Gary Bunyard | Highland Lakes Metal Detecting Club

Comment to the Group

by Gary Bunyard | Nov 14, 2025 | Blog

I realize that I have not been participating in the meetings and the hunts lately and I regret this, but I don't have much choice. My typical week with the Llano Kitty Fixers is on Sunday I make appointments with clients to deliver traps. On Monday I deliver the traps all over Llano County, either to clients or to locations where stray/feral cat colonies are found. On Tuesday and/or Wednesday, beginning at 6am, I trap cats and/or pick cats up from clients who trapped the cats and then deliver the cats to our staging area where I clean the traps and give the cats food and water. On Thursday and/or Friday I return the cats to the location of trapping and release them. I then pick up the canopies, tables, and other gear in preparation for the Saturday Farmers Market and Junk in the Trunk events. On Saturday I arrive at the Llano Courthouse at 5am to begin setup for the Farmers Market and Junk in the Trunk and stay to work the booth until noon or 1pm. After returning the canopies, tables, and other gear, I go home to clean and sanitize empty traps. I do intend to renew my membership, and I will make time, when possible, to attend a meeting and/or a club hunt.

I applaud Nyssa and James for stepping up to be President and Vice President for 2026. These are the real working positions. I know as I was President for 3 years. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer are relatively simple and do not take up much time. As Secretary you can tape record the meeting, create a summary of the meeting, and post the summary on the website. As Treasurer you would receive all monies paid into the club and deposit them into the bank. You would keep a ledger identifying all income and expenses for two categories - general fund and raffle fund. Once a year the Treasurer sends the members' dues and information to TAMDC. With this in mind, I know that each and every member of this club has the skills to take on either of these positions. And either position would look good on a resume as part of a newspaper or magazine article. So, who will step up and agree to take the reins for these positions? Yes, I know you are busy, but if you can attend the meetings, you can help the club out and take on one of these very important positions.

Gary Bunyard

Personal result from annual club hunt by Gary Bunyard

by Gary Bunyard | May 4, 2025 | Blog, Club Hunts, Member Finds

My mistake. At the end of the hunt when we reported our finds I reported 2 quarters and 21 dimes. Then today I was checking my finds bag and I found 2 more dimes that were apparently hiding from me. So my grand total at the First Annual Members Only Club Hunt is 2 quarters and 23 dimes. Both dimes are 1935 and the oldest dime is 1946. I think we all had a very good time at this hunt. The turnout was amazing. The location was amazing. The prehunt tips given by Tom Ashworth and Earl Theiss were amazing. Thanks guys. In my opinion this event was a huge success.

May Club Hunt Finds by Gary Bunyard

by Gary Bunyard | May 26, 2024 | Club Hunts

Hi Folks. I had a good time at the property location that Tom Ashworth arranged for us in Burnet. With all of the history that Tom gave us regarding the property I seemed to find car parts, bailing wire, and other bits of cast off artifacts. The most interesting item I recovered was a vintage automobile tail light. It was close to a foot deep and it took a LOT of cleaning. The only markings I could find were imprinted on the red part of the lens "GUIDE XI-54" at the top and "Suidex" at the bottom. After a bit of research I found a photo of the back of a 1954 Chevrolet which had the exact same tail light. Wow, that car was build in the year I was born. In a different area of the lot I recovered the top from an automotive brake fluid reservoir. The only coin I recovered was a 1974 penny. I will bring the tail light to our next meeting. Thanks Tom for getting us on this lot.

Recent finds of Dan Lynch

by Gary Bunyard | May 6, 2024 | Member Finds

Dan Lynch has been doing a fair amount of metal detecting since his recent retirement. He asked that I post this on our website on his behalf:

Dan: I've been taking advantage of Spring weather and retirement to get more familiar with my detector. Thanks Gary for sharing your expertise. Here are some of my recent finds. A loaded.45 caliber magazine was buried in the sand at Kingsland Slab (2 bullets). I haven't identified the large chunk of lead I found at my Church. The putty knife and several coins were found in my yard.

I would point out that the gun magazine was rather encrusted when Dan found it. Dan cleaned and oiled it before he was able to remove the cartridges (very carefully I might add).

05 06 2024 Personal Hunt by Gary Bunyard with Dan Lynch

by Gary Bunyard | May 6, 2024 | Member Finds

I am sorry I had to miss the May club meeting. I am in the process of starting a new nonprofit TNR group for Llano County and we had some time sensitive decisions that needed to be made.

Anyway, Dan Lynch and I met up today, May 6th, at the Llano rodeo arena and warmup area. The manager had informed me that today would be a good day to metal detect in the arena as they were in between events so we would not be disturbing anyone. It is always a good time when I can get together with Dan and today was no different. He was certainly a good luck charm for me today. I was able to recover 1 quarter, 2 dimes, 1 nickel, 6 pennies, several bolts, a spent mushroomed bullet, a very disintegrated pistol shell casing, a very deteriorated clasp, and other bits of metal that will no longer be a threat to the hooves of horses and cattle. What is so special that not 1, not 2, but 3 of the pennies turned out to be WHEATIES. Two of the pennies are 1945 and one is 1953. It has been a good while since I recovered a Wheat penny and here I get three. Wow.