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There Is No Gold In California


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Thanks @phrunt? I’m frustrated that I haven’t found any gold but I also know switching up the locations and only spending a few hours is not the most efficient way to locate gold on a claim. ? I’m actually pretty pleased that I can find small metal bits now - I have WAY more confidence in my detector now that I know I’m supposed to be digging those non-displayed targets. I was worried I just hadn’t set up my detector properly for the soil or something. Now I’m like “nahhhh, I got this.”

I might not have it set up perfectly (I’d bet on that) but at least if I can find small metal bits (and a beer can at like 18” down!) I feel WAY more confident that I won’t be missing everything good! ?

-Julie

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If you're locating and recovering little targets like that, you'll find the gold when you eventually get your coil over it. Keep tuning your ears to your detector's unique set of sounds, and one day you'll get your coil over a chunk of gold big enough to punch up the numbers on your display as well.

Keep putting in the time, and keep honing your skills and the gold will come.

All the best,

Lanny 

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 Your detector would work considerably better with a compass mounted top of the control box and in line with the shaft. Then simply sweep a large circle until your compass points North, proceed about 200 miles while paying close attention to the compass and then start detecting.

I hope this helps.

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11 hours ago, jinmon said:

So I set out to find the tiniest piece of birdshot I could find. I mean, I WOULD have looked for gold but we all know that’s a crock. 

SUCCESS!!! That Kevin guy might know a thing or two about metal detecting for lead, if only he’d stop pretending he’s talking about gold. Check out my haul from a few hours in the claims at Cajon Pass (note this is only the small stuff - I was already an expert in finding shell casings from an hour on Lytle Creek):

 

 

Jinmon,

  Good to see your getting all that birdshot and lead, everything is working right, you just need to get the coil over gold. Lytle Creek- I used to go there in the 80's and shoot and pan for gold. Is everyone and their brother in southern california still using it as a shooting range?? They should change the name to Lead Creek.  If you dont get out more than 3 or 4 hours away from the citys in california, your gonna come across so much trash and bullets with a detector it will drive you crazy..... 

Dave

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I believe you there is no gold in California, history proves it "they" came from California downunder to OZ looking for gold, from there "they" went to New Guinea, Africa etc. Now "they" are swinging around with these new fangled coils on a stick, looking in these same places again, obviously after centuries of looking for it there is no gold.

Now Julie your probably not going to learn from the lesson that "they" have made so I wish you the best, but you`ve been warned there really is no gold. 

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Great work Julie. It really is all about being able to detect tiny non-ferrous targets. People tend to get annoyed by lead but looking at your finds tells me A. You are doing great at figuring the Equinox out and B. The location you are detecting, if gold bearing, still has gold left. You can’t get all the gold and leave the lead behind. Of course if the location has no gold that’s another story.

I treat aluminum the same way when jewelry detecting. If I am detecting a park or sport field and can’t find much if any aluminum, somebody has hit it hard. That rarely happens but I have encountered it. It still amazes me how many 1970s era ring tabs are easily found in most locations however.... an obvious sign of low pressure jewelry detecting.

Seriously, you are doing great. You just need to get over that nugget!

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9 hours ago, klunker said:

 Your detector would work considerably better with a compass mounted top of the control box and in line with the shaft. Then simply sweep a large circle until your compass points North, proceed about 200 miles while paying close attention to the compass and then start detecting.

I hope this helps.

Klunker,

You are right.  When it warms up, the snow melts and it drys out a bit have her detect up in your neck of the woods!

Mitchel

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8 hours ago, DolanDave said:

Jinmon,

  Good to see your getting all that birdshot and lead, everything is working right, you just need to get the coil over gold. Lytle Creek- I used to go there in the 80's and shoot and pan for gold. Is everyone and their brother in southern california still using it as a shooting range?? They should change the name to Lead Creek.  If you dont get out more than 3 or 4 hours away from the citys in california, your gonna come across so much trash and bullets with a detector it will drive you crazy..... 

Dave

Dave,

You are not old enough to have been detecting in the 80's!  You right about Lytle Creek.  I was there last year and put my pick with a magnet down in one place and got 30 steel casing on it and could have had 100 more if there had been room on the magnet.

Julie, Dave is a guy you could learn a lot from about meteorites, gold and metal detectors.  If you ever get a chance to go to an outing where he and his dad are going to be you should go.  It may not be in California.

Dave, invite her for a hunt.  It will change the way she thinks about gold.

Mitchel

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20 hours ago, jinmon said:

So I’ve taken my Equinox 800 out a few times but not for long each time and to different claims each time - so I’m telling you, I’m an expert, and you can believe me when I say there’s no gold in California. Hey, I’ve even tried gold panning for a few minutes - nope, no gold. 

So at the Fresno gold show, I played along with the conspiracy and went to Kevin Hoagland’s talk about metal detecting for gold - you know, in states where there IS gold. And he said to dig the targets that don’t even show up as numbers on my detector’s screen. Well, that can’t be right, because otherwise why would they give me a screen with numbers? But anyway, I decided that IF he was right, maybe I could at least find some small pieces of lead or something with the same technique. So I set out to find the tiniest piece of birdshot I could find. I mean, I WOULD have looked for gold but we all know that’s a crock. 

SUCCESS!!! That Kevin guy might know a thing or two about metal detecting for lead, if only he’d stop pretending he’s talking about gold. Check out my haul from a few hours in the claims at Cajon Pass (note this is only the small stuff - I was already an expert in finding shell casings from an hour on Lytle Creek):

 

 

Kevin is a great guy.  He KNOWS a lot.  I have a Kevin story I tell often.  If you've heard it stop reading!  haha

I went to a Minelab Metal Detecting Day in California with my 2 year old 5000.  We were not allowed to use it in the coin hunt (PI) so a few of us had a private session with Kevin under a tent at the event.  He was talking about any detector that anyone wanted to talk about including the 3030 that was just coming out.

I asked him question after question about the settings on the 5000.  He kept answering them and I would look at the manual and say 'Well, the book says such and such ...'  He would try to explain what the manual was saying to me and a few other people and we would move on to another topic.  After about the 4th or 5th topic he said "Let me see that manual."  

I handed it to him and he took it and threw it across the tent.  (Wow, don't tear my pages I'm thinking.)

To paraphrase Kevin after that goes something like this: I KNOW MORE THAN THE BOOK, I WROTE IT!

He does know what he's talking about.

Mitchel

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