Misc data and adventures of a Tayopa treasure hunter

That wily old Birdy knows exactly what he's talking about.....:2barsgold::treasurechest::gold-bracelet::pot-of-gold::2barsgold:

There has been some crass and silly attempts by some locals, sometimes egged on by outsiders, to break into museums, vandalise old monuments and illegally search historical sites in the hope of getting 'lucky'. They mess things up for those that attempt to try and do things properly and professionally.

Can't deny that country's potential to the likes of us.


IUP

Yeah it would be difficult to TH in urban areas with all the complications,,,,better is ,to plan a quite touristic hiking expedition in rural areas following old rivers which almost always were associated with ancient settlements ,,,you may get lucky in finding some ruined and abandoned outposts that have been forgotten,, ,,,:)
TT
 

Amigo's and Amigo ettes,:coffee2: Dont mean to change subject, just wanted to share special moments.
Last week a couple of my old treasure hunting friends called said they were headed for a reunion in cal and would stop by and visit,
yesterday they showed up, and last night sat around remembering old times, just wanted to share a couple of the strange events that happened while they are fresh on my mind,
this morning they made me breakfast,and we had an old favorite, Squirrel, biscuits,potatoes, and white cream gravy.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,what a meal. I will now continue with a story
of one of our adventures. NP:coffee2:
 

:coffee2:While on a hunt in the cal mnts years ago we were camped near a small creek on a flat bench, we had been there for three or four days,one evening just before dark across the creek weheard a strange noise,next to this large rock we witnessed a very large lizard,around 8 to 10 feet long being chased by several people ,they ran under this large boulder and vanished,we sat therefor several minutes with guns in hand and in shock over what we just saw, nothing ever re appeared ,we went over to see were they went,could not find anything, just a very small trail with lots of tracks and foot prints going under this large boulder,but that's as far as they went,they just disappeared with no trace,need less to say we stayed a couple more days,but nothing else happened.over the years we always talk about this and other things, just wanted to share this ,NP:cat:
 

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Hi Folks,

I've been doing some research about a French explorer named Louis de Villemont. Extensive information about Villemont has been hard to come by. I'm at the point where I need to have a Spanish document from 1799 translated. Who does this type of thing and does anybody know how much it would cost for such a translation?

We've talked about Villemont in Randy Bradford's thread, Treasure Mountain, Co.-Lost Frenchmen's Gold. Colorado author, Maynard Adams, associated Villemont with the Treasure Mountain legend. I'm interested in his explorations because he might have passed through the county where I live on the west side of the Mississippi River. I've found two translated letters from him to the French Foreign Minister. He claims to have explored the regions that are now Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. This would have made his explorations extensive.

Thanks for any help.
 

:coffee2:While on a hunt in the cal mnts years ago we were camped near a small creek on a flat bench, we had been there for three or four days,one evening just before dark across the creek weheard a strange noise,next to this large rock we witnessed a very large lizard,around 8 to 10 feet long being chased by several people ,they ran under this large boulder and vanished,we sat therefor several minutes with guns in hand and in shock over what we just saw, nothing ever re appeared ,we went over to see were they went,could not find anything, just a very small trail with lots of tracks and foot prints going under this large boulder,but that's as far as they went,they just disappeared with no trace,need less to say we stayed a couple more days,but nothing else happened.over the years we always talk about this and other things, just wanted to share this ,NP:cat:

Why did you stay for a couple more days...... could you walk? :occasion14: Good story. :thumbsup:
 

I've known coon hunters that have lost coon dogs, under less spooky circumstances than that, and they poured the coffee on the fire and headed home right then.

Guns or not... I ain't waiting around for the second dragon!

#/80{>
 

I've known coon hunters that have lost coon dogs, under less spooky circumstances than that, and they poured the coffee on the fire and headed home right then.

Guns or not... I ain't waiting around for the second dragon!

