Had a top notch relic hunter as a guest speaker last night...

DIGGER27

In Memory Of
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
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Location
Alabama, by way of Detroit, Tampa Bay, Alabama and
...and man was his talk sensational!

His name is Steve Kaighen, Kc Steve, and boy did I learn a ton about relic hunting.
He has been hunting for 35 years, for the last several decades he has specialized in camps, he mostly aims for Dragoon camps, but he finds and hunts all kinds from the civil war era to the 1830's to explorer camps in the 1700's all the way back to the 1600's.
He keeps meticulous journals about all sites and what he finds and all research.
He filled up two long tables with display cases and also had them spread out all over some couches pulse a bunch of iron...there must have been at least 30 displays each filled with labeled targets from different camps and this is just a small part of his collection.
Every camp he hunts is virgin, he does the research and asks permission to hunt private properties way out in the middle of nowhere and when he finds one he has always been the first and only detectors ever digging on these sites.
Buttons, bullets, knives, coins both silver and gold, miraculous medals, tack, martingale plates and so much more, I can't remember or list all the hundreds of different targets I saw in those cases.
Anybody ever see a 3 cent coin in real life?
Man, are they tiny!

He talked about how he finds these camps, the research he does online, how he asks permission and more.

Super nice guy, and now he has got me going and I became an instant fan.

Here is his youtube channel and his personal website.
The website is slow loading but just have patience...well worth it if you are or want to be a relic hunter.



https://m.youtube.com/#/channel/UCUizSPmqkg2OIcsmCP7ynGw

http://kcsteve.wix.com/kcsteve
 
Thanks! for the links, I tried the first one it just took me to the youtube site. The second one got me there in two clicks, FYI.
 
I cannot tell you impressed I was looking at all these different display cases, each one from a specific site.
This was a small amount for him, he had been doing this for decades.
He talked a bit at first, but then opened the floor for questions and I asked many and learned a lot.
He told us how he researches everything on the net for clues, how he approaches land owners, what he looks for, what kind of signals tell him he is on a long lost campsite, info about how these sites are usually located near creeks, rivers and streams, and where they usually pitched tents according to the topography...and why these campsites were usually never next to running water and could be up to a mile away.

He uses an MXT to scan the land looking for these sites, then switches to an F75 to hunt them.
He told of the kind of signal that makes him dig, and he usually digs everything including the big iron which he usually gets out of the way first.
Except around the fire pits, which he can usually pinpoint every one on every site given enough time, he rarely digs deep...most of his targets are usually 6" or less in depth.


All of this really opened my eyes, I never thought of becoming a relic hunter to this degree before but this experience sure made me think about about it.

This is just another great reason I love being a member of my club.
 
Thank you DIGGER27 for the kind words! I thoroughly enjoyed giving the presentation and enjoyed answering all the questions that you and the others had at the meeting. You've got the passion and I'm sure that it will lead you to some incredible relic hunting adventures in the near future. Thanks again and take care!
 
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