For those who ride the "trail less traveled" have you ever found artifacts, antiques, or something cool?

Question

I found a pistol once. The grip was gone, as was the trigger gaurd. It was a revolver, but it was so rusted, it was solid. A gal I used to babysit for (long time ago) had the remains of a calvary saddle on her living room wall she had found.

Just wondering if you've ever found anything worth sticking in the saddle bags and brought home. Or maybe so big you had to drag it behind your horse?

Answer 1

I found some arrow heads and a rock with a fossil in it but not on a trail ride...

Yeah I heard about the kitten in the mail box... have you named it yet? lol you should name it "you got mail"! It would be even funnier if it was a male kitty.

Answer 2

I just went out to the pasture earlier today to gather up a bunch of baling twine, and I discovered this one corner of the pasture where the one horse had "hidden" all of his halters and flymasks from the past year or so... he's gone through five, I'd go out in the morning to get him and occasionally he wouldn't have his halter or flymask on! That was just obnoxious, he'd been using a board to slide them over his ears.

Elsewhere, on trail rides, I've found really old and rusty hoofpicks and horseshoes. Once I even found someone's stirrup, leather and all! I wish I knew the story behind that one!

Answer 3

When i was riding down by the river I looked downand seen this weird white-ish brown rock, I picked it up and took it home, and then was showing this lady that collects fossils and she told me it was some kind of tooth. Well i dont know if it was an old mamoth tooth, but it was huge

Answer 4

In Oklahoma...I would find all kinds of Route 66 memorabilia out in the grassy plains.  Just sold them to the 'antique' dealers.

In Utah...the weirdest thing I drug home...was an elk skull with 6 points plus the brow guard spikes.  It was so big, I got off my horse and flipped the skull into the saddle seat...and the horns were hanging on each side like rider legs.  And those hung almost to her knees!  She'd been used for hunting so, this was not a big deal.  I still didn't tie it on...in case there was a problem and it needed to 'fall' off.  Still have it...out in the shed though.

Oregon...I'm way back in the hills...no roads either.  I catch 'blue' out of the corner of my eye.  I go investigate and it's a car!  Like a 50's model of some sort.  Almost covered in a pack rat type nest...and completely surrounded by trees.  It must have been there for 40 years or more.  Have yet to figure out how it even got there.  Not even a hint of a logging road or anything else...

I've drug home coyote and cow skulls.  I would paint them and sell them...people will buy anything!

Found a dead horse one time...well, the bones anyways.  The hooves were still there, so I popped them off and brought them home.  Still had the sole and I cleaned and painted them and sold them as ashtrays...

Empty turtle shells...painted and sold again

Goodness...really, I don't ride around looking for dead things to drag home...I really don't.  It just happens!

One of the coolest places I used to ride...An old abandoned plantation in Texas.  Bought by an oil company for the rights and fenced off.  About 3000 acres.  So much stuff to look at and dig through.  The main house was still there, and the slave quarters.  Still had a working pump of some sort that still dribbled water into an old tank.  Had to be real careful though.  There were cisterns in the ground in different places.  You fall through one of those...and you'd probably die there.  No people anywhere.

I've found rusty tools on and IN trees.  Arrowheads, fossils in Colorado...so many things...I can't remember them all.  But this was a cool walk down memory lane...Thanks!

Answer 5

dont have horse but have an ATV. I was out on it one day riding around, when i came across a funny looking rock. Thought it was for sure a meteorite or some type of rock from space. So we took it over to our local Penn State Campus and had it examined. Turned out it was a huge piece of slag. I still dont know how it wound up in the middle of the woods with really no other signs of trash or junk laying around. but i figured that was worth telling.

Answer 6

Up here, taking the trail less traveled can get you or worse your horses killed.  The browns(grizzly) are out & not in the best of moods apparently. Too easy to come up on a sow & her cubs this time of year.

BUT!  The weirdest thing we have found was a human skull with what looked like a bullet hole in it.  We left it there & notified the police.  Not sure what ever came of that.  When still living in Oregon, we were out gathering cattle on a mountain side in the middle of absolute no where but amazingly enough, I found a claw foot bath tub, an old cross cut saw blade & an old hand water pump. No chance to pick them up & take them home. Bummer...

