Gerry in Idaho

As MSC mentioned, that's pretty good for RP considering how hard it's been detected for 25 yrs. I noticed Larry had his detector set for bigger gold than you Lundy? Or is his old ears starting to miss the really small bits? Great on you both. Be sure and leave a few for my customers coming up for the training in June.

SnakeJim - Glad you are using the features some detectors provide and saving your back/legs for another hunt. Yes, I too used to dig it all and then wondered why some machines have those features on them. Just like a new truck has options and features most of us never use, but in the right situation, those bells and whistles actually make the truck that much more enjoyable. Thanks for the input. D&P-OR (Del) - Eastern Oregon (my stomping ground as well) has some really nice gold. Here's a golden grin of the Idaho find before I cleaned it. Below is a pic after cleaning. Your neck of the woods below (Eastern Oregon). The 10 ozt. specimen below, I recovered in ore dump piles with a GM-1000 while training customers. They were running GPX detectors and the amount of iron they were digging was very frustrating for them. I tried explaining the importance of using different gold detectors in situations that can save time and energy. I used one of the students Monsters and recovered this $5000 rock. I didn't keep it though. When you hand over a chunk of gold that size to the claim owners and explain why they make different gold detectors with varying features, it surely makes a believer out of them. Could a GPX detect it? Most certainly, but they had about given up with those machines as most PI's raw depth and power is a double edge sword. It's a hard pill to swallow, when someone with a $5000 gets so frustrated and then a sub $1000 recovered the gold with much less effort. Just another reason why I try to help educate folks on the importance of different technologies and detector methods. As for the piece I recovered with 24K, that's an Idaho find from ore dump piles. The gold in the pic with the bill, is from Oregon and was also Ore Dump piles using Iron ID. Thanks for your enthusiasm. Blackjack - Most certainly different regions/areas require varying tactics. Knowing where/when to use Iron ID/Target ID/Disc is key. At one time (we all) used to dig it all. Some of eventually wonder if there is an easier or more proficient way. Most certainly is in many (not all) situations. Glad you are open to trying features on your detector. Heck, when the Equinox 800 came out, how many people actually used it for gold? Most laughed at me and thought it was all salesman talk. I'd say more on the subject, but my mouth is full at the moment. Thanks for your input as well. Geof_junk - Yes, it's an art in a way and knowing when/how to use it can be very beneficial. I realize many areas are not the same as I hunt here in the USA, but the area you show in the picture with rusty cans and tin, is a good place for different detecting techniques and approaches. Expert hunters as yourself even said you walked away. That's exactly my point. The best of us give up on certain areas and explore the fringes and outer perimeters of that site, in pursuit of less trash. But in all honesty, here in the US, it's time to go back to such sites and use features some of the detectors provided. 1st thing I would do on that site is drag some super magnet bars and try to remove as much as possible. You're experienced enough to know different tricks to get a few more pieces. Now, I agree 100% if small bits in that trash area, then I'm not as desiring to spend a lot of timing cleaning up the trash. Sure, I know some gold may still be there, but I'll chase bigger stuff 1st. Actually, at my stage of gold nugget hunting, I'm not one to get excited on small bits anymore and I don't do it for a living. the last 5 yrs, I spend most of my time focusing on the few bigger chunks. Thanks for adding.

