Treasure Hunting North Carolina farmland with my XP Deus metal detector
If you happen to have been driving through North Carolina’s countryside a weekend in March 2023 you may have come across a rather peculiar happening.
The metal detectorist swinging a detector, along the sandy shoreline, on a hot summer day, is surely a neat sight but hardly comparable to what you just stumbled across. While driving through this winding countryside near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, you found not one detectorist swinging but easily 5 to 20 detectorists in every field, in any which direction you should look. What you have discovered is Digstock V which can best be described as a convergence of treasure hunters.
Digstock V is a metal detecting rally which dwarfs all other similar treasure hunting events in the United States. With 800 metal detecting attendees and an additional 438 guests, kids, spouses, sponsors, and staff members, Digstock V was the meeting grounds for a total of 1238 treasure hunters and treasure hunting enthusiasts! I consider myself fortunate to have been one of these 1238 attendees and to have partaken in this phenomenal three day treasure hunt.
I attended Digstock as one of five detectorists who represented XP Metal Detectors at the event. The other four detectorists were Rob - The History DIgger, Brian - Southern Relic Adventures, Brad - Green Mountain Metal Detecting, and Cameron - Cameron Maser. Rob and I had met at a previous metal detecting event but I had no familiarity with the other three fellows. Fortunately they all four turned out to be kind, intelligent, collaborative, and creative individuals. It was a great honor to be one of the five asked to represent XP at this event and to work with these four incredible individuals.
Registration day of Digstock was a blast. It was a large, festive meet and greet at the Digstock headquarters. The five of us spent time at the XP Tent where we greeted hundreds of new friends. We had a prize wheel and gave away tons of prizes including MI6 pinpointers, XP 240 Backpacks, XP Deus 2 shirts, XP polo shirts, XP hats, and much more. We also had a metal detecting test garden where we had buried a few dozen assorted finds. These finds ranged in quality from a silver half dollar to rusted trash. Each buried target was marked and labeled with a white plastic coaster. This way when one swung a detector over the buried target one could guess the identity of it based on the detectors VDI and tone output. Then one could check the accuracy of one’s guess to the accurate ID which was written on the coaster.
The Digstock headquarters was bustling with excited treasure hunters. There was something for everyone here. There were games, several food trucks, a beer truck, a vodka truck, a live band, and numerous other relic hunting related vendors including Trash Chipkin and Gone Diggin.
The first days meet and greet ended with a bang! The final organized event of the evening was a nighttime seeded hunt. This was a highly creative and unique take on the typical seeded hunt where a field is generously seeded with silver coins. This nighttime seeded hunt was pinpointer only. No detector and no lights. A small field was generously seeded with sponsor and vendor tokens which were to be redeemed for prizes on the final day of the event!
Treasure fields of promise spread far across the land. The excitement among Digstock attendees was electric on the morning of day two! Everyone was eager to hit the fields swinging and to see what treasures were hiding in this farmland? Who would find the oldest silver coin? Would anyone find gold? Day two and three were long but glorious days. Myself and the awesome team I was working with split our time between the XP tent and the many peanut, sweet potato, and corn fields! This was my first time detecting a peanut field and I was very amused by the old peanut shells which remained scattered from last years harvest. At the XP tent we greeted participants, offered helpful XP gear and detecting advice, and traded in XP tokens from the nighttime seeded hunt for raffle tickets. These raffle tickets were entered in to a drawing for a giveaway of a XP Deus 2, an XP Deus, and an XP ORX which was to take place on the fourth and final day of Digstock V.
The many awesome finds began to roll in as day three came to an end. Everyone publicly displayed their best finds in personal display cases at the Digstock headquarters. There were 1700s silver and large copper coins, trimes, and half dimes, beautiful points and native pottery, buttons, pins, bullets, and buckles. It was a museum-worthy display of metal artifacts dating back over 300 years and stone artifacts dating back thousands of years.
It rained on the fourth and final day of Digstock V but this did not deter many. We searched the fields till lunch time came. Then everyone gathered under the main tent to partake in raffles and giveaways. Thousands of prizes were awarded including the prize of best find which went to Jennifer who for finding a War of 1812 Artillery Button!
As giveaways came to an end, Rob, Cameron, and I headed back out in the pouring rain to see what final treasures we could find. As dusk fell I came across a section of field with dense iron content. The area had clearly been heavily detected over the past two days. There were dig holes everywhere. Some holes only inches apart. I managed to salvage a fine 1800 key from this patch of field and two turn of the century US military buttons.
Digstock V was a whirlwind of fun! It was a merry four days packed full of dirt, treasure, and trash. Meeting new friends and reconnecting with old was a joy. We all share a passion for metal detecting, bottle hunting, history, and exploration. I can not wait till next time we are all be united on a large field with the intent to save some history!
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An incredible article written by an even more incredible and talented detectorist. Thank you for capturing and preserving the memory Nikoline. I can’t wait to hear about your next adventure!