President's Corner. GMDC NEWS May yahoo.com. Club Officers President Susannah Kriegshauser

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GMDC NEWS May 2016 President's Corner By Susannah Kriegshauser Hello fellow dirt fishers! Our Mystery Hunt is almost here. It looks as if we are going to have a good turnout.

1 GMDC NEWS May 2016 President's Corner By Susannah Kriegshauser Hello fellow dirt fishers! Our Mystery Hunt is almost here. It looks as if we are going to have a good turnout. Let s just hope the weather will be fine. If for some reason it is cancelled, I will let everyone know via . Can you dig it? We can! detectinghistory@ yahoo.com Club Officers President Susannah Kriegshauser Vice President Jim Hammond Treasurer John Westermayer We had a large turnout for our May meeting, with 35 attending, 8 of whom were new members. Welcome! That brings our membership total to attending out of 49 is phenomenal. A big thank you to all who expressed how much they enjoy coming to the meetings, with the words informative and fun topping the list. We are very thankful to have the MO Civil War Museum as a meeting place. Roger Horrom from the Midwest Coinshooters Club was in attendance, and told us that his club had lost their venue. So if you know of anywhere their club can hold their meetings, please contact them through their website. New blood brings new hunt sites and, thanks to the generosity of several of you, we will have a couple of new sites in the works. Exciting, isn t it? And what s more exciting from an officer s standpoint is that members are working together to provide fun for everyone by sharing those sites. Keep thinking of places that are no more than 1 to 1-1/2 hours away, like your uncle s clubhouse, or an old townsite. Every viable hunt site earns you an entry in our contest. Susannah in England And our contest has been upped! Instead of the pinpointer, the prize has been upped to a Bounty Hunter PioneerEX metal detector! Remember, you can earn entries by giving us a viable hunt site, volunteering for an activity like our upcoming BBQ, taking a class, giving a meeting presentation, writing a newsletter article, or signing up for a team, such as the Community Assistance Team. Happy Hunting! Susannah Page 1

2 CALENDAR Jan 05: GMDC meeting Jan 16: Metal Detecting Basics Class. MO Civil War Museum Jan 23: Metal Detecting Basics Class. MO Civil War Museum Feb 02: GMDC meeting Feb 21: GMDC hunt. Willmore Park Mar 01: GMDC meeting Mar 12: Metal Detecting Basics Class Mar 20: GMDC hunt. St. Marcus Park Apr 05: GMDC meeting Apr 09: GMDC hunt. Christy Greenway May 03: GMDC meeting May 14: Metal Detecting Basics Class May 15: GMDC hunt. Mystery Hunt. DeSoto, MO Jun 07: GMDC meeting Jun 11: GMDC hunt. Fultz Field. River des Peres Jul 05: GMDC meeting Jul 09: GMDC hunt. St. Marcus Park Aug 02: GMDC meeting Aug 06: GMDC hunt. TBD Sep 06: GMDC meeting Sep 10: GMDC hunt. BBQ/Hunt Games Oct 04: GMDC meeting Oct 08: GMDC hunt. TBD Monthly Meeting by Jim Hammond President Susannah called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was said. The prior meeting minutes were read by VP Jim Hammond and a motion was made by Lee Nunnally with a second by John Quinn. The treasurer s report was read by Treasurer John Westermayer. There were 35 people in attendance. Eight new members signed on: Bill Seibel, Earl McReynolds, Bobby Rosenberger, Kelly Faust, Roger Horrom, Matt Huntman, Amberly Brown, and Carl Boekemier. Welcome! The Mystery Hunt has a second meeting place for our more southern members at the commuter parking lot at Hwy 55 and Imperial Main St. The majority of us will leave the Regions Bank parking lot at 10, and motor down to the commuter lot. Everyone will carpool from there. Some members asked about membership cards, but after a brief discussion it was decided that membership cards were not necessary. It was brought to the membership s attention that member involvement was necessary for various activities and that signup sheets were available for members to help. The state of the treasury was also discussed, with the possibility of charging a small fee for special hunts. The officers will confer on this. Susannah explained about Hero Hunters and said there was a signup sheet if anyone was interested. A Buddy List was explained and members can sign up through our to be put in the newsletter. Members who would take pictures at hunts and events were asked to do so, and pictures should be sent through our . Pat Reece will be giving a presentation at the June meeting on the England metal detecting trip that she, Susannah, and Jim Hammond went on. Jack Kountz gave a wonderful presentation on beach and water detecting and displayed his numerous ring finds. President Susannah gave an informative presentation on the Genevieve method, which we will be using on the Mystery Hunt. Pat Reese won the 50/50, and generously donated it back to the club coffers. Thank you, Pat! Door prizes were won by: Kelly Linder Bobby Lewis Earl McReynolds Liberty Quarter 1910 V Nickel Barber Dime Page 2

You can of course go in to the town, but it is about 20 minutes away. Nope, not the actual property. Just a teaser! NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE ALLOWED.

