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Never been prospecting before. I found an area that has gold history but i don't know how to find out who owns the land if anybody. It is just outside a National Forest which I'm pretty sure is ok to detect on but not sure about the area just outside. Any tips would help!

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That's about the biggest hurdle you're gonna face!  Most gold or decent gold areas are very well spoken for already.  It's even tougher to find out where the claims are at EXACTLY as half of em aren't marked well, etc.  The website mylandmatters.org will give you some great tools and info on claims in the area you seek but still you have to do the legwork, etc. to find out EXACTLY where the boundries, who owns what, etc. etc.  It's not easy....ask any and all locals for info and maybe even permissions, etc.  good luck......

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On June 20, 2018 at 6:07 PM, nuggetnewbie said:

Never been prospecting before. I found an area that has gold history but i don't know how to find out who owns the land if anybody. It is just outside a National Forest which I'm pretty sure is ok to detect on but not sure about the area just outside. Any tips would help!

Hey there Nuggetnewbie!!  Here are some prospecting clues that I wish someone had told me.....

1) definitely mylandmatters ... 

2) start with a detector that picks up the smallest gold first(there's more of it - you'll learn quicker)

3) know the depth of ground this detector works good in and dig EVERYTHING at least for your first year

4) pick shallow washes with bedrock  - sort of goes with #3

5)  when in known gold territory with diggings and handstacks, hot rocks (them are some clues), slow your detector to at least 3 seconds per direction keeping it level.   You have to work for it by getting dirty, in the bushes, move a few inches of dirt with your shoe, and kick away rock for more depth - that gives you virgin ground.

6) and study...study... study.... and hunt hunt hunt.  Enjoy your time outside, because a lot of the time, that is all you come back with :)

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On 6/21/2018 at 9:10 PM, Andyy said:

Hey there Nuggetnewbie!!  Here are some prospecting clues that I wish someone had told me.....

1) definitely mylandmatters ... 

2) start with a detector that picks up the smallest gold first(there's more of it - you'll learn quicker)

3) know the depth of ground this detector works good in and dig EVERYTHING at least for your first year

4) pick shallow washes with bedrock  - sort of goes with #3

5)  when in known gold territory with diggings and handstacks, hot rocks (them are some clues), slow your detector to at least 3 seconds per direction keeping it level.   You have to work for it by getting dirty, in the bushes, move a few inches of dirt with your shoe, and kick away rock for more depth - that gives you virgin ground.

6) and study...study... study.... and hunt hunt hunt.  Enjoy your time outside, because a lot of the time, that is all you come back with ?

Thanks Andyy,

Great advise. Hoping i got the right detector. Fisher F70. Came with 3 coils, 10-1/2" & 9" elliptical and a 5" Round. It's only 13kHz but I feel it was the best for what i could afford. I've been playing with it on my property with the 10-1/2" but it's so trashy from previous owners. Nails, nuts,bolts, washers, pull tabs, bottle caps, just about anything you can think of. Having a bit of a hard time distinguishing tones and figuring out the settings. Autotune is WAY noisy. Threshold -4, sensitivity 60. Discriminate mode is better but the ground is so hard here it's difficult to dig. I'm going to head to a park or field to see how it reacts there. I have a lot of studying/testing/learning to do before doing any real prospecting. Never use a detector in my life so i'm not sure what i should be hearing. Plus all the different settings.  We'll see how it goes.

Happy Hunting!

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Since you are new to detecting and are heading to a park, you might ask here about some advice on digging signals in public parks.  I know you'll get some.

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20 hours ago, nuggetnewbie said:

I'm going to head to a park or field to see how it reacts there.

Go someplace with easy digging, like a sandy beach of sand or wood chips around playground equipment. Go aluminum detecting. Aluminum and gold read the same, and your goal is to find the smallest aluminum you can find. The smaller the aluminum you can find, the smaller the gold you can find. If you concentrate on learning to find the smallest stuff, the big stuff will take care of itself. This is also a good time to get a scoop and practice recovery technique. Many new people waste too much time recovering tiny targets.

To give you an idea - aluminum cans have a square opening tab held on by a tiny aluminum rivet. People tear the tab off (why, oh why do they?) and so we find all those. Big easy targets. My nugget detectors let me find the little rivet!

You are chasing whisper signals and it does take significant expertise. Remember, you are practicing finding small gold. Don't get frustrated you are digging aluminum - that is the goal. If you dig enough, gold may appear in the form of jewelry. Inevitable really if you do it enough.

Tip On Metal Detecting For Gold Nuggets

Nugget Scoops

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