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need advice exploring 1000 acre campgrounds

O

oldrivers

New member
I was given permission to detect on a 1000 acre campground used by 3000 kids a year and like amount of adults. it has a 28 acre lake and this ranch dates back to very early 1800's .the camp itself started in 1951.Nobody has ever detected it. I've enclosed an aerial picture.
The original ranch houses still stands. I need some advice where to start as this is such a huge place with a lot of history.they herded cattle from here to the chisolm trail.any advice would be much appreciated.
 
You need a hunting buddy. When shall I head down?

Where you hunt depends a lot on what you want to find. Get as good an idea of the history of the place as the caretaker or owners can provide. If I were a new detectorist I would start someplace easy, like a beach or playground, and become familiar with pinpointing and the basics of detecting and recovering coins. A day or two of digging a lot of nice shallow clad coins will quickly improve your technique. Don't tear up their purty grass too much. Finding older and usually deeper stuff takes practice. I suspect with the number of kids you're describing there will be a lot of trash (foil, pop tops, bits of aluminum.) Don't let this discourage you. You have to expect to dig a lot of this garbage before something really nice passes under your coil. If an area proves too difficult to detect in, return to that area when you are more proficient. I stopped at an old park yesterday and the couple next door told me it used to be a foundry. I could not swing my detector 6 inches without getting a signal of metal. I will not be returning. Even the bark chip areas were impossible to detect in. Maybe Uncle Willy could figure out how to detect there but it is beyond me. Hope you see my point.

Most of us would give a lot to have sole access to a site like this. I suspect it could keep you busy for years or more likely decades. Take your time and have fun.

One more time. PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!!! Someplace easy to start and often.

Chris
 
your sure welcome to come hunt with me. I'm 20 miles south of dallas, fort worth and arlington texas. so come on down and thanks for the great advice.there is no great hurry in my hunting it,but I would like to start before the camping season starts this summer.
 
What Chris said makes sense.
I wouldn't hurry. Take your time and enjoy. If they have a sandy beach, I would start there. That could be profitable. Dig everything on the beach. The digging is easy and the rewards are great. If you find a ring with a name in it try to find the owners. It is the right thing to do and good PR. If there are no names or initials, I would keep the knowledge of it to myself. It is not that you are trying to hide anything. If others know, they might complain and think you are getting rich even if it is a cheap ring. I think that is a wise thing to do.
Keep every piece of trash you dig and show them that you are a good steward.
You have all the time in the world. Do a mix of things. The house would be slower and more tedious type of MD'ing. If you get tried, go to the tot lot. It is easy and gets replenished a lot. If areas are trashy use a small coil, it will pay for itself in the finds you get.
MAKE SURE YOU SHARE YOUR FINDS WITH US!!!!! WE WON'T TELL.
 
Timing is everything. I lived in S. Dallas for two years, but that was 26 years age.:rofl:

Don't be too quick to invite everyone. They could ruin it for you.
 
thanks john! I told the director that lives there if I found any rings that we could identify I'd be happy to let him try and get them to the rightful owners. as far as a beach the lake is 28 acres and has been there since the 1800's. but this is texas prairie land. Once a thriving longhorn ranch from 1800's to early 1900's and in 1950 was donated for a youth camp (1000 plus acres.) it contains a rodeo arena, soccer and softball fields,and one can only imagine whats been lost there since 1950.
thousands of adults have also used it for weekends every summer for weddings,sports,and concerts. so it's a formidable task. Nobody has ever detected there as the main gate road stays locked. I was surprised how easy it was getting permission from the director.He said i was the first to ever ask lol
 
:clapping::clapping: Wow what a great opportunity oldrivers!!!
 
Don't forget to detect the shallow water of the swimming area, deeper water if you have an underwater detector. You may be surprised at the amount of good targets there are in the water. Good luck and keep us posted. Kip...:)
 
I'm surprised nobody has ever aked permission to hunt there before. There's a bunch of Garrett Guys right in your neighborhood and don't be surprised if you get a response or two from some of them. I'm not too far from you, just north of Austin, but with the gas prices, a little too far for a day trip!! Good luck out there and keep us posted on your finds with that 150!!
PS: Head for the lake!!! Cold water, shrinking fingers, suntan oil = lost rings!!
 
Be careful not to get the housing of your 150 wet. The coil is waterproof up to the housing. Another thing you may want to do is check out where the crowds hang out in the park on a warm sunny long weekend in the summer.:thumbup:
 
Thanks Joel . This is a summer camp for mainly children 8-18 and the counselors keep them pretty organized. Each year after the kids get finished mom and dads have it for a weekend so all in all probably 5000 or more will have been running around out there playing and participating in sports of all kind each year..They dont give them a lot of free time in order to keep them from getting into mischief. However I expect in the early 50's they used the lake for swimming before they got a pool built. and of course the cowboys would have used it for bathing and cooling off from this horrible texas heat in the 1800's.After detecting in this 90 plus degree weather i might jump in myself lol
 
Unless it is a natural lake, it probably did not exist in the 1800's. Most ponds and lakes on the Great Plains are man-made and have only existed since the 1950's or 60's.
 
this lake has artesian wells and appears on maps from our historical society as far back as early 1900's and haven't got maps of 1800's yet. there are also several natural springs there where they forded the cattle on the way to the chisolm trail. and the cherokees and shawnee tribes merged and lived there before the ranchers.
 
It sounds like you have a variety of hunting all in one. Parking Areas. Playground areas. Plus sometimes things like these are moved so if you can talk to some who has known this place for a long time it would be invaluable.Id be looking towards Researching the original ranch that was there if possible.
 
that's what I was thinking liltracs. some of the decendants of the ranch owners are still here in my county and the historical society has their e-mail addresses posted. Plus the people who own the ranch now are faxing me some history about the ranch owners back from 1800 to 1900's so maybe there are some details there. from what they told me they left the main house and cowboys bunkhouses intact. so I thought I'd check there. probably find some artifacts but i doubt those cowhands had much money.still it's a heck of a lot of ground to cover. and I have to start somewhere lol. wish some of these forum users lived here in north texas so they could hunt with me. I still have the maps to 20 ghost towns near me to go to as well lol. and thats not including the 8 parks here thats all built on historical grounds. First i'm gonna dig up everything in our 2 acres before i attempt those so I get use to the detector and it's limitations.
 
[quote oldrivers]this lake has artesian wells and appears on maps from our historical society as far back as early 1900's and haven't got maps of 1800's yet. there are also several natural springs there where they forded the cattle on the way to the chisolm trail. and the cherokees and shawnee tribes merged and lived there before the ranchers.[/quote]

Stop, stop, you are making me salivate all over myself.
 
[quote oldrivers]this lake has artesian wells and appears on maps from our historical society as far back as early 1900's and haven't got maps of 1800's yet. there are also several natural springs there where they forded the cattle on the way to the chisolm trail. and the cherokees and shawnee tribes merged and lived there before the ranchers.[/quote]

Sounds like you are on track with studying the history of the camp - that should help you pinpoint areas to concentrate on :thumbup:
 
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