Search the Community

Got out with my buddy Dave today to do some detecting. We had the plan to try a new area, and if that didn't pan out we would go back to the area I had had some luck the last 2 outings. We struck out in the new area, and headed to the old one. I went out trying to expand on the new patch...no luck. Dave hung around the area where I found the patch 2 weeks ago. I started exploring a bit looking for good ground when Dave radioed me that he had found a couple nice nuggets. I made a beeline to meet up with him, still working my GPZ when I hit a great mellow signal. Turned out to be a 2+ gram nugget and the start of a 5 nugget patch. Biggest being 3g. We had lunch a made another run for no luck, but a great day nonetheless. My nuggets 6.4 grams Dave's score, with a nice big nugget. Chris

I decided that since it's been a while from my last visit to one of my favorite gold hunting locations It was time to charge up the batteries, brave the heat and find some gold. Only managed to dig up these 3 little ones but still it was a good day ?

Found this past weekend with the GPZ 19 coil at 2 measured feet. JP 20 grams

I took the GPZ 7000 out for its maiden voyage today. I tried the bottom of the claim where we have not found much. Partly because of deeper float sand and not much luck with nuggets. Only a couple have been found down there, however one of those was a 6 gram. So I went over my gold corner first. This place only has small nuggets .25 gram all the way down to .01 gram. So as the title says I found my first two nuggets. The first one was my biggest of the day and biggest ever at 1.16 gram about the size of a pinto bean. This one was down about 6 inches inside schist bedrock. When I located it I thought it was small, so I grabbed the tweezers. Boy was I happy to see the real size. The other one was .18 gram just a standard flat one. It was odd however in that I got a double sound off it. I think it was because it was standing upright smashed between bedrock fingers, down about 2 inches. I will update with my settings later so I can get input from you guys.

Its been a tough year so far. Many a skunks. My Buddy Dave and I have been trying to think outside the box, looking for new areas with very little luck. Our old areas are pretty damn pounded by us. Dave had some family obligations so I went out this past Sunday myself for a short hunt to beat the Nevada heat. I decided to go back to an area where i found 2 random nuggets about 30 yards apart. One was 1.5 gram in a tiny negligible small dry tribal. The other was a nice three gram solid found in a flat spot over a foot deep. I got to the area and hit a couple of nearby washes for nothing. Working back to where I found the nuggets I started grinding the area, working up hill from the nuggets. I was just about to the point where I had planned on quitting when I got a trashy chirpy signal. It moved on the first scrape with my foot, and I figured trash (this area has very little trash, almost none) got it in the scoop and it was a tiny specie. It was in the trailing of a rodent burrow so I wasn't sure if it was from deep. I started slowing down and overlapping my swings and got a solid signal next to a creosote brush. Turned into a nice sub gram nug. Made a circle around the Bush and got a screaming signal that I figured could be a bullet. Only 4 inches down in some soft overburden came out the large 5.1 g nugget. I back tracked a bit from there working the same line down the slope and got a nice deeper signal next to another creosote. Nice 1.5 gram nug. All very rough with rock and quartz. I tried working the line up the slope for nothing else. Going to go back and work the bench at top of slope. I had been getting discouraged so it was a nice shot of adrenaline. I was supposed to be getting hip surgery today but insurance denied my claim last minute. Filing appeals and grievances so we'll see what happens. I was supposed to be on crutches for 3 months after 1st surgery then have the 2nd which is a hip replacement. So I would have been on the bench for a while. The surgery is supposed to be in Vail Colorado so I was thinking about doing so prospecting there before the surgery. Stay out of the heat! Chris

Hi all, had a half day to go detecting today, so I went back to that new patch and was able to find one more small rough nugget. Searched a lot tried to expand the area or find source but no luck. So I want of searching for a new area, looking on a hillside next to a wash where I found a few nuggets. No luck, but I did notice a steep wash up ahead that I couldn't remember detecting. Found some nuggets nearby so I figured it was worth it. Ended up finding 4 more nuggets in a new patch. All small, but way better than a skunk. The darker nugget was from last weeks patch. Chris

Some one found a nice little nugget with the EQ 800 using the 11" coil, John. See Post 978 on this page. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=23409&p=40

After the rain storm / snow melt off, a place that was already work, was check again and the Gold Bug 2 did it's job again. 3 penny wt.

Thought I’d start a thread where folks can post there first gold finds of the new year. Here’s mine:

There was a spot that I had driven past hundreds of times over the years, and always in the back of my mind was some old timer telling me "I got a few bits there back in the SD days". But it just didn't "look" good. Well, I will never think that again! I decided to finally stop there after having a bad spell, and a bit of renewed interest in the GPX5000 teamed up with the 15" Evo coil. Well in short time I got 3 bits for 1.4 grams, and a heap of junk targets. I decided to go back for another look, but this time with a 12" Evo coil, and this was the next lot of finds:

Here is a new find this summer with GPZ . 4 1/2 troy oz. I credit my son with this find because I told him it was probably a big piece of tin. I listened to it and was super tired so i really didn't think we were going to dig something like that. He dug and pried at the nugget's hiding spot for a time as I watched and listened. I saw it come out but we were in the shade so it looked like a flat piece of rusty tin. When he dropped it in my hand I knew that was a great nugget. This was one of the best high five father and son moments we have ever had detecting.

I hope it is ok to post this here but I was checking out TNET and came across this newly found Nugget, http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/580966-wife-scores-big-one.html John.