3 Monthly Club Hunt Mystery Hunt (May 15, 2016) 10am-2pm DeSoto, Missouri What will we find? IMPORTANT UPDATED NOTES!!!! ***Please bring a soda flat, shoebox, box lid, or something in which to put all finds, including trash, per our Genevieve method. ***Please remember to bring your lunch and drinks. You can of course go in to the town, but it is about 20 minutes away. Nope, not the actual property. Just a teaser! NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE ALLOWED. ***Our more southern members will meet at the commuter parking lot at Hwy 55 and Imperial Main St. The main body of us will start from Regions Bank at 10am and then motor down to meet with those at the Hwy 55/Imperial commuter lot. We will then all carpool to the site. Please go in as few cars as possible, since the homeowner can t accommodate 40+ cars. Get to know your fellow members! If there are any questions, please refer to the CALENDAR section of the website. Could it be like this? It s a mystery! Page 3

4 Tech Talk By Susannah Kriegshauser Pinpointer Tips A pinpointer is a useful tool for the detectorist. However, too many people use it as the detector itself, and not as an adjunct to successful detecting. Learning to decipher your detector s signals will be more useful in the long run than trying to scan large areas of ground with a pinpointer. Remember a pinpointer doesn t have a discrimination button like a metal detector. Well, not yet, anyway. To begin with, many detectorists do not know that they need to ground balance a pinpointer when going after a target. This is the easiest thing possible. Before you turn your pinpointer on, place the tip or side touching the soil in the hole. Then turn it on. Now you are ground balanced. This improves depth, and cuts out the constant chatter. If your pinpointer is in use, and begins a high-pitched squealing, turn it off and then ground balance it. Highly mineralized ground can quite frequently set a pinpointer off, so ground balancing every time you turn it on, which takes one second!, will make things right again. For those of you who lose things frequently, makers of pinpointers have begun making plastic, sometimes waterproof, cases. You can get them in a variety of colors, from screaming yellow to basic black. I personally go for the brightest color I can find, because I don t know of a single detectorist who hasn t (almost) left their pinpointer behind at a previous hole. BBQ/GAMES Hunt September 10, 2016 Jefferson Barracks Park (Registration Required) We have another fun hunt that is for MEMBERS ONLY (and their families). We are a family club, and we invite you and your family to a fun time in the park. There will be BBQ, fun games, and a giveaway of a Bounty Hunter PioneerEX metal detector to all who participated in our contest, plus other goodies. Bring your detector and pinpointer, but no shovels, since this is a county park and no digging is allowed. We are playing games with our detectors, not finding relics. We need many people to help with this, and we will have a signup sheet at all future meetings. Thanks to those who have already indicated their willingness to help! We need chefs, people to run the games, and crews to setup and takedown. The club will provide the hotdogs and hamburgers, buns, and condiments. We ask that those whose last names begin with A-M bring a side dish, and those whose last names begin with N-Z bring a dessert. The club will provide water you will need to provide any other drinks you want. Bring a chair and sunscreen! We have one or two games in mind at this time, but all suggestions will be welcome. What would you like to play? Page 4

LESCHE WE FORGET By Susannah Kriegshauser Metal detecting is just a doggone funny hobby. And a strange one, sometimes. Everyone has their own can you believe this?

Louis County Library, and presented metal detecting basics classes there.

