mn90403

WTG Steve. I wish I could find some up there ... just a little at a time. Mitchel

I had some complaints about that picture so ... here is a bit better one.

We've been working an area of the desert in Southern California this summer on the days when it is 'not so hot' (under 105) and even some nights. Sunday night I had a chance to go out again and when I got there the wind was blowing about 15 mph and it was 60 F. That is cold for here. I didn't have the right clothes to hunt so I went to sleep until dawn. When I got up I started in on an old patch about 100 yards from where I parked so I could 'break my skunk' of the last trip and a half. (It had been about 20 hours without a find.) About 2 hours into the hunt after a lot of wire trash I finally broke the skunk. It was a little one but you gotta do what you gotta do. Less than an hour later I had another small piece. This is an area where we have worked and worked it almost to death with our 7000s and others so I said I wanted to use the 2300 which I don't use much. I got the smallest piece with it and then I took a break around 11 AM. Later I went hunting for a new spot and I found it. The first nugget from this area was the 'middle finger' nugget in the picture and then a few feet away another. I gridded the area and found one more in a little depression and just about dark I went over my gridded area. I heard the mellow, repeatable sound (I missed it while gridding) I had not heard in a while and began scraping and got the bigger nugget. About 5 feet from that was the last nugget for the trip that must have been laying on top. It was all brown when I found it and it was loud ... a surprise for the area. We now have a new direction in the desert that is producing more nuggets. (8 nuggets/2.28g/.68~.05g)(7000, 2300 detectors) Mitchel

Nice gold! Good description of your hunting.

We'll never see the best nuggets. We'll never know for sure the location of the best nuggets we see. I've found a couple of nice nuggets and showed a few friends where I got them and there sure are a lot of new claims all around those areas now! (None of them mine.) This is an old game and I'm a new player. Mitchel

dxb, I think Fred is right again. METAL DETECTING is not for everyone. You have to enjoy a bit of a walkabout while at the same time paying some attention to geologic details so that you can get lucky. There can be long hours between finds that make you wonder why you are doing this metal detecting thing at all. You have to remain positive and THAT is the reason the 7000 might be the first detector you buy. Show up at a couple of gold club meetings or gold shops and use a detector a few hours first. Most shops will have something you can use for a day for under a hundred bucks. Go out with them BEFORE you buy the 7000 and if possible go to the dealer who will sell you a 7000. Those of us who own a 7000 know we are finding gold we could not find with any other detector. That is what keeps us positive now for several reasons. One reason is that we can go to previously worked gold patches and still find gold that has been missed. We all need rewards to keep us going back. A second reason is that it is an easy detector to use. Most of us used other detectors before the 7000 and we think that the machine out of the box will find gold with the best of our GPX, GB Pro and any other PI detector's settings. (We can then push it a little harder.) The third reason is that you don't want to go behind a good 7000 user with any other detector (other than a 2300 for small stuff) than another 7000. What I'm saying is that a 7000 doesn't find everything and you have to grid an area completely but once done it would probably be better to look in another location/patch if the ground has not been moved. You said you have prospected and price is not a problem. Get a 7000 with a warranty because there have been some issues that have required Minelab to replace the units. Mitchel

Steve, A man with details that can make us all better if we read your stories more than once. I'll be up there at the end of the month but I am another Sawtooth virgin. Can't figure it out. Mitchel

That's pretty good for 3 days and 3 'average' detectorists! Did Condor stay so he could get out of the 115-125 degree heat? Good thing you left so you didn't wear out that new detector. Mitchel

There are more pictures here ... now you can see 75 lbs of pearl! http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/environment/144029-puerto-princesa-giant-pearl

That is a real keeper! (The Beach) Mitchel

I have a 3030 and many times I dig everything with that. I'm sure I would dig 'most everything' in an area where I was finding gold. It would be too hard to trust the detector to be accurate on odd shaped, oddly composed nuggets and specimens.

I found an MIT ring tonight and have already located the owner! I messaged him but his tweets let me know it has to be him because his name is inside. This ring was down about 9" and I was using the 11 because I can swing it without a hip stick. I had an SE Pro for a couple of years and had no problem and also the 3030 without a harness. When I got the 17 it was just a couple of months before I got tennis elbow. Using the 17 does increase jewelry production as Rob said. The 'problem' sometimes can be that the targets are very deep. I've had to give up on several because I've had the wrong digging tool at the time. Mitchel

But ... you need to know what you are going to do when you get there!

RDD, I would like to share your experience on a regular basis. This area I am going has not produced anything more than a 5 grammer in years! Yesterday I got to the field at 3 AM for some cool night swinging. I got 3 little nuggets before dawn and 4 more before 10 AM for a total of 7 for 1.14g. I was ready for a new record and then it ended. For the next 9 hours I was without a find of any size. The heat and sun gave me a bad attitude. It's time to go to ... AUSTRALIA! Mitchel

Good going Rob.

Excellent!

When I say 'sold to the Russians' I mean the mining company there in Nome was bought by a Russian company and they are enforcing their rights differently than the old company. I was told that many people had regrets that the deal ever happened but it is too late now.

I have gotten a new scale and wow ... smaller than I expected. When I measure the smallest one in the picture it wobbled between .02~.03g. The 10 smallest nuggets about total to only .8g. I found even less gold than what I thought (2.14g total 12 nuggets) for the trip. I've gotta go other places now. Mitchel

We can read your survival story ... I just hope that we don't read ABOUT you. You can slip and fall 10 feet and hit your head. The local animals will get you before we could find you. Gold is not worth that. Be more careful out there. Mitchel

We were up there last summer and the houses north/west of the harbor had been burned and removed. I understand that part of the beach is off limits to recovery now because the gold company that owned it was sold to the Russians. Further out you get to Cripple Creek where the GPAA camp is. Out there were many beach sluices but they had not been used in some time. The tide there is not much but anything out past the low tide mark is subject to the leases they talk about on Bering Sea Gold. Mitchel

What Fred said ... that is some big trash so I don't care how many units have been over it ... you'll still find gold until you find nothing.

A second can save you a lot of money. A second with a warranty is a good option if available. I don't really know of any gold detectors that break and can't be fixed and they don't seem to break that often.

I went out in southern California and was not rewarded with many meteors. We were out in the 1-3AM time after the moon was down. I've seen much better. We'll try to see a few stragglers tonight.

The Zed can find small gold. The large nugget in the center is 1g and the small one about 9:00 on the dial is about .05g. I'll have to get a scale to measure. I'm told that a Tanita is good. What is better?

Steve, Yes, I know you are a great guy to hunt with. You don't want anyone to go home without a find. But over the years you have grown up there and again for the most recent hunts ... YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF ... was my point. Now you're pushing the limits of the machine and doing even more. All respect to you. Mitchel