[Research Is Paying Off]

You are wise to share your finds with the owners. You reap what you sow and more than what you sow.

Good on you. 

[Amazing Coincidence Using The M8 Again]

Spent 3 hours in the wet sand until I got chased out by high tide with the M8. It was so quiet even at 22-23 and it only started chirping when I bumped it up to 24. The beach I hit was pretty sanded in so I didn't find anything of value but that's on the beach, not the coil. I did find though the tiniest of scrap metals and they mostly sounded off well so in terms of it finding small gold I can say I think it's going to be a winner. 

I've never hunted the beach with a coil of this size so I had to really slow down in order to cover the ground better. Psychologically I see that small coil at the end of the shaft and I'm thinking there is no way I should be out here with it but that's on me. I had to find a ring for a customer last night in heavy weeds and it was perfect for that type of search so I know it's money well spent. 

My beaches are missing two things, sun and depositors. Hopefully we will have both soon. 

[Amazing Coincidence Using The M8 Again]

I hope you come home with more gold and I really hope I do too. I'll be on the left coast working an oncoming tide around 7am my time. Here's to you finding what was once lost!

[M8 Finds Some Small Gold]

Got my coil today and took it to the park near me for a quick run through. I've never used the small coils and man this looks like I have a tiny tupperware lid on the end of a stick. I didn't recover anything earth shattering but it did as expected. I'm going to take it to the beach tomorrow and run it all over the wet sand and see if I can drudge anything up. I have to admit I feel kind of inadequate with it on there and I'm not compensating for anything. 

Hopefully i can bring home some gold. 

[Advice On Where To Begin. Join Gpaa? Pay For Some Training Or Just Read Everything Here]

53 minutes ago, Doc said:

While I understand funds are not unlimited.  Here is something to consider.  It's price vs. cost.

Now you may not have the $400 price or whatever someone charges for a day or three of training.  However, when you start detecting for gold and don't have the knowledge that a day or three of training will give you. The cost is going to be staggering.

I once ran into a person metal detecting for gold.  I came up over a ridge with my ATV and there was a person just halfway down a small gully.  I stopped said hi, and we exchanged some pleasantries.  The person said, I'm just going to finish this last 30 yards and then I've got another place I want to go.  He too had an ATV sitting at the foot of the gully.  He said I can save you some time though, I haven't found anything in this gully, not even trash.  I said "No worries." And I acted like I was looking through my storage container on the back of my ATV. Actually I was watching this man finish the rest of the gully as I thought to myself.  "Well partner if there were any gold there you would have never found it."

All he was doing was detecting the bottom of the gully.  Not the edges of where the bottom of the ridge met the gully, not behind the bushes that lined the gully, he didn't roll any boulders over and detect under them.  And his coil was about 8 inches off of the deck.  Apparently he didn't want to get his coil dirty.  This man was giving a training lesson on how to do everything wrong.  He could have written a book called, "The Secret Key to No Gold, No Treasure, No Holes Metal Detecting" by NADA KLU.

He waved goodbye and drove off.  I got my metal detector off the ATV and I swear as God is my judge as I am walking down to the gully I get a target behind a bush, a 1 gram nugget. I get into the gully and I hit another 1 grammer 15 feet down from the first about 12 inches out of the gully.  Half way down the gully there is a bunch of broken quartz about 4 feet out of the gully on a small flat bench.  There are a couple of boulders that I roll off the bench and I find a 4 gram nugget!  4 grams!  I thought for sure it was a bullet.

I head down to the foot of the gully and right in the middle of the gully about 3 feet from where it emptied into the wash, where the other prospector's ATV was parked, another large signal. A two gram nugget 6 inches down smack dab in the middle, a child could have found it with a toy detector.  But not this guy!  Because about 15 feet before he got to the foot of the gulley, where his ATV was parked, he was busy turning off his detector and waving goodbye to me.

I ended by checking all the sides of that gully and found 5 more little dinks. totally close to a gram.

OK so I know without a doubt this person never had any training, so he saved the $400 of the PRICE of a training class.  Now being he was not trained and didn't have a clue, the COST of not being trained was approximately 9 grams of gold.  Or at today's gold prices approximately $635, and that was for just 1 gully and about 40 minutes of detecting.  I spent over 5 hours working that gully and everything that fed into it.

So INVEST in yourself, because the payoff will be well worth it.  Call Gerry at Gerry's detectors.  He has one of the best training crews around and he is a Marine, so he will BOOT CAMP your butt and make you find gold.  You will never be sorry!

Doc

Thank you and I agree. My plan is to participate and pay for training. I know the value of quality education and the price of not getting one. I’m putting a plan in place as I write this. Your story should be a lesson for everyone. 
 

[Advice On Where To Begin. Join Gpaa? Pay For Some Training Or Just Read Everything Here]

Here I was thinking this was an average size paperback. The book is solid enough that if you didn't find gold you could beat someone pretty good who was trying to steal it. 

Exciting times getting into gold!