Noriv - I'm totally content with you using zero DISC for those open areas. When I visited Au back in the 90's, I never once even thought of using DISC as the sites we hunted were as your mentioned and pretty much trash free. Sure there is the occasional surface target (usually trash), but nothing like I encounter here in the US as I mostly hunt previously worked gold bearing ground. And yes I agree, as we age with wisdom, we learn to conserve the amount of energy our body provides us each day and use it most wisely. No more spring chicken left. Thanks for chiming in. Gold Catcher - Yes for the average beginner Joe, I feel using DISC or Target ID features is not desired. Those folks have not learned the ropes yet and need to dig their share of holes. Heck, that's exactly why I don't mind having a group of newbies go swing an area before me. Just make sure they pack the trash out that they are digging. In the end it makes my job much easier when they remove the majority of trash. Yes, small gold and even bigger gold at depth will not register properly on all detectors. Each one built that has such features, there's a depth or ground conditions that all of them can be fooled. That's why when I'm at sites like Rye Patch and realize the gravy is gone, I'm more apt to use ZERO DISC. I usually won't chase those screamer surface targets out there either as 99% of the time, they are fresh bullets. Knowing when to be selective is very important. Thanks for adding. Andrew - I'm glad to see you chime in as I know your experience with a PI for relic hunting is near the tops. You have tested, compared and listened to enough targets to teach yourself the fine lines of PI's and how they respond. Heck, even your skill with many of the VLF's is tops. I've seen enough of your posts and videos to know you're one of the few who takes the time to go out and just compare/practice/train your ears. Using DISC in your head is very important and you do better than most. Jasong - Interesting quotes my friend. Being a WY guy who travels to many areas/states hunting gold, I think you/I are alike as we encounter many more options of gold bearing grounds. The rules to gold hunting? I honestly don't think there are rules to hunting gold, as there are to many variables for the ones who travel. That's part of the reason why some have success more often. But being able to adapt is a big part of it as well. Thanks for providing. Dirtman - The ear is a great tool. I just wish more newer customers relied on it and not the LCD screen on their detectors. Even advanced hunters such as yourself use Mind Discrimination and make a decision based on signal width, strength and site location. I noticed your profile does not give a location of you and it's hard to tell where you spend your hours swinging? Based of your comments and style of detecting, I'm willing to gestimate you usually don't hunt dredge tailings much? No worries, as many folks don't, just for the facts that not are around. Everyone has one.... I've seen that before. Alls good and thanks for input.

Detector Expert....I know more than most. Gold Prospecting Expert... Not exactly when compared to those I know who do ti full time. I sell detectors for a living and provide knowledge from my near 50 yrs of swinging them. I don't hunt gold for a living and I don't get checks from the manufactures. I have a select few customers who do hunt gold for a living and I'll warn most, it's sometimes a rough, solitude life with a different mindset.

