Has anyone ever used a Witcher before? Curious as to people's experiences with them.

Thanks.

Haven't used one before. Witching for water well drilling is useless and there is no scientific basis for it. Witching to find shallow utilities can work in some circumstances but is no substitute for calling 811 and using a professional locator.

Had a few problems with some leprechauns once, so i called this guy:

My dad used one around 1987 at our house in Kingsland. He assured the driller would hit water at XX' deep. The driller went way lower than that. No water.

Never used it for a well, but I have located a old water line using this method.
I don't have any clue how it worked, but it did.

My dad has a west Texas friend that he swears can find water and oil by witching. Says it's "a gift."
I tell him stop believing in voodoo.

My Great Uncle had a hand dug well on his place south of San Antonio. He said his brother in law witched it with a forked stick. He said the BIL located the spot and said it was 37 feet deep. Well was dug in said spot and hit water at 35 feet. Well would occasionally go dry so it was deepened by a few feet years later and always had water in it.

I have witched many underground lines successfully, but never witched for a well.

WOOHOO! Time for the water witching thread again. Seems like it's been at least 9 mos since we hashed all this out. Half of us believe, and the other half are completely misguided and do not! LOL

In much of the Texas hill country you can either try for shallower Edwards Aquifer wells or go deep to the Trinity Aquifer but the water is not near the quality.
Much of Kerr, Gillespie, Kimble, Mason and other counties have areas that do not have the Edwards veins of water.
Almost every driller in that area will recommend you have a location witched before they will drill for an Edwards well in those areas.
I did not believe in it when we bought our ranch in Kimble County even though Charle McQuire of Hill Country Water Wells told me to do it. So I had him just drill where I wanted the well. We hit a dry hole. My neighbor dug three dry holes.
I was told about a man named Harlan
Height who lived in London, Texas who was very reliable at witching.
I figured what the hell. He came and spent a day on our ranch and marked five locations.
He also went to my neighbor and found a location.
I had Charles McQuire come back out drilled a well at the location Harlan had marked closest to where we were going to build.
At 225' we hit a great Edwards well.
Neighbor did the same.
Over the next 4 years I drilled the other 4 spots he had marked over the ranch and hit good water each time.
Mr. Height would never take a penny for doing it.
Pretty common story in our part of the world.

txags92 said:

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Haven't used one before. Witching for water well drilling is useless and there is no scientific basis for it. Witching to find shallow utilities can work in some circumstances but is no substitute for calling 811 and using a professional locator.

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I see a lot of folks saying it works. I don't know if there is some water witches league that just agrees to say that or if everyone just gets really lucky but I don't believe a lick of it. My degrees are in geology so it's impossible for me to go along with locating Water with witching, voodoo, magic, miracles, or assorted sorceries. It makes no sense to me.

But to answer the Op question, NO, I have never used a water witching thing. We use science and experience.

I have never dealt with witching for water with a peach limb, but I can tell you that using two bare copper wires to find underground pipes, electrical, etc. does work. I learned that skill from a sprinkler installer back in high school.

I don't think there is any magic to it. I think the reason the wires cross when you slowly walk over it is because the disturbed/dug up ground never gets back to exactly even. When you walk over that covered trench it disturbs your arms enough that it causes the wires to move. At least that's the best theory I've read.

Bonfire97 said:

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I have never dealt with witching for water with a peach limb, but I can tell you that using two bare copper wires to find underground pipes, electrical, etc. does work. I learned that skill from a sprinkler installer back in high school.

I don't think there is any magic to it. I think the reason the wires cross when you slowly walk over it is because the disturbed/dug up ground never gets back to exactly even. When you walk over that covered trench it disturbs your arms enough that it causes the wires to move. At least that's the best theory I've read.

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I use brass brazing rods. My grandfather showed me how.

I think disturbing the soil to put a line in or the presence of water causes a small disruption in the gravity field which causes the rods to move. What little I know about quantum mechanics and the string theory, I believe that could be used to give a more scientific explanation in the future as to why these things work the way they do.

Guess until then it will be one of those things revealed to us in the hereafter.

Brazos..... we got another place in the Ozarks. I need a couple of wells on the place and don't know one driller from the next.
I don't want to waste money on dry holes. Can you suggest or recommend a Geologist that can tell me where to drill?
Thanks in advance sir.

Doesn't explain how I can find buried aluminum cans in the pasture, or water lines under an asphalt driveway that were buried before the driveway was paved.

I was married to a.....oh wait, never mind that was something else.....

My mother in law......broom out of peach tree limb...

Gunny456 said:

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Brazos..... we got another place in the Ozarks. I need a couple of wells on the place and don't know one driller from the next.
I don't want to waste money on dry holes. Can you suggest or recommend a Geologist that can tell me where to drill?
Thanks in advance sir.

