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  1. This is what I am finding with my 5000 in the Gold Basin/ Meadview area with my Gpx5000, three different days out detecting, recently.
  2. During a recent detecting trip to the Rye Patch region of northern Nevada, I was intent on searching for the ever elusive large nugget at depth, wielding the Minelab GPZ 7000 equipped with the GPZ-19 coil, set to Extra Deep Gold Mode in Normal Ground Type. This combination of Gold Mode and Ground Type handles the local alkali ground very well, allowing the faintest signal responses to be heard; and good thing, too, as I would have certainly missed a couple of nice bits had the threshold been variable due to ground noise or EMI masking. They were buried at a depth of 18 inches and recovered from cracks within the weathered shale bedrock. A friend who was detecting with me swung over the undisturbed target zone with the Minelab GPX 6000 and 17-inch mono coil and there was no discernible response, so that added to the anticipation of deep, chunky gold…not exactly the large gold I was looking for, but at 3.3 grams and 2.2 grams, I'll happily put them in the poke any day!
  3. Thought I would recycle a previous post from a now defunct forum showing a couple of detecting trips and the end results of getting stuck while crossing a steep and narrow creek in the Bradshaw Mts of AZ. Awhile back, a couple of friends joined me to check out a hand dug hard rock mine/prospect in central Arizona that I had recently located but not had a chance to detect. No claims records or markers could be located and it didn't appear to have been worked in years. The previous miners had crushed the ore and shoveled it onto the crude wooden ore chute that snaked down the side of the ridge to the creek below. The country rock of the prospect hole appeared to be a mushy red quartz conglomerate that looked unstable. No hard quartz lead was observed. After several minutes of examination, and detecting around a large, indignant pack rat that currently occupied the prospect, we decided to depart the area. No gold was found but in the interest of keeping morale up, we decided to drink some of the "we found gold" beer anyway. The next day, I soloed to an area where I'd previously had good luck. It had rained a few days prior to my arrival and the ground was dry on the surface, but still damp a few inches down. I got into the area OK at first, then ran into a heavily washed out cut across the road, so I turned around going back out and as I angled down to cross a steep "V" shaped creek where I'd had no problem coming in, the mushy schist bedrock crumbled and dropped my rear bumper down enough where the Pintle hitch of my military style cargo trailer buried up, causing the bumper to be high centered with no rear wheel traction. Bummer. I cleared part of the hang up with a sledge hammer and chisel but finally had to resort to a high lift jack and stacked rocks for clearance and traction. While I was gathering rocks in the creek, I noticed that part of the bank appeared to have recently eroded and collapsed, exposing a couple of large rusty, vuggy chunks of quartz which looked interesting. After I was able to get my truck unstuck and up the road a ways, I grabbed my EQUINOX 800 and went back and started detecting the stretch of the creek downstream from where I had found the rotten quartz. Most of the pieces were on a shallow compacted layer of gravel in the narrow stream bed, and a few were on top of flat rocks covered with sand and dirt. After I started finding those little dinks I forgot all about getting stuck!
