river terrace hunt

[mlamp20412]

I hunted a river terrace area on Sunday that should have had a lot swimming and CW activity, but I came up empty after 3hrs. And I mean EMPTY, not even much trash until I finished at the heavily frequented fishing area and ran out of time. I kept running my MD over the metal eyelets of my boots to make sure it was on

Anyone have experience with river terrace or flood plain hunting? Maybe stuff sunk too deep and out of my range? I know I did not get great coverage due to limbs and grass clusters making it difficult to swing, but I thought I would have found something of interest. Really bummed, had done a bit of research, did some recon with my GPS/maps last week…..

[cjoej]

There are many factors that can effect river hunting. For starters consider flooding and erosion that change the channel and course of rivers. Then there is sediment, one flood can deposit several feet of sediment, covering the goodies we seek. Does the river have a muddy or rocky bottom? Are you searching the inside or outside of the bend? The inside will build up with sediments while the outside will be eroded. Are you searching during high water or low water months? Summer time will be High Water and that is when the swimmers will be depositing goodies, so search where they would be during high water. I think you can get some ideas from this.

If the river was used as much as you say, there should also be a significant supply of goodies on the banks and back from the banks. Where do the swimmers change their clothes/drop their towels etc. or where did the CW troops camp/rest...any old tree lines, bluffs, large rocks or other shelter.

Try to think like they did,

SWC

Joe

[mlamp20412]

cjoej,

Thanks for all the advice.

This area is outside the bend. The bank has an initial 5-8 foot steep rise to a flat 100yd+ wide terrace with another rise of 30ft up to level ground. I don't think the terrace floods but in the highest flood stages a few times a year. This portion of the river is muddy as far as I can see. Across the river there are some boulders, but mostly mud bank. The area behind the boulders on the opposite bank climbs steeply to 30ft plus. I have determined CW troop activity from old maps to within 300yds+/- along the bank. This bank would have been mostly cleared during the CW. There are a few oaks with trunk diameters of 40 inches that could have been around from before the CW base on diameter and growth factor. One of these has boards nailed to it to climb and jump in the river. This is in the trashy area that I was not able to spend any time on. A few small stream feed into the river within the 300yd bank area. I did find a screw cap 40yds in on the terrace about 8" deep and a bud can 10" deep. Both were pretty modern leading me to feel that any very old stuff or even clad might have sunk.

I was pretty bummed after my initial hunt but am anxious to go back and try again having narrowed my search areas a bit. Added pics, hunt area in red