How do you find old bottles in creeks and rivers?

[RICKJJ59W]

ORIGINAL: JGUIS

Using a pitchfork as a probe, increases your chances by 3. []

I second that. We used to pull up milk bottles with a fork like they were going of of style. Well they were out of style you know what I mean[]

 

[FlaskMan]

How exactly do you probe a spot in the ground, do you just take a pitchfork and poke it into the ground hoping to hit bottles?

Thanks guys, this info helps!

Also, I won't go into the water without proper equipment, I appreciate the concern!

 

[j.dinets]

In a sense that's correct. you're using it as a probe, going in a continuous pattern trying not to miss any areas. You will be able to tell bottles by the sound and feel. Once you have founda few, you will have no trouble recognizing others on contact. If you are in water shallow enough to wade in, I would suggest a spading fork. Same concept, except the tines are strong enough to dig bottles out of silt or sand, and can be used to lever rocks and other debris out of the way. In the river I spoke of above we found many bottles in about 3 feet of water, and a spading fork was invaluable. We also carried a 3' handled fishing net to nudge bottles into with our feet. We also got very strange looks form people crossing the bridge[]. Most assumed we were fishing, even though we had no poles. The spading fork also acted as a walking aide and by always using it in front of you as you walk will detect and protect you from many other hidden objects. A spading fork has saved my shins from many a submerged metal drum, and is a great way of detecting changing depth. Until you are very sure of a rivers topography, and even after, as storms and floods can rapidly change bottom topography, walk upstream against the rivers current. This will allow you to avoid being swept into something you don't want to go in, and make backing up easy. Much of this info is dependent of whether you are in water or on shore. On shore look for pieces of broken pottery, glass and metal eroding out of the bank, which may indicate a dump along the bank. Bank erosion being caused by river flooding will always deposit in the direction of the current. This is to say if you are finding bottles in the river or creek, you think came out of a dump on a bank look for it along the bank upstream of where you find them, and vice versa if you find a dump along a bank look for bottles, which were washed out of it downstream of the dump. Hope this helps, good luck! and have fun.

 

[The black cat]

I have an old creek behind my house and I found some old beet bottles and an old perfume bottle

 

[embe]

Cool, this is an old thread, but maybe you can share the story on how you found them?

 

[Kheidecker]

Cool, this is an old thread, but maybe you can share the story on how you found them?

All I do is creeks. I Walk The Creeks looking in water and banks. Here in Illinois where it's flat all the trash went in to the crevices or low spots which was mostly creeks. I look towards the banks for high concentrates of glass shards.start digging.a old dump will be some easy ground to dig like a privy. lot of times they caught the dumps on fire so I it'll have a lot of black ash in soil.. what they usually had the dumps east of town within a half a mile from center of town.sanborn maps can also help. Always look around animal holes in the banks and uprooted trees. I always try and dig into the bank and let gravity help you move some dirt.heres a pic of an uprooted tree I'm gonna dig up soon as it warms up.good luck

 

[seniorscuba1]

Best way to find bottles in a river or Lake or stream depending on the depth of water is with scuba gear depending on the current I push my hand in the Muddy Bottom and went back and forth and when your hand feel something I pulled it out of the mud. Most of the time I find junk it gets threw away recently beer bottles pop bottles and garbage. But every now and then I catch a nice crock or medicine bottle.. Once well doing this diving Northwest arm new Halifax I was swimming back and forth with my arm up to my elbow in the silt object I grabbed something and pulled it out of silt by this time the visibility was basically zero so I had to come up some to see what I had is a emerged from the silt and shook the mud off the object I saw Baby eyes and little button nose looking back at me per second I just froze but within a few seconds I started breathing again when I noticed it was just a doll oh, but I got some scare

 

[DeepSeaDan]

Just another word on safety if deciding to hunt underwater on scuba:

> Most divers I know who bottle hunt ( including myself ), dive alone. Many will plan a dive as a group, then split up after entering the water; net result - you're still diving solo, except other divers are in the general area. Solo divers must understand the potential risks involved, such as:

* Entanglement hazards
* Boating hazards
* Low-head dams & hydro dams
* Heavy current complications
* Cold water complications
* Medical incidents ( heart attack, cardiac arrest, stroke - incidents brought on by the stressors
possible while diving )

!Currently, subaqueous 911 service is not available!

Bottom line: If things go bad, you have only yourself to effect a solution.

Please - do not undertake solo scuba diving unless properly equipped, VERY well experienced,
and properly trained ( Properly executed "Buddy Diving", remains the safest way to dive, but there are agencies who offer certification in solo diving ).

I'm in my 46th year of diving. Thus far - no accidents or incidents. I dive VERY safely & VERY conservatively! I acknowledge & accept the risks in doing what I do.

Be Wise! Hunt Safe!

Regards,
DSD

 

[seniorscuba1]

you are absolutely right, .that is why we didn't take any newbies on our bottle dives it is hard to watch your buddy when the the viz is the length of your arm . Also when i started what became solo bottle diving I got a small tank and cleaned it up and used it for an auxilary air tank . once I had to use it . I was in 80 feet of water in the middle of Halifax Harbor not the cleanest place in the world to dive . As i swam a sort of a zigzag pattern I took a breath and it was hard to breathe , I quickly looked at my air supply and it was ok I had lots of air there was a problem with the valve . then I took a second breath and it was only a trickle . by the third breath there was nothing . so I was alone in 80 feet of muddy water . with no air! I quickly took the regulator to my "pony bottle " purged it and went over to my emergency tank I tested it on a previous dive I made a controled accent from 100 ft so With no time to linger around I surfaced the damn thing was the guys found some fine bottles .. but i guess getting back alive is something ...