  4. My last trip of 2023 to Northern NV was everything I expected and then some. On the last day, I was able to break the 1 ounce bar I had set. I actually had 2 goals for myself, at least a 1/2 oz and if the gold gods were on my side, then hopefully an ounce. After soaking my Nevada gold to remove caliche, my weight was 31.4 grams. Soaking results shows some totally unique and different variations of Au. Some nuggets with crystallized characters, a few weathered and smooth pieces, 5 leaf gold types a few bigger chunks and many smaller picker types. Even have a triangle formed prize. My biggest nugget of the trip was 6.6 grams and has a bit of chevron pattern. Majority of gold recovered was with a GPZ-7000, but I did find gold with 3 other models of machines (EQ-800 with 6" coil, Manticore with stock 11" coil and GPX-6000 with stock 11" coil). I took in trade while on the trip the 7 from a DP member, as I didn't own one (too heavy). One good thing about winters is early morning temps are too cold to hunt and the amount of light in a day is cut by 5 hrs. So with my thinking of starting to swing around 10AM and finish around 3PM with a lunch break, is about all my body can take of swinging a GPZ-7000. Plus I needed to test the detector before I sold it. Pics show just how interesting a small area of the region can have different gold patterns. Below is the gold right out of the ground and showing 32.9 grams. Has not been cleaned. Next pic is after CLR soaking to remove the Caliche (Calcite) that seems to form on many of my NV gold nuggets. Final weight was 31.5 grams so I only lost about a gram. Not as many chunky nuggets this trip (getting smaller each time) This next 2 pics are front and back of the biggest find and also my deepest dig a 6.6 gram at 15". Leaf gold is more rare than typical nuggets, but I still think Chevron is even more rare. Solid dense nuggets are always a treat as they are usually heavier than they 1st appear. The biggest of these is only (half a corn kernel) but weights .9 of a gram. The Triagon type nugget (in center) is really cool and collectible (only if it was a gram or more). Notice it also has a darker gold color to it. When I see those black cubes, I really start paying attention to my detector. They are Limonite cubes and come in many sizes. Last pic is all the gold again and showing a token I recovered in Nevada. It says NATIONAL, NEV. Wonder when the abbreviation for Nevada changed from NEV to NV? Well, I hit my goal for the trip and am proud of my efforts considering how hoard these places have been hunted. Actually, one of my good friends had asked if I found new locations that had not been detected and the answer is no. All gold was recovered from the same places I have known about and hunted. Sure I walked a couple washes I personally have not swing, but my staff have. If you are going to hunt Northern NV for gold, a great resource is "Placer Deposits of Nevada" by Maureen G. Johnson. Yes, each of the sites I hunted is mentioned in the above book. There's your "Nugget" of knowledge folks. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone across the globe this week. Gerry
  5. If you’re not swinging a Coil in the Goldfields of Northern Nevada in the Month of October you’re missing the best ground conditions of the Year. My Wife Robin, broke her Ankle on Friday the 13th last Month. She finally got her leg into one of them Boots and has more mobility and told me to hit the Dusty Trails for a couple days. That’s all I needed as one of my hunting Buddies was heading out for a hunt as well. Driving on them gravel roads I could tell it rained since the last time I was out, but my truck was kicking up a cloud of dust you could see for miles. I met up with my Pard and loaded my RZR up and headed out to stretch my legs. We wanted to Patch hunt and looked for some dirt with some Colors we liked. We soon found a spot off the beaten path and spread out for the afternoon hunt. We both picked up a few before we headed back to camp. It was just enough sign of nuggets to hit it again in the morning. There was no signs of old dig holes which we wanted and the next morning we hit it again. We both hit a couple of spots that could bring more joy on a future hunt. But, we both had to head back home mid Afternoon. I worked on my disappearing Calluses on my hands from a couple weeks worth of washing dishes and look forward to more time on this new area to find its hidden bounty that we only got a sniff of. Until the next Hunt! LuckyLundy
  6. Last Friday I went to my PCSC meeting in Downey, California and saw our panning contests for the year. We also had our displays of the month but I forgot to get the picture. Part of my display was telling everyone about the Golden Heart Return. Thank you for all that looked at that thread and made comments about gold was coming to me soon. That, a rocket launch and the tides motivated to get out to the beaches after the meeting on Friday night. The launch schedule was for 12:47 AM. By the time I made it back to Santa Monica is was almost 11 PM so I just went to the beach. There had been some nice waves come in, but the beach had been detected! I decided to continue anyway. Earlier in the day I had detected a park before the meeting using the Equinox 800/6. I got the quirky idea that I wanted to leave the small coil on as I had found 4 gold rings on the beach with it the first time I used it nearby. So off I went to see the rocket launch and detect. Detecting on the beach with a 6 inch coil as opposed to the 15x12 is naturally quite different. The lightness of it can make me swing it too fast but it is sensitive enough and