Hard Prospector

Was in Fairbanks and Dawson a few summers back,  Packed mostly heavy jackets, pants, caps nit caps and gloves.......freezing cold Alaska right?    Not exactly.  As an after thought I threw in a pair of cargo shorts and few t shirts and glad I did. The week I was there it was in the mid to high 80's and it was actually cooler  back where I live in San Diego!   Locals said: " Oh yah, we can get several weeks of hot weather every July / August."

Boy did I feel like a  greenhorn California knuckle head

Another consideration to make a living gold mining would be to work for  an  existing gold mine operation  currently in production.  With the price of gold being what it is, there's plenty of opportunity out there. I know of a kid right out of high school who's working for a small "mom n' pop"  placer mining operation and gets paid a percentage of the take plus board. He is compensated very well (beyond the contract amount) as he's a hard worker and they want him to stay.

Might want to consider watching;  "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue"  for extra perspective here.

Glad you and the jeep came through,  no gold but the adventure and a tight scrape put one hell of a memory in the polk

Couldn't figure out what in the Hell happened..........thought maybe an asteroid strike

Good to see everyone again!

That 8 gram'r would make a beautiful pendant for sure

If present with obvious markings, I'll make an attempt to find the owner. Religious metals, bracelets etc can be returned to the appropriate church.  Not sure what else can be done so won't loose any sleep over it.

Are you through detecting in Mexico?

Keene  actually increased prices on much of what they produce going back last year. Gov't says inflation forecast little over 2%..........Anyone who's been to a grocery store or Home Depot lately knows thats BS!

People  smarting up to the fact Bitcoin is nothing more than the greatest Ponzie/Pyramid scheme of all time..........God's money will always prevail.

Funny yet kinda  sad April fools joke........

11 hours ago, Cascade Steven said:

Is the battery drain issue and lack of power issue of larger coils also applicable to the TDI Pro and also the TDI SL?

Mostly the SL as it ran (mostly) on AA's with the usual White's slide in clam shell..........but even the Pro with its larger rechargable battery pack was still no depth demon.  You could never trust the low battery light indicator to signal when the voltage dropped below the point where the batteries should be replaced or recharged. Every 2 hours of run time I would check or change them out in the field.

If nugget shooting with this detector  its been my experience that loops 6 x 10 or SMALLER  were most effective, especially the (5 x 9) folded over mono.  The larger DF coils were the worst  (unless looking for .50 cal musket balls or civil war belt buckles).

The TDI series was a good PI that held lots of promise to evolve. Unfortunately  chief engineer Dan Geyer,  who ran the project and was advancing it,  suddenly passed away at the worst possible time. Turns out he was irreplaceable.

 I believe the  loss of this brilliant man began the down hill slide not just for the TDI but for White's in general.

Sensitivity to smaller non ferrous targets objects.

The TDI always lacked the power to effectively use the larger loops to any decent depth, especially gold.

Those DF coils really sucked down the battery juice causing the TDI to become un stable (and difficult to ground balance). I would check the batteries every couple hours of run time.  The smaller DF coil for sure better than the larger one.

Wish I'd heard of this scheme while still in high school.

Retired recently from the county fire department,  I was probably on the fire!

2 hours ago, Goldseeker5000 said:

Hey tboykin, the fish in a can combined with bears is why I always burn all cans in the fire pit. Every where I hunt, there are big grizzlies. Two places I hunt, 15 miles apart have 3 boar's over 800 lbs. And a sow around 700 lbs. Where I hunt and how I set up my campsites, along with my food and camp kitchen I have to follow a very strict camp procedures that I don't allow myself to get lazy with. Knock on wood, I have never had a grizzly in camp, ever. Where I will be for a few months this year has me nervous, so I will use my parimeter Carolina reaper trip alarms and I am going to invest in an electric bear fence.

Bear fence = good night's rest.  Have used mine often, don't be grudge the extra weight a bit.

In my day pack, I usually carry a small single burner backpack stove just for heating some things up (hot food on a cold day always better). In my day pack, these are the (variety) foods I carry ; Pork n Beans, salami/crackers, Spam, tortillas, bagles, Bumble Bee pre made tuna or chicken salad(comes in a kit with crackers), Ravioli or chili (in a can),   instant coffee/coco, candy bars, fruit coctail, PB n J, trail mix, jerkey, Cup of Noodles soup and most important......Pop Tarts!

If your serious about volume, a highbanker, sluice or drywasher should be part of the program.

Just being realistic and good luck.

How about a 4x6 coil for the Monster?

Couldn't help myself........Sorry

I knew the AT Gold vlf of was a decent gold detector but so were plenty others of this price point. However one day,  not to long ago I saw one that really turned my head. A prospector buddy who is really into under water sniping  (in the northern Motherlode) had one fitted out with a NEL snake coil.  Says its tough,  waterproof, easily packable and has found him plenty of totally hidden gold filled cracks.  Says for this purpose it works  excellent.

Record post it would seem, had to make more tea before finished reading!  Its all in the adventure, and welcome aboard. 

Good luck and stay safe

I thought it seemed kinda sketchy

More and more I prefer to prospect/dig in places WAY OFF the beaten path; pack on and hiking into steep and difficult to access placers. Farther  away from any road  the safer I feel.  Try to get dropped off when ever possible. From my experience "dirt bags seem to prefer dirt roads" to conduct crime and won't  wonder off far on foot.

10 hours ago, Ryan said:

SPP 101 , 5shot , ..on the right hip..don't even know it's there. But it's there when you need it

Been thinking about getting  chest mount holsters  for my SP101 & LCR .357's,  something in Kydex would be great.