Gerry in Idaho

Fantastic recoveries Nuke em and some special ones too. Do you mainly hunt in the wet sand or are you a guy who likes to be in the water all day? Show us a few beach photos on occasion so us Yankees can see how your beaches look. Always wise to hear of someone returning a ring to its original owner. It brings so much Karma back to you down the road. Keep it up.

We kind of started the gold in mouth pics back in the mid 90's with a few customers and it just took off. Here is a really nice specimen I recovered before the 5000's. I think around 2010...it was a choker.

You read it on DP from a long time gold detectorist who has made many mistakes in years past and is still learning.

I teach it in our training classes with numerous pieces and kinds of gold. So many folks feel their 1 high dollar detector does it all. I've even argued with folks who felt I was trying to bash a GP/GPX/GPZ when in fact I own, use and sell them. No video on all the knowledge my staff and I know. It would be long and boring.

My little brother shared with me a couple recent finds over the weekend with his EQ-800 and stock 11" coil. Smaller specimen is 48.5 grams and its bigger brother is a sly heavier at 53.5 grams. Each piece probably has close to 8 to 12 grams of gold in them and in todays value approx. $300 to $500. What is so cool about this style of gold, is a GPX-5000 will not see it. In fact what further makes many minds wonder is why the GPZ-7000 misses many of them as well? I've personally found larger pieces in the multi ounce range and they have over 1 ozt of gold in them, but I try my best to get a GP/GPZ or GPZ to read and I get nothing. On occasion some are heard with a bigger machine, but then the VLF can see them 12" away. Moral of the story? Just owning a big dog detector for a variety of gold is a mistake and most owners don't know. So you better own both to have all bases covered.

Marc, I appreciate the kind words and this forum sure would enjoy seeing more of your posts/finds. Many of the followers don't know your detector background, but I'll assure them you know gold detectors and have found your share and then some. It is so hard for some very successful detector operators to step away from their tried/true gold grabbers...but at the same time, you miss out on the improvements of new detectors and sometimes technologies. Glad you are enjoying the Gold Monster 1000, as it is a really great tool and much easier than many of our old school days. Peg, You too were hesitant at 1st and now look at you and what you can do with a Monster. Sure wish you'd take that EQ-800 out of the box and do a side by side. Maybe invite me this fall and we'll devirginize the 800. Thanks for your support all these years. JW, If I keep looking at your photos of the EQ-800 and them tiny bits (which shows your skill and bragging rights- well earned), I think it is easy for me to stop selling the other VLF detectors. You are a master my friend and keep it up. Anyone wanting a GM-1000 before the price goes up on Aug. 15th., call me and we'll get one to you. As always, we also offer the VET 15% discount. Gerry's Detectors in Boise Idaho 208-345-8898. Thanks, Gerry

Kevin, Nice to see someone take the time to video and share AKAU Adventures. I have had a few customers of mine go there. What exactly is 125% DEET and is even good to put it on your skin?LOL. Yes I remember many trips to Ganes Creek, AK and sometimes a Head Net was the only way to breath outdoors. Good gold is always tough to recover and that is why I enjoy "the hunt" for it so much. The big nuggets are there for anyone and I feel it is mostly luck, but your odds go up with you neverquit. I have a buddy and his nickname is just that "Neverquit". I even met him a few days on our Australia Adventure years back. I enjoyed your real and raw video. Thanks for sharing.

Yes the Equinox is a fine gold VLF gold detector and I have had great Success with it too. Certainly a machine that does better on Prospecting Nuggets than most folks probably realize. Bill Southern has been around the block a few years and knows his stuff. Good to see he finally cleaned up a little as the beard and hair used to be pretty rough. I think he was trying a Grizzly Adams look, minus the belly. Thanks for sharing Steve.

Thanks for the added Success Photos and story Mike. Always enjoy seeing others Success.

I'm agreeing with Jim as well. The 24K is actually a very good selling and performing VLF gold detector for my customers too., so coil options are on the way. Personally, I'll take a 24K and it's fine tuning capabilities for a variety of soils, sites, and situations encountered at the many gold fields I hunt in the NW states, counties and climates...over the other VLF gold machines I sell. Now, if you are the type who does not want to grow into a detector and learn the advanced features of a 24K, there are other machines out there I'll recommend.

