What’s the coolest thing you found in the back country

[HighUintas]

I only have pictures of some of these, but here's my list:

- Petroglyphs, pictographs
- Old caches, pottery sherds, corn cobs around ruins in SE Utah
- Two late 19th century mining shovels (separate mountains) at about 10k feet
- many logging cabins 100-150 year old
- fossilized buffler tooth in a creek on my family farm in southern Illinois

One of Cattle king Preston Nutter's cabins down in a canyon


Various ruins/caches, sherds, possibly a kiva

 

[6mm Remington]

1970 Roy Montana - North of Roy at my grandfathers ranch that was right where the Missouri Breaks country started. I would go stay with LeRoy for a month every summer for about a months time and would "help him" around the ranch. I absolutely loved it. I was 10 years old.

We saddled up one morning and trailed cows on horseback from his ranch back to another piece of property he owned in the Breaks. I don't recall the distance but it was several miles away. On the way we came upon a herd of 10 or so antelope that let us ride right up to them which was pretty cool. Farther along on the trail LeRoy rode over a rattlesnake on his horse. We were fortunate the horse didn't buck and that the horse wasn't bitten. My grandpa killed the snake and cut the rattles off of it.

A couple miles further on we were in some rugged country that did have lots of Junipers and some large Pine Trees. As we were herding the cows we spotted a complete mule deer buck skeleton hanging from a branch in a pine tree with a rope. The buck was a very large 5x5 mule deer and all we could figure was that a couple guys (Would have had to take a couple guys to do this, or one with a horse.) had shot this buck and had used a rope to pull it up off of the ground to keep coyotes, mountain lions, bears from getting to it. We figured that they had left the buck to get help in recovering it but in this rugged landscape they could not find the location where the buck was hanging when they came back to recover it. It sat there for years and years.

The skeleton was complete with lower legs on all four legs still attached. The skeleton was completely clean of any hide or anything else and had been exposed to the elements so long that the bones, skull, and horns were all white as snow. What birds and insects had not been able to clean off the skeleton, time and weather did the rest. It was just so neat to come upon this and to try and speculate how long the deer skeleton had been hanging in this tree. I remember that the buck was at least 7 feet off of the ground at it's lowest point. Of course in 1970 there was no cell phones or compact cameras, so we did not have any pictures of this but man it would have been neat to have a few really sharp photographs to keep. This is one of my favorite memories with my grandfather of many that he left me with.
David

 

[Pharmseller]

1970 Roy Montana - North of Roy at my grandfathers ranch that was right where the Missouri Breaks country started. I would go stay with LeRoy for a month every summer for about a months time and would "help him" around the ranch. I absolutely loved it.

We saddled up one morning and trailed cows on horseback from his ranch back to another piece of property he owned in the Breaks. I don't recall the distance but it was several miles away. On the way we came upon a herd of 10 or so antelope that let us ride right up to them which was pretty cool. Farther along on the trail LeRoy rode over a rattlesnake on his horse. We were fortunate the horse didn't buck and that the horse wasn't bitten. My grandpa killed the snake and cut the rattles off of it.

A couple miles further on we were in some rugged country that did have lots of Junipers and some large Pine Trees. As we were herding the cows we spotted a complete mule deer buck skeleton hanging from a branch in a pine tree with a rope. The buck was a very large 5x5 mule deer and all we could figure was that a couple guys (Would have had to take a couple guys to do this, or one with a horse.) had shot this buck and had used a rope to pull it up off of the ground to keep coyotes, mountain lions, bears from getting to it. We figured that they had left the buck to get help in recovering it but in this rugged landscape they could not find the location where the buck was hanging when they came back to recover it. It sat there for years and years.

The skeleton was complete with lower legs on all four legs still attached. The skeleton was completely clean of any hide or anything else and had been exposed to the elements so long that the bones, skull, and horns were all white as snow. What birds and insects had not been able to clean off the skeleton, time and weather did the rest. It was just so neat to come upon this and to try and speculate how long the deer skeleton had been hanging in this tree. I remember that the buck was at least 7 feet off of the ground at it's lowest point. Of course in 1970 there was no cell phones or compact cameras, so we did not have any pictures of this but man it would have been neat to have a few really sharp photographs to keep. This is one of my favorite memories with my grandfather of many that he left me with.
David

Help me understand how the skeleton was complete and still hanging from the rope years later. Ligaments and cartilage hold bones together at joints. Ligaments and cartilage break down readily over time so the skeleton would fall apart.

With all due respect this story pegs my bs meter.




P

 

[West.mass.hunter]

I've found probably 10 mylar balloons in NH and MA. Also found an old stone flint in a riverbed in Amarillo TX that was lost while moving

 

[6mm Remington]

Help me understand how the skeleton was complete and still hanging from the rope years later. Ligaments and cartilage hold bones together at joints. Ligaments and cartilage break down readily over time so the skeleton would fall apart.

With all due respect this story pegs my bs meter.




P

All I can tell you is that it was hanging just as I stated it was. I don't know how it was but it was. If we had a camera back then I would have proof in hand of what I just described. My grandfather passed away in 1978 and my father passed away in 2012 and I'm sure we told my father about this find, but he is no longer with us either. There's that and I don't lie!

 

[Pharmseller]

All I can tell you is that it was hanging just as I stated it was. I don't know how it was but it was. If we had a camera back then I would have proof in hand of what I just described. My grandfather passed away in 1978 and my father passed away in 2012 and I'm sure we told my father about this find, but he is no longer with us either. There's that and I don't lie!

