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Questions For Reg Wilson


DD`s

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Finally; i get to my first post, and to the one and only Reg Wilson , probably the luckiest son of a gun this side of the black stump. I`m from south oz and i use an SD2200d primarily for it`s depth on large slugs, i don`t get out that often, not anywhere near as much as i would like, that`s my lot at the moment so i`ve got to cop it. Now; to some question`s, did you guys use that 36in monster coil over most known big slug old timer diggings in vic, if you did, i think it`s pretty pointless for the rest of us to go over that same ground, as we don`t have coils anywhere near that large ,don`t you think?

Do you think in the public detecting grounds in vic ,that any slugs larger than 20oz still remain in  the 3-4 foot range, i don`t believe that they do, would be interested in your opinion on this.I recently tested my SD on it`s deepest setting, i cut the top of a coke can jumped in an old timers hole, measured 1 metre with tape measure, and with just a 11in dd coil picked it up easily, the sd`s were used for many years, so i would think that those big slugs at 3-4ft would of been picked up at that depth with these machines, and i believe after testing that a slug of 100oz or more could be got at upto 5ft going by the test i did, i would be keen to hear your take on all this. Was at Wedderburn recently, specifically at Queens Gully for the first time, what an impressive gully never seen one quite like it, and the old timers scored some big slugs from that gully,and i can see why, I had the 24in dd monster on, and got this clear signal, after digging a foot had to put on the 8in coil to pinpoint, then digging down another foot out came that little thingy you find on the top of a coke can to open it up. This coil picked that little piece of alumn at 20-24 in measured, which really shocked me, i don`t think the zed could do better than that on such a small piece, have you dug much small gold at this sort of depth coz that really impressed me?

I probably have a 1000 questions to ask you, but i wont overwhelm you, i`m sure you have better things to do with your time( like digging up more big lumps, please Reg, leave me at least one!! ha ha ha)

Post was to Reg, but if anyone else would like to chime in, go for your life!! 

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DD - lots of questions.  I know they are for Reg but I'll give my opinion if I can.

I'm certain there are more 20 ounce + nuggets left.  They pop up in the media every now and then and there are many more that never make it to the papers/internet. 

I know of a local person here who was detecting with a friend over near Bendigo in the last month and apparently the friend found a 100 ounce + nugget.  I haven't seen photos but the story is from a reliable source.  Not in the media so not made up for the sake of their '15 minutes of fame'. 

I was going to put this in it's own thread to thank Reg but it might as well go in here.  Elusive (from this forum) and myself spent Saturday morning with Reg as part of his "Digger Downunder" business    http://www.diggerdownunder.com.au/

I can only encourage you to do the same if you have the time/money to do so.  I had not met Reg before and found the information presented was an amazing insight into how Reg has hunted the big nuggets for nearly the past 40 years.  He was very free with the information provided, very welcoming and above all, just a good bloke to have a yarn with.

I won't go into it too much but I believe it was a low cost for the 'light bulb' that has been turned on for me and the time spent with reg was 'gold' in itself.

Good luck with your gold hunting.  And thanks Reg :wink:

 

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DDs the SD 2000 was a mighty machine, and in my opinion is as good as any on big gold. I was never a fan of the 2100, but liked the 2200 a great deal. After the SD series the later machines were more suited to smaller and smaller gold. There will still be big pieces to be had, but sometimes you need to use a bit of lateral thinking, and actually prospect some of the less famous areas, as there are big slugs still hiding in places as yet undetected. This is especially true of many places in Australia. I recommend research. Get off the beaten track.

Last year I picked up a 27 oz in an area that had seen practically no detecting.

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Thanks Reg and everyone else for your replies, Reg mate; are you sure there are any places left in vic that have`nt seen a detector, as far as public land goes? There must be a lot of private land that has`nt seen a coil maybe ever, but most of us dont have the contacts or the luck to get on this land.

I want to get out to Blackwood next time i get down to vic, i know there`s deeper ground out there, get the SD going to do it`s thing, maybe the "big one" with my name on it is waiting for me there ? Must be positive!!