Another of my customers wanted a light weight detector for his wife and one that could do it all (well most styles of detecting). So I told him the new Equniox 800 is the detector of choice for Multi Taks hunters. Here is her story of this amazing find. What was funny and not mentioned.. All the guys in camp were giving grief to her husband because she found the bigger pieces. Heck...I would be happy just to have my wife out there swinging with me. They did not realize how lucky he is. https://www.minelab.com/usa/community/success-stories/from-nugget-virgin-to-nugget-queen

Here is the link to the Minelab Finds Site and his story to go with it. https://www.minelab.com/usa/community/success-stories/first-gold-coin-equinox-800

Mine was in HF and I recommend you let the experts do it. Hydrofluoric is a bad nasty. Not sure what % they use, it is a Chemical Specialty Shop in Oregon.

Yes I had those when I detected the fields of England. The Pasties I'm talking about are much smaller and not edible, well the last part is debatable. There was one drunk Aussie who must have passed $100 in bills behind one and at the end of the night, she took it off and handed to him. He decided to eat it...and we laughed until the bar closed.

Fred, It filled the whole skillet. Added a little Roo tail (many on the sides of the road to get some meat...if there are maggots, don't eat it though) and mix them together then toss a couple spoons full in a tortilla shell. One of the shells busted and it smelled like someone stuffed a dead roo under my pillow. Stayed that way for a week. Finally got to the great salt flats and I salturated my hands and the pillow. Then it was worth sleeping on again. Oh those memories and stories around the camp fire. Did you know the Aborigines sleep most of the 1st half a day when the sun in warm to their bodies and then stay up all night and drink around a big bonfire to stay warm. We seen this a few times. After noticing this, we decided our camp fires need to look small puny and hardly any heat. We did not want to attract them, as our booze were limited.

Phoenix, I love it. The Commander 12 x15" MONO has found many ounces of gold for me. It is one of my all time favorites. The weight is a little heavy, but it is great when used in grass and also seems to stay close to the ground, so I get max depth. I wonder how many nugget hunters can wear out a coil cover in 1 season. I used to do it all the time with the Commander 12 x 15" coil.

Condor and his trip/notes was the inspiration of my post. He too realized the easy gold is gone, but we go for the Adventure too. Thanks Condor for sparking my old memories. At least you can say.."I did it". Spring 2006 three buddies/I decided it was time to quit talking about it and just do "Australia" with a detector for gold. With many details left out, but a quick overview. Yes I made it home (America) and am alive. The venomous snakes, iguanas (4 foot poisonous lizard), attacking kangaroos, wild goats and monster sized spiders/centipedes could not stand up against the rancid ripe odor of an un-bathed light skinned Yankee running across the dehydrated desert flats with detector in hand. I just returned from an enjoyable 1st time trip to Western Australia and the richly red iron soils of the Outback areas of known golden fields Kalgoorlie/Leanora. Even though I caught some serious plane crud on the 16 hour flight from LAX to Sydney, AU. and it lasted hard the 1st week and a half before I got a little better...I still managed to have fun. The Outback is one of a beautiful and secluded primitive place this mother earth allows us to play with many sites, sounds and wonders to gather and ponder in the mind. I would love to return some day, but would do things a little more different and be set up for gold hunting more for the serious BUSH and not be seen for a week at a time. Most areas we detected had been hunted really hard (just like here in the US such as Rye Patch, NV.) and we would find the crumbs that others missed do to their lack of detector knowledge and skill. We did manage to find an occasional small site that was off the beaten path and get a few nuggets. The Minelab GP-3500 with a Commander 15” MONO elliptical coil ran flawlessly and found most of my nuggets. In fact all 4 of us were using GP-3500’s and were amazed at how well they ran in the much heard of highly mineralized Australian soil. I did manage to find 4 small patches that produced the majority of my gold.. In no way do I base the success of this trip on recovered gold, but as usual, I hoped for and expected more. Of the 4 detectorists (including myself), we found approx 110 nuggets and one 5 oz specimen. I managed 62 of those nuggets and the specimen. To give you a weight total, we had a combined wt of approx. 4 ounces and then the 5 ounce specimen. Of the 4 ounces of gold nuggets we all found, my total wt was just over 64 grams (2 ounces) for the 62 nuggets, so you get an idea of the size with an average of my nuggets being around 1 gram each. The largest nugget (not including the specimen) was 3.9 gram and there were 2 of those found. Yes I was hoping for a few larger nuggets and even expected that we each could find a 1/4 oz'er but that never happened. Does that mean the trip was a bust? Most certainly not and I assure you, it was an amazing trip that I'll fondly remember for the rest of my life. Moral of the story to add to Condors trip. Over 10+ years ago, 4 good American nugget hunters with the newest detector technologies did not find what we had expected and hoped for in the gold category. 4 of us Americans did something most dream about but never do and we'll remember the Australian Outback...and those girls wearing pasties, for the rest of our lives. I always wondered if there was a nugget under one of those pasties? Maybe go back some day to check. Thanks for caring. Gerry in Idaho Gerry's Detectors www.gerrysdetectors.com