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Is the "let me google that for you" page played out?

After the OB resolves this one to consensus we should tackle airplanes taking off from conveyor belts and the moot/not moot nature of the conveyor belt.

The conveyor belt is not moot.

No sir. We own a ranch on the Ark/MO border that has one well. We need a couple more to do what we need on two different parts of the ranch. Very rural and don't know folks up there to trust. I don't want to waste money on taking the chance to drill dry holes.
Drillers up here have been very vague and have not been real helpful on picking drilling locations.
I feel we were blessed and lucky at our hill country ranch with the results we had but looking for help here.
So reached out to you to see if you could recommend somebody you might know that would be able to trust and help in this area.
As I take it you work in this field?

Gunny456 said:

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No sir. We own a ranch on the Ark/MO border that has one well. We need a couple more to do what we need on two different parts of the ranch. Very rural and don't know folks up there to trust. I don't want to waste money on taking the chance to drill dry holes.
Drillers up here have been very vague and have not been real helpful on picking drilling locations.
I feel we were blessed and lucky at our hill country ranch with the results we had but looking for help here.
So reached out to you to see if you could recommend somebody you might know that would be able to trust and help in this area.
As I take it you work in this field?

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I am not a driller. But even if I were, I am in Texas. I can't believe there aren't even a few successful drillers. I am having trouble processing a person in business to do one thing that can't figure out how to do that one thing and then wants to charge you for an unsuccessful attempt. Even at our other place there aren't a whole lot of wells, but there are wells and they give clues to depths. Those clues coupled with the folks that have been doing it longer than I have been alive mean results.

Have you dug around at the online databases for the area?

So you mean these fellas just tell you "we might find water, but maybe not, sorta kinda pretty sure, but its X bucks a foot so sign here and good luck!"

As I said we are very rural. There are like two drillers in a 150 mile radius. They have come out and give very vague answers of how deep, location, expected GPM, water quality etc.
They give me examples in the area but then say it can change from place to place.
I asked who, in their opinion, could better answer my questions and they told me to contact MO. Conservation Dept. ( like our TPWD) I contacted them and they said they don't really advise in that info.
I asked about a Geologist or Limnologist and they gave me guy who said he could help me building a lake but not finding water.
Neighbors have not helped much either as they don't know me.
So saw this thread and your comments about using science as a Geologist and thought that's maybe that's what you guys can help do... help tell me where the water is or something.
Again. Thanks for any advice or thoughts.

Gunny456 said:

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In much of the Texas hill country you can either try for shallower Edwards Aquifer wells or go deep to the Trinity Aquifer but the water is not near the quality.
Much of Kerr, Gillespie, Kimble, Mason and other counties have areas that do not have the Edwards veins of water.
Almost every driller in that area will recommend you have a location witched before they will drill for an Edwards well in those areas.
I did not believe in it when we bought our ranch in Kimble County even though Charle McQuire of Hill Country Water Wells told me to do it. So I had him just drill where I wanted the well. We hit a dry hole. My neighbor dug three dry holes.
I was told about a man named Harlan
Height who lived in London, Texas who was very reliable at witching.
I figured what the hell. He came and spent a day on our ranch and marked five locations.
He also went to my neighbor and found a location.
I had Charles McQuire come back out drilled a well at the location Harlan had marked closest to where we were going to build.
At 225' we hit a great Edwards well.
Neighbor did the same.
Over the next 4 years I drilled the other 4 spots he had marked over the ranch and hit good water each time.
Mr. Height would never take a penny for doing it.
Pretty common story in our part of the world.

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Gunny do you know if Harlan is still around and if so how to reach him? thanks.

Does the soil survey have anything about wells/aquifers? Ask at the nrcs office?

Sadly he passed away about 5-6 years ago. In his 80's or so. I really cool man.

Damn good idea! Thank you!

Charismatic Megafauna said:

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Does the soil survey have anything about wells/aquifers? Ask at the nrcs office?

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NRCS personnel may have some knowledge from ag production wells, but the soil survey won't tell you anything beyond 60" bgs.

Perhaps contact Marvin at Hill Country Well Service in Junction. He is now Charles McQuires son in law and has taken over the drilling.
They are the ones who put me in touch with Harlan to begin with. They cautioned me about some BS guys as well. . Harlan had one hell of a reputation for being successful in finding water for many years.
Maybe they can recommend someone they feel is good.

Hope you see my post below that was meant as a reply to give you some info.

Like a dumb **s I replied to myself. Sorry.

I was taught. Even as I do it I have a hard time believing. It defies the logical side of my brain.

About ten years ago, I witched and mapped a section during inspection. There seemed to be a vein running thru it. I bought it for $370/acre more than I wanted to pay. Everyone bidding intended it for pasture, but I intended to develop it for irrigated farmland.