I’m not saying it’s impossible but I am saying that’s not how skeletons work.

Google it.




P

 

[tuffcrk14]

I’m not saying it’s impossible but I am saying that’s not how skeletons work.

Google it.




P

Growing up on a ranch in MT, we had the occasional old cow that just got tired of living and we would throw them in the bottom of a coulee with the other dead cows/calves from years past. There were a lot of skeletons that held together for a long long time before they fell apart. It has a lot to do with the climate of the environment (I’m sure you’re aware) and I know for a fact it is drier than a corn cob fart most years in the Missouri breaks country, which would lend to it not breaking down in the amount of time it would take in most places. When I read the story, knowing what I have seen/experienced; it never gave me cause to question. Sure, speculate all you want. There are a lot of things in that Missouri breaks country that have been preserved longer than perhaps they should be. If you float that stretch of river and see the old 100+ year homesteads just off its banks and their condition for their age, it would seem more plausible maybe.


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[northernbill]

 

[northernbill]

This is a fighter plane crash from the early in 50’s. It’s on a ridge top on the hunting club I belong to in the Adirondacks. Apparently the pilot ejected before the crash but died anyway. It’s really eerie exploring the wreckage. The first thing I thought of was its absolute B.S. his plane crashes are depicted in Hollywood movies. NOBODY walks away from a crash like this!

 

[ODB]

View attachment 738628I won’t take credit for finding it, but I was shown it. Poured water on it to enhance the contrast. S.E Arizona.

I've seen them here in Idaho with characters almost identical. They are neat.

 

[RockAndSage]

I've seen them here in Idaho with characters almost identical. They are neat.

They're seen all over the world. It's a rabbit hole once you start diving down it: https://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2004/arch/041231predictions-rock-art.htm

 

[ODB]

This is a fighter plane crash from the early in 50’s. It’s on a ridge top on the hunting club I belong to in the Adirondacks. Apparently the pilot ejected before the crash but died anyway. It’s really eerie exploring the wreckage. The first thing I thought of was its absolute B.S. his plane crashes are depicted in Hollywood movies. NOBODY walks away from a crash like this!

When my dad was in the Air Force he was on pickup crew for a B-52 that crashed in Denton, NC in 1961 - there were two survivors. He was present when they found the body of the co-pilot, the tall, black fellow in the pic here: https://sites.google.com/site/memoryyear/denton-nc-stuff/b-52-crash-near-denton-1961

He's 83 and still has horrific memories about it.

 

[Dos Perros]

There was a deer that someone sent to MeatEater and they posted on Instagram where a bucked slipped and fell into a large crack but was held up by its antlers. If my memory serves it was in the same condition described above, hanging bones all in-tact.

 

[Pharmseller]

There was a deer that someone sent to MeatEater and they posted on Instagram where a bucked slipped and fell into a large crack but was held up by its antlers. If my memory serves it was in the same condition described above, hanging bones all in-tact.

For many years?

I’m not saying it’s impossible but that’s not how skeletons work.



P

 

[Coleredding00]

Here’s my most abstract find. Two chunks of cedar wired together behind a bolder on top of a very tall sandstone cliff. My old man says it was likely a bobcat set, but the trap was no longer tied to it.

I can’t seem to find the pictures, but we also found a marble military headstone under a bizarrely placed pine tree. Like the kind you see in Arlington. I looked up the name of the soldier, and was able to find his enlistment paperwork from the civil war. He enlisted into the union army in a volunteer corps in Missouri. He made it out alive and had picked up and moved all the way to browns park, Utah where he lived into his 70s if memory serves. He died alone in his cabin under some cottonwoods That grew around the natural spring he homesteaded on. One of the girls from the neighboring homestead stopped by to check on him and he had passed in his bed with his pet dog locked in the cabin, who had resorted to eating what was left of him to stay alive. There was an article in the local newspaper about it in 1909. I’ll attach a link to it in case anyone wants to read it. Wasn’t particularly remote but extraordinarily unique, and the fact i was able to find so much information on him was fascinating. The remnants of his cabin are still there. The browns park historical society brought his military headstone out and placed it over his grave, under the pine tree.

Routt County Courier April 8, 1909 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection

Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection

www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org

 

[Maxam]

Holy smoke that’s wild! Tough day for that lumbar jack lol


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[Corvus Corax]

View attachment 815146

There is a very popular hike not far from my home. A B17 converted for search and rescue crashed into a ridge line in bad weather in the winter of 1952. Unfortunately three of the eight man crew did not survive. We hiked up to where they had struck the ridge and followed debris the whole way down to where the main fuselage came to rest 1700’ down in the valley bottom. The crash survivors were recovered the next day.

 

[Dos Perros]

For many years?

I’m not saying it’s impossible but that’s not how skeletons work.



P

I don't know how long it takes for the hide and meat to come off a skeleton but at least that long. I believe this was in the northeast somewhere, NY maybe.

 

[lyle_destroys]

You guys BOTH found knives directly under antlers?

Not under antlers, but at what I think was an old kill on a power line cut. No bones left, no leather, just the stainless knife.

 

[LongWayAround]

For many years?

I’m not saying it’s impossible but that’s not how skeletons work.



P

There was a picture, I think on here, of an elk that got caught in a avalanche. The skeleton was wedge horizontally in a couple of pines a few feet off the ground. It had some hide remaining but was mostly white bones and appeared to be mostly intact. I used to have it saved but can't find at the moment.