April 2006, The GP-3500 was the king of machines at that time. I'll make a new post of the trip as I do not think I ever did.

That one could turn into a really nice doozy. Here is one I had etched and it's value went 10X. Before pic and most folks would have said, good job. After etching, they are shocked. Don't forget it this go around.

Condor, There are dreamers and then there are do'ers. The do'ers (when they get old) are the ones who sit back in their rocking chair and tell stories to all the dreamers. The dreamers sit back in their chair and say "I wish I would have done". Well it is to late by then. Thanks for keeping us informed (good and bad), and thanks for letting some of us read along on your journey to the land down under. My only trip there (Kalgoorlie/Leonora) had big expectations and after I returned and looked at my 3 ounces, I realized the adventure and camaraderie was worth it. After all, what keeps us going? The next hunt. Glad you made it home safe and have a new doodle to spoil.

Interesting read. I would say my gold hunting areas in Idaho are mostly mild, but I do have some hot areas. Eastern Oregon were I hunt is more mineralized than my South Idaho sites. The ground I swing in Northern Nevada is actually pretty mild, but I do know of a few hot areas. When I head to Montana, I feel the sites I hunt there have the hottest ground of all. Yes I feel MT is hotter than the areas I swing in Arizona too.

We are the modern day Prospector. Same kind of thinking person, same desire, same determination. Different tools of the trade though. We traded in water canteen for a Yeti full of cold gatorade, the dried fish/nuts for Energy Power Bars, the mule for an ATV, traded in the map for GPS, traded in the pan and eye piece for a detector. Those folks we men and times were mean/lean. Yes, I'm one spoiled bad ass pussy. But at least I still get the urge to find the next one. Thanks for the reminder Jim.

Certainly got me thinking GB about how many hours I put into a detector to get an ounce of gold. I don't keep track of my time to get an ounce, but I do know the other methods are foreign language to this kid. Only way I have hunted gold is with a detector. To me, the location and skill level on detector you own is vital. Then, making sure you have the right detector for the kind of gold you plan on pursuing, which is part of skill level. I do remember my last hunt for 2019 at Rye Patch with a GPZ-7000 netted me just over an ounce of nuggets, 34.7 grams. That was accomplished in 5 days, so I think his 40 hr average was really close. Then, the last gold hunt of 2018 was Thanksgiving Weekend and I used the Equinox-800 with the 15" coil. This was a 2 day hunt and the 1st day, 1st hour I scored a 2.67 ozt specimen. I ended up with 5 pieces in those two days with approx. 4 ounces of specimens and 2 of that was gold. Not tooting my horn, but I feel I know gold detectors better than most so my hours are probably less to get the 1 ounce. What I can't understand, is it takes 42 hours to pan an ounce of gold. Heck, I don't know anyone who has found an ounce of gold with a pan, but I don't hang around those kind of people. Surely there are folks who can do it or he would not have come up with the averages. Realize, I do not detect for a living, but do it because I enjoy a challenge. I feel nugget hunting is harder than Coin/Relic and Jewelry, so that is why I like it so much.

Certainly added value to the specimen for most buyers. Looks really nice and thanks for letting us see the Before/After pics.

Most of us have seen gold coins and a lucky few have even unearthed one. But have you seen a US gold coin that was found with a detector, like this one? Only 34,500 minted. Yes it is a really great condition 1856-S Indian Princess $3 US Gold Piece. Jared T. in WY can now proudly join the Gold Coin Club. And he is certainly happy with his choice of the Equinox 800 fitted with the small 6" coil for trashy sites.