Strange finds/experiences in the outdoors?

[FrankenMauser]

ill add one more just to keep this one going.
found a Colt 1911 7 rnd Stainless magazine full of ammo while tromping around in the forest. i just happened ot be carrying my 1911 so i slapped her in, racked the slide (the ammo wasnt corroded by any means so i felt ok shooting it) BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. still have the mag

That reminds me of a ridiculous chain of events that came together on a local hunting forum last November/December (they're now shut down ).

Member A finds a Springfield 1911 loaded with 2 rounds of some kind of Cor-Bon JHPs, far from a trail, while hunting Elk. Since he happened to be carrying it after he dropped a Bull, he used the 1911 for the coup de grâce. He then posts on several local forums, about the find, and claims to have notified the police that he had it.

Several days later, Member B starts a thread asking people to let him know if they come across a Springfield 1911, because he lost it while hunting. He gives a general location (matching Member A's description), the date, notes that it had "self defense ammo" in it, and only asks for email or private message contact if anyone has information about the pistol. He pleads with anyone heading to the area to take a look around, because the pistol was borrowed.

As several forum members are rabidly trying to get the two posters together, a wrinkle appears:

Member C starts a thread, asking people to let him or the Sheriff's department know, if they had any information that could help in the recovery of a firearm that was stolen.... He had a Springfield 1911 stolen from his truck (window broken, truck ransacked) at an unimproved campground several miles from the location given by Members A and B, followed by several reports of camp sites being shot at by a drunken fool that night. He provided quite a few details, full contact information, and even stated that it was loaded with CorBon 200 gr JHPs.

Due to the particulars of the posts and any updates provided by the members, nearly everyone assumed Member C was the victim, Member B was the thief, and Member A was just happened to find it and was about to be a hero. The threads were getting out of hand, so...

All three threads were locked for several weeks, until one of the board administrators merged everything and posted an update, just because the situation was so interesting to the member base.
The forum owner had stepped in and forwarded all the information they had about the three members to the Sheriff's department ... which turned out to be useful.


...Member A lied about the serial number of the 1911 he "found" and, apparently, just wanted to 'brag' that he had found a pistol. He also had NOT notified police of the "find". He was tied to one of the camp site aggravated assault incidents, and was seen in the area where the truck break-in occurred, in the time frame when it took place. On top of a probation violation, he was screwed...

Member C did not get his pistol back, but he at least knew where it was (an evidence locker ).

As it turned out, Member B's pistol was completely unrelated and the Sheriff's department had it in their possession. Another hunter had found it, and had driven all the way into town to turn it in immediately (30 miles of highway after 25+ miles of dirt road, one way). The deputy working the case just hadn't gotten around to calling Member B about the 1911, yet.


It was a rather interesting month on that forum.

[Mausermolt]

now thats a darn good story! thanks for sharing!

[Husqvarna]

I once caught a burlap sack of dead kittens while fishing

[WV_gunner]

We once found an old family cemetery in TNT while hunting. It has several graves, if I remember right the newest one was over 100 years old.

[creightonenterprises]

I've lived in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest working for the Coast Guard and Forestry Service before I retired. I found dozens of abandoned cabins, mines, lodges, etc.

I think the neatest place was an old mercury mine that some Chinese developers had operated before the war sometime in the 1920s. I went hunting near there, and we were still able to use their buildings to bunk down.

[TommyP]

A few years ago in a bowhunting stand I found a rusty old folding knife stabbed into an oak tree about 15 feet in the air. No telling how many years it had been there and continued to rise higher in the air as the tree grew...

[Mausermolt]

Trees grow up from the top. they dont grow up out of the ground. thats why once the top of a tree is dead it wont get any taller just wider, so most likely someone climbed up and stuck it in the tree....even more interesting

[TommyP]

Huh, I did not know that.....now I have no clue how that knife could have gotten up there

[BoogieMan]

Trees grow up from the top. they dont grow up out of the ground. thats why once the top of a tree is dead it wont get any taller just wider, so most likely someone climbed up and stuck it in the tree....even more interesting

I thought the same but not entirely true. If you trim or the top dies a tree will bush out. But they grow up the entire length of the trunk in all directions (diameter and height). We have trees that we stepped out for permanent deer stands. After a several years the steps get to far apart to climb and the tree has to be re-stepped.

[Hawg]

I used to do a lot of metal detecting for Civil War relics. I got a lead on an unknown skirmish site way out in the woods. I didn't find any war relics but I did dig up an 1892 Winchester in 32-20. I saw no signs of a house ever being anywhere near the vicinity. The stock and forearm were completely gone. I searched a long time for the butt plate but didn't find it. I guess some hunter kicked it up and took it with him. Serial number dates it to 1907. It was frozen solid but a few months of soaking in kerosene freed it up but its too far gone to do anything with. It was completely empty. Didn't find any fired cases either.

[deadcoyote]

My friend and I were set up in a kind of hide once getting ready to shoot a deer outside of Blue Lake CA. We were discussing if I should take the shot or not, as it was his turn but the deer was around 165 yards out and he a pretty poor shot, I was trying to sell him on letting me shoot the deer since he would likely miss it.

