AllenJ

How much does it supplement your income?

Not even a little.  When you include the cost of metal detectors I'm in thousands of dollars deep and to date (this is my third year of prospecting) I've only had a few days that paid for gas and food for that day lol.

What about chiggers and ticks, do you have to deal with those pesky critters too out in dry climates?

Ticks are terrible in the spring so yes, I have to deal with them.  I use spray and try to be careful but I did get bit last year.

Other than your machine and digging stuff, what else does one take along while prospecting for those just in case you need it scenarios?

If I'm going a ways from the truck I take two smaller sized gold pans, multiple digging tools for cracks and crevices, loop, rock hammer, small chisel and sample bags in a couple of sizes along with water and sunscreen.

Do you hunt mostly on a claim or public land?

I've hunted both but mostly I freelance on Forest Service property.

The only time I hooked up my large coil was to test it in an area where we were finding very small gold.  My findings were the same as above, it would not detect it nearly as well as the small coil.  I know, everyone said that would be case but I had to see for myself lol.  Someday I hope to find an area where the big coil would be the better choice but so far I've only found small stuff.

Great video Jeff, thanks for posting!

Enjoyed the video Jeff, thank you for posting sir.

Nice find, congrats sir.

Very nice find, congrats sir.

Nice find sir, congrats!

Very nice, congrats sir!

Condolences to his family and friends.  I really enjoyed reading Fred's posts and I'll miss his wisdom.

That's how to start your season out, with a monster!  Congrats sir.

Nice job sir, congrats!

Well once you figure in gas and food I've lost money on my first two seasons of prospecting and you're saying I could make a profit?  I'm in!!

Welcome Jared, I'm from Northern CA myself.  Hope to see you in the field!

Goodness sakes Karelian, I thought I was the only person who took everything but the kitchen sink detecting!

Good luck sir, I hope you find a big one.

I'm like Mike lol.

Allen

Nice looking nugget sir, congrats!

Sounds like you had a great season and can look forward to starting off next year in a productive spot.  Thank you for sharing.

Well done sir, congrats!

Sounds like you had a great time, thank you for sharing and congrats on the gold!

Karelian, are you using the stock Miner Johns coil?

Having a technician that close is great, wish I had one that close!  The TDI is a pretty easy machine to learn and use, it won't take long before you're detecting.  Congrats on your purchase and looking forward to seeing pics of your finds.

Awesome finds sir, congratulations!!!  

The only time my TDI SL went crazy was when I turned it on in the house, PI units are very sensitive to EMI.  Where are you testing when you're having your problem?

I use it and actually found their map the most accurate concerning the area I'm currently working, it showed a road that no other online mapping source did.  

Great gold, congrats!

Completely agree with you on the Monster.  It is fun, easy to use and super sensitive to small gold.  My son uses a Gold Bug II, he loves it, and we have a lot of fun teasing one another on which detector is best.  At the end of the day though we both agree that both detectors are really good at what they do and having both in the field, working areas together, we're getting the benefits of two of the best VLF gold detectors out there.