#/80{>

Hello Prospectormickel and Not Peralta

When I was child and my parents had first come out from Finland to working in the Copper mine of MT Isa of Australia. A totally different world for them the almost exact opposite. One early experience was camping in the Gulf country. I had a close encounter with a dead "Salty" Salt water Crocodile on the back of a trailer. To me a young kid it was massive and it was even by adult standards. But that said over time you learn to respect that you live in their territory and there is things you should and should not do. That said in my young eyes at the time dragons did exist..and in a way still exist.

worlds largest crocodile caught.jpg

Amy
 

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Yeah it would be difficult to TH in urban areas with all the complications,,,,better is ,to plan a quite touristic hiking expedition in rural areas following old rivers which almost always were associated with ancient settlements ,,,you may get lucky in finding some ruined and abandoned outposts that have been forgotten,, ,,,:)
TT

Hello TT

There is an old saying old Crow "time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted' Which many can learn from it. Hunting down treasure sites to get a feel for the place and opportunities is an ideal way to scout a location before turning up with the bells and whistles. proper expeditions can be expensive a back packer trip to the site in question to see if the project is viable can save a lot of later heart ache with expense of a larger expedition.

He has another favorite saying "Two beers per day perhaps" oh well you get his drift.:occasion14:

Amy
 

Hello Prospectormickel and Not Parelta

When I was child and my parents had first come out from Finland to working in the Copper mine of MT Isa of Australia. A totally different world for them the almost exact opposite. One early experience was camping in the Gulf country. I had a close encounter with a dead "Salty" Salt water Crocodile on the back of a trailer. To me a young kid it was massive and it was even by adult standards. But that said over time you learn to respect that you live in their territory and there is things you should and should not do. That said in my young eyes at the time dragons did exist..and in a way still exist.

View attachment 1294849

Amy


Amy, that is one big
crock.
To a child's mind... that is a dragon.

As for real fire breathing dragons, there a is a clear description in the Bible,
From God's lips to Job's ears.

It's in the last chapter or two of the book of Job.

It opened my mind on the subject.

#/;0{>~
 

Why did you stay for a couple more days...... could you walk? :occasion14: Good story. :thumbsup:
Amigo:coffee2: For the several of us there that saw this take place,You know you didn't Imagine It, because after examining the site, there was foot prints of the people,and tracks of the animal, but they went know where, only under this huge boulder,It was truly a mystery,and something we knew would always stay fresh in our memories.NP:cat:
 

:hello::coffee2:, Glad to share unusual happenings on my hunts, while in Virginia working on the beale story many years ago,and I mean many years ago ,because it was,We camped near the peaks of otter at an old home site,just the foundation was left,we planned on being there several days,on our second night it started drizzling, all through the night we could hear what sounded like a woman crying,but no one said anything till the next morning,by then it stopped raining and we went through the day doing our hunt,again that night it rained a little harder,all night we stayed awake, because we again heard a woman crying even louder than the night before, but even closer to our camp was the old foundation, and we could hear a baby crying,this continued all night until it stopped raining, after a long discussion in the morning we came to the conclusion that this was some type of a haunting of who ever lived in the house or cabin that used to be there.there was no other explanation at the time.np:hello::cat:
 

NP

Tell us about the flying lady in the Superstitions .
 

some good fireside stories indeed. I know how easy it is to get spooked in the woods when your mind is occupied with other things. On a hunting trip, I camped out with a bunch of guys, 11 of them, in a 22 man army tent, in the mountains of Pennsylvania one winter. We went there in the late fall and awoke the next morning to 14 inches of snow. We hunted the next day, wading through the deep snow and following tracks. At times I would feel a cold chill and get a feeling of being watched. Looking around I could see nothing visible to blame my feeling on. Whatever or whoever was causing my distractions never left me all day. I never saw any footprints that I couldn't identify nor did I see anything unusual. The next day found me in a diffrerent location, not out of fear as much as the lack of animal signs. Others in my party expressed that they too had experienced strange feelings of being watched and or followed. This is a huge national forest consisting of some 200 square miles of nothing but wilderness. No homesteads are allowed except for a few hunting cabins dotted through the forest at several mile intervals. There were other hunting parties in the forests but none were camped within miles of our location. We had a sucessful hunt and was glad to be going home.We never discussed it much until a year later when we started planning another hunting trip. Good Luck. rockhound
 