While we were watching the deer and whispering to each other a mountain lion came out of a dry creek bed and tackled the deer! It was an amazing thing to watch. Also made our argument about who was gonna get the deer kind of pointless.

[Willie Lowman]

The best I have found while hunting was a tree stand that someone had put up on my Grandma's property without permission. I used it for a few days then my uncle and I moved it. We never took it down because we didn't have a dime in it. It's been a little over ten years, the tree has grown around the stand a bit.



-----------------

Not hunting related but I found a single shot 12 gauge that had been sawed off and a white canvas bank bag when I was in the 6th grade. The grips were broken off of the gun. The barrel and receiver were broken apart, it had deep groves in it like it had been beaten with an ax. The bank bag was from somewhere in Kentucky. I took it to my mom and she took it to the Sheriff's dept.

[anothernewb]

The knife could have been stuck in the tree in the winter. couple of feet of snowbank would easily account for the height.

[Mausermolt]

Awesome stories guys/gals! keep em comin! i think the winner so far is the Winchester 32-20 for the coolest item.

[Claims Rep.]

I've hunted some national forest land for years. Once about 12 years ago I walked up on a very old stone fireplace out in the middle of the woods - about 150 yards from a huge bluff. There was a stone foundation in front of the fireplace, making the cabin about 12' x 14' roughly. There was also another stone foundation off to the right, but no fireplace for it. I thought it would be really cool to come back there one day and do some metal detecting - provided I got permission.

Three years ago my son bought a metal detector, and I got the bright idea to go out there. I called up the ranger in charge of that area, and believe it or not he gave us permission to go out there. I told him I'd swing by and show him what we found, but he said he didn't want to know. LOL He did tell me that the area was an old settlement back in the 1880's called Bluff City. He thought the cabin area in question was an old camp for loggers - turns out he knew exactly where I was talking about, because he had walked past the chimney many times himself. Turns out he was right - see the last pic - we found two crosscut saw blades that were covered in rust - they were about three inches below the surface. We also found a ton of nails (as you would expect), and various pieces of metal - not sure what most of it was for.

Remember --- we had permission to be there and dig.........

I imagine that fireplace won't last another ten years or so. If that place could talk I imagine it would tell some woeful stories of people who worked super hard to just try and scrape by.

[sc928porsche]

I hunted the Sierra's for a lot of my life and have come across old narrow gauge railways, mines and mine shafts. The most curious was a steel pipe that had been wedged between two trees and over a long period of time the trees grew around the pipe. It was also about 12 feet off the ground. I imagine it went up in height as the trees grew. The area around the trees looked like it had been a campsite at one time. Maybe an old sheepherders camp. Great location for a camp. Little brook very close by and sheltered, but access was difficult.

[BigD_in_FL]

Friend and I were deer hunting in one of the more remote canyons in northern NV and came across an abandoned car from the 30's. No side windows, body had a rust patina, but it still had the wooden floorboards inside the car - dried and weathered, but still there after at least 50 years, If we weren't so far from any form of a road, we would have towed that out of there. Have come across many unusual artifacts out in that high country desert - the dry climate seems to preserve just about anything........

[splatman]

Hunting up near Buffalo Pass Colorado one year when I
came to a clearing not too far from the road. There was a keg
leaning up against a tree and looked to be a makeshift
ping pong table from an old piece of plywood. Nearby was a
fire pit and some rails built from logs like you
tie horses to. Except there was no hoof prints or
dung around. Liquor bottles all over the place.
And then I discovered a 12 inch glass dildo
standing straight up on a sitting stump. Anyways
I took some iodine from my first aid kit and
disinfected the object and rinsed it off with
water. I then brought it back to camp with me
and thought about slipping it into my hunting
partner's sleeping back but I decided not to in
the end. This incident really let the steam out of
hunting trip. My guess is that some people from
Steamboat Springs decided to have a sex orgy and
they had to leave in a hurry, why else would you
a keg behind. Still have the keg to this day.

[shortwave]

Kinda neat that Claims Rep found a guy with a funny face holding saw blades in the middle of the woods.

[kilimanjaro]

Biggest bull elk I've ever seen, tripped over a hose lay on a fireline and broke it's neck. The rack was displayed in our warehouse for years.

[RodTheWrench]

In the mountains of NE Oregon, a tripline tied to a simple contraption that would have struck the primer on a 12 gauge shell filled with 00 buck. About chest-high on a tree not 6 feet away. Sure glad I spotted it! It was easy to disable, so I did and reported it to the FS. A few days later the paper said a big marijuana grow was busted up by the green-truck brigade, hooray!

I've often wondered if the shotgun shell would have been effective or not. It wasn't in a barrel, just mounted flat on a small board with one of those metal conduit hold-downs. I'm sure some of it would have hit me, but I think a lot of the energy and shot would have gone out the sides of the hull in the explosion. Again, sure glad I saw it!

[Mausermolt]

well im happy this thread came back to life keep it going!

[shafter]

The knife could have been stuck in the tree in the winter. couple of feet of snowbank would easily account for the height.

Maybe someone had a treestand at one point and left it there.

[ebell46]

Nothing too crazy but i'm always amazed when i find a lone shoe while hiking or hunting. It never fails, there is always just one shoe.

[new_camper]

The bear must of eaten the other one .