Relichunter

I have done the same....I was hunting in the morning and had plans for my friend to pick me up around noon. I was diggin trash all day...square nails, bits of wire, lead and so on and  after 3 to 4 hours I could not wait to be picked up by my friend. Well I heard someone walking, I turned and it was my buddy and I was digging a target and about 10 inches down and I was about to stop and refill the hole. The target was loud and sounded like trash. My friend said, what you doing..i answered ahh just another piece of trash and I said lets get out of here. My bud said, no just finish digging and see what it is and than we can go. So I dug down ....and well...      I was rewarded with two of my largest nuggets I have ever found. Sorry no pictures....but true story ! So, dig them all....cause you never know.

hard work paid off....happens sometime, congrats that you survived your death march, been there myself ....looks like you have a new spot to go back to and get so more..

Sounds like a great trip and gold to boot !! 

Tortuga,

This was found in the California Sierras........

Congrats on your awesome finds....nice , thanks for sharing.

Thanks again guys, it's why we hunt is right !! We all know those big ones are out there...we have to go through a lot of trash, and some small nuggets here and there....but the big ones are a surprise. Kind of like pulling the hand on the slot machine....we get fed a little here and there, but just once a while we get that " ohhh my Gosh " nugget. The feelin can't be beat and a memory for ever....

Thanks guys...the best part of it, the nugget was found on my daughters birthday. As usual I am up before anyone else, so I decided for an early morning hunt and came back with this beauty. It stands up and shows very nice...so shes a keeper. I have had my 4500 for a number of years and I could not trade her as I have total trust in my ability to find nuggets with it. 

Just so we all don't give up on our GPX 's here is a 49 gram piece I found 2 feet down with my 4500. It was clear and loud and a nice low high tone. I also found a 1/2 ounce flat piece 20" down with the 20" N.F. coil in an old patch. The half ouncer I hardly heard, but decided to scrap off an inch, than another and so on until I was able to identify that it was a target. So to all the people who have not traded up to the ZED, have faith that with proper coils and skill you can clean up your patched pretty good with "old " technology.

That's an incredible amount of gold...those days don't come around often. Thanks for sharing your success with us.

Nice work ! I wash mine in water and basically clean the dirt off until I find an expert to do it right. Anyone recommend any mineral dealers in the California are. I am only familiar with Dona and Wayne at Kristalle.

Congrats !!!! Ahhhhhh love a day like that.....thanks for the Golden HIGH !  

I have hadmy Keene 151 for over 23 years and it still keeps on going. I replaced the cloth many a time...as far as dust....always going to have dust when your shoveling dry material into a drywasher.

when it sounds funny, it must be 

I don't think Minelab has anything to worry about, most of us will buy and support Minelab as they are the best and will continue making superior products. My 4500 is still kicking a-- and sniffing out the gold. I think regarding China...we just were not used to them expanding a growing so fast. They now have the money thanks to our western nation leaders and their business dealings with them. So we will see them play the game..with us, as we played game against them for so many decades..it's tit for -tat world ....Scary in some ways....So hunting we will go  , for gold .....

A very well deserved find especially hunting tailing piles ...we all know the difficulty in hunting them. One heck of a trophy....hope you find more.

Fred

lol....all nations spy on each other...the ones with the best ability do a better job than the other. There are good and bad in every nation. Demonizing one group and not looking at your own is a waste of time.......Have a great day !

When I dabbled in water hunting I used one and it worked very well. It ran very quite and got good depth. I wish i did not sell it.....great warranty and you cant beat the price.

I would agree, offer both to the consumer but charge the same price. But on the other hand an easy fix would be just get camo duck tape costs 4.99 and camo it all out if you like.....beats spending and extra 50.00. 

Call the cops, they will put a camera near their stash and nab them. Same thing happened to me....it pisses me off these damn cartels are running a muck in gold country. Cartels need to be run out of this territory. 

I use them here in California and have done very well with the Detech coils in fact I use them most of the time. There is nothing wrong with them, and they perform as well if not better in some ways that Nuggetfinder and Coiltek.

I use the 10x15 Mono E and it's my favorite  coil, I have the Coilteks and Nuggetfinder coils and I have found that Detech coils are super sensitive and no noise when bumped on rocks and bushes. I find all the others fail in that region, its up to par as far as dept and sensitivity but Detech has a profound edge over all the others in the bump test. How many times do you take your coil under bushes and brush reaching as far as you can under them and all you hear is signals from the coil being bumped? With Detech coils i don't experience that, if I hear a signal I know its a target. Tried out the 8 " round and that's the next coil I want to purchase . 

" I just hope the US economy doesn`t totally collapse, because that will be the end of the relative world peace we enjoy." That's a very good point, but our thirst for world hegemony and pushing China for example in their region of influence ( China Sea ) and NATO pushing Eastward and disregarding Russia s security zone and concern will only push those two closer to counter the U.S. I would hope economics will continue to tie us with China where it would not be in their interest to have a conflict with us. I don't see gold going below 700.00 for the fact most gold mines around the world spend that amount if not more on extracting an ounce from the earth and in S. Africa costs exceed the 700 range.

I have to agree, we have PO the rest of the world and will continue to do so because we want to maintain a supremacy over everyone. But although small but noteworthy changes in economic business and trade among large nations such as India, China and Russia in currency, along with BRIC nations creating what i would term an alternate to the World Bank and IMF we will see those countries and many others go away from the dollar. India and China being mass hoarders of gold and Russia also stock piling it away we will see gold rise in the near future. The only thing that will stop or slow down the rest of the world is war. So Gold wins no matter what....

Hard Prospector has a great point, camping for some of those folks maybe way to difficult. A good' 

hotel and a short drive to the river to prospect and get some color would be the safe way to go. Try out Mariposa near Yosemite its a 3-4 hour drive, book a couple rooms and after breakfast its an easy 20 minute drive to Briceburg recreational area. Free parking, very few people if any on any weekday and some panners and sluicers on weekends who can be helpful to answer any questions anyone of your friends may ask about the area. You can even take a side trip to the State mineral museum and show them some huge nuggets.

I wear them all the time because it gives me a sense of security and added protection from pricklies of all sorts.Get some and wear them..it's just a smart thing to do.