[M8 Finds Some Small Gold]

Good to hear. I usually run the 15" at 17-19 sensitivity so being able to up it a bit with the M8 sounds like it could brighten up a beach a bit. I've been waiting for some global warming to come to the left coast so I can get some depositors out there but we have a couple of inches of rain forecast for Easter weekend and every day has been primarily 60 degrees at the beach so not many are needing sunscreen.

The Post Office ruined my plans today as I was scheduled to get my M8 tonight but it was rerouted to Hemet which is about 4 hours SE of me so now I may have to wait until Thursday to get it out there. I'm excited to swing it. Hope there is more gold in your scoop!

[M8 Finds Some Small Gold]

I'm hopefully getting my M8 in the next day or so. My question is why do you think it's so good on the wet sand? I've read where several folks are finding a lot of success with it on the beach where usually depth and coverage is king and a smaller coil usually brings disadvantages. The 15" on the beach is what I usually swing but maybe with the Manticore less is more?

I'd love to hear what you think. 

[Do You Dig Signals With No ID And No 2d Trace?]

In an old park you dig them and you begin to catalog them mentally looking for similarities in ones that were trash and those that were treasure. Older parks usually have layers of sediment where coins and jewelry have settled over time. A coin lost on the surface 100 years ago could be 10" down if the park was mowed regularly over time. As you log more hours on the Manticore you will begin to know better what is possibly under your coil with or with out the 2d or TID. Everyone has their personal threshold of what it is worth to them to dig. I'm primarily a jewelry hunter so I mainly dig trash when I'm in a park and a ton of it but that's what drives me to detect, the hope that the next 29-30 is finally going to be a ring instead of a pulltab. 

I'd rather dig and discover than not dig but thats just me. 

[Found Three Rings Today]

3 rings is a great day! Congrats

[Advice On Where To Begin. Join Gpaa? Pay For Some Training Or Just Read Everything Here]

It's ironic that in the years I've been on this forum I have never really gone into the top prospector one, just headed into coins or jewelry or one of the detector specific forums, I didn't know what I didn't know. I want to thank everyone who has contributed as there has been a bunch of great information and advice. I've already bought a couple of books and me and the dogs are waiting for the Amazon truck to get here. I've got to sit the wife down and make some promises I may not be able to keep. I'm sold on getting one on one training so that is my next thing to research and plan for. 

Thanks to all

[Advice On Where To Begin. Join Gpaa? Pay For Some Training Or Just Read Everything Here]

Excellent advice and I thank you all for helping out. Looks like I'll be joining GPAA, buying Chris's book and getting some one on one training. 

Best to all

[Advice On Where To Begin. Join Gpaa? Pay For Some Training Or Just Read Everything Here]

After all these years of detecting I'm considering adding gold prospecting to my game. I've never started just because my location did not make it seem like a fruitful thing to do given the beach and parks are always close by. It also hurt because the wife refused to allow me to put a wash plant in the backyard so I could pretend I was a miner. So that being said where to begin? I have my Manticore and Equinox but beyond that I have no clue how to read the ground or tell if something is going to be gold bearing. If you were advising someone just starting out what would the path be? Would you advise them to join and organization like GPAA? Pay someone like Gerry to take you into the goldfields and get a crash course in prospecting or take a more cerebral approach and digest as much of this forum and books as possible? 

I have time and in no hurry at the moment. The current economy has put a damper on some of my pursuits so funds are not unlimited. I gotta be smart as to how I get going on this and I figured this was the place and the group to ask.

I'm located in Ventura County and I know at one time there was gold in our hills but maybe not so much anymore. Thanks in advance!

Skate

[New Tv Series - America's Backyard Gold With Dave Turin]

I love the Gold Rush series and I'm thinking I will feel the same about this one because it's the lure of treasure that got me started into metal detecting nearly 45 years ago. I know they're made for TV and the drama is likely cooked into the show but it keeps me digging every pull tab thinking I might have a story of my own under that sand or dirt. I may have to take up looking for gold now as I've never been out prospecting or detected for raw gold. Circumstances have just never lined up for me to do it. I need to find me some treasure so I can buy one of Gerry's machines and 3 days of his expertise. You just have to believe the next swing is going to be the one. 

[Any Peeps On Here Who Regret Purchasing The Mighty Manticore?]

No regrets at all. The Manticore is a great machine and I have gelled with it which is what makes a detector for me. I had the D2 and it's a great machine as well but I just never connected with it. Fun to date but not a long time relationship.

Best of luck to you

[There Should Be A Law]

I agree. People who create things like that are sick and twisted. 

[Metal Detector Harness]

https://docsdetecting.com/categories/swingy-thingy/

I believe Doc probably has what you need.

Happy Hunting!

[Somebody Needs To Pay For This.....]

So I'm going along yesterday working this park looking for some gold rings. 2 to be exact. One of the groundsman approached me the other day and asked if I could look for his rings. He was riding on the mower and he had placed his rings in the cup holder(I didn't know these things had cup holders) and while he was speeding along mowing the grass they fell out. I embraced the challenge of looking over 10 acres of grass as I truly had nothing better to do this week except detect (tough problem I know). 

