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My detecting mate and I have been working a dry gully for quite a while using our 6000’s with 10x5 Coiltek coils attached. We had been finding a bit of small gold but lately our returns diminished and we had almost decided to move to a new location. In a bid to squeeze out a few more pieces, we decided to detect the ground with our 7000’s and try to uncover a few deeper nuggets. We weren’t expecting much as we had spent a considerable amount of time working this area on the short gully and thought that if we could come home with a piece or two we would have achieved our goal. The Six with the small coil really suited this area as there were many potential gold traps and hiding spots for the tiny pieces that inhabited this location. The Zed’s were fitted with Nuggetfinder 12” Z search coils and after a ground balance and tune were running exceptionally well. The hot rocks and noisy ground that played havoc at times with the 6, were ignored by the 7’s so we knew that we had a bit of potential to find that really subtle signal. We moved slowly and tried to get into difficult areas and hopefully jag something for our effort. After about 20 minutes we added a couple of small pieces to the rattle jar from steep banks on the sides of the gully. It was agreed that the shallow pieces would have been picked up easily with the 6000 but were now happy that we hadn’t been “skunked” for the day. Joe was working a stretch of ground that had produced well for us in the past so I decided to move upstream about 50m to give him some space. I started at a rock bar that had given up some treasure about a month or so ago. We had pulled about 6 very small pieces on and around the outcrop and made a concerted effort to cover all the ground in that area very well. Every subsequent trip resulted in a repeat of that process just in case we missed something. The same region was detected today with the Zed and to my surprise, a very faint signal was heard. It was in an ideal location next to the rock bar on the inside section of a bend. You can see the hole in the photo. We had hoped to find a piece of gold at a depth that the Six couldn’t see and it finally happened. It must have been on edge as the signal was initially very soft and only increased during the dig. What popped out was a pleasant surprise. The 6000 has dominated our detecting for a couple of years now and the Zed barely gets pulled out of the cupboard. It was good to get its coil scraping on the ground again and put through its paces. We had forgotten how quiet it could be when the ground suited. We had also forgotten about digging deep holes until we were quickly reminded of its power. Rusty nails and bits of steel with soft enticing signals generally resulted in ugly growls and swimming pools being dug half way to China. We moved upstream and continued to detect some old ground looking for that deeper target. I was lucky enough to get a really faint signal behind a large rock. After digging a deep hole, a small, shiny nugget surfaced. I could see why the Six would not see a piece of gold at that depth. When the hole was inspected with the coil, another break in the threshold told the story of a surprise awaiting inspection. When a piece of gold ended up in the scoop, I called Joe over and we started moving rocks and detecting a small area thoroughly. A bunch of small pieces resulted. We had a lot of fun working that area together. Joe finally moved 20 metres upstream and found another patch of deep, small pieces of gold. The river worn gold was often visible in the scoop or in the ground like the piece shown in the picture. Joe pulled a couple of pieces on the walk back including one that was in a pool of water. Boots and socks came off and a slow and frustrating recovery followed. It’s great to see a prize for all the effort put in. The final picture shows the result of our day out. Quite a few of the pieces were so small that they wouldn’t move the scales but they all added up. It is pleasing that the Zed can still earn its keep on the tiny gold. Most of the pieces found would still be in the ground if we had used the 6000’s on this trip. Having a combination of machines has proved to be a winner in this area.

Another great Winter for Northern Nevada and of course it’s still giving this Spring! This is my second trip between Weather Systems this Spring. I decided to keep it simple and hit some sweet spots of old patches with my 6000 with the aide of the little Coiltek Coil. The Hills was alive with fellow Prospectors, we all shot the breeze and caught up on each others life’s. My first 1/2 day, I scored 5 nuggets and was somewhat content. The next full day, I struggled for the next 5 nuggets before heading back to camp. What a workout! I left with many old spots yet to have my detector combo swing on them and one spot I can’t find 🙁. Well maybe next time on another Hunt! There’s plenty of space for everyone at the Rye Patch Gym. LuckyLundy

I've had the Axiom for a about 2 months now and up to this point have just been testing it against other PI's on gold nuggets. The weather looked good enough to head to the Nevada desert this last weekend, so I asked Steve & Steve if they wanted to meet up. They agreed. Weather was a little cold at night, still in the upper 20's low 30's, but day time temps were mid 60's. Perfect metal detecting weather! Steve has been using the Axiom for quite some time now and has always said it really is a great PI. I have to agree, especially if you're looking for a multi purpose PI to use not only gold nugget hunting but relic or beach hunting. I really look at the Axiom as being a great replacement for the now discontinued GPX 5000. The Axiom is far better on small gold than the GPX 5000 IMO and hands down just a better setup overall. It's real nice to have all the functions right there available at you finger tips. Wireless headphones, rechargeable battery that lasts 2 days and great ergonomics just add to the appeal. One thing that's real hard for me to do it put time in on a new metal detector when you're at a site you've used other metal detectors on the past that have a proven track record. I had the Manticore and GPX 6000 with as well. So forcing myself to use the Axiom for 4 hour stretches at a time was hard to say the least. Especially when there was gold being found by others in the party. But using the Axiom did not disappoint and I can confidently say it will find both small and big gold about as good as any other PI's I've used. I used the 7x11 DD coil the entire trip, my settings for the most part were fine gold, sensitivity at 5-6 and threshold at 15. First nugget I found with the Axiom came on day 2 as I was exploring some new ground I hadn't detected over before. I saw a dirt pile a few hundred yards away so worked towards it. About 10 feet away from the pile I got the first signal I'd heard in probably 20 minutes. Turned out to be a .16 gram nugget at about an inch. The second nugget came on the morning of day 3 about 3 hours before I had to leave. I was hunting some large piles of dirt that had lots of junk in them. Got a loud high tone that I figured was going to be trash, but dug it anyway. Turns out it was a large 4.1 gram nugget. Man did that make my trip. Obviously I dug a lot of other junk targets on the trip. But when you're digging bird shot, aluminum foil and small wire you know a machine is capable of finding small gold. Best thing about the trip is everyone found gold. I'll let Steve and Steve chime in if they want with their finds.

