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Take From Last Trip To California (detecting & Sniping)


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14 hours ago, Dig It said:

Nice Work !!!!

Thanks Rocko!

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12 hours ago, bklein said:

Any clues where to try in the Mohave? Did you need a 4wd?

i had tried a few areas in the past but with lesser detectors. Hope to try again but I don’t have the right vehicle...

I was in a extra long 2wd MB Sprinter van..... Granted it has good clearance but its super long. So it doesn't take a 4wd. 

As for where to go in the Mohave? There use to be lots of books on this. Anything from Jim Straight will do. There are just too many places to even start on here but the Summit Diggings near Randsburg, the El Paso's and Coolgardie all have club claims and dont require 4wd's.

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6 hours ago, deathray said:

Nice job man! Are these Josh Reinke claims? Just curious, I heard he has good ones, and I know he has some on Slate, which I'm dying to get back to. Btw...in your junk photo, top right, looks like old powder tin...if it is, cool find that many relic hunters would love, don't toss it.

Thanks Death Ray! It was JR's claim. Nice area that has lots of gold but that creek is TORE UP! I think every sniper in NorCal has hit that claim.... Lots of mercury as you would imagine. You can still get some decent gold there. Some of the other local snipers I was with did pretty well... I didn't do all that there though.

I though that tin might be an oil tin to lube with?.... I'll take a better look at it tomorrow. I also have some other finds that I need to share.⛏️

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6 hours ago, Smigo said:

Excellent, great going there, congrats! 👍

The bottom pic, oh my aching back.

Thanks Smigo... The ground is pretty quiet at this spot and the 7000 w/ the 12" coil finds every scrap of anything at depth.

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5 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Those are some nice chunky digs my friend.  Your hard work and efforts have rewarded you with a collection of Au nuggets and even bigger of the man made trash type.  Be sure to haul that stuff out so I don't have to find it next time.  Thatks for sharing your Success pics.

Thanks Gerry.... My mantra was simple... The more holes you dig the more gold you find.

I would consider this site to be low on trash by my standards. Gold was chunky, caliche covered, corn flakes and sounded like 22's. Largest piece was 1.6 grams. Most around .5 grams. 

Of course, I always remove every target within reason. I did leave that V8 diesel engine block I found on Wabasso Beach 😉

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On 11/22/2022 at 5:11 PM, Deep Beeps said:

Was fortunate to get into some gold on my last trip to California. Started the trip sniping on the NF of the Yuba, one day on Slate Creek and ended with several days detecting in the northern Mojave desert.

IMG_6975.thumb.jpeg.5b5204639294fc006f37f62a95caad9c.jpeg

Very nice, I'd say you did quite well. And I really appreciate the picture of the trash digs. It not only shows you really earned the gold, but tells the newbies that yes, you have to work at it, and dig lots of holes that don't have gold in them. Good stuff, thanks! :smile:

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On 11/24/2022 at 2:54 PM, Deep Beeps said:

Thanks Redz.... 10.85 grams was sniping and 9.53 grams was detecting.

Interesting break down Deep Beeps, more found sniping than detecting, I'm in Tasmania, a great place to snipe a lousy place to detect. As successful as sniping has been for me, I do miss detecting on the mainland, the desert, the big skies, endless sunshine, the heat, the flies, the..............  

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8 hours ago, blackjack said:

Interesting break down Deep Beeps, more found sniping than detecting, I'm in Tasmania, a great place to snipe a lousy place to detect. As successful as sniping has been for me, I do miss detecting on the mainland, the desert, the big skies, endless sunshine, the heat, the flies, the..............  

I went to OZ for the first time in 2019 and was hoping to get down to Tasmania but ended up being life flighted in WA. Ugh!.... I was in Sydney for Anzac Day which was amazing. Spent a few weeks up near Karijini NP..... Cant say I'm with you on the flies though... That's just maddening! Never seen anything like it and I was raised around livestock.

The gold sniping is from a very good river in the California Motherlode, but also has very good access, so it's been hammered. Just got to find the cracks others have missed or passed up. The detector finds are from a different area in the California desert that is also pretty known & hammered.... But both places still do have the possibility of big gold. 

Anyway, I watch the Tassy Boys all the time and WISH I was able to get there and try my luck. Thats some chunky gold you got down there.

What's the best months for sniping there?

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1 hour ago, Deep Beeps said:

I went to OZ for the first time in 2019 and was hoping to get down to Tasmania but ended up being life flighted in WA. Ugh!.... I was in Sydney for Anzac Day which was amazing. Spent a few weeks up near Karijini NP..... Cant say I'm with you on the flies though... That's just maddening! Never seen anything like it and I was raised around livestock.

The gold sniping is from a very good river in the California Motherlode, but also has very good access, so it's been hammered. Just got to find the cracks others have missed or passed up. The detector finds are from a different area in the California desert that is also pretty known & hammered.... But both places still do have the possibility of big gold. 

Anyway, I watch the Tassy Boys all the time and WISH I was able to get there and try my luck. Thats some chunky gold you got down there.

What's the best months for sniping there?

Hey Deep Beeps, Yes I was joking about the flies and heat, definitely something I don't miss about the mainland, I grew up in W.A moved to Tasmania when I was in my mid forties, 20 odd years ago, so I know it pretty well, I started detecting over there in the mid seventies. Small world, you mentioned Karijini NP my first big trip metal detecting was to a place just S/W of there called Top Camp on Fords creek a tributary of the Ashburton River in the mid seventies with my dad, we were the first in there with state of the art Garrett Groundhogs  We started sniping late summer before the last, last summer was our first full season, so summer is the best time. Winter is too cold and the rivers have too much flow so you are limited to smaller creeks if you can brave the cold the water in winter can get down to 2 degrees centigrade [ 36 fahrenheit] Summer is about 12-14 c. We work the same river as Levi and have bumped into him on the river a couple of times much to his surprise, it's all pretty low key and secretive over here, everyone's staying tight lipped, about locations. As a sniper you would know how easy it is to work out an area. At the moment are waiting for the river levels and flow to come down. We had some big floods last winter and are curious to see if there's been any replenishment to the areas we cleaned out last summer. See my post in Tasmania's Largest Nuggets on this forum for some pics, if you are interested. Keep your crevice hook sharp and stay safe.

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