Here is a Facebook post showing some Montana nuggets found with the Gold Monster. Though lots of gold has been found in Montana with metal detectors you rarely see any of it posted.

We’ve all heard “follow the drywashers” but I decided to follow the Monster lol. Since getting back from FL and enjoying time at the cabin it’s been tougher to find spots to play. One of my favorites from last summer is claimed up, and I can’t get to my other area yet due to high creek water. So I’ve been exploring new territory and found a spot that has my decomposing granite bedrock that is fun to detect. The first time playing with the Monster I got these cute little nuggies( Chinese coin was given to me by a local miner who felt sorry for me cuz I haven’t found one yet! ) But the detecting started to dry up after a couple more visits, so I decided to get the drywasher out. Now I know why this spot wasn’t claimed....no access road so I lugged all my gear a quarter mile over rock piles, through brush, over downed trees etc, and set up: After shoveling and scraping the bedrock I always stop and check it out with the Monster....found 2 little guys! Here’s another view of the area...not a soul around, and only the sound of my Puffer and the creek below....love it! Ran for about one and a half hours, and when I panned out the concentrates got some nice color! I think the Puffer and the Monster make a great team! Next time I’ll let the Goldbug2 come and play too....better for investigating the cracks and crevices.

....And posted over at Bill’s forum: http://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/topic/32353-17-oz-nevada-nugget/

I was out early this morning on a negative tide. I got started about 3:30 AM and ended about 7 AM. I was using my new metalless boots. The Equinox will not tolerate a boot with metal. I walked for about a mile before I found my first and only quarter. Someone had already been on one of my preferred beaches with a PI and they were leaving open holes everywhere. Whenever I see these guys I want to walk up to them and ask them what would happen if they stepped in any of the holes they left. They make no attempt to 'turtle' the hole so a jogger or old lady walker won't break something. When these guys try to be friendly I avoid them because I have gotten into shouting matches of this subject before. So please, if I can step in YOUR hole and feel a twinge of pain then I'm not your friend. This goes for the desert too. Anyway, I avoided this guy and got the hell back to a beach that had produced in the past but that was the way that I came. Just before I left to drive to another beach I observed a difference in the bottom. The other low (an ebb) had left a trough. The waves all night before had little energy and I figured I would hit this and end my hunt for the day. I crossed the point where I had gone right two hours before and I was now going left or south. About 100 yards in I got a little 9-10 signal in Beach 1 and I was surprised to have a 2.2 g/10k/nugget style ring. It proved to be a one off and when I finished that pattern I got out of the wet sand and used Park 1 on the dry sand until the end of my day. (Less than $1 in change.) It is always nice to see a full moon and get gold. Mitchel

Good week for me including my best day so far. Hunted wed, thurs, and today. Today I got my smallest and thinnest piece with the Monster. The nice "patch" ended as fast as it started but I sure had fun for 2 hrs of my 4.5 hr hunt!!!! You guys have a good weekend....!!!!! Wed. (4).....Thurs. (11),...Fri. (2)…...

I was out a couple of days ago, the temperature was in the low 90's and I was trying to stay in what little shade there was. Those conditions made me really slow down. I thought I heard a very faint squeak,it was repeatable at just the right approach and swing speed. It was one of those signals that says, "DIG ME". After moving several limbs I was about six inches closer to the target and it turned to a low warble. Then after scraping off about six inches of organic duff it turned into a screamer. After several inches I was rewarded with this nice little chunk Norm

Been about a month since I've found any but this little guy gave me some redemption...finally!!!!! Supposed to rain hard all weekend so I aborted a trip. Don't get too wet Reese and good luck over there!!!!!

All from 1 pocket actually 140 feet underground Mlgdave

And I mean little. The 2300 could just barely hear it and I had it the scoop 4 or 5 times before I could hear it in the scoop ? I`d say it`s a 0.05 g max. Dave

So I headed to the hills yesterday to get acquainted with the Gold Mode of the EQX 800. Equipped with ear buds and the WM08, I used Gold 2, and only deviated from the factory presets by adjusting the volume to 5, the tone volume to 5, and notched in the 0 segment on the discrimination scale. The ground mineralization was a little too hot to run max sensitivity; backing it down to 20 quieted the ground nicely, but still allowed the targets to really pop. I chose an old thrashed patch that I’ve worked with many detectors in the past, including the Gold Monster last summer. Seems someone had been detecting the area recently , as they left their excavations open. I powered up the EQX, and performed a noise cancel and auto ground balance. Not 5 minutes into it, and the Nox got a nice hit in the bottom of one of the shallow dig holes; scraping out an inch or two revealed a bright little nugglet. Just a few feet away I got another good response, this time in virgin ground. After removing the overlying carpet of moss, the target was still in the ground and much stronger. Digging another inch or two into the weathered quartzite bedrock, and the target was out: another golden bit.? After hitting a small patch of tiny foil bits, the ground yielded one more yellow goodie. During most of the hunt, I was running in all metal, unless I got into a healthy patch of hot rocks. They read a consistent -7,-8,-9 on the EQX display, whereas the nugglets were at 1 or 2. Iron falsing on square nails and such was much higher at anywhere from 11 to 35, and was easy to identify because the numbers weren’t consistent and wouldn’t pinpoint. All up, 0.25 of a gram.

My first time nugget hunting with my Equinox 800 - full story here: