Gold Catcher

Pure rubber boots, like those tactical military ones, never worked for me, they are just not made for the rough. The glue comes off, they crack easily and don't provide good support in rocky terrain when you hike. I use the Salomon Quest 4D 3 GTX. They are not metal free but only have a small amount for support. They work just fine with the GPZ even when you run in HY/Normal >10. Just don't come too close to your boots with the coil. If you keep the coil at about 1 feet distance and greater it works well.

On 11/20/2020 at 11:14 PM, Randy Lunn said:

The Harquahala Mountains near Salome, Arizona provided a beautiful location for Bill Southern's three-day Patreon outing for those who back his YouTube channel, Nugget Shooter Journals.

Very nice, Randy! Too bad I could not come. I will be there next time.

2 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

Where are people getting these "Z Search" coils? 

Dave, let me know when you found out and I will pay for the trip so we both can get one... But honestly, I think that once officially released, the demand will be so huge that the average people (like me) would likely not get one anytime soon

I still wonder if an 8 inch coil would be a possibility for the current GPZ configuration. In my view, coils below 10 inch start to be really practical in difficult terrain, like small washes or dried out creek beds. I exclusively use the SDC in these grounds, but it would be great to have a ZVT detector at work as well 🙂 

2 hours ago, araratgold said:

Maybe a 10 inch, or 17 inch, would have been a better option to give current users a different size coil ??

Agreed, also because the 12 inch is in reality more a 13 inch. I still think ML has something cooking for more GPZ coil options. Could be released with the next product cycle around the time the 6000 comes out. They must know that the lack of coil options for the GPZ is a big complaint and people just go an look somewhere else for it.

I wonder what else they have in store other than the 12 inch

48 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

It will probably be a smaller, more hard core group than we have now, however, as easy finds will deplete to the point that only the truly dedicated will stick with it.

Or, metal detecting transforms itself more and more into an outdoor adventure, way past the original sole purpose of finding gold. I could imagine that this will be a very good marketing strategy for the future, and it probably already is. After all, the desire for outdoor activities is strongly increasing and could attract large crowds who are just seeking a new high tech thrill, pared with adventure and perhaps with the thought of striking it rich. However, I think that it would not even really matter if gold would indeed be found or not. Super expensive equipment would be de-coupled from the actual gold/treasure value they will bring in return.

But hey, isn't the outdoor adventure and the high tech thrill not a worthy return by itself? I think it would be for many more than we think, even without finding any gold...

5 minutes ago, Mike Hillis said:

I'd say their future is bright. 

Agreed. It is what you make of it and what it means to you.

21 hours ago, jasong said:

A very large percentage of the really great finds are coming from places most other people don't have access to. Or, people trespassing on private lands or private claims. Or people tracking/spying on others and raiding their spots (this just happened to me last year). Which is one reason you don't see people posting the finds a lot here in the US.

I have to agree with your statement, Jasong. It so much matters where you hunt. I have been to private claims where you could find gold easily, without any advanced techniques and literally with only golf-swing type coil movements using an old GB, without even paying much attention. Hard to believe how things can change when the location changes, i.e. on open, but gold bearing land, where you work super hard with the GPZ to only every now and then find small pieces (if you get lucky) or get skunked. Location is "virtually" all that really matters, and most modern detectors past the 90's will more or less perform similarly when you literally walk over gold nuggets in a wash ready to be picked up.

But to me, that is not the important point. It is the adventure, the challenge, the planning, the nature experience, the hard work, the hiking in brutal heat or freezing cold, and ultimately the encounter with yourself in Nowhereland that is the ultimate experience. One I never want to miss and that changed my life profoundly.

On 10/31/2020 at 10:55 AM, Chet said:

If it was so easy with a metal detector then many in the Philippines would not be mining in deep mudholes such as in the following.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8psB-o-er5k

Thanks for sharing, Chet. It's terrible to see young kids, including small children, work under these circumstances. I will remember this clip the next time I feel like complaining about digging up a bullet with a 8k detector....

