouting for my deer hunt walking through a swamp near my house found a pile of bear crap that was still steaming. also before I had started hunting my dog ran away after a cotten tail at my cottage and when I was look for it I found what looked just like a human hand that was covered in a black coarse hair.
Looking back now it was probally just a hand from some sort a animal but sure was freaky back then.
 
I never find anything TOO good, but heres a list:

-An old NFLD penny from the 30's I found on a railbed hunting grouse
-A tin first aid kit in an old fallin' down barn with various stuff in it including one live cardboard 12ga "Super Black Star" S&B shell (#4)
-A .44 call lead bullet. Just the bullet but it was unfired. No rifleing marks.
-A brown leather gun-sock
-A few pairs of sunglases
-A mallet
-Spark plug wrinch
-Box of .22's
-Live 10ga & 12ga shells
-An old metal cap gun (wish I still had it:( )
-An arrow quiver
-COUNTLESS baseballs/softballs/tennisballs/golfballs
-A few arrows
-A gold playboy bunny charm and chain
-Swiss army type knife
-A few ball caps. Some of which I still have
-few axes and one machette
-almost full pack of smokes

All I can remember right now, but a buddy of mine's father found a cooey 20ga hung on a tree once. He still has it.
 
Hunting blacktails on Van Isle in the early eighties, saw this white thingy hanging in a tree, walked up to it, it was a weather balloon, with a box below it. Read the box, it said where to send it if discovered-figgers it was launched in California almost 5 yrs prior to me finding it, they sent me a nice thank you letter.
Walking the deer woods in southern Manitoba one particularly cold season, saw this thing in a tree, walked up to it, it was a Sparrow Hawk, hanging upside down by its talons, frozen solid. I cut the branch off and was going to get it mounted exactly as it was, but when I applied for a permit Fish and wildlife siezed it, I think it ended up at the U. of M
Lots of old cars, trucks where you would never expect to see them, big old whitetail rack with the skull full of birdshot holes ( someones poaching gone wrong??) and a full case of beer that had to be 25 yrs old, bottles apparently cracked by freezing.
 
scooterj said:
Hunting blacktails on Van Isle in the early eighties, saw this white thingy hanging in a tree, walked up to it, it was a weather balloon, with a box below it. Read the box, it said where to send it if discovered-figgers it was launched in California almost 5 yrs prior to me finding it, they sent me a nice thank you letter.
Walking the deer woods in southern Manitoba one particularly cold season, saw this thing in a tree, walked up to it, it was a Sparrow Hawk, hanging upside down by its talons, frozen solid. I cut the branch off and was going to get it mounted exactly as it was, but when I applied for a permit Fish and wildlife siezed it, I think it ended up at the U. of M
Lots of old cars, trucks where you would never expect to see them, big old whitetail rack with the skull full of birdshot holes ( someones poaching gone wrong??) and a full case of beer that had to be 25 yrs old, bottles apparently cracked by freezing.
Click to expand...

:( :( Can we please have a moment of silence for our fallen comrade the case of beer.:( :(
 
Not hunting related...but a friend was working for a contractor in the late '70s cleaning up the oil exploration areas way up north on the ice islands. He saw what looked like an upside-down yellow bowl. Turned out to be an air cleaner for a cat...with the cat still attached. On the same job, he found a couple 4' crecent wrenches or pipe wrenches, so he started collecting them. He ended up with a footlocker full. He tried to bring them home, but they had "Pan Arctic" painted or engraved on them, so PA kept them.

From his stories, it's easy to see why the environmentalist movement really took off in the '70s. Did you know that with enough JP4, you can fit a complete ATCO trailer into a couple 45 gallon drums? Another point of interest...helocopter pilots get really pissy when you leave a seatbelt hanging outside the passenger compartment with the buckle beating the hell out of the alluminum skin...
 
Yeah, this wild dumping practice is really bad. I think hunters can do a lot to keep our environment clean.

I made recently a web photo album about wild dumping. If you can contribute any photos - please do!

www.wilddumps.info

Martin
 
Last edited:
Sept 10th opening day for blacktail, massive grow op complete with SKS carrying gaurd. Guess he was'nt as good a gaurd as I was a still hunter.
You wanna talk about heart pounding!


These are the ones I don't like I used to make maps in the lower mainland and was always finding aboandoned squats in the bush. If they were obviously not being lived in, I would poke around to see if there was a body. You could pretty easy see the stories of peoples lives mouldering in the bush.
some were real sad.

Oh and I once found the hugest, scariest, eastern european gold miner tucked away in a canyon. His wrists were as big as my neck! Took a minute for both of us to figure out everything was cool and then we had tea.

Always like finding fishing gear. and alcohol, had a nice bottle of champagne up indian arm one morning. LOL.

Basically anything shiney CAW, CAW, CAw.
 
when my dad was a kid he found a bunch of old cars from the 30's out in the bush while rabbit hunting. He doesn't rember what kinda cars they were but they were all lined up in a row so it was odd. He figures there probably was an old car shop there or something.