I had pulled a few junkers out as well as a silver ring when I got this absolutely great signal. The 2D plot line was creating a picture of this incredible gold ring and I just knew that I had located one of the rings. I dug down removed some dirt and saw this:

I immediately jumped up, began my happy dance and looked around for someone to hug. I had found one of the rings. A 10 acre it could be anywhere blind search! I had done it!

I had done it until I got back down on my knees to pull the damn thing out of the ground when I noticed there was a problem. 

This was the problem:

An "H" button, gold in color, and metallic in nature. Well I can tell you where I think Mr. H Button can go. It starts with an "H". 

 

 

[Aluminum]

I try to use context when hunting to decide if I'm going to dig a signal. When I hunt a large sports field I will dig all good signals in the field of play itself as that is usually the cleanest in terms of trash because most trash is going to be located on the sidelines or where spectators are. I do dig these areas too but I try to have a purpose with each hunt. On the sidelines I will turn the sensitivity down low so I'm only going down 2-3 inches in depth. Recovery's are quick this way and I can clean out an area rapidly of all targets. Then the next time I come through the area (after a weekend of games) everything is surface finds and this includes, rings, coins and trash. 

I'm usually at a trash to gold ratio of 100/1 on the sidelines/spectator areas and 40/1 out on the actual fields of play. There is no way to truly tell gold from aluminum but you can increase your odds by being smart about how and where you hunt. 

If somebody does ever invent a machine that can tell the difference our hobby will be destroyed because anyone with a detector and time will recover it all. I love it when people say they hate digging trash because that just means there is more of the good stuff left for me. 

[Equinox 900 Versus Manticore]

I have both and it's the manticore all the way. I'm not a technical kind of person i terms of being able to tell you all the different ways one works better than another. I have a different way of looking at things and the manticore is simply a better machine. I have a tendency to "date" metal detectors and over the years I've had them all. Here's a way that I look at the latest models.

Equinox 800- definite marriage material. In the right environment and if you take care of it will last you for years.

Equinox 900- pretty much the same as the 800 so why get divorced and have to pay to get married again?

XP D2- high maintenance. If she were a woman you would eventually get tired of all the effort it takes to just go out and you would look for something without all the noise.

Manticore- the epitome of the girl next door. A combination of all that is right in the world.

Now I know that many don't like the way Minelab treats it's customers in terms of updates, coils etc., but at the end of the day Minelab the company is like an in law, you only see them when you have to. 

Buy the Manticore and you'll be happy. At least for a few years until the next beauty queen comes out. 

 

[M-core M8 Coil Draws Blood On First Hunt]

some of these can companies are making their pull tabs gold in color which should be a crime. I dig, see the gold edge and of course I'm thinking we got a bingo only to find out it's from a rockstar can pull tab. There is a special place in hell for these people. 

[M-core M8 Coil Draws Blood On First Hunt]

Just when I had put to bed the 30-32 TID bin you go and bring in a ring at 31. More pull tabs please!

Great hunt in the rain. At the very least it allowed you to detect in peace. I look forward to hearing about the next trip.

[Should I Get Started With This Hobby?]

You will spend money but the good thing is if you don't gel with a machine you can often sell it for close to what you paid and then move on to the next machine. Some folks see the cost of machines and they immediately say this hobby is too costly. It may be expensive but if you plan accordingly you will only buy once. A good scoop should last you on the west coast beyond your expiration date. Pinpointers last a good long time of you take care of them. Shovels need a new edge put on them once every 3-4 years (at least mine do). I love buying new machines and I rarely use the price as a deciding factor because if a new machine will help me to enjoy myself more than it's money well spent. 

Other than that it's like going to the casino and sitting in front of a slot machine. Every next swing is a gold ring or a silver dollar, at least that's what I keep telling myself. I pretty much only hunt for jewelry now so I dig a ton of trash but you can't beat the feeling of seeing a ring in the scoop or a plug. Only drawback is my family loves it when I find rings too. 

[New Manticore Owner Any Tips]

If you're a jewelry hunter I have found three men's 14k wedding rings that were a solid 36, never strayed off that number. I even air tested my wedding ring (it's 14k) and it also came up 36. Every single 30-31-32 has been a modern pop top. I still dig them because they sound so good and the 2D line presents them as a beautiful target but it's always a pop top. 

Women's wedding rings have all come up 22-24 with 24 being the most frequent target ID. 

You can hear every bottle cap so after digging 5-10 of them you should be able to walk over them going forward. 

The key as everyone says is to just log hours in many different conditions/environments. I'm having a blast currently hoovering a local park that is less than 20 years old and has a bermuda thatch grass that keeps everything no deeper than 3 inches so I have the sensitivity at 10 or less and it's like a coinstar machine blew up in the middle of the field. I know there's a bunch of rings and chains out there amongst the clad so I'm just taking my time as I have the park to myself. 

Have a great time as there is no better hobby in the world. 

[Equinox 800 + 3 Coils]

sold- Thank you Steve Herschbach and Bill!