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Location:
Boise, Idaho & States that produce Gold.
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Chasing gold nuggets, old coins, civil war artifacts, love water detecting for gold jewelry, helping train customers on their detectors.
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Gear In Use:
Garrett Axiom, Manticore, Equinox 800/900, GPX-6000, GPZ-7000, ,,...most any gold detector I can get my hands on, if it helps find Gold.
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www.gerrysdetectors.com
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Gerry McMullen
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Gerry in Idaho's Achievements

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Most excellent input Steve and I 100% agree. Here's a prime example for me the last 2 yrs of metal detecting. In 2023 my old Coin and Relic hunting was cut and I did not go as often. I spent more time looking for gold and I was rewarded for my efforts. Last year 2024, my C & R detecting was minimal at best and I recovered less than 10 silver coins, the lowest # in 45+ yrs. Most of my swinging was directed for GOLD. 2024 was also one of my most productive yr for heavy metal gold recovery. It was mostly because of the price of gold that kept me focused on the heavy metal. This year in 25, I'll be chasing the Au even harder, I hope. Heck, I'm already at 1.9 oz of gold jewelry from the Caribbean trip. Sure, I enjoy many styles of detecting and sometimes need to hunt for something different just to keep the enjoyment of the hunt. But the current Au price sure is pushing me to focus on the heavy metal. Good luck to everyone in 2025.
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Golden Nuggets Of The Caribbean Sea
Gerry in Idaho replied to Gerry in Idaho's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
1491 - Yes, a couple of those rings were Tops in my books. Thanks for commenting. GotAU? - One of the things I try to do with those Field Staff who help make me look good, is take them and their wives to a few fun memory making vacations. That way, when I need a Staff Member to be at an event with or for me, the wive is usually 100% on board. Happy Wife, happy Life. I'll try to get a Hand pick of the rings just for you later this week. You're right, that too is one of my signatures. matt - Yes, I think this trip was an even money maker for me. $5K divided by 2 guys = $2500 and that's just about what I figured I recovered, if I were to sell my share. You know the feeling of a tungsten wedding band in the bottom of the scoop, you're dreaming it's an 11 gram band and instead it's 11 grams of worth about $20. One of these days I'm going to try to sell them and I hope to get $20 bill, who knows maybe only a $10 bill. Well, that sure is better a .25 coin Gold Ryder - A detector in the luggage is a must. The Manticore will come apart so easy and fit into your carry on. Please do take one with you and then give us a report. I can only imagine the amount of treasures you could find? rvpopeye - Sorry, any extra warm and I was trying to forward to Idaho. More snow today and still coming down. Yes, I was fortunate to find a couple eye catchers. I think my selection of sites helps, in the better rings. mn90403 - You know, I think you might be right about that. Right after X-Mas and New Years. I know this, a couple areas we hunted had been recently hit and one last site, I ran into another guy and his friend who I ran into last year as well. Competition is getting stiff, just like a good gold nugget site. Only difference, the beaches get plenty of Canadians and Americans visiting each winter. Lunk - Thanks, it was relaxing to allow my bad back some warm water therapy and to be able to get a little Au while doing so. -
Gerry in Idaho started following Idle Speculation , Golden Nuggets Of The Caribbean Sea , Gold Hitting New Record Highs and 5 others
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Yes indeed, Caribbean has the scenic beauty of white sand tropical beaches with 80 degree warm muscle relaxing waters and Golden Nuggets beneath our feet. As one who lives in the 4 distinct seasons of Idaho, my passion to swing a detector in the winter months is practically nonexistent. So near 15 yrs ago when I was in the prime of chasing heavy yellow minerals with a metal detector, I read an article in a Treasure magazine about guys swinging Caribbean while finding gobs of gold and platinum jewelry. It was at that time, I decided to take my Staff and wives down for a week vacation and learn some warm water beaches of Caribbean Sea. Finds for us the first few trips were plentiful with hundreds of interesting coins from differing countries all over the planet. We found jewelry as well and some really odd treasures but the Gold and Platinum rewards we dreamed of were not what we had expected. Those first couple trips reminded me of the 1st times I started chasing raw gold with a detector and quickly realizing how hard it actually is to take the gold home. Yes!!!! We did discover a few cherished “nuggets” of gold and or platinum finds, but boy, nothing like the number of recoveries we had expected. Those few far and in between treasures kept us going though. 