I have found an old trappers cabin witch still had all the furniture an all that in it. we figure who ever owned the camp died and so all the stuff just was left out there to rot away, there is also a truck beside the cabin rusting away as well. this place was really kinda errie as everything was still in there like from Dishes, to tablecloths like everything is in there that would have been when it was beeing used.
 
Last edited:
Casull said:
While deer hunting in the eighties on Cape Breton Island, I spent awhile walking pretty deeply in an old trail with good deer sign late in the day. Looked like a really good spot to try the next day, so I was in there at sunup. After it got nice and bright, I got looking around and down over the 30-40ft. rock cliff on the rocks and reefs there was an enormous propeller and long brass or bronze shaft laying pointing toward the shore. I wandered the area many days after that and found huge sections of an old ship, deck sections and equipment. It was quite interesting and made a great break in the hunting. Shot a nice spike buck right there while I was watching the old ship parts and wondering what happened and when. I asked around a lot and only one very old guy remembered anything about it and just that is was storm wrecked near the time he moved to the area with his parents about 1910. I never found out much more about it, maps show a few wrecks there but nothing for certain. He told me in the early part of the last century though local houses were full of furniture and supplies off an old ship grounded over there. The blades were each about 7ft. high, the shaft I guess would have been 2 1/2 ft" thick and 20 guessing feet long. I'm sure it's still there and I might try to find it again when I am down there this year.
Wandering around the Yukon especially the rivers the past 12 years, I have found many old GoldRush era cabins, mines and goods. They are common here and not even really appreciated. Many WW2 vehicles still "parked" on the Canol rd. project and such. Sternwheelers, and mining equipement to be found all over too.
Also, I have a friend that grew up in Ontario and claims to have found an old sword stuck into a big old tree. He figures from what he can find out it was there since the war of 1812. I would love to see it but as far as I know it's still home on the farm or with the family.
Rob
Click to expand...

WOW that brass shaft would be worth a killing!! Have you been there since?
 
Huey3543 said:
I wasn't hunting, but some friends and I were at the gravel pits doing some blastin'. My buddy was telling me he would like another mag for his .22 and wouldn't you believe it, there one was sticking in the sand right at my feet.
Click to expand...



This is a true story. When I found this magazine I shouted praises to the "Gun Gods" knocked the sand out of it and function tested.

It was good
 
Chopperhead said:
when my dad was a kid he found a bunch of old cars from the 30's out in the bush while rabbit hunting. He doesn't rember what kinda cars they were but they were all lined up in a row so it was odd. He figures there probably was an old car shop there or something.

I have found an old trappers cabin witch still had all the furniture an all that in it. we figure who ever owned the camp died and so all the stuff just was left out there to rot away, there is also a truck beside the cabin rusting away as well. this place was really kinda errie as everything was still in there like from Dishes, to tablecloths like everything is in there that would have been when it was beeing used.
Click to expand...

Yea, that sounds like the spitting image of my camp, which is being used. Just keep that in mind next time your stumbling aorund in and looting trappers cabins.
 
oh it was definatly not being used. people had been there before me or animals whatever and there was #### all over the place and the thing looks like it's about to cave in. Been back a few times and there's definatly nobody using the place don't think anyone would want to anyway. It's in really bad shape.
 
When you go back...bring a metal detector.
Something valuable might be buried. :D
Esp' it it turns out to be an old Chinese gold miners shack. :)
 
A moose head that the antlers got tangled up in an old abandonned hydro line and a fire fighters water tank that was used to carry water in by a person while fighting forest fires.
 
AnthonyM,
The last time I was there was the late 90s and it was just the same as 10-15 years before. I am going back there this summer and am planning to look and see what is left of everything now.
Everyone I mentioned it too talked of the value, but how the hell would a guy ever get it out of there? Likely it's bronze. I thought of by boat, but looking at how it got there, it doesn't seem like such a great idea.
 
Without even leaving the farm I grew up on I found two guns as a kid; one Cooey .22, stock broken, action and barrel surface rusted, and one much older rolling block Remington with a bent barrel. A family friend was a silver smith with a shop and reblued the Remington and straightened out the barrel for a wall hanger for me, was a cool thing as a 10 year old.

One time in BC with my dad, we were following a stream towards what sounded like a waterfall. We passed claim markers and were naturally curious, just before the small falls my dad picked up a good sized chunk of quartz sitting in the stream that looked interesting, and it had very pronounced and definate gold veins. The rock would have been worth a good deal, but my dad put it back in the stream and we went back to the truck. To this day it remains a character forming experience, had I found that rock alone prior to that I doubt I would have lost sleep over carrying it home, but after that there was no doubt I would leave it. Just one of those "huh..." moments.

Found lots of old logging equipment, found a half stick of heavily sweating nitro glycerin once, native hieroglyphs on rock faces, bones that looked human (femur, forearm). Once a family friend fishing in Active Pass years ago here in BC snagged a like new fishing rod and reel, it still had the price tag on it from Moats (if anyone knows Saltspring Island).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom