tvanwho

nice gold, but I don't know of too many cavemen with an extra 10 grand to burn, I sure don't?

Thanks Steve,got it detached, might help if I read the book,huh?

Never got an answer as to what they mean by waterproof boots exactly? Mine were soggy and smelled bad after walking in a creek, so maybe that's not what they are for, I dunno? Waste of money I guess... -Tom

I could only locate new GB2 hip/chestmount pouches over at MetalDetector.com , what used to be called Detector Electronics. Price was cheap, under $16 but a $9 ground shipping charge.Look for them under Detector covers and bags. Just ordered mine today. Very few dealers seem to have them and the chest mount harness I got from Rob in Arizona has no instructions or photos to show how it attaches to control box? Plus, I just noticed my GB2 control box is riveted to the S rod. Steve, do I carefully drill out/grind off the rivet and use a bolt on the S rod instead? -Tom

When will that Gold Racer machine be out Steve?

that is so cool....

As long as we are talking about boots, can somebody tell me what exactly is meant by a waterproof boot? I have boating shoes I can wear underwater and they drain quick and don't smell afterwards, a measly 13 bucks at Walmart, but I had to get size 13 to fit my size 10 feet. The one pair of supposedly waterproof boots I bought ,stank so bad after walking in a creek, I ended up trashing them.. altho wearing hip waders is a drag too and I seem to be allergic to neoprene ? When water gets inside my neoprene boots, my calves swell up and feel like they are on fire. I'll stick with the cheap boating shoes for now for creek prospecting but need something for walking overland. And how do you guys prevent yourselves from getting black and blue toenails after hiking up and down hills? Happens to me every year on vacation.

I'd like to see some contact zone photos too, near and far, so I know what to look for in the field? Thanks.

Where can I get the canvas water bags , never seen them before? How do they keep the water cool? -Tom

My buddys mother at work decided to flush her body out and get things nice and clean inside . Well, she drank about 2 gallons of water that day apparently. The hubby had to go to the airport to pick up my friend, called the wife to check on her but no answer. They get home and she is passed out on the floor. They call an ambulance and she spent several days in the hospital due to water poisoning, flushed all those good electrolytes right out apparently...so water alone on a hot humid day is not enough....I will keep experimenting with electrolytes until I can find something that tastes reasonably good and doesn't have tons of sugar.. Well, we are getting an early spring for 2015 ,much needed relief to sub zero nights last 2 weeks.51 degrees on March 8 and low 60's predicted for next week, YIPPEE ! Maybe I will go out and try to sluice/highbank someplace.

I had to stop drinking tea as my fave Arizona Green Tea apparently had caffeine in it. I would drink a small cup of tea, go to work, get this pounding sensation in my head, and next thing ya know an OCULAR Migraine. The first one I had, I thought was a stroke as I was seeing rainbows in the center of my vision. After I quit drinking my fave tea, these episodes stopped. So, no tea, coffee, or Dr Pepper either and even some chocolates. Life can be so unfair at times but you have to learn to adapt I guess? VaNurse, why does my doctor always tell me all my vitals, minerals, and vitamins, etc are all normal even when I am feeling like crap so much of the time? I am positive about 1/2 my issues are with these Electrolytes as I seem to improve quite a bit when using the low calorie Gatorade. Even my IBS symptoms of 50 years almost disappeared once I started taking extra calcium and magnesium pills which I discovered on my own. Potassium? It does have a metallic taste which I don't like, but maybe I can find it in a capsule? Heat stroke sounds like something I don't want. I had an incident myself 2 years ago. It was a HOT, humid day, and I was sipping liquid to conserve it, BIG MISTAKE.And then I accidentally walked into a bush full of bugs, NOT !! They were some sort of bees, maybe wasps. And guess who they came after? I had one stuck in my hair and he musta nailed me 10 times over. I was really lite headed afterwards ,felt like keeling over. So, my buddy got me back to the car and drove to the hotel. We all jumped in the pool and then these horrible toe cramps started up for the next 5 hours.My toes would all bunch up together and I had to pry them apart. Talk about agony !!! And here I thought Steve was the pillar of good health?

I have been poisoned a bit by my permanent drinking water bottle from the car. I like low calorie Gatorade to ward off cramps, BUT so do the bacterias apparently. If you look in your water bottle after a week or so and see black stuff in there or it tastes kinda funny,time for a dishwasher cleaning...er..past time....I got rid of the built in straw version of this bottle cause it was so hard to clean when the black stuff showed there too. Now, I just have a flip open cap. For exploring, hand tools and gold pan in knapsack and 2 small bottles of Low calorie Gatorade in the side pockets and 2 more in the pack. Regular Gatorade is PACKED with sugar and I ended up gaining 5 pounds in a week despite 100 degree heat and dredging/highbanking all that week. But I was drinking regular Gatorade by the quart every day too...no more doing that. Only low calorie Gatorade from now on. Ps, VaNurse, is Gatorade the only thing for muscle cramps? My toes and foot arches cramp up at night while sleeping and boy does that hurt? I tried some electrolyte capsules but they made my ears ring really bad so went back to a swallow of Gatorade before bedtime... Thanks. Hmm, I think we need to start a new thread about treasure hunters aches ,pains, and relief specially now that so many of us are over the 45-50 years old hill. -Tom