14K with 40+ diamond chips. Finds like this will keep you going back. Each trip we learned from the previous years experiences and tried to take the best from them. We adventured to different beaches, tried new strategies, while testing various kinds of gear and techniques. All the while we are determined to teach ourselves to get better at the hunt of those warm water nuggets. Here it is 15 yrs older, at least 30 trips more wise and the Nuggets are shining through if we put the time and effort into it. Even today, its almost like natural gold Prospecting, where location, techniques and hard body aching work with a little luck and you get rewarded with some Au to rattle on the drive home. Below is the wrap of my recent winter Nugget Hunt in the warm tropical Caribbean Sea. Yes, it shined a little heavy metal and my efforts of previous trips, adjustments and tide chart readings = Success. All because of eye catching pics in an article I read approx 20 yrs ago in a Treasure Magazine, I think I’m starting to dial in and bring home some of those jewelry Nuggets from the Sea… and a really bad ear infection, which I’m still fighting and on antibiotics. Total = 40+ rings (I left a few for the hotel staff) Gold jewelry count = 11 Total weight of Gold = 1.960 oz Hopefully you enjoyed the read and pics of hard work and many hrs of swinging. PS. If Tungsten, Titanium and Stainless wedding bands were worth anything, I'd be rich. 14 of those and some of them are 10+ grams each. The changing of times I guess.
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Digger Bob, Man how time flies and now months go like weeks and years go like months. It only feels like a few yrs back of the fire, but if you're correct in the late 90's, that's 25 yrs ago.? My 1st PI finds ever were at Rye Patch with an old green 1990's SD-2100 a friend purchased, but he never could find gold with it. He got sick of the heat one summer when we were down there for a week and left it with me to use/learn, while he went back home. Took me 2 full days to figure it out and finally the evening of the 2nd day, I heard a soft faint wee-hoo sound. It was totally different than my GB-2, but I decided to investigate. After 8 inches down the target started getting louder and I was expecting multi ounce nugget for the 1st time. I was disappointed when I finally found a 2 gram nugget at about 12". At the same time, totally blown away from the depth of that detector when compared to my GB-2. I went home with PI knowledge, my buddies SD-2100, the desire to become a Minelab dealer and a few deep nuggets. A few months later, I was back at Rye Patch and swinging the newest detector from Minelab, the green SD-2200d. From that point on, I was hooked on gold and Pulse Induction technology because of depth. My 1st 1/2 oz nugget find came from RP with the SD-2200d and the 11" MONO coil. (pics above) That Growler find of yours, did it happen to be in the direction of North of RP closer to Eugene/Sawtooth? If you don't want to say, I understand. June might be a great time while your wife is away. June is actually one of the better times for RP as it's mostly dry soils, but still not extremely hot temps. Hopefully we can make it happen. Do you remember this guy? That's "Largo" (Gary Long) from Boise, ID. He actually introduced me to old man Ed Spears (that lived in the small hand build rock house with his wife, Flotine) who owned the claims South of the burn barrel. Largo showing off his Majuba Meteorite in the pic. Sorry to say, he's not doing much anymore for detecting. I stopped in and seen him at the VA last week, where he lives. He enjoys talking about all the good times out there and the easy pickings when compared to the last few yrs. Heck, most of the old time greats from RP have since passed. Smokey, Jim Malone, T-Bone, 2 Pound Dick, Tom, Willy, Capt. Clark, Bob L. and I'm probably missing a few. Those guys were who I would follow and then try to find the crumbs they missed. Since I was pretty young compared to them, I had better hearing and more of that Marine Corps., never quit attitude. I also had 20+ yrs of detecting experience since I started in the 70's, so I was pretty sharp myself with a detector in hand. Well, I'm just glad to see you back on here and hopefully you add some of your knowledge on occasion my friend. Heck, rumor has it you stumbled into a Cali Monster a few years back, that just about started a gold rush.😏 I'll leave that up to you though, if you desire to share. Thanks for letting us see the Growler my friend.
