kansas chat

[LukeTHr]

I just wanted to get a thread started for general TH'ing chat here in Kansas. I know we have the roll call thread, so now that we know others exist maybe it's time we do more local chat. Some possible starter stuff would be ; When you first got in TH'ing, how often you get out, fav type of hunting, your best find/oldest coin etc.....


I guess I will start and see where it goes. I have been hunting since 1978. My first unit was a bounty hunter tr 550d. I worked all summer to earn the hundred bucks for the machine and to be honest it never was worth a darn. Now I use whites XLT & DFX. Also am using a tesoro tejon, but am still learning it. I try to get out as much as possible, tho it never seems to be enough. between work and family sometimes it is tricky to find free time. Although I coinshoot and relic hunt, it seems I relic hunt most of the time. I have a few early trail campsites and a cavalry camp that have been very interesting.

I do however watch for any opportunity to hunt coins when it presents itself. Especially when sidewalks are being replaced !!! They always seem to have coins under them. Not always in the best of condition as the pennies and nickel get some corrosion but the silver is usually pretty nice. Oldest coin so far in an 1857 flying eagle cent. As for an overall favorite, I would have to say it is the 2 pieces of a ladies gold earring that came from a cavalry campsite.

In visiting with some of the guys that hunted back inthe 70's when things first got rolling for the hobby here I hear stories of all the silver they found. Though there is still some silver around it is getting few and far between. Now the guys I talk to say they have never found any gold coins, so maybe I will get lucky there yet. If only there wasn't so much chopped aluminum and pulltabs.......

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[diggerodell]

Hello Luke: I'm not far from you, over here in Lyons. It sounds like you are doing pretty fair there in Hays. I had been bemoaning the fact that, out here on the plains, the land hadn't been settled long enough for there to be much of value to find. Reading your posts from a less settled area, I see that I have nothing to complain of. I see that I need to develope more skill in using my machine and more imagination in hunting.
I'm wondering if I need to upgrade to another machine. My Bounty Hunter Tracker IV gives me lots of targets even if bits of aluminum sound like silver. Do you have that trouble with your White's machines?
As to finding gold, a friend found a gold coin near Buffalo Bill's Well, at the site of an Indian raid raid of a stage coach crossing Cow Creek and carrying a payroll to the solders at Fort (Zarah?) by Great Bend. So gold is out there!

 

[LukeTHr]

Hi digger

It's good to see someone respond so quickly here. I was afraid that maybe things were slow on the boards and it may take a while for someone to stumble across the post.

I wouldn't jump too quickly in saying we don't have much old stuff to hunt here. We may not have colonial era sites,but in your area for instance, there is the Santa Fe Trail. I would bet there are a lot of MD'ers in the eastern states that wish they could hunt that. In my area we have a fair amount of indian wars era sites, as I am sure you do also. I am lucky in the fact that I have a cavalry campsite pretty close to where I live and am researching a handfull of others !! I am also just a short distance from the Smoky Hill Trail, so there is quite a bit when you think about it. Just gotta research, research, research.....

My wife is from Great Bend and I have detected at some of their farm sites. Maybe if things work out we can get together for a hunt when we have a visit to her dads.

 

[rebelLT]

Luke and Digger.
I grew up "out there" and didnt start MD'ing until I had moved to the eastern part of the state. I moved back to the area (Garden City) for a few years in the early nineties and did OK while I was there. My parents lived in Scott County and, strangely enough, thats the only place I ever found a gold coin (three in one day). Found them at an old amusement area south of the current day scott County State Park. I read a book over the early history of the area and found a paragraph about the lake and park that no longer existed. Point is I had to do MUCH research out there. Another very productive resource was an old school district map that I reviewed. This map showed the location of EVERY one room school house in the county. Most of them were gone. Old timers told me that they sold them when the school districts were unified around the forties or fifties and most were moved to other locations and used as chicked houses or whatnot. I found that most of the school buildings were near and intersection of two mile section roads. There was usually no sign of the buildings as most areas now cultivated, though finding where they were was fairly easy as that was where the coins and nails were. For the most part the road system was the same, with very few exceptions. Another handy tool, if you can find one, is an insurance platt map from around 1900-1920. These are like maps of a city, complete with most of the buildings, many of which are long gone. Just thought I would give you some help. You might have already tried these things. Good luck!

