Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum

Author Topic: Stories  (Read 4455 times)

Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #15 on: June 11, 2020, 09:09:18 PM »
Anyone still alive that remembers the story of Dicky finding that Bunch of Dyers and his boat sinking and law troubles etc?

Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #16 on: June 11, 2020, 09:18:29 PM »
There must be someone here who hunted with Gregg Craven who’s willing to share some of those epic shell finding adventures?

emike123

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Re: Stories
« Reply #17 on: June 11, 2020, 09:39:09 PM »
I am working on securing a tape of Tom Dickey's "Confessions of a Relic Hunter" presentation at the Atlanta Civil War Roundtable.  I will figure out a way for folks to listen to it when I do.

Pete George is on this website periodically and will recall those stories.

CarlS

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Re: Stories
« Reply #18 on: June 12, 2020, 12:24:37 AM »
I've heard the stories of Tom Dickey hunting Island #10 and having to take a trailer when he went hunting to handle the load.  I recall hearing how he once brought a trailer load of the Dyers to the Marietta Show to sell although I didn't see that as I wasn't doing shows until the late 80's.  Tom found out about and got access to the Island #10 site via another relic hunter friend who lived in Marietta, GA and had a family connection up there.  This friend took him and they hit pay dirt.  I ended up with a copy of a map that they made where every time they dug a shell they marked it on the map to help them define the impact area.  They figured location based on a couple roads and telephone poles.  The years on the map show the finds from 1981 and later so it appears it was 1981 when they started digging there.
Best,
Carl

Daveslem

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Re: Stories
« Reply #19 on: June 12, 2020, 06:20:10 AM »
Scott,

 Pete George told that Tom Dickey story at Tom Henrique’s house during the fall Gettysburg show some years ago. It included a sinking boat and Tom heaving shells toward the shore. Pete could post it if he sees this.
Later,
Dave Slemmer

Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #20 on: June 12, 2020, 08:16:04 AM »
I love this! I hope Pete posts what he remembers!

gflower

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Re: Stories
« Reply #21 on: June 12, 2020, 07:52:16 PM »
I have a few to tell but the statute of limitations might not have run on the incidents If asked I might be persuaded to pry a few loose but they involve hunting on government land and his old station wagon. Gary

CarlS

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Re: Stories
« Reply #22 on: June 12, 2020, 11:20:04 PM »
Gary,

True that!  And some hunting buddies might not like stories shared too.  But there are plenty out there that can.  When I get a chance I'll share a couple.  I'm occupied for the next couple days but will get on it after that.  Hopefully Steve and some others can as well.
Best,
Carl

Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #23 on: June 13, 2020, 08:53:06 AM »
We all know relic hunters go on places they shouldn’t be it government land or some guys pristine front yard. You don’t need to tell exactly where you were , just tell of the adventure of finding and getting the shell dug. Years ago these fellows would tell me of finding these experimental shells in the woods on a government facility. I never had the nerve to go there but some cool stuff came out of there and today it’s probably covered in black top.

Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #24 on: June 13, 2020, 09:48:43 AM »
I may or may not have said this earlier but I gave up shell hunting over 30 years ago for several reasons, although now I wish I hadn’t. First of all I was running out of places to look and secondly were some nasty incidents that turned me off to hunting. The most obvious was the time we were hunting down in Stafford Va. We had researched this spot back in the woods and we suspected the spot was on this fellows property. We decided to do the right thing and go ask for permission so we left our detectors in the car and parked our car outside their gate and proceeded to walk up the drive way to the house to ask permission. Half way up it a truck pulls up and a angry person ( a woman) yells get the blankety blank out of here so we turned around and walked back to the car. When we got back to our car the hood was up and my distributor cap and spark plug wires were gone! Imagine the fun of replacing those in the middle of no where with the only way out was a couple mile walk. That put a big crimp in my desire to hunt anymore and a crimp in ever asking permission again, ha ha!

gflower

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Re: Stories
« Reply #25 on: June 13, 2020, 09:50:00 PM »
Ok I'll post a few sanitized stories tomorrow. Gary

gflower

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Re: Stories
« Reply #26 on: June 14, 2020, 04:59:59 PM »
My Father and I where luck enough through eraser has to find a earthwork fortification in the low country. Long story on how we got permission but needless to say it had not been hunted. The place was a gold mind of shells, 6.4 and 5.1 schenkles, 30lber parrots with brass naval fuses, hotchkiss and the ever rare 5.1 JAD shells. We pulled 167 whole shells out of that place as well as a bunch of fuses and unique shell fragments. We took one of our hunting buddies there and the word got out. Tom heard of the place and was headed there so we met up with him and a few other guys the only name I remember was OK Jackson. He was still driving that station wagon and we all  hunted all day. The only two whole shells to come out that day were both 5.1 JAD's found by me and OK Jackson. Tom always the gentleman offered to trade me a shell for the one I found. Gary

gflower

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Re: Stories
« Reply #27 on: June 14, 2020, 05:21:05 PM »
On another occasion, while hunting a large plantation in the low country that my father and I had  made amazing finds, wentworths bullets, buckles buttons etc. (but had never possessed official permission to search) we were headed back to hit it when I saw Toms station wagon parked by a church where we always park d. I told my dad that this was a bad sign because he had gotten caught in there before and as such his wagon was known. Dad was the boss so we when in. Each time we came close to being escorted off the property we slipped out because the caretaker drove an old pickup that you could hear a mile away. This time thanks to his recognizing Tom's wagon parked at the church he came in on horseback with M1 Hanging from his shoulder. After being caught we were escorted to his home to determine our fate ( many caretakers were deputized in the low country) the only thing that saved us from being nicked was the fact that he had bought a metal detector (Heathkit) and we were using Nautilus LF's so we showed him how to use our machines in his front yard. His front yard was loaded with relics and my Dad and I got the opportunity to watch as he pulled up some great stuff. Tom is central to this because the care taker was after him but saw us first. He slipped out and we got caught. We had a laugh over that later but at the time we were far from happy. I always wondered why he was at that spot in light of fact that there was never a shell found there. Gary


Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #28 on: June 15, 2020, 02:50:27 PM »
Great stories!! Love it!!
  Scott

Scott Springston

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Re: Stories
« Reply #29 on: June 30, 2020, 07:34:10 PM »
This one time I had found a spot way back in the woods where a trail of shells had landed, seemingly one right after another. I had dug several and laid them there and was just about to pull another one from a hole in the ground when a foot came out of no where and landed on top of the shell. I looked up and there was this giant guy standing on my shell and he simply said ,mine!! My land, my shells now skedaddle and I did , empty handed.