Northeast, is that nugget the one that was on facebook, i think the Dunolly caravan park posted it, 90oz i think? 

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DDs, you ask me if there is anywhere on public land that has not had a coil on it. For goodness sake , there are thousands of square miles here in Victoria that have never seen a detector. You need to learn how to prospect and not just fossick. Hovering over ground that some self proclaimed expert has produced a map of is not necessarily a recipe for success. On a number of occasions I have detected gold within ten minutes drive of where I live, and some pretty impressive gold at that. But it is not on old diggings, and is not on any map. Research. Learn how to read geo maps and understand them. Learn how to prospect.

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DD - I'm really not sure if that is the same nugget but I'm guessing not as I was told it was over 100 ounces and I don't think it was shown in public. 

There is certainly public ground that hasn't had a detector over it. A coil is small and the area is immense. And the old saying of "an inch may as well be a mile in detecting" - a big nugget only needs to be missed by a centimeter, regarded as trash, it got too dark and they had found nothing for the day so they never went back - a thousand scenarios why gold can still be in the ground.  

And of course - as Reg showed the other day - there is simply patches on private and public land that have not been found yet.  Lots of research, hopefully new patches and potentially long  periods without gold are ahead for me - hopefully with an outcome of some bigger gold and less rubbish dug  :wink:

 

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On 27 November 2017 at 8:20 PM, DD`s said:

the one and only Reg Wilson , probably the luckiest son of a gun this side of the black stump. 

You mentioned in your original post about Reg being lucky. I suppose there is some luck in anything we do but after seeing how Reg approaches things, his mapping system and the hours he puts into research I would actually say that luck has only played a minor part in Reg's success. Time, research, time, good equipment, time, knowledge, time, a positive attitude, time  ??

10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish - same applies to gold I guess ??

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Okay Reg, you did get a little pumped there, i`m slow to anger so i`ll forget that. I have only recently bought a 4 wheel drive so have`nt been able to get to the more remote area`s, and i guarantee in the time i have been interested in this game i have researched a great deal. 3 out of 4 times i did thrashed digging i managed to score a piece of gold with an sd, you`ve got to admit that`s not bad after all the more sensitive machines have been over that ground.

Now remember one thing , the old timers found the majority of all productive ground in vic, and to say that there`s 1000`s of square miles that has`nt seen a detector is all and good but there`s a reason for that, most of that ground is not gold bearing and the old timers would of found that out.

And also; i know for a fact that most of your big gold was found on private ground around rich old leads , care to deny that, you damn well know that anyone at that time with that machine would of got as lucky as do did, maybe less so or maybe more so; who`s to know?

And i don`t think that Doug Stone would consider himself an amateur, dont you recon?  if your not referring to him, i apologize.  

Wrapping Up, possibly >97% of all nuggetty gullies in victoria have already been found, that could be overkill maybe >80% , there is alot of fine gold area`s that could still contain some nuggets and might be worth a try, but i know there`s literally 1000`s of acre`s on private land that could contain lots of large lumps, but will forever remain were they are.

Sorry if i offended you in any way, but i; say it like it is, and don`t brown nose anybody, we are all human after all, in this world some people are just more lucky than the rest of us, like (right place ,right time you catch my drift?)   

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DDs how do you know that 1000s of square miles are not gold bearing? There are easily 1000s of square miles of Ordovician country that has not proven to be auriferous, or non auriferous. Just reading geo maps of Victoria reveals possibilities everywhere. Earlier this year JR Beatty and myself proved up over a thousand acres of previously unproven, virgin ground. Quite a bit of very nice gold that your SD 2000 would have no trouble picking up, and we are a long way from finding the extent of that run.

 I find it a bit presumptive on your part to state percentages of gold found to gold that is as yet unfound, and I am mystified as to where you have accrued such knowledge.

I could give you a few tips on how to improve the performance of your 2000, but you probably know already.

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