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1 gram nugget is now worth $90 and many folks will pay $100. Heck, that puts a 1 grain piece of gold at almost $6. That's incredible.
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OMG, The Legend and then some, is back. Glad to see/hear of your return Digger Bob and sure hope you post more often. I read that Carl had reached out to you as well and will be forwarding you some of those Africa pics. That's what you wanted and glad someone was still around to help you. Yes, the truth is, a big amount of my old Rye Patch friends have since passed on to more golden patches. But I'm happy to see you still around and hope to swing with you maybe this Spring if another RP gathering is organized. You know why I call you the "Legend", as you have 2 monster finds to your name. The Northern NV 1 pound Growler is still to this day one of the stories I remember most. Amazingly, I've yet to pop anything over an ounce from Rye Patch or areas close by. You would have thought after 20+ yrs of swinging NNV, it would have happened for me, but not yet. I'm wondering if you remember these pics I took after the fire (Rye Patch). All the 3 to 4' tall sagebrush bushes I had in my memory and the nuggets I found around those bushes, all disappeared after the fire and the flat barren ground looked foreign to me. My marker bushes were all gone and the strings I tide as my ID'ing for future returns. Yes, those big Cali fires are most devastating and life changing to many. I remember another guy (Miner John) who made the covers lost his shop as well. So sorry to hear of it and also about the recent fires/devastation. It would be nice to see you post of the Growler some day on here for the newer generation to read up on. Again, Good to see you on DP.
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Sorry I have not been posting as I got tired of the frozen Idaho tundra and headed South to warmer tropics. Need to get my Year End business inventory complete this week for my tax guy and then share some pics of Cancun golden Success.
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More Nice Lost Basin Gold
Gerry in Idaho replied to Goldseeker5000's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
You're getting better at the gold hunt my friend. When that new toy (Suzuki) is under your butt, be sure to keep all 4 wheels on the ground. Nice chunky one, well earned. -
That's approx 90 US Pounds of gold. Crazy amount of gold.
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Wanted Used GPX 6000
Gerry in Idaho replied to Gaustad18's topic in Metal Detecting & Prospecting Classifieds
I just returned from Cancun and have yet to advertise, but I have a used GPX-6000 and a used GPZ-7000. Call me at 208-345-8898 if you want details. Mention that you seen it on DP site. Gerry at Gerry's Detectors in Boise, Idaho. -
Lead Detector - Yes you are correct. Some nuggets will respond differently from coil edge vs coil center. Realize the DD coil on the Axiom is totally different when compared to a traditional DD coil that you see on most other detectors. I've even recovered a few that made a different tonal pattern when I turned 90 degrees. Glad to see you're experimenting with your Axiom and learning it. My best "oh wow, I just learned a lot" happened in about 2000 or 2001 and I was re-working an area I had seen someone digging gold in NV. I had a newer detector the GP-Extreme and running it in factory Settings. I decided to grid the area and spent 3 hrs with only 1 nugget. I then decided to adjust the Settings and try it again. As I went through the 2nd time, I heard a faint signal and before I dug it, I decided to go thru the different Timings and Adjustments to get the best, clearest loudest signal response. I then market the spot and kept going. 15 minutes later I get another signal with my new Settings and mark it. 10 minutes later another and marked it as well. After do this for 2 more hours, I had about 10 marked targets to play with. I went back to Factory PreSet and found out all 10 of those targets were gone? Now I was a little confused at 1st, but then went back to the Settings I learned earlier and the signals came back. So I dug each target very methodically and realized the depths vs nugget size. I ended up with 8 more nuggets for my efforts. Since then, I have always played with my own Timings and adjustments to see if I can get a new model detector to perform even better than Factory Mode. You're doing it the right way. Arky - That's a nice piece of gold and thanks for mentioning the odd Reverse Signal on the 7. Just curious, is that about 3 grams? Interesting shape.
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I have not heard anything from Nokta. To be up front, I have only tested 1 detector for them back when it was Makro. They might have their own Gold Guru guys, I'm not sure.