5 LESCHE WE FORGET By Susannah Kriegshauser Metal detecting is just a doggone funny hobby. And a strange one, sometimes. Everyone has their own can you believe this? story, and I hope you will send them in to us. Meanwhile, here s two of mine, which gets even weirder, because they ended up being related (cue Twilight Zone music) I previously worked for the St. Louis County Library, and presented metal detecting basics classes there. I had given one the previous Saturday when a man came in on Monday and asked when my next one would be, as he had gotten the date wrong and missed the class. We began talking about detecting, and it came out that I had recently detected in England. The man said he had visited England several times. Where had he been? Right in the exact area where I had detected, Hunstanton, Norfolk County. As we talked further, we got on the subject of genealogy. I told him I do genealogy also, and what family was he researching? He said, Williamson. And you guessed it that s the family that I research too! Move forward two weeks, again at the library. I was waiting on an Englishwoman who now lives not far from me (you know where this is going, right?). We began chatting and she asked if I had ever been to England. I told her I had metal detected over there for several years. She asked what area and I said Hunstanton. She gave me a strange look and said, That s where I was born, and my father still lives there. I love this hobby! A SPECIAL HUNT Recently, as a staff member at the MO Civil War Museum, I was given the rare opportunity to hunt a very small section of ground between the steps of the 1918 building, next to the 1905 museum. This area had had a weed tree spring up beside the steps, and after this was cleared out, the area was being prepared for sod. Mark Trout, the museum director, asked me if I would detect the section and I was glad to do so. I came up with two great finds, a 1906 penny and a pre-1918 horseshoe with the nails intact. Since the next door museum building itself was built in 1905, the penny was an early loss. And the horseshoe tells us two things since the nails were still in it, it was a thrown shoe, and since the last horses left the site just previous to WWI, this shoe was thrown either around the erection of the 1918 building or was on the site before the building was built. Page 5

6 Upcoming Topics These are a few of the topics that we will be discussing at future meetings: BBQ/GAMES HUNT This will be a members-only family fun hunt in the fall. The club will provide the meat, members with last names beginning A-M should bring a side dish, N-Z should bring a dessert. No digging required at this hunt! Just bring your detector and a pinpointer. We will play fun games like Pinpointer Pennies and Pin the Patch for prizes. There will be signup sheets at future meetings for those wishing to help with setup/takedown. SILVER SCRAMBLE RALLY Hey, we like having as many different hunts as we can to keep things exciting! How about a springtime rally where members would drive through a park to checkpoints. Each checkpoint would have a unique detecting trial to pass (blindfolded, pinpointer only etc.). Lowest time wins. Afterwards we could go to a restaurant to unwind. We would need to iron out all the details in upcoming months and get plenty of volunteers. Anyone interested? MERIT BADGE COUNSELOR We would like to have a couple of members volunteer to be trained as a Boy Scout Counselor in Coin Collecting. There are few in this area and more are needed. Got a coin collection? Now s your chance to induct the younger generation into the joys of collecting history. IN THE LOUPE We would like to begin showcasing our wonderful members and their experience in detecting by writing a short article a month on a specific club member. Get to know your fellow detectorists! ASK THE EXPERTS/WHAT IS THIS? We will also talk about having a section in the newsletter where you can ask detecting questions and (hopefully) get them answered. We have members with a vast range of knowledge about a wide range of detectors and detecting practices. Plus we would like to post pictures of things that you can t identify yourself and need some help with. FINDS DAY AT THE MO CIVIL WAR MUSEUM We will discuss the possibility of having a Finds Day at the museum. Besides helping bring in passersby (and thereby revenue) to the museum, this will also showcase our club to the public. We have our club cards on the desk at the museum, and these generate great interest, so having a Finds Day seems like a good way to do further advertising. GMDC LOGO ITEMS The officers have been asked if the club will begin selling items with our logo on them, such as hats, bumper stickers, t-shirts, window stickers, and more. Due to the somewhat low condition of our bank account (hey, we re a new club!), this will need to be discussed further. Page 6

Gateway MD Club 222 Worth Road St. Louis, MO 63125 detectinghistory @yahoo.

We dig responsibly, act respectfully, and operate legally. We invite you to join us. You won't be disappointed!

7 Gateway MD Club 222 Worth Road St. Louis, MO WHO WE ARE We are a group of detecting enthusiasts whose aim is to get out there and have fun, find fellowship, and find and preserve our nation's history. We dig responsibly, act respectfully, and operate legally. We invite you to join us. You won't be disappointed! MEETINGS We meet on the first Tuesday of every month at Missouri Civil War Museum 222 Worth Road St. Louis, MO "Can you dig it? WE can!" For either the CLASSIFIEDS or HUNT BUDDIES, please send them through detectinghistory@yahoo.com at 7 pm (Doors open at 6:30 pm) Open to the public CLASSIFIEDS Anyone with items to buy, sell, or trade? HUNT BUDDIES Pat Reece: I m looking for a hunt buddy, any level of experience. I live in the Wildwood area. Phone: parreece@aol.com Page 7

President's Corner. GMDC NEWS November yahoo.com. Club Officers President Susannah Kriegshauser

President's Corner. GMDC NEWS November yahoo.com. Club Officers President Susannah Kriegshauser GMDC NEWS November 2016 Can you dig it? We can! detectinghistory@ yahoo.com Club Officers President Susannah Kriegshauser Vice President Jim Hammond Treasurer John Westermayer President's Corner By Susannah