OLD HOUSE SITES

[Diggin' 4 Silver]

Back behind my in-laws house is about 20 acres of land, mostly pine trees. There are also 4 foundations of houses that are no longer there.
My wifes brother & I went out to look around today to see what the possibilities were. (I hate hunting these type of locations)
After about an hour or so we had found an axe head, the handle of a toy pistol, TONS of nails, a door knob & then finally some wheaties mostly from the early 20's a 36' Buffalo Nickel & 26' Standing Liberty Quarter.
First BN & SLQ for me!

 

[Blockade Runner]

Ticks, chiggers, mosquitos, copperheads and POISON IVY! 100 years of
household trash- 15000 shotgun shells - old can tin can and mason jar tops stuck in roots that should definitely be rare military plates. Horse shoes that bounce between bell tone and iron - you got to dig anyway just in case. Sorting it all out and finding one illegible coin after sweating and dehydration for 9 hours = PRICELESS!

 

[Diggin' 4 Silver]

RUNNER, you sound like you've been there once or twice! LOL

Went through all that & more this morning.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Sounds like the end of a perfect day. There must be more where that came from.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Copperheads are adorable little critters. How many know that a copperhead is an upland moccasin, which is why they have such an adorable disposition and little fear of man. Had one run right between my legs once. Glad he didn't raise his head as he raced under.

Watched a blue racer run on his tail one time. He was in tall weeds so he just raised up so he could see and ran on his tail. He really moved through those weeds. Quite a sight.

Bill

 

[NM5K]

I bought me a pair of plastic snake protectors
not too long ago. They slip on and off real fast,
and don't bother me when walking. "about 20 bucks"
I got those mainly to use up in Oklahoma when I'm
up at the lake property.
I haven't seen any poisonous snakes yet, but I saw
a 3-4 foot non poison snake crossing the road.
I let him go though. Non poison, I don't have much
problem with, as they eat rodents, which in turn
are blood for ticks..
I do have a few ticks there. The ones I've seen so
far are "lone star" ticks, which have a white dot
on their backs. I hate those things.. Mainly cuz
they can crawl up places and hide where it's hard
to see em..
What I do for those is to roll my socks up over
my pants legs, which lets me see any ticks crawling
up my legs.. Light colored pants and shirt helps
see those critters.
If I see any poisonous snakes there, "I'm sure I
will eventually", they are toast unless they can
manage to get away before I shoot, hoe, or stomp
them to death..
It's also death to scorpians, black widows, and
any of the unwanted 8 legged snakes I don't care
for.. I stomped a scorpion the last time I was there..
They pretty much have all the poisonous varieties
of snakes in the area of the property. The lake is
nearby, so cotton mouths are there. Copperheads,
and 2-3 varieties of rattlers roam the upland areas.
There are a lot of large rocks, etc in the area.
The rattlers like to sit out on rocks to warm up
until it gets too hot for them.. Thats what the snake
I saw in the road was doing.. Getting a sun bath..
BTW, those snake protectors haven't saved me from a
snake bite yet, but they have already saved me from a
real stupid stunt I pulled with my chainsaw.
I was cutting up some trees, etc, and at one point
I let the chainsaw drop down a bit too far, while the
chain was still idling down so to speak..
The clutch was not engaged, but the chain was still
spinning a bit.. Anyway, I let it drop down a bit too
far, and it brushed up against my left leg, knee area..
I heard a weird sound, and noticed the chain was
up against my snake guard, gouging the plastic..
That sucker might have gouged my leg pretty good,
if I hadn't had those on..
So in my mind, they have already paid for themselves
by saving me a long drive into a hospital to have a
gouged leg sewn up..
I learned a lesson.. Now, I never drop the saw down
until the chain actually quits spinning...!!!!
Getting in a hurry can eat your lunch with those things.
That was with a 20 inch gas poulson pro.. Would cut
my leg like butter if spun up..
I also have a little 18v chainsaw too for little stuff..
Handy to whack branches out of the way when prowling
around in the woods.
MK

 

[garrettguy]

Love them snakes A couple of years ago, I was hunting this big open field and found a blanket in the weeds. I lifted it up and nearly jumped out of my socks to find a big 'ol pile of snakes all curled up together. Didn't wait to count them -- I put that blanket down in a hurry! lol

Peter

 

[Diggin' 4 Silver]

You guys really know how to inspire me to go back out this evening & MD the spot again. LOL

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

[quote Uncle Willy]Copperheads are adorable little critters. How many know that a copperhead is an upland moccasin, which is why they have such an adorable disposition and little fear of man. Had one run right between my legs once. Glad he didn't raise his head as he raced under.

Watched a blue racer run on his tail one time. He was in tall weeds so he just raised up so he could see and ran on his tail. He really moved through those weeds. Quite a sight.

Bill[/quote]
Copperheads don't have the nasty disposition of a water moccasin. Moccasins are Territorial and will come after you. Copperheads have very little poison in them and do what they can to stay away from you.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Must depend on which part of the country they are in. Cottonmouths are very agressive and the copperheads in the Midwest ( where I was yanked up )had little fear of man. Used to find them in camp sites and picnic areas all the time. They loved to curl up in the wood piles and if you didn't watch out when picking up some firewood you could get nailed.

True, their venom isn't as toxic as most snakes but if one bites you you won't believe that. There are some really toxic snakes out west. The green Mojave rattler has venom ten times more potent than any other rattler in the country. The Pacific rattler is right behind that one and the prairie rattler is nearly as nasty.

The deadliest snake in the U.S. is the coral ( cousin to the cobra with the same venom - a neurotoxin ) but they are so small they generally can't get to much venom in you. But if they do it's a happy end. There is no pain, no swelling, no nothing. You're just happy as a clam until you drop dead two hours later.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah snakes den up in a ball. I've seen balls of rattlers dug up by big earth movers half as big as a car. It's a squeamish sight if you ain't to fond of a thousand snakes rolled up in a ball.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

You're a lucky boy. Them chain saws are really nasty. Working in the contruction game for 36 years I saw a lot of saw accidents - some not very pretty.

Bill

 

[bloodyknees]

Here's a tip for ticks and chiggers if you have not already heard of it. Buy a couple flea collars and put them around your boots. We use them a lot in our area and the work pretty good.

Al