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Read The Holes


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Much has been written about prospecting and open holes.  Let's try to keep some things in perspective.

It is a well known and established fact that gold nuggets can be found in areas that have been and are being dry washed. (Large pits are left open or gullies are destroyed.)  It is also a known fact that gold is still found where the old timers used ground sluices extensively in areas where there was enough water. (Large boulders and rocks line the hillsides with trees and growth coming out of these old digs.)  The 'signs' of these activities sometimes gets us excited if we own a metal detector.  We know they didn't get it all.

A more recent sign of gold in an area would be unfilled holes in a nugget patch.  (There can also be rake piles where someone got the iron stones out of the way or chaining marks very dense.)  We can sure get mad about this or we can 'read the holes' and find what is left.  We might even want to 'thank' the jerks who left the holes open.  (We might learn that WE didn't get it all and someone has gone back to OUR patch and found nuggets we missed!)

There is another way for us 'hole fillers' to think about things.  (It is not all bad ... make some lemonade mates.)  We should get 'excited' if we go to an area where there are holes (filled or not) because it means there were targets ... and you HAVE TO BELIEVE that there are still some good targets left.

Think about it.  You have these places where to detect:

1.  A 'virgin' place with perfect patina and no signs of digging, scraping or mining.  (Might be good for meteorites!)

2. A place that has 'old' dig holes that are fairly shallow but the depressions are there.

3. A place that has more recent holes which are less than 10" deep and some are unfilled.

4. A place with a lot of dig holes, many unfilled and some are very deep.

Your detecting equipment is a 7000, a 5000/4500 with the new coils or something else which is 'state of the art' so to say.

Please rank where you spend your time.

Mitchel

P.S.:  When done fill your holes because there will be even better equipment coming out and you will want to go back to your patch.  Save the locations on your GPS.

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You have some excellent points, Mitchel.  Those detector operators that are responsible backfill their holes. That is a good thing. Many do not fill their holes and justify it by pointing at the many unfilled dry washer holes..(.just a juvenile excuse in my opinion.) 

I spend time between the holey areas and the untouched..so the signs of previous digging is appreciated.

There is always good with the bad...after all, even back filling does not restore the desert to its virgin state.

Meanwhile, fill the holes and pack out your blasted beer cans and water bottles!

fred

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3 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Please rank where you spend your time.

I spend my time in all of the above scenarios you listed; though I must say scenario #2 is my favorite. 

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Mainly in 1.... chasing virgin patches, back to old patches to ease the frustration on occasions, but now with the 19" maybe this season will spend more time on old patches, see how it pans out.

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Holes are as good as geology to me. if I see great gold geology and no holes then I know my local area crawl on their bellies, get dropped off tresspassers havent been there cherry pickin the big stuff for their gold greed. Only some of my permission props turn out undetected. if they left holes then I spend the really really hard energy to fill them back in. 

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No. 1 for us most of the time. Going to old holes later in the day (if some are nearby), last hour or even after dinner for fuel money with the SDC - depending on what we found patch hunting during the day?

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On 3/5/2017 at 11:57 PM, Flyrock said:

No. 1 for us most of the time. Going to old holes later in the day (if some are nearby), last hour or even after dinner for fuel money with the SDC - depending on what we found patch hunting during the day?

We (in the states) have many fewer opportunities for the virgin patches and try to discover an old patch with gold left or go to a wash that has had movement bringing new gold into play.

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Yeah, mn90403, suspect tis not that much diff here downunder re. virgin patches,

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

We (in the states) have many fewer opportunities for the virgin patches and try to discover an old patch with gold left or go to a wash that has had movement bringing new gold into play.

going back 30+ years and numerous time since, I can recall being told "all the virgin patches have been found" quiet frequently. But suspect one would have to spend a lifetime+ in each area to have an idea. Now how can one organise a few dozen lifetimes..........

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