Chet

Having the D-ring positioned higher on top of the shoulder puts more of the load onto the back of the shoulder or even a lifting effect on the back strap instead of having a downward load similar to a backpack load.

I have two favorite picks. One is a 3 pounder and the other a five pounder. Either one is carried on a padded military belt. The pick holder is a Drill Pouch from Home Depot. It is attached to the belt with a 10/32 screw, fender washers and locknut. It swivels and allows the pick handle to be slid into the large opening without looking. The five pounder is often carried in my left hand when hunting without the Equinox in areas with little trash. Both picks have rare earth magnets attached so they can pick up much of the trash. The key to carrying heavy picks and heavy water loads is the padded belt. Wear it tight so that the load is on the hips. The shoulder straps are loose and only needed for the Hip Stick and Bungee cord attached on top of the shoulder. Having the top of the Hip Stick at top of shoulder height prevents pulling down on the shoulder. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NcStar-CVBAB2939T-TAN-Military-MOLLE-Padded-Contoured-Battle-Belt-w-Pistol-Belt/202863959802 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Condor-215-Tactical-MOLLE-PALS-H-Harness-Suspenders-for-241-Gen-II-Battle-Belt/233531915902?var=533171366300 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-Pocket-Drill-Holster-GP-45854N13/204853194

Many years ago a local Mining Supply shop had a break-in with a much better outcome. The shop was full of expensive dredges and metal detectors. The glass counter had gold and antique guns on display. The owner had an alarm service that informed the police of the break-in. They responded too late to catch the thieves. They ask the owner for an estimate of what was missing and a value for their report. He looked around and to his amazement the only thing missing was a large galvanized tub full of sand and water salted with gold for customers to learn how to pan for gold. They followed a trail of spilled water down the street to a room in a cheap hotel and arrested two drunks panning for gold. Have a good day, Chet

Yes I tried that. My mistake was not transferring the Find Points to the Exchange2 program before loading the software fix into the GPZ 7000. The GPZ 7000 manual states that the GPS limits are 100 Find Points, 100 Way Points and 10 GEO Hunts. So I will store the Find Points in the Exchange2 program in three files; California, Nevada and Arizona. Then load the detector with the appropriate state Find Points prior to leaving home. Have a good day, Chet

The other settings are mostly the default settings except the Threshold is set at 1. This area was well hunted with a GPZ 7000 and a Gold Monster. So seven of these nuggets were barely detected with the 7000. I tried different settings on the threshold on some of them. It just caused a lot of noise and the small nuggets were more difficult to hear with the noise.

I always run with the GPZ 7000 in enhanced GPS mode and record all Find Points. When Minelab fixed the GPS software I accidentally lost approximately 50 find points when I loaded the fix. On this trip when I tried to record the fifth nugget location it would not accept the Find Point because it had limited out at 100 Find Points. In the trashy areas I hunt with the Equinox 800 with the small coil in my left hand and the GPZ 7000 in my right hand. That way I can discriminate out most of the shallow trash. The 10 nuggets were all to deep for the Equinox to detect until some of the material was removed. Then it becomes a pin pointer so the holes do not need to be so big for the GPZ 7000 coil.

Brian we really do need to put big numbers on those big round rocks and big trees. LOL Chet

In one of the many hydraulic worked areas.

The area was decimated by the California miners in the 1800’s. It has since grown back scattered pine trees which are now dead from disease or fire. Little shade so the temperatures were close to 100F or 37C.

Steve, what a great history with so many great gold nuggets found. Thank you for your story. I sat glued to the screen for the length of the video. My wife was also very understanding of my trips; hunting, fishing and gold prospecting. My son and I made 6 week camping trip through Canada and Alaska during the summer of 1989. We spent a week camped behind the Chicken, Alaska Outpost. I got some good gold panning in Jack Wade creek. We were there when George Robinson met his maker. He had many claims on Jack Wade creek. Have a good day, Chet

Finally got out again with the 15" x 10” X-Coil. It ran really quiet and smooth continually in High Yield, Normal, at Sensitivity at 20. Found 10 small nuggets for a total weight of 4.55 grams. They were between 5 to 8 inches deep in a California pine tree area. The X-Coils work great, but the 15 x 10” is now the go to coil. Have a good day, Chet

At to days gold price alone the nugget would be worth close to $3,000,000. Of course a lot more at auction. Just think there are more of them out there just waiting for some lucky person. From the Aussie Gold Hunters video; the dig holes are probably similar to the ones described in the story above. Just think of digging straight down to a clay area or bedrock then tunneling horizontally without shoring up the walls or roof. I would prefer to be the guy lifting the bucket and disposing the dirt.

Maybe a hand held detector for Archaeology and/or Geocaches?

This is a long read but a fantastic story! https://www.mindat.org/article.php/516/Australia's+134+Pound+Gold+Nugget

I do wear gloves all the time while detecting. They protect fingers as trash is slid sideways off of the powerful magnet. Some small black sand and tiny particles remain with no problem except appearance.