 

[LukeTHr]

rebel.....congrats on the gold coins. those are like the holy grail.....way to go !
I agree with you on the research advice. I have been lucky to be able to find a lot of info on our areas early history from insurance maps and county plat maps. Now the only trick is to find a spot that hasn't already been hunted that actually has some coins to be found.

 

[Rob in KS]

Hi guys
I'm in McPherson county, about 12 miles west of McPherson. We have 80 acres. I got my son a detector when he was 12 (Garrett GTA 350). I didn't know anything about the hobby. Now he is 17 and interested in other things. So I've been digging up junk in the yard. I'm up to 48 cents, my oldest is 1962. There is tons of iron on my place, a few cool things but mostly bolts, cans, pieces of farm equipment.

When I heard about the meteorite that Steve Arnold found in Greensburg, I started learning more about the hobby and found this site. I've built a PI detector, it works pretty well. With a 10" coil, it will see my BBQ grill at about 2 1/2 feet. I'm building a second one with a 3 foot coil. I'm going to put 2 plastic lawnmower wheels on it and push it around the pasture.

I'll post a pic when I get it done

 

[diggerodell]

I agree with you, Luke, a person has to do their homework and hit the books to find the good stuff. Congratulations, rebelt, on the gold coins you found. It definately takes skill to find those, as, at least with my detector, the gold sounds like pop tabs. But, if you are in the middle of a pasture, and without a signal for a half-hour, your going to dig even if it sounds like junk.
Hello Rob: I could almost holler and you'd hear me from where we are located. What is a PI detector? It sounds interesting, especially if you built it. Meteorites are a Kansas product. You have a good chance of finding some.
And Luke: I have a question about the Hays area. I'm interested in fossils, especially shells that still show the iridescence. I know you have a lot of chalk up there. Do you where there would be a good place to hunt fossils in your area?

 

[LukeTHr]

Digger

I have not been too involved in fossils. I have gone out a few times but have not had much luck. I do have a friend that has gone out quite a bit and done pretty fair, at least compared to me. I can see if he may know anything that could be of help for you.

 

[Rob in KS]

I agree that we have stuff out here that the folks back east would really love to dig. Yesterday I went out for an hour and found part of an old fence stretcher, a square nail and a cow's ear tag. Found a piece of antique barbed wire in the pasture the day before. Its so common here that I didn't even post it.

A pulse induction detector: It pulses a coil for a few microseconds and this generates a field. The field collapses and generates a large flyback voltage ( like an ignition coil). Some of the field gets induced into the target and can be detected. There is a technical forum where a guy has a circuit board he designed. I bought 2 and built the first one for a small coil. With a 4" coil, I can see a penny at 7". I dug 4 holes in the yard last night and the thing will see every little tiny scrap of wire. I would get a hit on the Garrett with a 12" coil. Then go in with the 4" and find out there were 2 pieces of wire and a 22 shell within a 12" area.

I've also found a few bottles, Native artifacts, and fossils. Not many fossils here though

I need to spruce up my web page and get it on the server. I dug and sifted a foundation last summer.

 

[LukeTHr]

I have been detecting at an old old area here that has been used since at least the 1880's. It is our local fairground and has been the site of baseball games, horse races, cars races, and many many years of summer fairs. It is still in use for baseball and fairs and to say that it is well blanketed with pulltabs and chopped aluminum is an understatement. I have found a few coins over there but have not had the good fortune to find anything old. I do know that other guys have detected a lot of silver coins ther but I am still blanked out there. I guess I will keep trying and hopefully can hit paydirt.

This weekend a friend of mine is going to cut a bunch of bermuda grass sod on some property of mine in and old section of town and I am looking forward to maybe finding some things that have eluded me so far. It should be fun.

 

[Burdie]

Hi fellow Ks MDer's I am a little late in finding this thread but glad to see it. I am from Caldwell on the Chisholm Trail, Cherokee Run, and a few military camps. Had a dream hunt in 1996 that lasted two weeks. They took out all the sidewalks and pavement on main street. Come to find out it was covered in 1886. It was like opening a time capsule. All 1840's to 1880's coins. I even found missfired bullets and a poker chip on top of a half. I won't forget it any to soon.
Say Rob do you have any pictures of your set up? Do you use it like any other detector?
Thanks for posting Luke.
Sure would like to see you guys down here for the Chisholm Trail Hunt in Oct. 5,6,and 7. Keep your head down this week.
Burdie

 

[Rob in KS]

Hi Burdie,
yes, the PI works like any other detector. It doesn't have discrimination though. I haven't got the big coil version done yet. The rain has been holding me up. I need to take it outside to get away from electrical noise and do some more testing, that coil makes a good antenna!! I'm building a second one to use with a 4" coil. I got a Garrett GTA 350 for my kid several years ago. Its got a 12" coil so I'm covered.

I'll post a pic of the big one soon.

 

[Burdie]

Hi Burdie,
yes, the PI works like any other detector. It doesn't have discrimination though. I haven't got the big coil version done yet. The rain has been holding me up. I need to take it outside to get away from electrical noise and do some more testing, that coil makes a good antenna!! I'm building a second one to use with a 4" coil. I got a Garrett GTA 350 for my kid several years ago. Its got a 12" coil so I'm covered.

I'll post a pic of the big one soon.

I am not savy on some electronics. But this PI interest me. I have a place for you to try it on when you get the coil version one done. It is neat that you can put that together. Hope the weather is staying away from you now. Calm here for now.
Burdie

 

[Rob in KS]

Now that the weather is clearing up I'll get the big coil outside. I need to do a little more testing. If everything goes well, I'll do some distance test on various targets. I'll post the results here. My guess is that it will "see" about 6 feet deep on a large target. A smaller target would be less. I don't have a feel for how small a target it could see.

I originally built this one for a small coil and got it all working. Then I modified it for the large coil. So I have the enclosure, knobs and stuff all done. Its getting close

What are you looking for ? If you don't mind saying.

 

[Burdie]

A one ton safe that was buried in the forties by a flood. The people thought the hotel was safe but the three story Hotel floated down the river.
The safe was never found.
Burdie

 

[Rob in KS]

A safe, that's really cool !!!
I did some testing today. I hung the coil from a rope between two trees and swung some targets.

Beer can 2 feet
shovel 4 feet
top of a 55 gal drum 5 feet

I need to make some changes and get it all mounted back in the enclosure. Then I'll do some more testing and see how it goes.

Do you know about where the safe is? Has the river channel changed since that time?

Sounds like an adventure !!!!

 

[Burdie]

A safe, that's really cool !!!
I did some testing today. I hung the coil from a rope between two trees and swung some targets.

Beer can 2 feet
shovel 4 feet
top of a 55 gal drum 5 feet

I need to make some changes and get it all mounted back in the enclosure. Then I'll do some more testing and see how it goes.

Do you know about where the safe is? Has the river channel changed since that time?

Sounds like an adventure !!!!

Yes 1/4 mile on each side of the river and no more than two miles down river. Two cars were found that far. Yes the river has changed course in some places. More of a dream than adventure. Would be plum luck to find it.
I do have another site that would have coins and rings 6 inches to over 12. This area floods and I think deposits soil when it drys. An old park from 1900's to 30's I believe. It is flooded at this very moment.

 

[Rob in KS]

Cars would float for a while, so they might be further downstream. If the hotel broke apart, the safe would hit the bottom quick. If the building stayed together for a while, it might float along with it. You would think that the safe wouldn't have gotten too far.

 

[Burdie]

Cars would float for a while, so they might be further downstream. If the hotel broke apart, the safe would hit the bottom quick. If the building stayed together for a while, it might float along with it. You would think that the safe wouldn't have gotten too far.

I agree. One spot that was exposed during the drought showed a cast iron stove. The other place is where the river changed course. I think most of the Hotel is there. I can't prove it just my opinion.
Burdie

 

[Rob in KS]

I got my detector mostly done.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,87725.0.html