13 hours ago, phrunt said:

Only a few times have I managed to get a gold target on video, but never the actual complete dig.    This was my closest one to a full dig on video.

Very nice, Simon. Also, I am amazed how stable your threshold sounds at HY/normal/20. Equals to HY/difficult/10 where I hunt....

Welcome to the forum, Bill. SF East Bay here.

Nice job, Randy! We should ask Bill to have our next outing there 😉

Andreas

Ok, if it does not matter then how about this one then? 1.6M views. I think this one tops all! 🤣

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

But they are getting the last laugh. Based on the channel viewership, they are minting their own gold getting people to watch this stuff.

Now I feel bad that I even posted the link so more can view it. In the past 15 hours they got 2k more views. 

Aha, I did not see that you posted the link already, Mitchel (thanks Phrunt). I was just browsing yesterday and saw it on YouTube. There is an Amz link at the bottom when you click on it it leads you to the ML go-find. I thought this clip was hilarious. Starting off with the soil that is just not a gold bearing soil, but I gave it the benefit of a doubt at the beginning. Then, there was how she swings the coil and digs (never checked if she already recovered it or not during digging). Then, when you look at her hands in the close up shots, these were not hands that probably ever held a pick before. Then the way the camera shot her body during digging, oh well.... The only thing that was exciting (it always is whether fake or not) are those action shots when the gold starts peeking out from the hole. This is just the greatest when this happens to me (much more rare and on much smaller size however...). Amazing though, how you can get 178k views with a clip like that. At least you have to give ML credit that they didn't post this on their website....😂

Awwwww...now you ruined my dream 🤣

Why buying all this fancy detector equipment if a simple $230 ML Go-Find 66 and an airline ticket to this elusive island can make you rich beyond imagination. Very entertaining. But real?....;)

😁😁👍

1 hour ago, oneguy said:

If you want more cat pics I got tons, just not sure if Steve wants the stuff on this forum....

Just not dead ones (or "torn appart ones") please. These are beautiful animals that are part of the nature that we should respect. They have done nothing wrong, other than being at the wrong place at the wrong time when we are looking for gold.

On 10/18/2020 at 2:24 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

These claim owners care.....

Thanks, Steve. Yes, that's why I am always careful to remain on unclaimed land. At times though, it is hard to exactly pinpoint where you are with not a soul out there, and claim markers are sometimes missing. But the apparent deserters there should not be an invitation. But at least people there are not pointing a gun at you, like this happened to me in AZ (even though I was right then, the claim I was on was expired. But I didn't feel like arguing...)

One older guy from Florida who read about the wonders of RP but who was kind of lost, and one lady who was frantically looking for buried gold from a dead friend....

The past ten time I have been to RP I saw 2 people in total. The place is basically given up, unless some special events are taking place in form of sporadic outings/learning courses. I try to stay on unclaimed land, but honestly, nobody cares where you are detecting, really (which should not be an invitation however to not care)

I would have taken the SDC. Better machine and lighter (5.1 vs 6.9 lbs). The SDC manual says the operating temperature range is –33°C to 70°C (–27°F to 158°F). So, that would work if climbing in summer (average temp -19 deg C). But I have to agree, probably more iron trash up there than bullets at a mine site. And so much more fun digging it up....

11 hours ago, mn90403 said:

We have about 24 million people in Southern California.  I don't know how many are prospectors and how many have gold machines but we've hit everything within 4 hours of town pretty hard.  I'd say there are very few virgin patches within that area so you have to work already worked ground to find a nugget or two.

Thanks for the great pictures and the report. The desert is always worth a drive, with or without gold. Having lived in the San Diego area I know what you mean. The El Pasos have always treated me well, that should be about 2 hours from where you live. Now I am a little more blessed by living within 2 hours of the Motherlode, but I still love hunting in the desert the most.