The great debate of DISCRIMINATION, Iron ID and Target #'s when detecting for Gold. The war of words is about to begin. So lets try to stay on point and be courteous of others ways/ideas or skill levels for those who are newer to the game. This is an open end post and all who respond, reply, ask questions, disagree and or partially agree is 100% totally fine and discussion desired. So many times I’ve heard from the Experts who detect for gold, they say “Dig It All” and to never used Discrimination. So I guess there really is no debate? Just do what the Experts do and live with the results. Is that such like good advice from so called Experts. So if this is the case, then why do the detector manufactures offer it (discrimination or ID) on their machines? VLF Gold type detectors have had Iron Identification on some models since the 1980’s and I also know earlier General Purpose detectors offered DISC as far back to the early 70s. I imagine those of you who have been around for longer than I could even know of detectors with such capabilities go back before the dates I mentioned? Heck, even Minelab Pulse Induction detectors in the 1990’s provided Iron DISC feature. So are all those manufactures and variety of detector models, just selling us bells and whistles? Remember what so called Expert says, “dig it all”. The manufactures have to know something? Maybe there are times and or locations that Discrimination and or Iron ID is indeed a needed feature? Maybe the models with such are for dummies who know nothing as they have never spoken with an Expert? Could said Expert who does this for a living be wrong? Well most certainly not in his mind anyway. I’m going to give you my reasons why I end using detectors with the Iron ID or Discrimination features and I’ll even go into detail of using both the traditional VLF’s and the more robust Pulse Induction power detectors. I’m not an Expert and I do not do this for a living (well I do not hunt gold for a living), but I do sell detectors as my full time job. So since I’m not an Official Full Time Prospecting Expert, does that mean the knowledge I have of various detectors not count? That is to be debated down the road. I will say this though and those who know me for many years know I can back up my words with the amount of gold and the sizes of gold I have recovered. 1st off, when you are out there detecting, I want you to do what you are most comfortable with and what has provided you success on previous trips. I’m not here to make you change your ways. In fact, those of you who are just as happy with your results and not using DISC., I totally understand you are not about to change your ways. That’s totally fine with me…I’m happy for you. It’s the rest of the folks who are newer to the game of Electronic Prospecting for gold and or even those who are experienced hunters that have decent success…but you are wise enough to realize at times ..just maybe there is a better way at doing it? This article is for those folks. The average guy who goes detecting a few times at the same locations with a little jingle in the pouch. Your success at those sites tell, you’re doing it correctly so you’re quite pleased, happy and not willing to change your ways of thinking or doing things. I’m fine and happy for you. But, sorry that is not me. I’m all about Adventure and Travel with detectors in hand. I enjoy new detector technologies and trying to find ways to make them perform better for the task. I like gold and the varieties of gold I pursue is quite varied when compared to many other folks who chase it. I don’t know if it’s because of my knowledge and skill level of gold detecting or just that others are stuck in a pattern and don’t know any difference? My travels in pursuit of gold have guided me to more states than most (NV, OR, ID, MT, SD, WY, AZ, AK) 8 to be exact and 2 different countries (Australia and Mexico). I’m not counting gold jewelry and coins/artifacts (my list would be much larger), just natural Au gold in it’s raw form. All the states and countries I mentioned, I have had success with my metal detectors. In fact, I have yet to hunt a state and not find gold with a detector. CA, CO and UT will eventually get checked off my list. OK, back to the Discrimination/Iron ID discussion and why I want it on my detector tools. Why I feel DISC and Iron ID are of desired features on a metal detector and there are many times when they need to be used. Those features save me time and energy. Both Time and Energy are something I desire more and more each year and seem to get less and less of. A detector with the features of DISC and Iron ID can save me Time and Energy when digging. When I use a detector with such features, I get to SELECT the amount of targets I want to dig. Here is a typical situation I experience many times in my hunts. I hunt gold where gold has been found and I like to detect in such sites. Here are the main sites I prefer to hunt and use DISC and or ID machine. Old hand placer workings, Ore dump piles, and Dredge Trailing Piles. These golden grounds were proven producers at one time and they leave plenty of targets for us. Old hand placer workings (6 pics below of Au digs using PI DD coils with DISC or VLF's with VDI Readout) In OR, NV, ID, MT, and SD. The problem is most of the targets are trash and many of the trash items are man made iron. My DISC and Iron ID capable detectors save me time/energy in these gold rich locations. Using common math to show. How many times will that person dig in an hour? How many hours a day will that person hunt? How many days on that trip will they swing the detector and dig targets? Let’s say a person can dig 10 targets an hour and 6 hrs a day = 60 targets for the day. On average, average site produces 15 non ferrous targets and 45 iron targets. So of the 15 non ferrous targets, lets say 20% are gold (3 pieces of gold) of the 15 nonferrous targets and of the total 60 digs. In Eastern Oregon those numbers are pretty close. Here is where I like the ID. I can save Time and Energy by not having to dig 45 iron