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Bishop

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  1. today was my first trip for the new year.
    also first time out with the new coiltec 5x10.
    a new wash i was hunting  is/was someones honey hole
    as evidenced by the massive amount of placering and fresh dig holes around.
    the first target didn't show up for a few minutes and when it did show up in the scoop
    i was having a hard time believing that the bird-shot pellet was reason for such a loud signal.

    after lots more lead i did end up getting a little .33 gram bit.
    also my new coil top scuff guard my mining partner got me.
    i like the new coil and will go back to the 11 inch only for better coverage when needed.

    20240115_151232 - Copy.jpg

    • Like 2
    • Haha 3
  2. nice.

    always good to see end of year gold.

    1604 bits. that's a hell of a lot of digging.

    if you don't mind me asking, whats the trash ratio where your at.
    here in Arizona, im at about 25 to 1. lots of lead and brass/copper.

    on my 2024 hunts i am going to track that info a bit closer.

    i was going to get out tomorrow, but am feeling a little sick and looks like rain
    next weekend. so here is my end of year pic.
    the silver quarter was an eye ball find last month.

    20231217_123104.jpg

    • Like 4
  3. myself, i would not stake a mining claim for a detecting spot much less buy one.
    i don't even think i would even stake a claim for placer at this time, and i know a few decent areas i could.
    hard rock? maybe, depends. i have seen some stuff. im still figuring a few things out.

    one thing with mining claim flippers or miners is they want easy access, a road or a trail, and somewhat close to a town.
    they know most people from out of state are not going to buy a claim if they cant drive right up to it
    unload, camp and start mining.
    the last of the good open ground is away from easy access.

    learn to navigate my land matters and check out the website of the County Recorder’s Office
    for the County you are interested in. look under, section, township, range or name.  maybe under the scroll down menu, look for notice of mining location.
    you will likely see the claim paperwork and even the map of the claim.
    gold goes down hill and doesn't seem to stop at claim boundaries.

     

    or you could skip all the paperwork and research, join a club and get a small rv of some kind and be a snow bird.
    i was out this last last weekend and cant believe how many rv and vans from back east
    are just camped out enjoying the desert. hundreds of them.
    best of luck to you.

     

    • Like 3
  4. over the years i have had at least 70+ rattlesnake encounters.
    i remember one summer in the late 90s, seeing one or 2 every trip.
    nothing in the world like the taste of adrenaline when you almost step on them and start doing the snake dance.
    i have found (for me) dropping a good size rock on them kills them faster than a pistol.
    now days, i will only kill one if they are in an area that kids or pets might be around.
    they have there place in nature. snakes eat the mice and rats that can spread disease.(hantavirus)
    i read that western diamondbacks can get up to max 8 feet, but i have seen 2 that
    i would i would swear were 10 foot. one of them i have on an old video.
    it stretched all the way across one side of a dirt road to the other. that was at Verde river sheep bridge.
    the other i was detecting. there was a small tree in this little wash.i did not want to get out and go around.
    so i hunched way down to get under that tree. about 3 steps in i saw the back end of a rattler slithering past.
    never rattled.
    my face was about 3 feet from it, and i was kind of stuck in a bad position under that tree.
    talk about hebejebes. i only seen the back half of it. it was thicker than my upper arm.
    funny thing about that one was i ran into Skookum, who is a forum member here about a week later. he was hunting
    in that area and he was telling me about his encounter with the biggest diamondback that he had ever seen.
    i was like ya, that is a big one.
    in the last year i have only seen one. i don't know if there are fewer or if im just not seeing them.

    • Like 2
  5. roadrunners is a good club. i am a life member. 275 claims, 5500 acres.
    $340 first year and i think $240 per year until paid off $2000 for life membership.
     
    looking at this years newsletters, “Bird Tailings” for the first 8 months
    of this year they have added 101 new members. i don't know how many total members.

    there is a small club out of mayer az, big bug mining district, they have 10 claims.
    some of there claims are very hard to get to. not bad for $42 bucks a year.

    • Like 1
  6. they can be made street legal in AZ. i see a few driving around.
    i looked into getting one. they sell for 6 or 7k.
    one problem is they max out at about 55 mph.
    the other problem is that they don't have the articulation needed for old mining roads here.
    i could see it being useful on a farm or ranch, not so much off road.
    Mike Festiva has 7 or so videos on his suzuki carry 4x4 Kei mini truck camper build.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3OZUVSNZc
    if you scroll through he has some interesting off road builds.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  7. (I'd rather get less gold if it means less trash)
    the old timers were everywhere. when you are finding miners trash from the 1800s
    its probably a good idea to slow down and have a look around.

    (I don't prefer locations where I know others have detected already)
    you might be surprised just how far some will go to find nuggets.