can go 7-8 inches deep on a quarter. It is a bit fun. When it was time for the rocket launch there was a delay of 30 minutes. It caused me to walk up the beach closer to the Santa Monica Pier. I wanted it in my pictures with the rocket. I had seen one before by 'accident' out detecting one night when I didn't know the schedule. This one I had the schedule on my phone. I detected my way up the beach and got a few coins and then a nice high pitch. I had my light off but I could still see something hanging from my scoop. It turned out to be a 25 inch, 17 gram, .925 silver, round, box chain with a little pendant. It had been washed up with the waves and missed by some of the other detectorists looking further down the hill. I can only imagine what they got. Yahoo was all I could say. A few minutes later the rocket did launch and I made a video. It is a little long. The rocket becomes visible about the 1:50 mark. I didn't realize that the formatting would not be full screen. This video makes it very difficult to see. It looks much better on my phone. I've seen several of the SpaceX launches now from Vandenberg and Santa Monica. They normally head south so they get closer during the launch. These launches remind me of watching the Apollo launches when I grew up in Florida. After the launch I detected more and found the stainless-steel ring pictured. It was successful for the night. The next night, Saturday I decided to use the 800/6 on another beach. At first it was not able to find any targets. I wondered if I had the coil working correctly but then I found a 'wet patch.' I was standing in the waves with my boots on getting wet but finding just about all of the coins and trash within a 50 ft area. I had the right coil for this job. My calf boots were filling with water but I was still getting targets. A combination of wind, waves and tide moved this patch to a spot where I could detect it. I found 6 $1 coins which I don't normally find. All of it was shallow. Each wave would move something else up. These are rare times but I was glad I had the small coil. I walked away several times to find another wet patch but there were none so I returned to find more. That was my session. Sunday night I decided to see if more targets had been missed. I walked about 5 miles with very limited success. Detectorists must have known there was not much about because I didn't see anyone or any dig holes. At the end of the session I heard a 6 and it was solid. I was hopeful it would be a ring and it was. I didn't realize it was gold until later. As I was circling the spot where I found the ring ... the battery icon started blinking and the volume crashed. I had just found the ring before all power went out. I've learned a lot about the 6 inch coil in the last 3 days. I found one part of an aluminum can at 15 inches and if you go really slow you can find coins at 10 inches. It is easy to use on the slopes and cuts and it detects 'bigger' than its size. I can hear a target/break in the threshold by getting within 7-8 inches of it while swinging fast. Then it becomes like the moth to the flame of enhancing the target location. This small coil is a tool and if I know there are big waves and moving targets again I'll use it. I think it can also help on detecting a long cut where the wash downs and the wash ups are shallow and quick to recover.
  7. After prospecting in AZ, NV, CA over the last 20 months I found my first big (big for me) nugget on a recent prospecting trip in S CA. Using GPX6+NF 12x7 coil. It was a faint signal from the surface but quickly started to get very loud as I started to dig. It was about 14 inches deep in the bottom of a wash with large boulders. I thought it would be a rusty piece of iron trash because at the end it was so loud but was surprised by a heavy lump covered in brown dirt. A quick mouth wash and it turned yellow. A Eureka moment for me since my previous best nugget was 1.4 grams. On the same trip I also found a 2.5 gram nugget and a few sub half gram nuggets.
  8. I saw this the other day. https://www.facebook.com/nikkovellios/videos/374401088251228
  9. If there is one thing I deeply hate, it is mingling with the crowds invading the beach when with the harness I have to reach the hot area avoiding unnecessary wasting of time with questions I have answered hundreds of times. Now, to paint the picture in detail, imagine something like 81F in the shadow, in October, on a Sunday and the people like flies everywhere along the coast. This time, however, I had to give in to temptation and return to the spot where until Friday I had been scouting about 14 grams🧐... Having to keep away from the vicinity of the sandbar and fu##ng people swimming over my head, I lost at least 3/4 of the available air in the cylinder when on the way back leaving the beach, with now 20 atmospheres remaining, a perfect 40 interrupted me... As usual the camera died I don't know how much time before the almost two hours I've been downthere.🤬 So this is what remains about today🏴‍☠️
  10. A link to channel 9 news article for the girls 15 Oct 2023 https://www.9news.com.au/national/gold-diggers-the-female-prospectors-chasing-riches-in-the-outback/8d43d590-e044-4d89-a0c2-6d5a8c76cb2b
  11. Had an annual physical with my Physcian yesterday. He wants me to increase my exercise. So.....that means I have to prospect more often and longer trips. I like it! I met up with my buddy this morning for a North Saskatchewan River dig. Close to freezing with a cold blistering wind from the east. The river levels are dropping, allowing new territory to dig. I hit a decent spot today too! Here's the kind of day it was........
  12. Does anyone know if this was a specimen or a solid? I've only been in the Piru area looking for gold one or two times over 10 years ago. I was told I would get into trouble there because they were protecting an invasive frog. I didn't know where to go. This history seems to say. Has anyone been there and had success? I've heard a few stories about people sneaking into some areas but don't know the details. SCVHistory.com | The Story Of Our Valley by A.B. Perkins | Part 5: Mining.
  13. Not a Sole to be seen! Granted the Weatherman was calling for Winds from a mild Cold Front moving in from the North East. Condor, gave me a call stating he was heading out for a Hunt, I gave him the Weather report for the area and a turn down to join. It brought mild rain to my area of Reno. The next day another Partner gave me a Call, I told him I’ll watch Weather and told him Condor was supposed to be out there. Weather Report was perfect, I text my Buddy…Hunt’s on and to met at the October Patch (a gold patch in Rye Patch) to setup Camp. Perfect weather, Cool and Sunny as I unloaded my RZR and remember all the Bullets of Sweat of the hot Discovery Day of the October Patch. My Trusty Hunting Partner pulled up and geared up as I text Condor asking his whereabouts! He called back and said, he headed back home after his day hunt with limited success. Again, not a Sole to be seen with the perfect Fall Weather! Giving it some thought of where to start on the drive up, I remembered this long Ridge that I found a Patch of Gold at both ends, but few nuggets in the middle. Both of us feeling fresh legged at the Noon Hour we set off to the ridge. I dropped my Partner off at the edge of the well hunted end of Ridge Patch and I’d pull up 1/2 mile with the RZR and start there and head up Ridge and then when he reach RZR he’d pull up 1/2 mile ahead of me and I’d repeat to end the days swing for the Missing Link Patch. Well I’m swinging away, enjoying myself when I feel my stomach telling me to refill it. I turn around to see where my Mobile Chuck Wagon was at! It was at least a Half Mile back and my Partner wasn’t in view below it. I swung back to the RZR, picking up one dink nugget that lead to another One Nugget Patch. Refueling my growler, my Partner comes screaming up the side of the Ridge, like he is running from a Mad Coyote that was chasing him. He had something in his hand, but his Smile gave it away at 20 yards! He plopped one of those Legendary Nuggets into my hand. My eyes and smile matched his! 😳 Both of us with filled stomachs drove back to his 8 Nugget Bonanza! A small drainage feeding off the ridge with a Dink Nugget at the head and a dink at the bottom lead him into the Flats between a distant Ridge. I’ve always considered this a No Go Zone as a No Gold Zone…as I’ve spent more than few hours in that Sage Brush with No Joy. We reach his Discovery Patch, in the Middle of Nowhere! 100 yards off our target Ridge. We named it “The No-Where Patch” right then and there. Partner, found the sweet spot of his Patch and I circled it like a hungry shark extending the perimeter. The No-Where Patch had two gaps that anyone could have swung a coil thru the middle of it without a clue of a missed Payday. The length of the Patch is around 30 yards and maybe 12 yards at the widest. We pounded it with our 6000’s and the next day I went over the sweet spots with a very slow swing with my 7000 with hopes of some deep missed ones, zero missed nuggets. Which indicates the vast majority of this Placer, shallow patches. We did pick up a few on the very outskirts of the No-Where Patch, which may lead to the next nugget patch yet to be named! Wore out, we headed home at sunset of the second day. Partner’s Big Boy at 1.6 ounces and his other big nugget to the right of that was a near 1/4 oz at 4.9 dwts. My Big one was 3.6 dwts on left. The High Plain Deserts still yield its treasures to the hungry seekers! Until the next Hunt LuckyLundy
  14. OK everybody.... let's see your favorite nugget that YOU found with your detector. Doesn't have to be biggest, etc. but your personal favorite? Maybe it's your biggest, or string gold, chevron type, or some character? Only one nugget, your favorite. Here's mine from Notellem creek.....