targets. I now am digging more non ferrous targets than the average guy so my gold count goes up. Say I saved T&E on those 45 iron targets so I still get the 15 Nonferrous, but the extra T&E allows me to dig 15 to 25 (not 45) more targets that are Nonferrous. I’ll be extremely on the cautionary side and say I only dug 15 more NF targets. That ends up 2X my gold count for the day and also still saved me T&E. Plus as well all know, the extra boost of finding more gold seems to earn me a little more Energy. Ore Dump/Hardrock Piles- (5 pics of success using VLF's & their Identification systems) Many areas I hunt in NV, ID, MT, OR and I’ve seen many in AZ have such hard rock ore dumps. Do you know the preferred detector for this kind of gold? Do you know if you take a target identification VLF and use it at such sites, you can recover more desired nonferrous targets. I select only certain VLF type detectors for these sites. Iron ID is nice and if that is all I have then most certainly, I use it. But I know (from previous testing) that certainly VLF gold capable detectors can go a step farther and provide me with even greater odds of Success at gold and saving me T & E. Dredge Tailing Piles – (8 pics of gold using VLF's & their ID features) Love hunting these locations and my success in Tailing Piles of ID, OR, AK, NV is golden. Some of my largest gold recoveries are from such piles and the funny part is most all of them were recovered with VLF detectors using Iron Discrimination. Why you ask? Because in dredge tailing piles, even a VLF detector can pick up a rail tie spike at 12” down. Even a VLF can hear a rusty prospectors tobacco tin or smashed sardine can at near a foot and a half deep. Even a VLF detector can hear at depths of 2 feet down for a rusty grease bucket or lid to a 55 gallon drum. How about the 55 gal drum itself…well I know for a fact some VLF detectors will respond pushing near 4 feet down. Are you man enough to dig those monster holes in loose rocks and gravel? If you have never attempted it, good luck. The material you are digging keeps caving in as you go down and the next thing you know…after 45 minutes, you have a 4 foot wide and 3 foot deep hole. Only another foot more to go. Oh those days…can kill an old mans ego for the whole trips…I’ve seen it happen. As you can see from the Success pictures, the ability to use Iron ID on Pulse Induction & VLF detectors has proved golden. Now, taking today's newer Identification ID machines a step further saves me much time on pursuing only the best and most probably signals to dig. No, there’s no magic to it, but I’ve learned a lot more than most about different kinds of gold and how it reads on these ID machines. So many of the sites I currently hunt, the bigger solid nuggets are gone and have been for 10+ yrs. But there’s still some of that specimen stuff the older technologies missed. Sites I enjoy detecting are the trash areas most others try for an hour or 2 and then they walk away is discuss. They’re tired of digging holes and finding iron nails, boot tacks and shovel heads. Sure, I dig a few of those shovel heads, but not as many as most others do. I’ve spent the time in the field and learned. I’ve purchased most of the newer technologies and tested/compared each to see how they stand. No one detector does it all, but I know this. I quality PI and a new technology VLF sure does cover most bases. After all, I can tell you with fact, that the last 5 yrs, my gold finds are better than most and the majority were recovered using my techniques in the locations I mentioned. It’s hard to beat what works and puts the gold in the safe. Knowing where and how varying gold finds register on your VLF detector is crucial. Here’s an example of what most folks encounter when in the field at an old gold producing site. Ore dump piles, are full of rail tie spikes and blasting caps. Also seems to be a beacon for lead bullets of a variety, but usually .22 and 9MM slugs. Many of my gold recoveries from these sites, the newest of VLF gold detectors can ID the difference between such targets. Also, the majority of gold specimens in a certain pile, seems to ID the same #’s or very close to it. Yes it does take practice and time to learn, but in the end, you have knowledge to be selective and save time/energy. Hand working placer digs has a bigger variety of trash items and one some of my locations, the gold is thicker, more dense and reads different. I usually use VLF ID’s to help identify and ignore the high conductor targets while concentrating on the lower ones. Most gold (not all) will read in the low to possibly medium range. Even using a Pulse Induction detector with Iron DISC is possible and quite rewarding. Dredge Tailing piles are a lot like hand placer workings, but they provide even a bigger variety of trash. These piles are the hardest to learn and use a PI detector. I prefer a VLF for most of the tailing pile hunts I do, as the machine itself is much lighter and easier to swing on side hills all day. Besides I don’t want to dig 2’ or 3’ deep holes and those occasional 4’ ones will practically kill you. On the rare occasion there is big thicker gold (Ganes Creek, AK). I recommend if you swing a PI, you better have a quality VLF detector handy to help ID as you dig. So many varieties of gold and the areas, terrains and methods they were minded in the US. Australia and other countries of the gold bearing regions are different and those of you from there may not see any use in my techniques and style of hunting or the detectors I use. That’s totally understandable and I have no issues. But if you do have hard rock ore dumps and hand placer workings with trash, it might be worth the time to swing PI and DD coil or a VLF with good target identification. I look forward to hearing from those who use my techniques and I also want to hear from others who might have things to add. What is most important about this post and discussion is the actual discussion and sharing of knowledge. After all, that’s why were on here right? Thanks for your input and reading.