The tub was in pretty sad shape, but what I can't figure out is there was no sign of a road, old or new & there was no evidence of there having been a house anywhere around.....No idea.....

**EDIT**

"Trolls come out in the good old summertime!!!!"

Answer 7

Yes, when we packed out for 10 days in North Dakota, we found a broken Sioux Indian Lance, it was broken in half and matched perfectly, both ends.

we brought it home and took it to the Museum, and they confirmed it was true Sioux Indian Lance, around 150 yrs old.

or a little more......it is on our wall in the den......

Okay this is supose to be a fun question, and I dont understand the thumbs down...so bring it on, this is ridiculous.

cant even have any fun around here anymore.

Answer 8

I found an old log cabin one time (SO WISH I COULD STUCK THAT IN MY SADDLE BAG!!) that was way out in the middle of this forested area. It was so ancient and over grown by the surrounding foliage, but it was amazing to see something that looked like it was from the gold rush days. There were no real trails or roads out there, and it was the only one in the area.

Another ride I went out on, we found 3 cars (all from the 40's era) down in a ravine (far from any roads or properties) that were all rusted and weathered down from all the years being abandoned. They were well hidden, like they had been racing through this open field and then dropped into the ravine so no one could see them unless you were stand at the edge of the ravine. Also covered in bullet holes and there were some ancient suitcases and some other little pieces of trinkets left behind there too. Maybe some people trying to make a get away and a there was a shootout? too much fun to find!

Answer 9

Several old guns with no grips either...The weirdest thing i found, dont know how it got there, there is no road and we have had this ranch for 25 years but...I think its a water thingiemajigger...Its huge, faded red color, no way to drag it home, need a semi its that big.  We are surrounded by a wildlife preserve, we are in the middle and no one has ever lived there...i think  I have found old time pot and pans and other weird things.

Answer 10

What a great question!

Yes, I have found stuff...some interesting, but nothing amazing.

I found an old bridle once....all dried up and rusted hardware, but it had a ricardo bit on it. That was a decent find.

Still have it.

The weirdest thing I ever found was a dead buck that had somehow got his antlers locked in a wire fence and couldn't get out. Starved to death, apparently. When I found him he was down to the bone mostly...I took his antlers.

Still have them too.

Yesterday I found a kitten that someone stuffed in my mailbox.

Now that's just wrong...can't understand how someone could do such a thing...kitten is helping me by jumping on the keyboard as I'm trying to write this.

I kept that too.

Edit ti Equus & Calm: I think I'm gonna go with "postal". He lives up to it....crazy cat. You should see him rippin around the house. Climbing the curtains and everything..so I can say he "goes postal" lol!

Edit to BB & Julianne-

It good to know that I'm not the only one who drags home dead things...

EDIT to Everyone:

What is this? a TROLLFEST?

There are no incorrect answers to this question. What's with all the thumbs down...(now lets see how many I get) tee hee.

Answer 11

Not a great deal - it's not exactly "wild" around here.

Most memorable thing was the two dumped kittens that everyone heard about.

Also have found someone's mobile phone ( successfully returned that to the owner)

And some money - small amount - I kept that.

Edit: Imabohemian - Kudos for the kitten.

Answer 12

Once camping in the Ruby's we found a big @ss bone. It was broken to about the size of the rocks we where using as fire stones. We had been using for three days before one of us picked it up and really looked at it and it was a fossilized bone.  We forgot to pick it up and bring it home, someday if we go back to that spot I'll look for it.

We do have a stone club head that some Indian carved. It's not one of those bought by the road side one its is the real deal. I use it as a paper weight.

We also have some railroad lanterns that we picked up at a ghost town in Nevada and some shovels. The cool thing is after who knows how long there was not a speck of rust on them.

Wow, I didn't kow that I could get trolled for finding something?

Answer 13

I heard you say that yesterday, that some fool put a kitty in your mailbox....ahhh I wonder about some people. As far as finding stuff I have found the coolest feathers. We always rode down by the Minnesota river and in the rookery where all the bald eagles nested. They are such a cool bird. I have also found alot of arrow heads. Good question though.

Answer 14

yea but i didnt take it home it was the old wagon wheel on a wide trail =D

Answer 15

Used to find arrow heads a lot.  Found a long iron 'S' hook (hand forged) used for hanging pots on the cookin' fire.

