Gerry in Idaho

When I was younger I did. Not as much under them as I had hoped. Usually when I hunt tailing piles I'm using a VLF detector. Not always, but usually.

Is it a drunken stumble? Who cares as long as you are listening. I wear higher end headphones 99% of the time. I always try to hear a worm fart. Investigate and differing of Threshold when crawling. I've dug some extremely deep nuggets with a 7000 and most folks walked over them. Another part of listening.... I usually do better in morning and evening right after sunset. My detector runs smoother and my ears can distinguish breaks in Threshold easier.

1/2 coil overlap...or more, is only when crawling...not cruising.

Coil control is a major issue with most detectorist I run into. Even a few of the customers my Staff and I trained....they still don't get it. Well said Flakmagnet.

You and I hunt pretty much the same way. Knowing how to be flexible and changing styles can make you a better rounded hunter, especially when you know there is an old patch that can be methodically detected. 1st half of day is looking new ground. If no gold, go back to crawling on known gold ground.

Well said.

I'm using the 7000 differently than when it 1st came out. Just like any other detector, the more time my Field Staff Experts and I have on a machine, the better we become with fine tuning and overall performance of detector is being zeroed in. Glad you took his advice and scored a few.

I too like hunting near the roads as so many people walk right past them to get further away. I did find 1 nugget on the trip and it was 4' from one of the main road that runs N/S. Yes I find more trash near the roads...but my ears can usually tell by the pattern of the signal and it's strength/ width.

Fred made a comment on one of my posts to Mitchel and I feel it needs more input from a variety of hunters and their styles. This is results from my last day at Rye Patch (last Saturday). My 5 days of hunting had me doing the hoping and looking for an indicator nugget...and I also snail crawled. Here are my results. The 2 days I want Prospecting and covering a lot of ground produced 1 nugget. The 3 days I snail crawled with 7000 produced 25 nuggets. In fact, my last day was spent in a very small area of approx. 20' x 30' and I found 12 pieces of gold. 10 of those were signals most others have missed and including myself a few times missing them, as I have detected that exact same piece of ground twice. I'm much more fortunate than most folks who hunt Rye Patch, NV as I've been doing it for 20+ years and I know the history of the old patches. Sometimes I go back to those old patches, pick a small section of ground and work the crap out of it. I especially like sites where I was pulling deep nuggets in years past, as I know those deepest pieces of heavy metal might only make a peep within a small 1 to 3" width. Don't ask me how or why, but overlapping at least 1/2 and sometimes 1/4 of coil size, per sweep with the 14" coil on the GPZ can produce. Lunk and I spent the last day crawling with our 7's and here is a photo of the results. Both of us and some other well known hunters have been in the wash before. The old saying it true "You can never get them all". I just want to make sure I get my share. How do you other Prospectors do it and what is your results when covering ground and snail crawling with a detector? I look forward to hearing everyone's comments. Nuggets on top of dime are Lunk's and the ones on bottom were found my myself on the last day.

Fred, Has a very good point about sticking and hoping. I'll make a separate post about my results of both on this trip.

Thanks for the plug Flowdog. Just realize, on occasion I am down at Rye Patch or Eastern Oregon training customers on their gold detectors. If that is the case, it might take a couple days before I get the message. But you know I am great with email too. Now when we are detecting out of county, then the wait time will usually be a week. Sorry but I enjoy this hobby so much I get withdraws when there is not a new product to test and compare. Yes, being a VET myself, I offer 15% off the Minelab detectors to all VETS of all branches of US. We work with White's, Garrett, XP, Nokta and Fisher, but you'll need to contact me to get the discount.

That cluster is amazing Peg. What a find you have there. Is it going to FL with you or staying out West? Thanks for sharing.

I was able to get down to Rye Patch, NV and meet up with a few old friends, make a couple new ones and have some hard earned success. Those of you who drive around out there probably remember seeing the old piece of mining history (notice the bellows at the back lower end). Wonder how much gold went over that belt? Anyway, Here is some of my Success (the golden ones anyway) and a nice crystal. Total of 26 nuggets weighing just over 15 grams. Seeing old friends & making new ones is another big score for me and so the stories will continue... wish I would have taken a couple pics of them? Just another reason to meet again I guess.

That my friend is a lot of digging, congratulations.

Chet, Good to see you again and able to hunt side by side and compare signals. Your site we went at produced 2 pieces of gold and both stock coil and X coils heard them. My site we visited produced 3 nuggets and both coils heard them. But you were the guy who found the majority of targets, so I give a thumbs up to you. I like the lighter weight of the X coils, I like the size options of the X coils. One 1 thing that I was not impressed with was the smaller 10" round coil was so noisy...I feel you have a bad one. If all small 10" X coils have the same characters, I'll pass on that one...just to much wasted time double checking every other swing. Having the chance to swing the coils and get an idea of feel, sounds and comparison was very informative and I appreciate you allowing me to take up some of your time. Glad we were able to meet up and catch up with old times. Thanks again for the opportunity and glad you found more gold. Your report is quite impressive as well.

I still have a couple older SD and GP detectors. Good to see some gold finds recovered with the older PI.

Rick, It was a pleasure to finally meet you after all these years. I appreciate the beer and old story chatter. Thanks again for the pointing of a couple old patches. Rusty and Lunk both scored a nugget there and I dug a few birdshots and thin wire bits. Next time I'll toss you a bone on the North End of RP as that is where I've spent most of my time.

I told you folks I liked the feel of the 5500. Some of you thought I was joking...

I've been looking for these little nuggies for many hours. Glad I was able to find a few.

Not only that, we'll get the key chain that doubles the warranty. I like your thinking.

You guys should know me well enough. I'm one of the few who keeps my lips shut until I'm given permission to speak. But Xmas is around the corner so why not wonder what is next?

Yes the weather is perfect this time of year. Lunk should be pulling in this evening. If you want to join us for a day Steve..we are parked near burn barrel. Let me know what you'll be driving and or when you might show up. It would be good to compare detector ideas and start some new rumors. I sure like the feel of the 5500.

The antique red dozer was pushing at Rye Patch years back and getting plenty good gold. I can't remember what issue, but it was on the front cover of ICMJ magazine. Those guys doing it would work a few days, grab the gravy gold and then head back home to their regular jobs and family. As soon as they left the locals would show up and clean up the smaller ones with VLFs. It was a win win for everyone and kept the locals happy. Oh well... nothing wrong with sharing a little gold. On a side note, a couple of those guys will be down at Rye Patch swinging next week. Glad you were able to learn some history of RP and had a safe trip home.

I'm at Rye Patch getting ready to train customers for 3 days on their gold detectors, and finding a few nuggies to add to my retirement. Interesting discovery. Who put this key under a flat rock and forgot where you did it? There has to be a heck of a story to tell. Luckily it was not your truck key? The Golden pickers were found close by on this trip with my GPZ-7000. Anyone know who the key belongs to, let me know.

Holy Toyotas and tornadoes...Your luck is a mixed bag. Yes a 10K gold ring will fade like your did, as it has other alloys that make it harder and last longer. Funny thing about your Toyota, my dad's Sequoia does the same thing and scares the crap out of him on occasion. Well glad there was a little gold in the story and hopefully a safe trip home.