  15. The following is more of a modest technical report than the story of my latest session on the seafloor. Days ago I posted my (negative) impressions of the impact of beach programs on thin or open targets, comparing stainless steel necklaces and bracelets to gold on the ID scale. Briefly summarized, I found no way to achieve an efficient and stable setting that could be reused underwater in a salty environment. Based on P12 and after several modifications, I arrived at the only final setting that allowed me to conduct effective research. Assuming a pair of frequencies (never stated), we still know a limit of 14/24/40 kHz in the menu. However, I got the impression that in the P12 the sensitivity was higher having slightly more interference though on 24Khz and reduced sensitivity down to 88. This makes me think of a second frequency (less than 24 kHz, coupled as 14/24 rather than 4/14 in diving mode. Again, I assume that in P11 the behavior is less responsive to thin targets in spite changing on 40 kHz. And to finish, I add that no particular filter changed the audio noise for the better outside of a high value of reactivity on 2.5 . Here is a quick summary of the program. Reactivity 2.5 Sensitivity 90 Salt sens 8 Pitch tone Treshold 0 B.caps 0 Notch 0 Silencer 5 Iron vol 5 Disc 5.0 Audio filter 5 GB tracking Magnetic reject and underhere a common fish finally audible among way too noise reduced.
  16. Here's some of the gold found and also a mine tour. Unfortunately due to health I was forced to stop early this season. I did manage 129 bits this year and that helped put me over the 3,000 piece count. Five seasons total was 17.5+ ozt. from Montana and Idaho. Gold pan and jar pic is the same gold minus 1.5+ ozt. that has been given away and not in pics. Long story but I managed to hook up with the Co. and got permission to prospect on their ground. The Co. has never asked me for money or gold except for small samples to be analyzed but I have done the right thing and paid some cash and also gold. All they've ever asked for was information, keep an eye out for float, quartz outcroppings, etc. They have pretty much let me runamuck. They have treated me like I've been there for ever, best bunch of folks I've ever been around!!!!! In that 5 years I've only dug 1 nuggie over an ozt., and it was the world famous (my little world) "Butterball" nugget that weighed in at 3.55ozt. Here's a few shots from a mine tour the boys gave me and my neighbor last Wed. It was the coolest thing and literally ended with a BANG! We came across the boys setting a charge so we backed out probably 50yrds around a corner, then a side x side hauls by us and one of the Geo's says "there goes the guys that lit the fuse" then 20seconds later...BOOOOOOM. That was the neatest feeling that can't be described...Thanks guys!!! I gave the 15.5+ ozt. jar to the Co. as they've been so good to me over the years and the gold won't do me any good where I'm going. They tried to refuse the gold but I persisted they take it. Sad sack looking guy with the blue hard hat is me weighing in at 138lbs. Pic with me next to old cabin is from the beginning and one of Reeses' spots over by Helena, think I found 2 dinks that trip? Here's a couple specimens from Co. property. Shot of the buggy we all rode around in. Anyways...some random shots from the last 5 years doing what I love to do.....ENJOY it while you still can.....!!!
  17. Had to post something so I wouldnt get deleted---this is some stuff found in Northern Nevada --2009-2011ish. Mostly with the gpx4500
  18. The great debate of DISCRIMINATION, Iron ID and Target #'s when detecting for Gold. The war of words is about to begin. So lets try to stay on point and be courteous of others ways/ideas or skill levels for those who are newer to the game. This is an open end post and all who respond, reply, ask questions, disagree and or partially agree is 100% totally fine and discussion desired. So many times I’ve heard from the Experts who detect for gold, they say “Dig It All” and to never used Discrimination. So I guess there really is no debate? Just do what the Experts do and live with the results. Is that such like good advice from so called Experts. So if this is the case, then why do the detector manufactures offer it (discrimination or ID) on their machines? VLF Gold type detectors have had Iron Identification on some models since the 1980’s and I also know earlier General Purpose detectors offered DISC as far back to the early 70s. I imagine those of you who have been around for longer than I could even know of detectors with such capabilities go back before the dates I mentioned? Heck, even Minelab Pulse Induction detectors in the 1990’s provided Iron DISC feature. So are all those manufactures and variety of detector models, just selling us bells and whistles? Remember what so called Expert says, “dig it all”. The manufactures have to know something? Maybe there are times and or locations that Discrimination and or Iron ID is indeed a needed feature? Maybe the models with such are for dummies who know nothing as they have never spoken with an Expert? Could said Expert who does this for a living be wrong? Well most certainly not in his mind anyway. I’m going to give you my reasons why I end using detectors with the Iron ID or Discrimination features and I’ll even go into detail of using both the traditional VLF’s and the more robust Pulse Induction power detectors. I’m not an Expert and I do not do this for a living (well I do not hunt gold for a living), but I do sell detectors as my full time job. So since I’m not an Official Full Time Prospecting Expert, does that mean the knowledge I have of various detectors not count? That is to be debated down the road. I will say this though and those who know me for many years know I can back up my words with the amount of gold and the sizes of gold I have recovered. 1st off, when you are out there detecting, I want you to do what you are most comfortable with and what has provided you success on previous trips. I’m not here to make you change your ways. In fact, those of you who are just as happy with your results and not using DISC., I totally understand you are not about to change your ways. That’s totally fine with me…I’m happy for you. It’s the rest of the folks who are newer to the game of Electronic Prospecting for gold and or even those who are experienced hunters that have decent success…but you are wise enough to realize at times ..just maybe there is a better way at doing it? This article is for those folks. The average guy who goes detecting a few times at the same locations with a little jingle in the pouch. Your success at those sites tell, you’re doing it correctly so you’re quite pleased, happy and not willing to change your ways of thinking or doing things. I’m fine and happy for you. But, sorry that is not me. I’m all about Adventure and Travel with detectors in hand. I enjoy new detector technologies and trying to find ways to make them perform better for the task. I like gold and the varieties of gold I pursue is quite varied when compared to many other folks who chase it. I don’t know if it’s because of my knowledge and skill level of gold detecting or just that others are stuck in a pattern and don’t know any difference? My travels in pursuit of gold have guided me to more states than most (NV, OR, ID, MT, SD, WY, AZ, AK) 8 to be exact and 2 different countries (Australia and Mexico). I’m not counting gold jewelry and coins/artifacts (my list would be much larger), just natural Au gold in it’s raw form. All the states and countries I mentioned, I have had success with my metal detectors. In fact, I have yet to hunt a state and not find gold with a detector. CA, CO and UT will eventually get checked off my list. OK, back to the Discrimination/Iron ID discussion and why I want it on my detector tools. Why I feel DISC and Iron ID are of desired features on a metal detector and there are many times when they need to be used. Those features save me time and energy. Both Time and Energy are something I desire more and more each year and seem to get less and less of. A detector with the features of DISC and Iron ID can save me Time and Energy when digging. When I use a detector with such features, I get to SELECT the amount of targets I want to dig. Here is a typical situation I experience many times in my hunts. I hunt gold where gold has been found and I like to detect in such sites. Here are the main sites I prefer to hunt and use DISC and or ID machine. Old hand placer workings, Ore dump piles, and Dredge Trailing Piles. These golden grounds were proven producers at one time and they leave plenty of targets for us. Old hand placer workings (6 pics below of Au digs using PI DD coils with DISC or VLF's with VDI Readout) In OR, NV, ID, MT, and SD. The problem is most of the targets are trash and many of the trash items are man made iron. My DISC and Iron ID capable detectors save me time/energy in these gold rich locations. Using common math to