Budgeted to drill fifteen test holes. I am skeptical of my witching but my teacher came and verified he agreed with my map. This is the Ogallala, mind you, and static water is deeper than 350 feet. I did a more detailed witching map. Hired the well company to drill five test holes where my witching vein ran. Drilled ten in ideal locations due to natural gas and electricity, or spatially optimal. Three of five witched were rated as very good, one good and one fair. One of ten of the others was fair and nine of ten were poor to bad. We drilled the three at a cost of $330,000 and ended up with 800gpm, 650gpm and 500gpm or a total of 1950gpm. We were hoping for 1500gpm.

I have witched one other well we drilled on another property. By feel, it wasn't as strong a spot as those on that new property, but we need a well. Drilled three test holes and the witched spot was best, 300gpm.

I needed a new well on a property with poor water and not much room to drill due to well spacing rules. I witched a spot but really wanted to drill it near the underground water pipe for tie-in, gas line and electric line. In this case ignored the witched spot that was going to cost me more to tie-in due to distance and drilled one test hole at the most economically beneficial location. Test hole predicted 400gpm. I spent $110k and ended up with 130gpm.

I can't tell you what is going on. I can't even tell you I believe it. But I do it and then test hole to verify. I think I always will. I just don't like people to see me doing it because I feel so silly being seen walking around in my fields and the neighbors calling me to ask what I am doing.

I know what you are saying. I have another story when Harlan Height from London came to our ranch to tell me where to dig:

On top of a hill there was a defunct well that had been drilled by Charles Mquire of Junction before we owned the ranch. It was logged to be at 190 ft and produced 5-8 GPM. Not bad for a edwards well in Kimble County. It did have a windmill on it but it had gone dry and had never come back. Charles had come out and checked the well and drilled another 30 ft to no avail and he also had hit the "blue clay" which it was a rule in our area that Edwards water was not deeper than that clay layer.

When Harlan came out I really wanted a well up on that hill to fill water troughs in that area. Since the drilling of the original well up on the hill, that had gone dry, I had run power over that hill to another pasture so I really wanted a well up there if I could...so i could use a submergible pump instead of a windmill.

So Harlan was not aware that there was a well up there that had gone dry and I took him to the area and he was checking and said he found a vein of water going over the hill. He marked the spot and I thought BS as it was about 75 yards from the old dry well. I then showed Harlan the old capped well and told him I did not believe him and that I thought I would be an idiot to spend the money to drill another well 75 yards from the dry one.
I remember very well that he then scolded me and said that the water was not over at the dry well but over where he said it was. I asked him why he thought the other well had quit and he said it was not in the vein and had probably been a cavern of water that was pumped out.
Well I was still skeptical as hell...... but after finding out that he was correct on where the water was at our house site (where I had already wasted money drilling a dry hole that was just a random picked spot by me),
about 6 months later I drilled the well at the spot he said on top of the hill.........We hit water at 210 feet at 20GPM bailed and that well has never gone dry in any drought and produces great edwards water to this day....and it was drilled 26 years ago.

So I dont know what to believe or not, but he never steered us wrong.... and lots of folks drilled wells around us that were random picked sites and hit lots of dry holes. I guess it goes into the Ripleys Believe it or Not Folder.

I have a theory on "witching". As you walk along the surface of the earth, your body is a conductor that is passing through the earth's magnetic field. As such, it generates small electric currents in your body which you are able to discern using dowsing rods.

It is a much less complicated physical process than your eyesight………where your eyes are able to detect a very small band of electromagnetic radiation passing through your cornea. Your brain then flips the image which is detected by your retina, and interprets certain bands of radiation as "colors". Amazing process.

Dowsing for oil works……..I knew a dowser who staked a location in a certain spot, and insisted that the driller not move the location even one inch. The driller started drilling and almost immediately oil began to appear in the drilling mud and the bit started falling. The driller apparently drilled into an old uncharted well bore that was full of oil.

I've engaged witchers on numerous occasions for several new well projects on farms I managed in the panhandle. Results were more than expected and ended up with some strong producing wells for irrigation. I was skeptical but wouldn't drill a well these days without going through the witching process.

Gunny456 said:

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Hope you see my post below that was meant as a reply to give you some info.

Like a dumb **s I replied to myself. Sorry.

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Got it, thanks. Sorry to hear he passed on. Have you heard about anyone else in Gillespie, Mason, Kimble counties who has a good rep for witching? I am a firm believer and have witched some myself, but situation now is granite dome 146 feet down with some weak streams that are hard to locate.

I have not. Have not drilled any since. Sorry. But good luck sir. Hope you hit gushers!

Here's a map that shows date, depth, etc. of neighboring wells.

https://www3.twdb.texas.gov/apps/WaterDataInteractive/GroundwaterDataViewer/?map=sdr