    (The more remote, the better.)

    ill just say be careful. this morning i found a 60 year old guy from Texas broke down. he was nugget hunting.
     he was pretty far back in there.
     he had busted his oil pan on a very bad road.
    i had to use a tow strap to pull him out over some spots i don't even like to take my 4x4.
    kind of messed up my day.


    you didn't say when you were planning to do this, its 90 degrees here in AZ today and will be pushing 100 next week.


     

    • Like 5
  8. i think it was 1995. i bought a Tesoro Diablo II Gold Demon from Arizona Al who had a little shop in Glendale.
    as i only had a car, i only got out when a friend of mine with a truck could get out.
    i think it was about 8 to 10 trips within about a years time i found a 1.5 gram nugget shaped like a small pinto bean.
    i was out in that area this morning and thought i would give it a look. i have hit this spot a lot with lots of different machines.
    and was not expecting to find anything. all these years and i have been walking past this .56. it was 8 feet away from the first one
    i ever found on the opposite side of the wash. it was under 5 inches of old dry washer tailings.

     

    20230419_130918 (2).jpg

    20230419_121010 (2).jpg

    • Like 9
  9. is he running the 6 in silent mode?
    seems like it. would be much better with a threshold.

    im easily distracted, in the top video something is moving in the background. just to the left of him, 20 feet behind him.
    i thought it was grass blowing then at 3:15 in the video it moved way to the left then back.
    i watched it a few times and im still not sure what i am looking at.
    is it the camera glitching?

     

  10. Gotau, the gritty soil is lightly mineralised  so i was maxed out with the stock 11 inch coil.
    i am still using my homemade acrylic coil cover, works good but it starts to get heavy after 4 or 5 hours and i
    think im going to get a replacement for it.
    my partner was using a new Coiltek Goldhawk 10x5, i tried it a bit and it seems nice.
    as for the trash. there is a lot of wire, boot tacks, bullets and brass, copper bits.
    by this time next year a detectorist will come through this little wash and think it odd that there is no targets
    of any kind in it.
    looking at the orange iron stained quartz in it matches what is coming down the hill sides.
    so hoping for a eluvium patch.

     

    • Like 1
  11. that was a good read.
    one thing i did not see in the article. maybe i missed it, is
    how hot rocks and ironstone, even with discrimination can mask targets if they are near them or on top of them.
    one of the areas i hunt, San Domingo. is littered with basalt hot rocks.
    last year i found a small nugget on a hill side but the area was undetectable due to hot rocks.
    i raked off the hot rocks and found 5 more nuggets. its a lot of work raking and i only do that on patches.
    looking forward to see what Garrett Axiom can do with its discrimination.

    • Like 2
  12. nice setup. i have a 12x12 Ezup tent. first time out with it there was 50 mph winds and i
    packed it up and went home. they are nice for fair weather. the straight walls and tall ceiling
    are spacious. did a few deer hunting trips to flagstaff we put 3 12x12 in a row. one for sleeping one for cooking and the last
    one for a patio for when it would rain. all capped with a 40 foot tarp.

    • Like 3
  13. GB_Amateur earlier this year i went to a few incredibly hard to get to washes trying
    to find some fresh ground. 2 of the places had unfilled dig holes that were a few weeks
    old. still found a nice 1 gram nugget in one of them. another spot i found 2 guys getting ready
    to detect the wash.
    these are places miles from any trail access.
    there is a lot of hardcore nugget hunters here in AZ.
    the nice thing with the new wash is i have not seen any evidence of detectors having been there.
    even the little bit of old timer miner trash 1930? maybe older, is still there in the gut of the small wash.

    geof_junk, no cloth. i just pull it off the magnet. i did have gloves on, so not to bad. my mining partner is thinking
    about getting a bigger magnet, like the kind they use for magnet fishing. too heavy to lug around i think.
    im going to talk to my partner again about not claiming it.
    silence is golden.

    • Like 1
  14. thanks for the idea Norvic, i like it.
    i got an 11.5 inch x 1/4 inch plexiglass disk from Etsy, sibe-rplasticssupply.com
    couldn't find lexan precut. i went 1/2 inch over coil size , 1/4 all around, so i could get protection on the sides of the coil.
    might have been less weight getting the 1/8 inch, but this should last a long time.
    used silicone so i can change it out later if i want to.
    also used 16 spring clamps to get a solid, tight fit when curing the silicone.
    tested it out this morning.
    i was purposely rough, putting the coil directly on rocky ground and plowing it forward. swinging around bumping rocks.
    the coil cover that came with it would have had a hole in 5 minutes and never had made it through half of what i did with this today.
    i did end up with 2 small chips on the edge where the acrylic is squared off.
    pic 1 before test.
    pic 2 after test.
    pic 3 stuff i found today.

    20220807_055150 (2).jpg

    20220807_095346 (2).jpg

    20220807_094516 (2).jpg

    • Like 5
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