Yesterday, JW and I went for a bit of a hike to a remote spot in the mountains, I hadn't been here at all since my GPX 4500 a few years ago, and JW had been a small few times since trying out his GPX 6000 and found a few bits. The hike in is what puts it on the backburner all the time 🙂 It's a close drive from JW's house, but a big steep uphill hike, and from my house it's about an hour's drive so by the time I get home I'm stuck to the car seat, man it's hard to stand up after a massive hike and an hour's drive home after a day's detecting with the hike back to the car, at least the hike back is downhill all the way. I ran the car's seat heater the whole drive home to help the muscles recover! JW has a few years of age over me, but he is certainly fitter. It's a really cool place to go though, with great views of the surrounding mountains, unfortunately I can't put up scenery photos for fear of revealing the location to prying eyes, as you can work out the basic location by using the bigger mountains to get an idea of where I was. There has been a bit of mining in the area, and reworked in the depression years, but the earlier mining was done with a lot of work and water monitors (canons) blasting water at the hillsides to recover the gold. The Chinese hit it pretty hard too, staying longer than the other miners going over it again. It's interesting how they get somewhere, then just stop. The soils an interesting colour, almost white. Quite the drop off here down to the ground below, but oddly at least I think you'd be crazy not not to detect these high areas, as gold often pops up in the most unusual of places. My first bit of gold for the day was a bit of a surprise to me, it was a fairly faint signal, yet it was very shallow, I thought it is more likely a pellet although this area barely has any pellets at all, in fact it barely has any targets, if you get a target the chances are high its gold, aside from the occasional old bit of miner's junk like cans and a few nails most targets are gold so it's certainly a dig it all location. I took a little video of the target, so weak of a signal for the size of the gold I thought, although I'm more used to using the 10x5" Coiltek which is more sensitive but still, I was pretty disappointed. This is the little scrape of a hole it came from. The piece of gold. And its weight, quite a reasonable size piece for me, anything over .1 is pretty decent size for me 😛 I was so taken back by how weak the signal on it was I tested it this morning with the Algoforce to see how well it would do, even though it has the larger 10" round coil on it, I thought the Algoforce gave a better signal response on this particular piece. It's a bit of rough looking piece. The other interesting thing is it was right next to someone's previous dig hole, probably JW or I, we were likely using older technology at the time, as I'd only been here with my 4500 which no doubt would miss this piece of gold. It's very unlikely this person didn't go over the nugget and they missed it. The joys of newer technology. Next piece was in the path you walk on to hike to this area, there are tracks all over the place, mostly from old miners I guess however now they're hiking trails and go all through the area, you can even walk from one of my favourite ski fields to this area on tracks. This is it's dig hole, another very shallow target, an OK signal. This is the little guy Smaller than the last bit, but a much better signal. Just ignore the shaft twist in this photo, it's a feature of the 6000 🙂 After that I was walking along detecting the path, but no other gold to be found in that particular area, I did find old boot tacks though which is pretty cool, one spot had a bunch of them in one hole so I gave up recovering them, that miners boots must have fallen apart at that spot 🙂 The gold spot is the dig hole just above the pick in this photo. Here is a little video of it, I haven't watched the videos back yet but it likely shows this one had a better target signal than the previous bigger bit I found. It was pretty easy to film gold finds here as there is so little junk about, so filming bits of digs is worthwhile knowing they're likely gold. Next piece was on top of a little ridge It was my biggest bit of the day, had trouble carrying it for the hike back to the car. Deepest of the holes too. A smooth bit. This is its spot. And a little video of it, the second target next to it was one of 2 pellets I found all day. That was my last bit for the day, the day felt like it went really quick though, we finished up detecting about 7pm, but both of us didn't realize the time and thought it was about 5pm I guess. A benefit or a negative depending on how you look at it coming from the GPZ and GPX 5000 is the 6000 can have the pick so close to the coil it's not funny, it always surprises me how close the pick can go, even when you lay it down recovering targets so while using it I have a belt attached pick holder and in this location I am glad I did, as sometimes its half an hour between targets so nice to holster your pick. The super strong magnet I've got in my pick handle makes life easy too, if I'm using it more regularly, I can just attach it to my pick holder using the magnet to save the effort. It stays there when walking around as long as the pick doesn't bottom out on the ground. So other notable things from the day, this piece of quartz was so weird, it doesn't show up as well in the photo but its flat smoothed off and much like a tile or bench top, and really glossy, so weird. You can see the shine on that one side, but the entire flat surface of it is like that, and its smooth and flat although the photo doesn't show that well. It's like someone's cut it smooth and painted it with polyurethane. And my junk for the day, there was also a nail which I left behind and you can see why I say it's a dig it all location. I'm used to digging hundreds of pellets on the farm land locations, this spot, 2 🙂 Both big pellets too. And last but not least, some old miners' tins I found, I left them where they were, a bit of history. I think this tin can was never opened. This one looked like a giant sardine tin. I think I'll get a bit fitter so the hike and day of swinging a detector around going up and over hills and mounds of soils doesn't wear me down so much and go back to this spot more often, I do really like going there, it just takes it out of me. It's very difficult to E-Bike there too as much of the path is on a cliff side with a big drop and very skinny path no more than 40cm wide in many spots, I've done it before but ended up walking the bike much of the way as I wasn't crazy enough to ride it through the steep drop off areas. Today I'm completely jelly legs and walking is a challenge 🙂 JW doubled my gold count, he came away with 6 pieces, pretty small ones too, he was using the GPX 6000 and 10x5" Coiltek coil, a better choice of coil for the day, I think. I only had the NF coil on as it was left on there from a previous time. It was good to take the 6000 out though, leave it much longer and the old motor may seize from lack of use.

I was less than neutral about Minelab's Manticore when it was introduced. I wasn't negative about it but I certainly did not celebrate its release or the fanfare that went with it. I waited for almost a year before buying one. Thanks Gerry/Gerry's Detectors for making my Manticore purchase happen!!! I only started using it full time for coin and jewelry hunting around the last week of January 2024 when it warmed up enough here to melt most of the snow. We have had small amounts of snow and cool temperatures since with no hard freezes so hunting for deeper targets in moist soil conditions has been ideal and still is now after the 14" of snow melted from a recent blizzard. So my Manticore has been doing great (so did my Deus 2 with 13X11" coil during September and October of 2023) as far as detecting these deeper, challenging targets shown in the photo by giving me enough information to choose to recover them. Sure, I am digging some rusted nails too but my US wheat penny count for the last two months is 128 and I haven't dug anywhere close to 128 rusted nails. All of these silver, gold and copper target finds have been in public parks. All targets were at least 6" to 12" deep and there were no easy, totally isolated, no brainer finds. All were in high iron mineralized dirt that by itself would mask these targets using single frequency VLF detectors and these parks have plenty of trash to deal with and listen to. Plus, I have hunted these same parks extensively with the Equinox 800 and I did not find those 128 wheat pennies or the targets in the photo. With the Equinox 800, I would average 1 or 2 wheats a week, a silver ring or jewelry find once a week and a silver coin and gold jewelry find once a month at these same parks. I am using All Terrain General with the All Metal discrimination pattern and the ATG Preset default upper and lower ferrous limits unchanged, Normal audio theme, 5 tones with tone volumes, tone pitches and tone breaks adjusted for my preferred targets, recovery speed 4 or 5, and sensitivity between 22 and 24 with the stock 11" coil. Basically, I had no idea that this much silver was still left in these parks and I have only hunted 22 times during the last 2 months in parks that are old enough to have these types of targets. Thanks Minelab for the Manticore!!!

Without question my best find ever. I am stunned and speechless. 26" of chain everything with hallmarks. What a great hobby!

Condor and I met Andy out in the desert during a brief spell of good weather for a little detector testing and nugget hunting. Andy put together some good video footage during the trip of the Axiom in action.

Tomorrow night the family and I will be going on a camper van trip to New Zealand. It's not a gold trip but I have accepted an invitation to hunt a couple of days in the Queenstown area. That will be in the second half of the trip. I'll be with Simon and JW for a few hours to experience some of the mild soils I've been hearing about for years. There is so much to do in New Zealand before I get to Queenstown and on the ferry return. Seventeen days don't seem like enough now. I was not aware that it is about a thousand miles from Auckland. When you add in a ferry, some hot springs, a worm cave here and there, the Hobbit village and a train ride it eats up all your time. Maybe I'll have to go back but for now my kids have a chance to miss a bit of school here so I'm going. If any of you have some 'don't miss spots' please let me know and we might be able to stop.

Yeah not my cup of tea. Not watching is the answer. Walk away. Some people brought themselves low in response to Calabash. Too often we become what we respond to. Find another path. And since this forum is not a place where I think we need to discuss people I’m going to bring this thread to a stop. The forum is about gold prospecting and metal detecting, it’s not about what we think of other people. I’ll just end by stating I have plenty of failings as a human being and that makes it pretty easy for me to forgive failings in other people. Life is hard and we never really know other people, the things they suffer that make them act like they act. A little humility and forgiveness goes a long way. You all have a great day.

My son is with me on the island at the moment and we're nutting out the pros and cons of buying an exploration permit in Cape York (see another post).. As we were talking about detector prospecting it struck me the amount of times I mentioned Steve.. As in: 'Steve's timing matrix for the GPX 5000 just about explains all you need to know' or 'Steve explains somewhere about using hot VLF detectors when scrapping away the top layer to find really small nuggets'.. When he asked who Steve was, I was a bit lost as how to explain him.. Somehow I'd made Steve sound like a mate and a guru all at the same time.. So I told him to read what Steve had to say and make up his own mind as to who Steve is.. He read loads of pages I've saved from this forum where Steve explains the finer details about nugget hunting and the technology involved.. As he was reading he mentioned that he now understood much better how his Gold Bug worked.. He's been a bit unconventional in how he uses it as he's mainly a panning and sluicing dude and the Gold Bug is used to scan the ground to get an idea of black sand before he starts carting away buckets of soil.. It seems to work for him.. But it's little things like his moment of understanding that made me realize what an incredible source of knowledge Steve is.. I'm not trying to blow smoke up Steve's arse or score any brownie points but when I think about the amount of times I've referred to his wise words it makes me want to nominate him for nugget hunter Sainthood.. So thanks Steve, your willingness to share your knowledge is very much appreciated - even by the next generation..

I took up a ritual as a pure pastime, devoting a few hours to the shoreline. Some time ago I found with great wonder, a small ring in a really forgotten stretch of a beach, where I could barely find iron and a few coins. This morning, it being stormy and so for the rest of the week, I returned a little further than the spot where I was successful. The only promising area with obvious erosion was about 10 square meters. A very strong concentration of clay and black sand was making Ctx sick, so I immediately opened the pattern and changed separation, given the incredible masking I could hear. What happened next, in a dozen coins, is nothing short of a miracle for me. For the first time I found myself looking for a pendant that might belong to the necklace instead of the other way around, and the little ring had opened a sliver of hope amidst very obvious signals, but mixed with really too much iron. I think the necklace gave a minimal signal because of the knot along the links by the way. Nothing else to record for today, but what a day guys!

I have been trying to put in as much time as I can on my old swim park site as the window of opportunity is closing fast. The last few hunts have been concentrated on areas the D6 dozer has scraped off the top soil in leveling the site. It is amazing what the removal of 4-6 inches off the top changes. I have dug a fair number of additional targets, all at mid depth to fairly deep. So, 4-10 inch targets + 4-6 inch top soil removal = 8-16 inch original depth of these. I thought this to be instructive. What has surprised me is that of these additional targets, there have been 3 separate pairs of coins next to each other. The first, a V Liberty Head Nickle & an early Buffalo a foot apart, the second, an IHP & early Wheat Cent about 8 inches apart. The next day was my third pair, a 1907 O Barber Half Dollar, and exactly 5 feet away, a 1918 S walking Liberty Half Dollar. This struck me as being pretty neat. Then I realized that each pair are consecutive issues. I think that is really neat. Maybe I can find the other 3 pairs.

I've been slow out of the gates for the 3rd year in a row, but hopefully I can follow through better than recently. I do have some ideas for sites I haven't hunted (and if I'm real lucky, no one else has either). But that needs to wait for summer. In the meantime.... A site that has produced modestly (Wheaties and a few silver dimes) in the past has a previously closed area that's opened up. I was able to get out last weekend and give the Manticore a chance. Here's what I found in 3 hours: The highlight is the four silvers, the best of those being the nearly uncirculated 1953-D Roosie. It's a very common date+mintmark but a bonus is that it's from my birth year. Wish I looked that good after 70 years. Maybe being buried in the ground is an advantage! 😁 (On second thought, I'll find out about that soon enough....) The denomination breakdown is interesting but may not be terribly meaningful: three 1-centers (two are Wheaties), nine 5-centers ('nickels), three dimes but two are silver (I'll take that ratio!), no 25-centers at all. Only three of the nickels have dates later than 1964. Has this area ever been searched? And how long has it been 'uninhabited'? Or did someone hunt it decades ago but ignored nickels, not wanting to dig beavertails? Note I found more nickels than imposters (five folded-over beavertails, a couple pencil ferrules, and a misc. scrap of aluminum). The shotgun butt (next to the padlock) is very likely from quite long ago given this area has been settled for longer than I've been alive. The small item left of the padlock is a piece of junk jewelry, probably a broken off pierced earpiece (plated copper with a blue glass 'stone'). I didn't photograph all the trash targets, but that's 2/3 to 3/4 of them. Surprisingly the two Warnicks (1943-P and 1943-S) show the gray patina that is representative of that population which have circulated but never been in the ground. Usually the acid in the soil eats off that surface, leaving the white metal (silver) finish. For one of the two I didn't even realize what it was until I got home and cleaned off the dirt. Only one coin was even close to being challenging -- the Roosie was 7 1/2 inches deep. I picked up a faint but clean signal with the Manticore 11" coil (All Terrain High Conductor mode). While investigating I turned up the sensitivity from 17 to 21, then backed off to 19 for the rest of the hunt. It definitely sounded louder at the higher sensitivity settings. (In my test garden it seems going much higher than 18 smears out the VDI resolution, getting worse the higher the sensitivity. That's why I've been using 17.) Anyway, I'm not done there so hopefully I can show more goodies in the near future. Quantity of hunts has been low but quality of finds the opposite!

Today Chase came down for a "do your own thing" sort of hunt, we went to a permission of mine that almost guarantees at least something old. It was pretty cloudy today but exceptionally warm for mid March, there was a threat of rain all day but it never did, thankfully. The ground is still wet from the last storm under the surface, but the high winds blew the surface dry. I always fear Chase will come all the way down and not find much, but he did ok, just about the same as me but more buttons. It ended up being a good day despite the heat and the gnats that were everywhere. I only got 4 buttons today, one may be a small boss, but the biggest one is a silvered Dandy button. The smallest one has backmarks, and the top left one has some gold flowers on the front. I have no idea what the extremely figured piece of metal is top center. I even got a 1996 dime, my pay for the day 🤣 Of course the feature item I found today was the complete spectacle buckle, my book says pre-1650, so it's pushing 400 years old. 😎 This might be the first complete one I've ever found, I usually find them in pieces. Overall it was a great day to get out there, it won't be long now until the fields are planted. Only a handful of junk, this place isn't too trashy.

I don’t post much, but I thought this might be interesting. The weather has been beautiful the past week, so I hit up an elementary school and a snow sledding hill across town and found a total of 21 rings including three gold, three .925 and fifteen junkers. As pictured. On Saturday the school gave up six rings, including a 2.3 gram 10k, one .925, and four junkers. Someone had cleaned out most of the high tones, but left the copper pennies. That’s where the silver leaf ring was, in the Pennie’s. The top row is from the school Sunday I scouted a small snow sledding hill nicknamed “suicide hill.” Lots of injuries from stupid behavior, like six kids crashing a kayak on the hill resulting in a broken leg. Duh. During the summer kids ride 20 pound blocks of ice down the hill. Sounds like some of the stuff we did growing up in the 50s! Anyway, I hunted the hill and little quarter acre park on top Monday thru Friday and did really well. I don’t believe it had ever been hunted. Rows two thru six are the rings found each day. Monday brought a silver ctr ring and a broken silver earring. Tuesday gave up a 6.25 gram 10k white gold men’s ring and a Versace medallion. Wednesday was all junk. Thursday gave up the 2.8 gram 10k with the brilliant stone flowers, a .925. And by Friday, I finished gridding the hill itself and called it quits with one last junker. i still need to have a jeweler look at the flower stone ring before my wife claims it. Clad count for the five days was $49.30. Wednesday produced $15 in quarters from the apex of the hill along with the six junk rings. This was an unusual week. With clad counts dwindling, I have been focusing more on mid-tones and lower in my daily 2 1/2 hour hunts. I’m at 60+ rings for the year (4 gold, 12 silver), but only $150 in clad. I feel like I’m digging fossil coins. Good sites are rare but still out there. Happy Hunting to you. ”J”

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This one is for the button fan, I dug a 1926 wheat in another field but that was it for the coins. Invited Chase up for one of the last hunts here, a new 100 acre permission that I didn't find much in before, we set out to scout the other half of it that I didn't get to. It's a huge field that had beans on it last year, usually I prefer to hunt in bean stalks but this one is tough, the stalks are too tall. We ran into a farmer friend who told us this is because when they are rushing to get the beans before a rain, they lift the combine collector and don't cut them short. The stalks become really stiff by spring and are very hard to walk on, they chip at your shoes and can go through your hand or foot if you're not careful. 😬 We set out heading to the other side of the field, Chase went ahead and hunted around the old barn, I think he got a couple of wheats there. I walked up the center of the field not expecting anything, I had crisscrossed this field before and found literally nothing. Got a 47 and dug this rolled copper "tinkler" that was traded with the Indians: https://www.nativetech.org/metal/tinkle/tinkle.html It would be a "point" or arrowhead if it had a point, these were hung on their clothing and they jingle. I immediately went into circle mode, making a spiral around the place I found the first object, and hit 3 buttons. By this time Chase was way across the field, so I noted where I found this stuff and joined him to scout the rest of the place. We found next to nothing, I got just a few buckle bits. We decided to go back to this "hotspot" and the buttons just kept coming, I think between us we found well over 20. Small cuff buttons, medium buttons, a couple large, both brass and Tombac. They were everywhere in about an acre or so. What I thought might be a pretty bad day turned out to be a great one, I got all this: 16 buttons and a bunch of other brass stuff. Chase did as well. When things wound down we quit for the day, but there are certainly more there. Here's the trash, only a handful but I got fooled by a few bits of big iron today: I was using Relic exclusively, with the 13" coil on the Deus 2, with reactivity at 1 and Audio response 7. Some of the buttons were over 10" deep! We found other artifacts that deep too. Sadly we found no coins in that spot. We think it was an area where people got together and traded stuff in the 1600s and 1700s, and possibly with the Indians as well. This is a great example of how you really have to search a farm to find the hotspots, it takes a lot of determination and some really good guesses. You just can't give up! There may be another hotspot here, there is a part of the field we didn't go to, but we'll get there. 🍀

Well sort of. Good Friday was on Friday March 27 in 1964. I was 6 years old at the time, living at 4149 Hood Court in the Turnagain neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska with my parents, a brother, and a sister. I was the oldest and was getting my first dose of science fiction by watching Fireball XL-5 on the TV set. We only had two channels to choose from back then in Anchorage, no live television except locally. Anything in the Lower 48 like football games was taped and played later in Alaska. My only other option as a 6 year old was Davey and Goliath on the other channel, and I was definitely more a Fireball XL-5 type. Still am. I'm laying on the couch when the TV goes out. The old tube sets would sort of flash, then the picture would slowly shrink to a small white dot, then pop, it's gone. The power had just gone out. I remember being puzzled and then hearing a roar in the distance. And then the house started going way up in the air! Everyone was home and my parents gathered my youngest siblings immediately into the living room, where I joined them huddled in the middle of the room. Our dog was going crazy running around barking. It was impossible now to do anything but huddle on the floor. The house rose up high then dropped fast, literally falling out below us. It was exactly like being on a large cruise ship in heavy seas. It was not shaking, it was a slowish go way up and then way down as the house rode giant waves. It was waves in the ground. Everything fell off every wall and shelf. Every cabinet door in the kitchen opened and the refrigerator door also, and everything ended up in a pile on the kitchen floor. Everything in the house that could fall over did. It was the end of the world in progress. It took long minutes to subside and somehow when it was over we all were fine. I don't have the greatest memory of the past but some things are etched in memory forever, and those few minutes I will never forget. The aftermath is fuzzier. We were two houses from the edge of what is now called Earthquake Park, a huge chunk of northern Anchorage that subsided and half slid into Cook Inlet. From our backyard there used to be some houses and a forest.... now it was gone from view. Two houses went over the edge, one flattened completely, but luckily nobody was home. Giant cracks and fissures were in the ground everywhere. It is a testament to stick built wood construction that most houses were intact unless they fell into a hole, though cement pad and basement damage was common. Alaska was very lucky that day. When you look at the photos at the attached links and the magnitude of the damage, the 115 deaths statewide seems a miracle. Less than twenty died in the earthquake itself, crushed by falling objects, etc. The rest died in the subsequent tsunamis, mostly in Seward and Valdez. My father was in the National Guard and was called out immediately for rescue operations. Everyone else evacuated to high ground and we stayed with friends on the hillside, as it was feared that Cook Inlet would funnel tidal waves into the city. The quake however was in Prince William Sound due south and so Anchorage was spared the tsunamis that devasted the smaller coastal towns. Anchorage and the state slowly recovered. As a 6 year old most of that went over my head and it was soon life as normal - back to school. Yet my friends and I also had an amazing new playground in the form of what became Earthquake Park. It has eroded away to forested low rolling hills now, but back then it was an amazing topsy-turvy wasteland/wonderland of broken jumbled landforms. We were strictly forbidden from going there due to on going aftershocks and fears of more quakes. It was however an irresistible pull for me and my friends who explored this strange alien landscape. Truly an amazing place, now lost to time and erosion. I know this is off topic but I'll justify it by calling it one of the most direct and personal lessons in geology a person can get at an early age. It no doubt helped guide me to my interest in the earth sciences in general, learning all about plate tectonics and the real life effects of geology gone wild. From the Wikipedia link below: "Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2 megathrust earthquake remains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America, and the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world since modern seismography began in 1900" https://www.life.com/history/the-great-alaska-earthquake-of-1964-rare-photos-from-an-epic-disaster/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake Location of our house above, and photo below of what Earthquake Park looked like back then. Our house would be off the right hand edge of the photo; the area in photo is off end of Clay Products Drive. Obviously there were more houses lost there…. four people died in the general Turnagain area. Photo from article linked above

I went out for two days in the NV desert to use my new Axiom. I played with the setting for the first day trying to figure out the machine and what it was telling me. By the end of the day I was running a negative threshold. Day two I spent the morning in an area that looked promising. Tons of quartz and thermally altered schist with veins of quartz mixed in. This area was absolutely silent except for a 22 bullet down about six inches. I decided to give Rye Patch district a go on the way home. The Axiom ran so quiet in the morning I thought I was way off on what I was doing. At Rye Patch I started picking up minuscule bits or iron. I was also finding tiny fragments of bullets. I met a fellow detectorist while I was there. He was using the 6000, a 4500 I think, and a goldmonster. Preferring the 4500 over the 6000 which he said was giving to much feedback with the underlying clays being so wet. Since I was finding so many little fragments and bits I knew the machine was working as it should. When I found a target I would scrape the top 1-2" and check to see if it moved. Most of the little bits were surface. A few troublesome pieces of wire were 4" down. It was getting late and I was still working on the skunk. I was headed back to the truck and got a nice hi low sound that gave a similar result when I turned on it. I scratched off two inches and it sounded better. Went to 4" and it sounded better. At 4" I was hitting some rocks. I pried the first one out and poked the nose of the coil in the hole. The sound was so good. I pried the second rock out and stuck the coil in the hole. Nothing. Checked the rock and it's a fantastic signal. I scraped the clay off the rock and ran that glob over the coil. I had it. My first nugget ever! Update of first impression. The Axiom battery seems like it will run forever. It dropped 1 bar day one and 1 bar day two. I did re-charge it overnight. The arm cuff felt tight the first night I tried it but it flexed into a good fit. The Zlink headphones will drop out if not positioned properly. The settings I settled were 7 and -7. Very little ground noise.

One of the hardest things to do at Rye Patch NV proper, is to find a specimen gold piece attached to quartz. Not sure how many of my Rye Patch NV swinging buddies are left from the mid 90's but we all have agreed on a couple things when it comes to gold at RP. Chevron gold is the most desired and valuable. There have been some amazing high dollar pieces discovered at the patch. Specimen gold on the other hand (gold and quartz mixed) is most rare to find at Rye Patch than many realize, why is that? I personally have found thousands of nuggets and have seen 10X dug up from all the local legends back then. But to see a piece of gold with quarts on it that came from RP, just does not seem to happen. There's big quartz boulders and quartz pockets scattered all over that area. Heck, one of the locals (Peg-Leg) used to dig out some of the pockets to discover massive beautiful clusters and even single solid monster crystals, but he never found any with gold. This is the largest specimen I have ever seen from Rye Patch proper and it was found in 2005/6 by one of my customers (Scott from Idaho) with a GP-3500 right near the burn barrel. As for me and all the thousands of nuggets I've collected in my 30 yrs of detecting RP, I have only found 2 small nuggets in the 2 to 3 gram range that had a piece of quartz attached. Anyone else seen specimen gold come from Rye Patch? Do any of you geology experts know why we are not seeing it happen more often, especially with all the quartz rocks and crystal pockets that are exposed out there? On a side note - My 1st of 2024 Rye Patch Field Training is coming up next weekend. Anyone wanting to learn some real hands on Field Knowledge and up your chances of finding that beautiful and expensive rare gold, contact Gerry's Detectors at 208-345-8898 for details.

This story begins in 1929 - 11 years after World War One. That year Congress authorized government-funded pilgrimages for mothers and widows of American soldiers killed in the war. Leaving from New York, they sailed to France, and visited the American military cemeteries in Europe. In 1930, a grieving widow, or mother, boarded a train in Utah, bound for New York. She left New York Harbor a week later, aboard a United States Lines cruise ship. After two-days at sea, the mothers and widows were invited to the fore-deck for a formal ceremony. Each woman was individually honored with a serialized medallion made by Tiffany & Co. The bronze medallion had a raised gold-plated star and was numbered on the rim at the six-o-clock position. The serial number matched a certificate that was presented along with the medallion. Obviously, the medallion and what it commemorated would have been precious to the owner. Our story now jumps ahead 94-years to present day Vernal, Utah. Louis Haynes, a U.S. Army veteran who suffers from anxiety related to his service connected PTSD, is metal detecting with a machine presented to him by Metal Detectors 4 Veterans (MD4V.org). Since receiving the metal detector Louis has found several silver coins from the early 1900s and, more importantly, says metal detecting therapy is helping his anxiety. As Louis slowly moved his coil across the ground carefully listening to the machine, he had no idea he was about to find a real treasure, an actual piece of American history. The detector came alive, telling him some type of non-ferrous metal was below his search coil. The target was deep, and it took some work to get down to it through the hard soil. At the bottom of the hole was a 1930 Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimage Medallion! “The opportunity provided by Metal Detectors 4 Veterans has been wonderful. It has gotten me out and moving, and provided me with something positive to focus on,” said Haynes. Louis hopes now that he has identified the serial number on the medallion, he may be able to return it to the family this piece of Americana belongs with. Metal Detectors 4 Veterans Inc. (MD4V.org), is a 501c3 charitable organization that supplies veterans suffering from service related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with metal detectors and metal detecting equipment free of charge. Research has shown that hobbies like metal detecting can be very beneficial for combat veterans suffering from PTSD, as it provides a way for them to be distracted from negative thoughts and feelings, reduces their stress, and improves mood.

Gold nuggets, they are potentially millions of years old

Hard to describe the mixed feelings here. From initially seeing it come out of the sand and going.. "GOLD!"...then feeling the weight and being ehhhh, then getting to the car and not seeing hallmarks..but then saw no worn plating..but then it's very light...but also "well if it was brass, it's so cheap, why hollow it out?" "hmm looks pretty clean tho" . Ughh. Went straight to the scrap gold buyer with the XRF and was more than pleasantly surprised to hear that it was testing between 17 and 19ct gold!! Wow what a relief. I was hoping 9ct at best lol. Didn't sell, just holding it for now. The links are hollow and it's super worn, like hanging on by a thread of gold. Definitely for the scrap pile. I was soo thrown off by the weight. Being hollow links I thought maybe 13-12 grams, but not even close, 37.4 grams!! Although there has to be a little sand and water in the links so maybe closer to 35g. Still over 1oz and my heaviest gold to date. Up at 5:40am, left at 6am, got there 6:30am right at sunrise and left by 8am. Made roughly $2700AUD in scrap gold hehehe. Overall, terrible conditions in the water, super rough, 5m vis, very very strong current and big waves. I found a small patch and found a silver 2 shilling coin and a silver ring as well which was nice. Was hoping to snag a gold ring too in case the chain was fake but it was hard going after sunrise so I just left. Tides weren't ideal either. HH

i had a good day with my vanquish 440 3 silvers and 11 wheats thanks for looking Steve

Here are some pictures of 3 successful hunts using the M8 on the wet salt beach. The little gold pendant has what I think to be a garnet with tiny diamonds weighing in at 1.4 grams. The other picture showing 2 pieces of gold side by side weigh .4 grams on the 10K thin ring and .8 grams on the 10K toe ring. Another picture shows how this coil is hot on finding open earrings of which some are silver. The "gold" disc pendant is plated over steel. That one had me take notice for a minute or two until I put my magnet next to it. The chain was the deepest I have ever dug one, probably 10 inches. I was hoping it was 10k and heavily corroded but alas... just plated copper. Haven't had much time in the water with the coil yet but so far so good.

I live on the property of a 1400 acre conference center that also has two summer camps for kids. Up on the mountain behind my house is a former camping area. There’s also an old spring up there where I’ve found old relics and two silver dimes. The camping area probably hasn’t been used in at least 20 years so there’s older stuff mixed in with newer stuff. I hiked up there Saturday afternoon determined to find something good. I’ve hit this area quite a few times, but I never really scoured the camping area that hard. I immediately stared hitting some modern clad and then I got a solid 57 using the Tekkna program. About two inches down was a 1.43 gram 10k ring! Soon after that I hit a shiny silvery looking ring (not silver😧), and then not long after that what looks like an old copper wedding band. Here’s some pics. The pic of the spring was taken back in 2022 when I discovered it.

That last photo was when Simon used to detect without a pin-pointer 😛

Well all my squat exercises came in handy after getting up and down to recover all this bird shot in the Vic. Goldfield this week. I can tell you that the E1500 loves the stuff and will definitely hear the tiny ones missed by others. My first gold with the Algo was a welcome sight in the scoop all the same...😃

In the relatively "short" time I got to personally know Charles Garrett, he was all the goodness people long praised him for. I began metal detecting 4 years after Garrett went into business. I started using Garrett metal detectors in 1978 and I've looked up to Charles Garrett as my mentor ever since... But not just for his metal detecting adventures, but for his willingness to teach others and just be a friendly, unassuming, down-to-earth kinda guy. I miss that era when I would get a secret phone call to test a new detector. He once offered me employment at Garrett, only to be turned down because I loved where I live so much. I often wonder what my working life would have been like had I accepted. I used plenty of other metal detector brands in my lifetime as well, but I find it personally comforting to be now using only the brand I started with. Like everyone else I'm anxious to know what Garrett will be introducing. If it is as good or better than the Apex I currently use, I can't wait. For me, the Apex has been a really well thought out performer, because for me, sophistication is simplicity... I like to hit the field swinging! I have always enjoyed Garrett's careful engineering and rugged construction. Testament is their solid 60 years in our hobby/sport. Since Garrett is celebrating their 60th Anniversary, I find it fitting they possibly introduce a new detector this month... Charles Garrett arrived and departed this world in the month of April. But like everyone else, I can only guess at what the newest Garrett will be like and when it will arrive. To me, "A Storm Is Coming" says the new detector will hopefully follow in their "All Terrain" tradition. I hope they keep it lightweight, ergonomically sound, and for those of us over 70... A large, simple display! This all is akin to being young again! Bravo Garrett!

After the last three days of waiting, with little pronounced swell but enough to make the surf area impassable, this morning I tried to hang on despite the water still being choppy and the visibility really bad. Once again, a pattern with really tight high and low iron limits selected the few signals worthy of digging. I must say that while limiting the sensitivity, I am afraid it is the only efficient way for me to make an effective session in certain conditions. As usual the cam's battery died before the glory shine and however, just sand suspension and fast water it's been the subject for 99% of the dive session.

These are the keepers from the last two weekends! I was absolutely over the moon with my first Walker. What a rush! Silver has been slow in coming so far this season, but that same spot also yielded a '46 Rosie, a sterling spoon, and a sterling thimble. Today and tomorrow we're getting a Nor'easter, but I sure hope to be able to get back there this weekend! Also, I've started filming my hunts and set up a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PlanetDirtMetalDetecting. I've done two episodes so far, and I'm learning as I go. I'd appreciate any constructive feedback you might have for me! Happy Hunting!

It's time to dust off the Fisher Gold Bug-2 with 6" coil. Spot price gold today broke $2300 US. Things are getting a little scary for that to happen, in my opinion. But back to Au and those lovely light weight, cost efficient, tiny bits of gold getting detectors. My personal favorite is the 25 yr old Gold Bug-2. Why we have not seen any improvement of that detector in so long is just silly. But at least it's still out there. Sure, today's masses of new Swingers don't know it's capabilities and or fine tuning features. They're swinging the popular GM-1000, Equinox 800/900 and 24K. Some of the smaller brands are also quite effective as well, especially with small sniper coils. If these Au prices hang around, you folks might start seeing me sharing Gold Bug-2 Success, one little itty-bitty bit at a time.

I just posted some finds this past Monday about the M8 finding small gold. One of the targets I found a few days ago was a small 10K toe ring. I haven't found a gold toe ring in several years. I went out again this morning and found 2 more 10K toe rings. The first one found today is identical to the one I found a few days ago, and the other one has a heart pattern on it. They all have the same manufacturers stamp inside. The small chain earring unfortunately is marked 1/20th 14K. The big coin is a 100 Colones from Costa Rica. So... 3 gold toe rings within a short week after having a dry spell of several years. One of them had an ID of a solid 3. Not sure about the other. Still digging some iron just to see what this coil is all about. Looking forward to tomorrow morning.

OK, please realize these are prototypes. However, I can tell you aside from the attachment ring in the Upper Strut of the DALAS being too large, this thing is amazing. I wanted to do a video but it is so windy today it would have not been ideal. So let's look at the Detector Air Lift Assist Stick and the OPTIONAL Detector Air Lift Assist Strap. There are four parts aside from the QWIPPLE BUNGEE on the stick. #1 The Paddle, #2 the lower Strut, #3 The upper Strut, #4 The DALASystem Slide Clip. #1 The paddle slips into the waistband in the middle of your back. This has a female thread for you to screw in the lower strut to adjust to your "WIDTH" It is very generous, and if you don't need that much excess simply saw off the excess with a hacksaw. The entire DALAStick is made of Nylon with infused fiber glass for amazing strength. WARNING! - DO NOT try to secure this adjustment with a screw. it needs to be able to move freely front to back. #2 The lower strut screws into the paddle as explained above to give your the width adjustment. I recommend you keep the rod as close to your ribs as comfortable. This way your arm does not bump into it. #3 The upper strut has a female thread that attaches to the male thread on the lower strut to give you a generous height adjustment. This strut has two guide holes so when you find that perfect adjustment you use the provided drill bit, drill a hole approx. 1/4 inch deep through the upper strut into the threaded portion of the lower strut to lock your adjustment in. WARNING!!! Do not drill holes or secure the upper rod in place until you have put the weight of a detector on the upper strut. You need the weight of the detector to show you what the proper height adjustment should be. If you are very short, you may want to saw off some of the upper threaded part of the lower strut. However you can only cut off approximately 1 1/2 inches. The male thread you see showing in the picture is the maximum you can cut off. I recommend you mark all adjustments with a Sharpie so you always know where your width adjustment should be on the paddle. #4. The DALAStick Slide Clip. THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE DALAStick and optional DALAStrap (That ring where the QWIPPLE attaches will be approx. 2 inches in the production units.) You do not have to use the strap, it is available as an optional accessory. The DALAStick will work with your harness rig. I do advise that you may want to mount a ring lower down on your shoulder strap. I'll explain why in a minute. THE FRONT OF THE UPPER STRUT has two guide holes for you to drill and screw in the provided screws to lock in your height adjustment. The lower rod screws into the comfort paddle and can be adjusted for maximum comfort. As I have mentioned before, in order for the weight of your detector to be properly redirected, the movement of the DALAStick can not be impeded in any way. Anything that interferes with the ability of the DALAStick to move freely up and down transfers the weight to whatever is interfering with that movement. That is why it is important that your "D" ring attachment point or "O" ring attachment point is low, so as not to impede the movement of the DALAStick to slide inside the SLIDE CLIP. If the "D" ring is too high the DALAStick SLIDE CLIP will stop at the "D" ring and the weight will be transferred to your shoulder. I have been wearing this around the house for three hours. It's like it's not even there. When you bend over it moves with you because it rotates inside the paddle. Already I can see that the "O" ring and the sleeve on the DALAStrap needs to be lowered and adjusted because it is too high. So it's a process. I went outside and hooked up my GPZ7000. LOL it now weighs nothing. Literally nothing. All that happens is the weight of the detector is transferred to the paddle which pushes your waistband out and away from you. I can tell you, that once you use this, you will not be without it. If you're someone who suffers with arm and neck and back problems; your legs will wear out before your swinging arm. Congratulations to Valens Legacy for using the word STICK in one of his posts. Valens message me your address. Your gifts are a rechargeable headlamp, The New Nugget Stalker® Nugget Stash. And Doc's Nugget Stalker® genuine cowhide nugget pouch. No the quarter is not included it's there as a size reference. Carry on fellow Treasure Hunters. Doc

We've added a new mapping layer to the Land Matters Mining Claim Maps. You will find the new layer under the "Claims" mapping group on every mining claim map. It's named "Mining Claim Fees Paid". The mining claim maps start without the new layer displaying so you will need click the checkbox next to the layer name to begin using this map layer. This new map layer shows the total amount of maintenance fees paid to the BLM for each Section since annual Maintenance fees were begun in 1993. These fee totals are for annual maintenance only and do not include filing or locating fees or the costs associated with State recording fees. Mining bonds and permit expenses are not included. Each Section that has had claims during the period from 1979-2024 are represented in green on the map. The more fees that have been paid for the section the darker the green. Some sections may have $0 in fees paid yet show several claims. These are Sections where all claims were closed before the maintenance fees began in 1993. As you zoom in the amount of fees paid will be displayed in the section. In this example the Fees Paid are displayed between the normal active mining claims display. To get Information at any zoom level you can select the information tool and click on your area of interest will return a window with the number of claims and the total of fees paid in that section. As with all our mining claim maps the current or prior existence of mining claims does not mean that the area is now open to new mining claims. What are annual maintenance fees? Until 1993 all Mining Claims were held by completing a minimum of $100 worth of development work per claim per year. This was known as the mining claim labor requirement. If you didn't perform work on your mining claim each year before 1993 they became invalid. In 1993 Congress, at the request of the BLM, enabled claim owners to pay an annual fee of $100 instead of completing their annual claim development work. This brought in funds to the BLM to administer the program as well as relieving them of their responsibility to check existing mining claims for evidence of development work. No longer did the BLM need to do field work to administer mining claims. Since 1993 the annual claim fees have risen to $165 per year for each Lode claim and $165 per 20 acres for each placer claim. Placer claim fees can be as much as $1,320 per claim. Unlike other government programs the mining claim case administration system at the BLM is entirely supported by claim owner fees. These annual mining claim maintenance fees are paid directly to each BLM State office to offset the costs associated with administrating the mining claim case files. No public monies are used. Here are the totals by State of mining claim fees paid for the years 1994 - 2023 Arizona $507,229,955 California $385,681,600 Colorado $380,865,975 Idaho $307,600,865 Montana. $224,791,660 Nevada $1,523,212,855 New Mexico $190,491,505 Oregon $99,909,290 South Dakota $107,769,290 Utah $556,540,015 Washington. $53,075,435 Wyoming $468,886,230 Total $4,806,054,675 Nearly 5 Billion dollars have been spent by mining claim owners to support BLM mining claim administration. The BLM is now collecting more than 83 million dollars in mining claim maintenance fees each year.

Everyone is all over the moon about the GPX6000. I know it has it's place, but not when you put it up against the Zed. I have not given up on the GPZ7000 yet and I doubt I ever will unless they make it lighter. I have found all size of gold at all kinds of depth and it never fails to amaze me. 1/10th of a gram at 9 inches, another at an absolute 8 inches. I was taking only a 1/4 inch of soil off at a time because I didn't believe the first 1/10th was actually at 9 inches. I figured it had fallen deeper in the hole as I dug. So when I got a second target 2 feet away I thought I'm going to go really slow so I know exactly what kind of depth. Another was a 2.1 gram nugget at 21 inches in a crack in bedrock. So yeah, the GPZ7000 is still my machine, but you have to know how to make that detector float like a feather. Doc

Turn down your sensitivity. ”but then I won’t go as deep” Yes, but you will have stable target id. ”I want stable target id but I don’t want to lose depth by turning down the sensitivity” That’s nice but target id stability is directly related to mode choice and sensitivity setting. Going for max depth will in most cases cause target id instability. Nearly everything in detecting is a trade and if you push the absolute limit of depth target id accuracy will suffer. The worse the ground, the more true this is. It’s always been that way with metal detectors and always will be. ”yeah but if I lower the sensitivity of my new whiz bang detector now it goes no deeper than this old model” Metal detectors used to be less powerful and in general manufacturers put high priority on accurate target id. Back in the day you could almost always run sensitivity maxed out with little problem because older models were in effect throttle limited. Now, as we reach the limits of detector depth, manufacturers are making machines that can easily push past the stability red line. Sensitivity controls literally go higher than they used to - the throttle limiters are being pulled off in the name of “more depth.” Yet people in general, not saying you in particular, just users in general, have a fear of backing the sensitivity down. This leads to far more complaints these days about target id stability as people try to run new detectors at sensitivity levels set like they did with some older detector. With all detectors target id stability is a direct detector feedback to you, the user, about the status of your current settings. If the settings are too high, target id will become unstable and the numbers jump around. That is the machine screaming at users “turn down the sensitivity.” So either find the setting that gives you the stability you crave, or push higher and deal with jumpy target id. It’s a choice. If target id stability is the gauge, it is very possible that new machines set to be stable will go no deeper than older machines set to be stable.

Hi Steve, JCR, and Everyone, Normally I don't frequent or join forums, but yours has shown itself to be a good informative community where its members respect each other... A nice place to be! Wow, thank you for the compliments on my books and their continuing relevance. That was my impetus for writing them long ago. Fact is, my close friend and co-author of MDA&T Joe Patrick is responsible for introducing me to your community! Sadly both books are long out of print, but I'm still pleased to hear people find them helpful, even noteworthy. While I may not be current on many detectors anymore, I still enjoy giving advice and opinions on metal detecting, yesterday and today. Steve... Your own intelligence, operational savy and sense of community hasn't gone unnoticed! Well done, I'm glad be to onboard and to help if I can!

This will probably be the last post from me about Tekkna for the Deus 2, I might mention it in passing but I want to show y'all a typical day out using it. Brutal start today, when I got to this field I've named The Jewelry Box, one that Chase and I found a good amount of silver jewelry in. It was 38 degrees, it never got warmer than 50 and the wind was strong. I've come back a couple of times, but today I really wanted to use Tekkna the whole day with both the 13" and the 9" coil, after seeing how well @NCtoad did with his 13". Sadly it didn't really work out as well as I hoped, this field is so loaded with non-ferrous junk and iron it became apparent that I had to switch to the 9" coil for about half of it. Tekkna really does a nice job of finding small stuff in iron, I can imagine if I had a spot with nothing but iron I'd be able to find a few more things there. But that's about where it ends, I can use my heavily modified Relic program too with the same end result, just varying Reactivity where necessary. I try to be very honest about the trash I end up with, here's a photo of everything I dug today that I will not be keeping: Only one piece of iron fooled every program on my machine, everything else is Non-Ferrous. Clock and Pocket watch parts, flatware, pocket knife bits, knobs, shotgun shells and bullets, along with foil and other annoying aluminum are everywhere in a portion of this field. I rue the day the Concertina was invented, I think we have found just about every reed now. 🤬 Chase and I hit it really hard, almost all the silver stuff is gone, but I still managed to squeak a few more things out of it today: Got a brooch that is really shot through with bronze disease but it's one of the more unique things I've ever found: Even the back of it is interesting. There are multiple ages of activity in this small field, probably from the 1700s to the 1890s, and then from about the 1920s to the 60s, there are things representing both eras. It was probably cherry picked long ago because no large coins have been found here and there should be some. Regardless, the Tekkna program is great for a spot like this, but I still think the 9" coil is preferable to use with it. Bottom line is if there is a lot of non-ferrous junk, you are going to dig a lot of non-ferrous junk if there is the possibility of finding jewelry. That, it did quite well. I'll be keeping it on my machine, with the 9" coil handy. There was another bright spot, a gentleman almost in his 90s approached me in this field today, and after an hour or so of talking with him he gave me permission to his 100 acre farm next door 🥳

What a week, I hardly remember the last time I was out hunting. Been stuck inside by the dual nor'easter we had this week, it's still going. On Wednesday an EF1 tornado passed about 2 miles away, the only tornado in Virginia that day. It wrecked some houses and left a few miles of trees down, I could see and hear it from my porch. Yikes. Yesterday was supposed to be nice, but the second meandering low just kept throwing rain at us. It finally ended in the afternoon with this: A double rainbow that ended in the yard. No pot of gold 🙄 Today again was supposed to be nice, it started out that way anyway. I went to my biggest permission hoping to get some really old stuff. The cover crop has been killed and the bean stalks were knocked down a bit more, it hasn't been planted yet but soon will be. The rain has held things up. Today I was exclusively using the Deus 2 WS6 Master with the 11" coil for greater coverage, and my trusty version of Relic. I just bought the Deus "Lite" shaft to use with it, if I use the 9" coil the whole detector weighs 1.8 pounds. I have to say I really like the lighter shaft, if feels sturdy and comfortable. I have the 11" on the "CF" lower which is carbon fiber but doesn't look like it. There is no flex that I can feel. Got a good amount of really old stuff today, I concentrated on one small area: 6 buttons, a couple pieces of saddle decoration, and buckle bits of some very old buckles, all sadly broken as usual. One of the buttons is fancy with a "whorl" And this one is probably the most incredible cast Tombac I have ever found: I'm not sure whether that is a crop or sword the rider is holding. If anyone can tell me what this was used for I'd appreciate it, at first I thought it was part of a scissor but it has no joint, and has a hole drilled in one end diagonally to one side. Maybe some sort of candle lighter that holds a wick? By the end of the day it got cloudy with a really cold wind blowing. I hope it won't be long until things warm up. Not much trash as usual with Relic, mostly lead.

The oldest thing I've found so far is older than white settlement in this region.. It's a Chinese coin dating back to the Ch'ien-lung Emperor who reigned from 1735 to 1796.. White settlement in the Townsville region and Magnetic Island didn't kick off until the late 1860s.. The Chinese sailor who lost his coin on the island might well have beaten Captain Cook (1770) to this part of the Coral Sea.. I wonder what the island's Aboriginal people made of all these weird visitors.. The coin itself is not valuable, too many were made during this Emperor's reign.. But for me it's the pleasure of imagining this little coin's journey before my Foxy Noxy hit on it.. Or I should say: 'until it ended up in a box with other scrap junk'.. Before anyone panics, I gave it a spit and polish and sold it to a coin collector who bought it as part of a 'job lot' with some silver Victorian era coins.. When I first found this coin I thought it was a pendant or token of some sort.. But its remote location in the bush well away from tourist beaches made me think again.. Also some folk on this forum identified it as the real deal.. The coin collector likewise said it wasn't a token.. Anyhow, the little Chinese coin has finally found a home with someone who treasures it.. Disney eat your heart out.. Thinking about what I just wrote and seeing the picture again make me kick myself for selling it..

Bronze Age (circa 1500-1400 BC) cast copper alloy primary shield pattern palstave, dating to the Acton Park Phase (photo of Steve by Tim Blank with permission) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palstave https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/10874-steves-2019-uk-adventure/

Andrew...you made a good move with the nuggets....but I also have another one well Ace...And it's a meteorite.

Crap, makes me think of springing for one. One of my all time favorite detectors over the years. Almost sounds like Fisher is liquidating all the older models - hope something new is coming to replace them and it's not a getting out of the detector business sale. Has a cash flow desperation feel to it. Steve with 4.95 ounce nugget found with GB2 14” with 14 dwt nugget Another nugget with "Bulldog Nugget" with 3 ounce specimen

You need a thick skin to put yourself out there, especially if you like to stir the pot. I fully sympathize as this forum is largely set up the way it is to protect my own peace of mind. The open internet can be vicious and genuinely harmful if not managed properly. Sometimes it’s just not worth it and the best solution is to step away. He has my best wishes.

My best prehistoric find wasn't with my detector. I was a surface find. Early Archaic "Dovetail" made of Sonora flint. (Dates 9500-8000 BP) With a detector, it would be coins/tokens dating to the mid-early 1700s: 1749, 1776 Reales or a Jetton token. All found in middle TN.

I once hoped this forum would recapture some of the magic of the old days at the Alaska Gold Forum. It is obvious now that is not to be, with almost no posts here anymore about gold dredging. It makes sense as I gave that up in favor of metal detecting myself over 25 years ago, and without me driving discussion about dredging here the idea was doomed to failure. By and large the main posting action on these forums is about metal detecting. I got curious where if anywhere the dredgers ended up at, and a brief search of Google results has me thinking the TreasureNet Dredging & Hi Banking Forum is now the place to be if you have an interest in the subject. Looks like lots of good posters and posts there. Not much has changed in the dredging world from what I can see except the dubious fascination with whiz bang magical mats. I doubt anything will change here as regards gold dredging so best bet for those interested will be to head where the action is, and as far as I can tell TreasureNet is the only place getting any substantial number of new posts on the subject on a regular basis. Back when I used to go gold dredging......

Absolutely it is, as can be attest by all the gold being found by 6000 users in thrashed locations.

It can be only one thing...Girl friend Number..? Sometimes we forget which is which and what better way to keep track.. You forget which she is......... you move in with the hand kiss.. You see the number and it hits you,, AAAaa yes, Athena.. 😍

Thanks Erik. I’ve never been very comfortable with praise so I’m squirming a bit at the moment. The fact is I learned a great deal from others and did well, and this website was designed as being a way to give back. I taught a lot of people how to nugget detect giving classes in Alaska and nothing gave me more pleasure than seeing those people find their first gold nugget. It’s great that you and your son are able to connect via gold prospecting. So while my first instinct is to blow this off with a self-deprecating joke, I think in this case I’ll just say thank you.