:hello::coffee2:, Glad to share unusual happenings on my hunts, while in Virginia working on the beale story many years ago,and I mean many years ago ,because it was,We camped near the peaks of otter at an old home site,just the foundation was left,we planned on being there several days,on our second night it started drizzling, all through the night we could hear what sounded like a woman crying,but no one said anything till the next morning,by then it stopped raining and we went through the day doing our hunt,again that night it rained a little harder,all night we stayed awake, because we again heard a woman crying even louder than the night before, but even closer to our camp was the old foundation, and we could hear a baby crying,this continued all night until it stopped raining, after a long discussion in the morning we came to the conclusion that this was some type of a haunting of who ever lived in the house or cabin that used to be there.there was no other explanation at the time.np:hello::cat:

In Michigan we have "screech owls" that cry at night and you would swear it was a baby crying in the swamp. At night it will make the hair stand up on your neck.
I have walked silently out of camp and into the swamp just to make sure, and each time it was just the owls.
wr
 

Hi Folks,

I've been doing some research about a French explorer named Louis de Villemont. Extensive information about Villemont has been hard to come by. I'm at the point where I need to have a Spanish document from 1799 translated. Who does this type of thing and does anybody know how much it would cost for such a translation?

We've talked about Villemont in Randy Bradford's thread, Treasure Mountain, Co.-Lost Frenchmen's Gold. Colorado author, Maynard Adams, associated Villemont with the Treasure Mountain legend. I'm interested in his explorations because he might have passed through the county where I live on the west side of the Mississippi River. I've found two translated letters from him to the French Foreign Minister. He claims to have explored the regions that are now Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. This would have made his explorations extensive.

Thanks for any help.

I got in touch with a professor at one of our state universities and she said she might have a graduate student interested in making the translation.:thumbsup:
 

MDOG.
That should help save you a chunk of change.
Grad students are generally eager to associate there name with the translation of old documents.

Those are the stepping stones of their careers.

That should help both, you and the student.

Best of luck on your project.

#/;0)~ (c)
 

you might be interested in this Explorers Club data




Explorers Club.jpg
* * * * *


New York Times: Women in the World - Ariel Field
The women of the Explorers Club celebrate expeditions to the ocean depths

National Geographic Adventure
For One Night, an Explorer's Life Is Actually Glamorous

TIME for Kids - Jaime Joyce
A Taste for Adventure

Bloomberg Radio
Taking Stock

• CBC - Amy Husser
Will eating invasive species help us deport them?”

• Popular Science - Grennan Milliken
At The Explorers Club Annual Dinner, Invasive Species Are On The Menu

• The Atlantic - Elizabeth Prescott
Eating Iguana at the Explorers Club

• Adweek Fishbowl NY - Richard Horgan
Vice Reporter Samples the Iguana Meatballs

VICE Munchies - Alex Swerdloff
I Ate Iguana and Venomous Lionfish with New York's Elite
Also featured on Daily VICE
 

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Hi CI your post bought back a few memories. I was at the Isa in 1966 after emigrating to Oz. I lived at stargully barracks and went crock hunting a few times heading north up to the gulf country with a couple of local guys. They hunted at night from an aluminium boat using a torch the crocks eyes reflected the light and the eyes shone like rubies when the light hit them. most used ex army .303s and had to use a head shot between the eyes or they were unlikely to kill it and then use a rope round a part they could tie it to quickly before it sank and was lost.
They only used the belly skin at that time they got about a dollar an inch.
While I was there I met a nurse up in Darwin who had taken to it with gusto ( for want of a better word) I remember being told that in less than 6 months she'd made about 45,000 dollars this was when a good wage at the Is a was 60 dollars a week . She had bought a jag ( a car not the furry kind) and put down the deposit on a house.
There was a photo in a darwen paper showing a mud flat where a huge crock had been seen and the mud had dried round it when measured the place it had laid was 45 ft nose to the tip of the tail. I returned to Townsville just after and lost track of my friends up there after that so thanks for your post and photo.
Hello Prospectormickel and Not Peralta

When I was child and my parents had first come out from Finland to working in the Copper mine of MT Isa of Australia. A totally different world for them the almost exact opposite. One early experience was camping in the Gulf country. I had a close encounter with a dead "Salty" Salt water Crocodile on the back of a trailer. To me a young kid it was massive and it was even by adult standards. But that said over time you learn to respect that you live in their territory and there is things you should and should not do. That said in my young eyes at the time dragons did exist..and in a way still exist.

View attachment 1294849

Amy
 

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