flakmagnet

Anyone who has seen his DVD's know the level of photographic/video work JP is capable of. The man is a born photographer, videographer and editor…with an urge to educate and illustrate. And we are the beneficiaries. I am always mindful of the tons of clipped passages from his posts I have stored in my computer that educated me on my last five detectors. I know from experience what it took to shoot, edit and score his DVD's. We are a luckier than we may know.

I cannot believe those "long-range" detectors are still being foisted on people. (I do love the idea of an excavator being included though…)

Don't be irritated. That's why I included the story of that gent just randomly sticking his detector into a bush and hitting a big one…there is so damned much luck involved. Refining technique is only so we can take advantage when luck provides an opportunty - in my opinion.

I agree heartily with your post Steve - no surprise there I guess. It's just the way I have seen the detectorists that I admire, work. Low and Slow is not just a saying it's a gold hunting technique that produces results. As a counterpoint I would like to add a short story that illustrates a jack rabbit approach that paid off big-time. This was recounted by a good friend; He was hunting in the motherlode with a friend of his, let's call him Joe. My friend is methodical and organized. His friend, Joe , disappeared into the brushy distance in the first five minutes of their hunt, waving his coil like a semaphore flag. Half an hour later, my friend was on his hands and knees and sweating profusely as he wrestled with some virtually impenetrable manzanita growth trying to open up an area where he could slide his coil into an undetected space. He straightened up when Joe appeared beside him. "What are you doing in there?" Joe asked, "That's the same place you were working last time we were here. Doesn't look like any fun to me." and for emphasis he shoved his coil into the brush about a foot away from where my friend had been struggling and instantly got a booming signal. The quarter ounce nugget was the biggest of the day by far. My friend still shakes his head in wonderment every time he tells the story.

Firstly I have been detecting on beaches since the late 70's. I began gold detecting in the early 80's. For me, beach detecting is actually a lot easier than detecting for gold. I will bet everyone who as been around a new gold prospector and you have them take a listen to what a subtle target sounds like, they say "That is what it sounds like?" At least that has been my experience. Want to be clear, this is not trying to come off like some sort of expert here. You can tell from my questions on the forum that I am learning all the time. I have seen you hunt on the beach and you know your stuff. You move quite a bit more quickly than I do but I don't really think that makes too much difference, it's kind of a matter of style and I can tell, you like to move. And, you find all kinds of cool stuff, you know from experience how to read a beach and where to look. I have never hunted in the desert with you but from your descriptions you seem to do things right. Do you move at the same rate you do at the beach? I doubt it, but thought I'd ask. In all honesty I think it's simply a matter of time. You go to lots of good spots, I know you've found lots of gold, so maybe it's just some sort of weird dry spell…we all have them (don't we?). Best...

Heck Walker, he's probably on his second one...

That last post is a keeper, thanks JP. It's a relief to find that being a fanatic about coil control is a key. It takes another level of concentration to factor in coil control along with all the other things we are paying attention to as we go along, but you can really see how critical it is once you start to home in on a subtle target (that's when most of us use good coil control). I cringe when I think of how many faint targets called out to me in my earlier days of detecting until I finally got it into my head that working slowly and with good coil control was a vital key to actually finding what others did not.

You have the touch Lunk. Nice work and thanks for the inspirational pics and description.

That ground looks" hot" and compacted. I'll bet it's a challenge to work in.

JP I don't think we could ask for much more than that.

The thread has taken its predictable turn. It's incredibly boring to have to constantly read about people bagging each other. Why don't we decide to cut it out? This is not the Finder's Forum. Most of us don't give a crap about the arguing and the subtle put-downs, we are here for the mutual support, the learning and the sharing.

DP posters might not know that some of the adversaries in this thread have a history of disagreement that spans decades. It doesn't seem as though anyone is interested in ending it soon. It's funny that someone can't simply put down what they are finding during their detecting without triggering the levels of animosity that seem to emerge. But in the end there are usually interesting bits of information that emerge for people who can pick through the ego-trips and the opinions masking as knowledge. In the end maybe we are just a large slightly dysfunctional family which is fine as long as it stays in-bounds and for that - we have Steve. Edit: the post I was referring to has mysteriously disappeared - my comments stand.

Whoa! That is gorgeous au.

Any updates on Nuggetfinders coils for the GPZ?

Phrunt, I heartily agree. We are not anywhere near as physically capable as the early miners. I am constantly amazed as I travel the Mother Lode among other gold bearing areas, at the sheer amount of physical work those people did with nowhere near the benefits of the kinds of equipment we have today.

Great post. Thanks for taking the time to put it up.

gold finding rating: 100% camera expertise: who cares when you find gold like that?

nice work Andyy…I am hoping to get an "x" soon.

ah, got it…how do you find using the crosspiece? (sorry for all the questions, I'm just curious as I have not used it but am thinking about it).

Lunk, what is that taped onto your chest? And, are you using the minelab cross-piece on your harness? Thanks...

Great post Gerry

Nice to see you post Dale. You guys set the standard for in-the-field-gold-finds and spoiled thousands of us. Happy they didn't talk you into their "reality."

18 miles on an ATV…wow, that must be a hell of a claim. Good luck.

the point…thanks.

I love it...