Lunk

Beau, it was great working with you and your GPZ 7000 at the training class...glad you were able to dig a couple of yellow souvenirs! Rick, always good to see you in the Nevada outback...I know there’s a brand new nugget patch just waiting for you out there somewhere!

Great to hear the Zed is treating you well, Dave; it’s amazing how a little knowledge and a good machine can open the door.

Yes, as well as the revised settings I posted earlier in this thread.

The weather is beautiful right now, so come on down!

No offense taken, amigo, and I totally agree with your assessment: JP is the wizard!

Simply put, in combination with my other audio settings, the target response is the most distinct with High Audio Smoothing. If you switch back and forth between High and Off, you'll hear what I mean.

The settings I use are well suited for the current dry soil conditions. They may seem counter intuitive at first, but, as you can see, the proof is in the pudding. Gold Mode: High Yield, Ground Type: Normal, Sensitivity: 8, Volume: 20, Threshold Level: 27, Threshold Pitch: 25, Volume Limit: 3, Audio Smoothing: High, Ground Smoothing: Locate Patch.

I love every minute detecting with the Zed, Phrunt. We let the dog smell and taste the nugget, but for some reason she seemed more interested in flushing out a nice jack rabbit from the sage brush rather than digging up a piece of gold. 🤔

Hi all, It’s been awhile since my last post, but I’ll be sharing some knowledge and anecdotes more often, now that my summer job is a thing of the past and I’m free to once again roam the desert southwest, wielding the power of the mighty Zed to unearth nature’s golden treasures. I was carefully gridding (or - in deference to Gerry in Idaho - crawling) an old nugget patch during a recent trip to the far flung reaches of Nevada’s golden triangle, when the hypnotic drone of the threshold was suddenly broken by a sharp, double “wee-ooh, wee-ooh”. This type of response typically heralds a small and shallow target, usually within six inches of the surface. “Most likely a boot tack or bird shot”, I thought to myself as I crouched down and scraped an inch or two of the dry and dusty desert soil away from the target zone with my pick. Another swing of the detector coil indicated that I had moved the target, and a quick sifting of the material with the hand scoop revealed a small yellow nugget...the first catch of the day! A few more of these shallow pickers were dug during the the next couple of hours, and then I heard a faint, single “wee-ooh”. Knowing that this meant a bit larger target at depth, I went to work hacking into the densely packed soil with my pick until...well, I’ll let this short video tell the rest of the story: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zzmm1pgdrpaswe7/Nugget dig.mov?dl=0 The actual weight of the nugget turned out to be 5.6 grams, bringing the total for the day to over a quarter of an ounce of the good stuff!

Good fun b.s.ing out there with you guys, Lucky! Hope you got a poke full this trip.

Nice haul, amigo; always a pleasure chasing nuggets with you.

When I first got into nuggetshooting, I learned a great deal from Jim’s publications. And a few years later I was fortunate enough to hunt with him in the northern Nevada goldfields. And then several years ago I ran into him in Randsburg, where he graciously took me on a geologic tour of the area. I will always remember his sense of humor and passion for prospecting. Rest in peace my friend.

Killer sesh, JW! A baker’s dozen is an excellent days haul. Congrats to you & Simon!

WTG!

WTG Oneguy! Hopefully the tick population was decimated by the cold weather this winter...I could do without the little blighters.