I have a little booklet on the subject, How to Hunt for Pocket Gold, by Verne H. Ballantyne,only 23 pages but a good read,stories of old time gold pocket hunters,how tos,tips Nice nugget Bearcat, guess it can't hurt to try map dowsing the Gold Hill area? How does one tell the rich gold red dirt from barren red dirt or is it just hit or miss and luck? Got any photos of your rich quartz rocks? How do you crush them? -Tom

GB2 and TDi for gold and modified Lobo for coins and Headhunter Diver for swim areas, can't afford all them expensive high horsepower units...and 1.5 inch baby gold dredge for creeks. Need to sell my AT Pro, Pulsestar 2,TreasureMate pinpointer, and magnetometer this year if anybody is interested? -Tom V.

I read that Gold Hill in Oregon was a Pocket gold mine and they took out like $15 million in gold from it in the 1800's. Dunno how it was found tho?

Ebay has some copper rods like that and Hoosier Hannah in Indiana from Ebay makes them with wood handles or copper, your choice. American Society of Dowsers ( ASD) in Vermont has some. Heck, they are having a big meeting in March down in North Carolina I hear. Plus they have an annual meeting in Vermont as well. I need to go sometime before I get too decrepit.My lapis lazuli pendulum broke and I have it taped together for now.I use it to dowse maps and aerial photos for possible gold locations.Sometimes it does work. But I have my failures too. I think they need to rewrite the seasons on our calendars with this global warming thing. I figger we have 5-6 months of winter now, 3-4 months of summer and maybe a month each of spring and fall in NE Illinois anyway. Whats it like in the rest of the US? Hard not to get depressed and eat too much being cooped up indoors for so long? At least March is here again but still cold and heaps of snow on the ground. Is it any better in Reno, Steve?

How much were they, might need a pair, prefer wood handles tho...?

I went on Ebay and found Robs Detector Sales in Arizona is selling a GB 2 chest harness for $ 24 and free shipping .I inquired about the pouch and prospecting buddies in the Phoenix area too. -Tom

But my local Fisher dealer told me the little red pouch for the GB2 has not been made in 5 years at least? Dunno why some dealers still list them as available? I'd like to have one if somebody actually still had one to sell? Too bad I never learnt to sew? I like Steves setup tho. So, what was the issue with the 14 inch coil then Steve? I know you told me to stick with the 10 inch as my big coil....

let me guess? That detector costs like 5 grand +? I will stick with my dowsing rods, could use them from a boat too. American ingenuity at work tho...gots to say something for that and I like the 5 inch dredge,,looks like an Allan Trees dredge with the flared sluice box. Does anybody know if the Gold Exorcist drywash machine ( $600 on Ebay ) from Accurate Locators really works? Altho, I understand you cannot shovel gravel into it? Sposed to be screened down to 1/8 inch. I just wish their products were not so darn expensive....whatever the market will bear I guess..

I am confused Jim? I thought under present law, we could only get non- patented claims which cannot be had with a deed? How would you get a claim under present law and have it converted to private property? Jim,what do you mean by perfected ? I'd actually prefer a claim in my permanent possession so the govt can't kick me off of it, if the gold is good... -Tom V.

thanks Steve Ps,Where do you get enough water in a dry hot desert to run a wash plant? The only water sources seem to be the occasional mountain springs or these Tinnaja water tank things on the topo maps? I was out in the desert once, north of Pleasant Lake north of Phoenix , with a prospecting buddy on a hot day in June to gold hunt. We stopped at a spot on the 4wd trail that had lush greenery showing. Off to one side, there were long skinny iron pipes coming down from higher up the hillside. I am assuming water from a spring? Maybe for a placer operation in the wash below the 4wd road? Might be a good clue to old placer workings in an area to watch for? And in a spot on the Agua Fria river south of the ghost town of Gillette, I spotted what looked like a large TV antenna perched on a hillside boulder beside the river crossing? Duh,what was that ? Is somebody living underground there? There was a ventilator pipe sticking out of the rocks nearby too now that I recall.You never know what you will see driving backroads in the search for gold...

Count me out..will have to stick with my TDi and GB2...maybe the dealers will rent them instead? -Tom

I keep running into the term Dry Land Gold Dredge as used in desert placers in Arizona from roughly 1900-1945 era. Does anybody have any info or pictures of this machine and how it worked? Thanks. -Tom,ps, can't seem to find any info online..except Chuck Lassiters Hyroforce nozzle

Hmm, I always thought rocks like that were granite, which I have heard are good for gold too.