As mentioned before. The more mineralized dirt in the cup, the harder it is for coil to see the exact same target. That's why I train folks to not grab a bunch of soil on the weaker signals. Mineralized ground (even a little in the cup/scoop) can mask a signal. Take it a step farther. I have recovered small gold nuggets that were in a red stain and when I was the red stain away, I can hear the same small nugget much easier. Heck sometimes, the small stained nugget reads as Iron on the ID. I clean the stain off and the gold magically ID correctly. Great read.

Moisture in the ground is killer even on the top PI's performance wise. Trying to hear and sniff out the small pickers on those pounded patches is really tough during normal dry conditions. You guys did well for your efforts. Sorry to hear Old Red getting crankie with you. The bad part now...knowing her ability to totally shut down with no warning and you not wanting to get far off the road. Sometimes those are worse than a gold skunkin. At least you were able to spend a little time with Lucky Larry and tell the same old stories. This time though, you were able to make a new one to tell down the road. I'm most certain Larry will be telling it much better than you though. LOL. Thanks for the update.

Thanks for taking the time to write up about Rye Patch area from a newer prospector. Your near 1/4 ozt of gold results are better than most who go there. Sure the seasoned veterans running the top machine can find more, but we're not the norm. I still feel the ground is pretty saturated in many spots, but being mid May, it's on the upswing from here. Still quite a few wet spots fooling the detectors (even the high end ones) and those ears listening for the faint signals. It's a learning curve everyone goes through and so now you have done it. The 6.8 grams is actually good, what was the bigger pieces if you don't mind? The GPZ dumbbell does have those rare advantages, but I prefer the lighter GPX-6000/Axiom myself. Thanks for sharing.

Glad we are getting good lighter options and I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. Hopefully the next new version of GPZ-7000 will have lighter coils. Well they might as well make the complete detector lighter as well.

There has been some really great comments on here from known members recently. I'm not going to go into details and get long winded, but I see the writing on the walls as well. Many moons ago I became a dealer after using detector for 20+ yrs and seeing (back then) many dealerships not offering real hands on. My 25 yrs as a Multi Line Dealer is getting harder and harder. Interestingly, I say to those manufactures who have been slowly cutting us old school dealers out and pushing Big Box stores and wanting us to sign up for a class on "how to sell on Amazon". Sorry... you find someone else to do your advertising then. Rob, Doc and a few others of us are still trying to hold on...but it's getting harder. As for selling detectors at MSRP? Heck, that hasn't happened in 15 yrs. Selling at MAP (which is approx 20% off MSRP) is even tough in todays world.

Stick, You getting to go detecting with that nugget, you're a lucky man, gold already in your hand. Glad you 2 enjoyed your training and I can see the gold in her hands, so I know she's doing well. Yes that Desert Fox Toy Hauler is quite an impressive home on wheels. I've since downsized but will be getting a van (hopefully next season).

Thanks for pointing out the hot spots to a few of my Idaho boys. Hopefully they entertained you with a Baked Tater dinner/drinks. Yeah, I told them the soil conditions would not be good, but as you said, sometimes it's just a matter of dusting off the winter webs and starting to get focused for the season. Glad you were able to take a picker home with you.

While I have been down south of the border scooping a different kind of gold, I was reading some of the reports of all the records of Snow coming down. Some of the videos and pictures is just amazing and seeing how folks cope with and live through it. https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2023/03/15/california-snowfall-record/11435377002/ Then, I got to thinking about when all that snow melts and those creeks in gold bearing areas will be at levels most have never seen. Then to go a step further, some of the rivers should just be roaring with life and movement. Heck I already heard a few washings in AZ that typically don't see much movement, were actually exposing some new layers and a few nuggets were being recovered. I know for a fact what a good gully washer can do in desert regions, as I witnessed such event at Rye Patch, NV one early Spring (April 2015) while I was getting ready for a 3 Day Field Training for customers. When driving in, I noticed the roads below were really torn up and a couple washes with deep cuts and ruts. When I got south of the burn barrel, there was one section of exposed bedrock. I figured there had to be a few pickers in there and as soon as folks started swinging, sure enough. Pics are of a lucky lady and her 1st score with a GB-2. After she swung over it, she looked down and there it was stuck in a crack, finally exposed after thousands of years. Later in the class she was able to score another chunkier nugget with some nice character. Do you think the record snows and rains will be a big benefit to for gold hunters or just a few? How many of you folks do sluicing, crevicing and other gold recovery methods? I would expect later this season to be fantastic for most who are traditional Prospectors of gold. I really don't know as my only means of gold recover has been with a detector. Yes I'll try to get some pics of a few Au rings I recovered down south...just trying to get caught up with customers 1st.