>><<  I brought home a horse skull from a Girl Scout camping trip.   It had a small round hole above the eye socket.

I told the story of Ghengis Kahn's Horse at camp that night and most of my citified peers had nightmares. (no pun intended)

I was not popular among the leaders next day . . .

Answer 16

ZiggyBad, I had a similar experience!  I was hiking (not riding, thankfully) and under a bush, in the middle of nowhere, was a horse skull.  No other parts of the horse, just the skull.  From what I could see, it was nearly clean except for a patch above the eye socket where there was a bit of sorrel hair.  I was about 10 when I found that and even today, I wonder why the HECK there was a horse's head out in the woods....

Not cool, rather creepy!

Answer 17

Great question! I have found stuff but I am to old to recall what.  When I was first married, my hubby and a family friend and his daughter were riding down a dirt rode and rode up on some couple in the process of doing "the wild thing". We were all so embarrassed. I'm sure the couple was as well.

A couple of years ago we were riding 4 wheelers and found a lot of cool stuff. I brought home this thing made out of wood and very heavy wire. It looked like a splice for a big pipe. Which is odd. It was pieced together and shaped like a wooden barrel. Tongue and groove with the wire holding it together. It's about 10" long.

Add; I recalled something! I was riding my old yellow horse one day and came across and old apple orchard. It had the biggest sweetest apples I've ever eaten. I stuffed my sweatshirt pockets full, put some down in my sweatshirt and had a couple in my hand. My horse jumped a creek and apples went every where. I had to get off and re-load. I was so mad. I went back with a  bucket and got more.

WooHoo! I got a thumbs down!  (My eyes are rolling in my head.)

Answer 18

I wish, but the trails less traveled that I travel are two brushy, I mean seriously, I have to basically duck the hole time and trust my horse to get me through it, and I have to constantly lift my legs so they don't get knocked  by trees.  I have found some artifacts though at my old barn(it was a spot where war was early on) I fine pottery from indians, arrow heads, and sometimes bullets.

Answer 19

I have found many things in the dirt and rubble over the years!

Things I prize, once I found a japanese chopstick tray that is about eighty years old and made of copper. It was buried right beside an old greenhouse that I was playing near.

I found two arrowheads from the Algonquin tribe, at least a hundred years old when I was camping in Algonquin park in Ontario, Canada.

Another time a huge pottery jug with french markings on it of a spirits maker. Once many small pottery bottles for ink. I have found coins, glass bottles, antique plates and silverware and clay pipes.

My best find was a stone with a huge fossilized insect.

I somehow like those things better that anything I might want to buy.

Answer 20

i found a completely fine washing machine once....dad went out and picked it up, works fine...

a little herford calf.....we called her maria...

and a baby deer, we gave her to a guy who had deer out the road

we also found what we though was an alien skull, but it ended up being a kangaroos skull apparently......but i stand by the fact that it WAS E.T.

Answer 21

I think the weirdest thing I ever found that was worth putting in the saddle bags was a baby raven.  We were riding in a box canyon and it had fallen out of the nest.  It was just flopping on the ground.  So we wrapped cloth around his eyes, put him in the saddle bag (the horses though it was weird for sure) and took him home.  We fed him with an eyedropper for about 10 days so he could heal and grow before we set him free.

My husband once found an old bison skull in a riverbed.  It hangs in our house now.  It has to be old because it's pretty degraded and there haven't been any bison skulls around here in a LONG time.

We also once found a horse skeleton and there was a bullet hole in the skull :(  That one's actually hanging in the house too...

And we find old sheepherder camps all the time that have random stuff.  Old tack, old tools, homemade tools (they can make ANYTHING out of some barbed wire), stuff like that.

Answer 22

I've never found anything like an artifact, what you found sounds cool!

The most unusual thing I've found out on the trails was a pile of dog skulls in the middle of a circle of what looked like blood.

Eeeek! Creepy!! LOL! I assume it was used for some kind of crazy voodoo seance or something.

**Edit**

Sorry Ayla! It freaked me out too. We've had some pretty weird people living in the area for sometime. A couple who practice some kind of satanic voodoo live just around the corner from the trial and I'm scared shitless to go anywhere near there again.

**Edit**

1024, That's creepy too!! I've found a few weird things like that, but nothing using 'horse parts'... That really would've freaked me out.