Good to see you finding some nice color in the desert over the winter. Yes the Rocky Mountains are certainly earning their name this winter with all the snow records. I talked to a few customers down in AZ this winter and they said it was actually pretty cool and windy for much of it, so their gold counts were a little off as well. At least in AZ you can still do it. Hopefully next season I'll be in the position to head down for a month. Thanks for sharing.

At least you were able to get out, put a little time on your machine and clean up from some of the messy folks. Sorry the genuine gold did not show its shiny face, but sometimes gold come in many forms and ways. Thanks for sharing.

Been lucky to travel a little with metal detector. Below - 1st pic is Positano, Italy and I detected the beach. Found some coins and a sterling ring. 2nd pic (below) is my 1st ever one ounce gold nugget. Found on the runway at Ganes Creek, Alaska. 3rd pic (below) is from Australia and the hot ground. 4th pic is from Bahamas Detecting England in the early Spring Rains and some of the success from the group trip. Interior of Mexico and the soldiers watching over/protecting the gold Anyone been around old mining should know what this is...MX Lake Tahoe and the rock statues watching the gold. I was able to earn a little yellow heavy metal from Lake Tahoe. Last pic - My CTX-3030 says something metallic in the rock.

Started detecting in the early 70's and was very skilled at old Coins, CW Artifacts, and even found a handful of gold rings . Early 90's (20 yrs after I started detecting for Coin/Relics/Jewelry), I purchased my 1st gold detector (GM-VSAT) and went at least 6 trips to Eastern Oregon trying to find gold. Ended the year with ZERO. Next year I upgraded the detector to GM-III and went to the exact same areas I previously hunted with the VSat. Why? My buddies were finding nuggets with theirs at those same locations. At the end of the year, I have ZERO nuggets. 3rd year of owning a gold detector with ZERO gold nuggets to show for my efforts, I've pretty much written them off and decided to stick with Coin/Relic/Beach detectors. The better half of me (my wife) advised me to attend a class on how to use a gold detector. Say what darling? I've over 20 yrs experience and dug so many coins/relics/rings, even been to England with Jimmy Sierra and killed it on Romans. Why do I need a class? Yes I was a hard-head. That May of about 1994 I paid $100 and attended a half day speaking session at Rye Patch, NV and listened to a gent by the name of Gordan Sahara talk to us about "using gold detectors to find gold". He never did any hands on training with any of us, just stood up and talked and went over the motions with his own VLF detector. I took the guy and his wife out to dinner in Winnemucca that night and listened to him some more. He informed me, I was using my 20+ yrs of success/experience of hunting Coins/Relics/Rings the wrong way and I needed to toss all of that knowledge and thinking out the door. Long story short, I was listening for the wrong things and did not have the right coil control or mindset. How much did I learn from that 1/2 day group session at the burn barrel of Rye Patch? I went home with new hope and fresh mindset and new desires. A couple weeks later, Memorial Weekend I went to Sumpter, OR to the same exact location and dug 13 nuggets in 11 hours. Been hooked ever since. Moral of the story. Get off your hi horse of what you think you know and listen to the folks that are regularly doing it with Success. Watch them, listen to them, study them and hopefully they invite you along some time. Or you can waste so many tanks of gas, flat tires and weekends digging trash. My 20+ yrs of Success...chasing different targets in different conditions and being damn good at it, was my own demise. Along with my upbringing of...I was a young stud Marine USMC back then and so I was taught to have confident in myself and capabilities. You know how the joke goes. - A young bull standing the top of the hill with an older wise bull and they looking down the meadow below at all the cows. The young bull says to the older bull, "hey, lets run down there and have our way with one of those cows". The old bull stretches, sighs and then says to the young bull. "No son, lets leisurely walk down to those cows and have our way... with them all" For gold nugget hunters new to the game, my best advice is find that special person who knows the ropes and continually has success. Become acquainted with that person, buy them breakfast or dinner or etc and get to know them. Maybe, just maybe they might take you under their wing. Be sure to bring them something to the table as many of them are tired of being taken advantage of their knowledge. Good Luck Thanks Mike for posting and hope to see you this summer. Tell Sally I said hello and I'll still impressed to death with that nugget she found at Rye Patch with her GPZ-7000 while we were giving the class.

Some of my customers are making snowmen down there. I have Brad, Jim and another guy (camped around the burn barrel). Another guy from Boise, ID (Rob) is heading down Thursday and I think Ray, Faustino and one other, is also heading down this weekend. I heard Lunk was running around with the Axiom and scored a couple yesterday. The ground will still have a quite a bit of moisture, so stay on the ridge tops and keep your GAIN/SENS moderate. Since I just returned from Cancun, I need to weigh all my gold jewelry and get caught up with customers before I head down. Crazy it's already mid April and so many of us have yet to find our 1st gold nugget for 2023, well at least me anyways. That's exactly why I had to get out of dodge and head south across the border. Have fun guys and if you need any detectors or coils, I can ship them C/O at the US Post Office in Imlay. If you stop in Mill City (it's not a city at all, just a couple buildings) say hello to Trudy at the Star Trading Post. If you really want a treat ask her about the Prime Rib and Lobster Dinners (you must pre register). Tell her Gerry's Detectors from Boise says "Hello". If you are around the dam, stop in and see Danny at Gold Diggers Pizzeria and Saloon. Treat yourself to the coldest beer in the area and one of the best hand made pizzas you'll set your lips to. Danny, is the grandson of famous Ed Spears. Tell him, Gerry's Detectors said "hello". I forgot the name of the girl who offers sight seeing trips, but I know you won't be disappointed. It's amazing the imagery you can see under moonlight. Dang, were did I put that card? Have fun everyone and be sure to have good quality tires, a spare and know how to change it.

Fantastic is the word. Your 1st gold has finally shown itself. What is most common (and it was in your desire as well) is the fact that most folks go many trips and even some a couple years or longer before they find the gold. Heck, even myself was the 3rd year of trying and purchasing different detectors before it happened. Now that you have a nice chunky specimen, be sure to not expect all signals to scream as loud. Practice to find the tiny gold and listen for smaller targets...so you don't miss the majority of nuggets. Great to see the enthusiasm and keep the swing going. Well earned.

Yes, I purchased everything they had, so they are SOLD OUT. I'm looking for Field Testers = DetexFarts & DetexFlirts. The DetexFarts need no experience required since we don't want to be affiliated with a dealer. The DetexFlirts need no experience with a detector, but purple and pink hair is preferred. If you have your own Social Media page. April 1st was yesterday....

Hey, Step back Reg, it's guys like Simon who keep dealers in business. You know the saying.. The man who dies with the most detectors, his dealer wins....😆

Nice rock of gold my friend. Have you had your dentist give it an X-ray? 16+ oz is a handsome payday. Don't tell me you crushed it?

As a dealer for 25 yrs, I would have never expected to be in this situation. It drives me crazy as my customers who've been loyal for so long...I have no answers for them? My list is shrinking each day as customers find them from other sources. I'm ok with that...as a detectorist, I understand the desire to use the next best tool (detector). I have noticed an uptick in my Deus-II sales as well. As for the military discount a select few dealers offer. Those sales, are a partial loss of profit for both the dealer and the manufacture. The manufacture only gives a partial credit (towards more detector purchases). In the end, the dealer and manufacture both make a little less money. We all make mistakes and hopefully lessons will be learned and down the road, things will get better.

Man what a monster of a nugget and the Equinox 800 did the trick. 80+ ozt at $2000US = $160,000 just in gold US Dollars. Collectors value could go half a million if a couple folks get excited. Good on him and his family. Thanks for sharing.

I've had so many people in my 25 yrs of selling detectors, ask why I do not sell them. I tell them the tools I sell are the tools I know that work and can show folks how they work. When the big gold rush in Africa yrs back with all the GPX-4500 sales and Commader coils selling for $1000+ each, GPX-4500's selling for $10,000+ on eBay... I had many Africans ask me about my Field Training and could I show them their long range locator? Sorry, I can't train them. Sales of metal detectors is walking a fine line, but at least I feel comfortable selling what I do, as I know how it works and have had great success over the years. Sometimes, I get labeled as "Gerry, all you do is selling a dream". OK, I guess it's no different than selling a gold claim, selling a fishing pole, selling a house. We buy things...we dream about and have expectations of Success. Go online today and you can buy a wife. You were in a tough spot Mitchel and took it well. Not much more you could really do. he has your experience and knowledge so hopefully he does a little more research this time.