show. How many times will that person dig in an hour? How many hours a day will that person hunt? How many days on that trip will they swing the detector and dig targets? Let’s say a person can dig 10 targets an hour and 6 hrs a day = 60 targets for the day. On average, average site produces 15 non ferrous targets and 45 iron targets. So of the 15 non ferrous targets, lets say 20% are gold (3 pieces of gold) of the 15 nonferrous targets and of the total 60 digs. In Eastern Oregon those numbers are pretty close. Here is where I like the ID. I can save Time and Energy by not having to dig 45 iron targets. I now am digging more non ferrous targets than the average guy so my gold count goes up. Say I saved T&E on those 45 iron targets so I still get the 15 Nonferrous, but the extra T&E allows me to dig 15 to 25 (not 45) more targets that are Nonferrous. I’ll be extremely on the cautionary side and say I only dug 15 more NF targets. That ends up 2X my gold count for the day and also still saved me T&E. Plus as well all know, the extra boost of finding more gold seems to earn me a little more Energy. Ore Dump/Hardrock Piles- (5 pics of success using VLF's & their Identification systems) Many areas I hunt in NV, ID, MT, OR and I’ve seen many in AZ have such hard rock ore dumps. Do you know the preferred detector for this kind of gold? Do you know if you take a target identification VLF and use it at such sites, you can recover more desired nonferrous targets. I select only certain VLF type detectors for these sites. Iron ID is nice and if that is all I have then most certainly, I use it. But I know (from previous testing) that certainly VLF gold capable detectors can go a step farther and provide me with even greater odds of Success at gold and saving me T & E. Dredge Tailing Piles – (8 pics of gold using VLF's & their ID features) Love hunting these locations and my success in Tailing Piles of ID, OR, AK, NV is golden. Some of my largest gold recoveries are from such piles and the funny part is most all of them were recovered with VLF detectors using Iron Discrimination. Why you ask? Because in dredge tailing piles, even a VLF detector can pick up a rail tie spike at 12” down. Even a VLF can hear a rusty prospectors tobacco tin or smashed sardine can at near a foot and a half deep. Even a VLF detector can hear at depths of 2 feet down for a rusty grease bucket or lid to a 55 gallon drum. How about the 55 gal drum itself…well I know for a fact some VLF detectors will respond pushing near 4 feet down. Are you man enough to dig those monster holes in loose rocks and gravel? If you have never attempted it, good luck. The material you are digging keeps caving in as you go down and the next thing you know…after 45 minutes, you have a 4 foot wide and 3 foot deep hole. Only another foot more to go. Oh those days…can kill an old mans ego for the whole trips…I’ve seen it happen. As you can see from the Success pictures, the ability to use Iron ID on Pulse Induction & VLF detectors has proved golden. Now, taking today's newer Identification ID machines a step further saves me much time on pursuing only the best and most probably signals to dig. No, there’s no magic to it, but I’ve learned a lot more than most about different kinds of gold and how it reads on these ID machines. So many of the sites I currently hunt, the bigger solid nuggets are gone and have been for 10+ yrs. But there’s still some of that specimen stuff the older technologies missed. Sites I enjoy detecting are the trash areas most others try for an hour or 2 and then they walk away is discuss. They’re tired of digging holes and finding iron nails, boot tacks and shovel heads. Sure, I dig a few of those shovel heads, but not as many as most others do. I’ve spent the time in the field and learned. I’ve purchased most of the newer technologies and tested/compared each to see how they stand. No one detector does it all, but I know this. I quality PI and a new technology VLF sure does cover most bases. After all, I can tell you with fact, that the last 5 yrs, my gold finds are better than most and the majority were recovered using my techniques in the locations I mentioned. It’s hard to beat what works and puts the gold in the safe. Knowing where and how varying gold finds register on your VLF detector is crucial. Here’s an example of what most folks encounter when in the field at an old gold producing site. Ore dump piles, are full of rail tie spikes and blasting caps. Also seems to be a beacon for lead bullets of a variety, but usually .22 and 9MM slugs. Many of my gold recoveries from these sites, the newest of VLF gold detectors can ID the difference between such targets. Also, the majority of gold specimens in a certain pile, seems to ID the same #’s or very close to it. Yes it does take practice and time to learn, but in the end, you have knowledge to be selective and save time/energy. Hand working placer digs has a bigger variety of trash items and one some of my locations, the gold is thicker, more dense and reads different. I usually use VLF ID’s to help identify and ignore the high conductor targets while concentrating on the lower ones. Most gold (not all) will read in the low to possibly medium range. Even using a Pulse Induction detector with Iron DISC is possible and quite rewarding. Dredge Tailing piles are a lot like hand placer workings, but they provide even a bigger variety of trash. These piles are the hardest to learn and use a PI detector. I prefer a VLF for most of the tailing pile hunts I do, as the machine itself is much lighter and easier to swing on side hills all day. Besides I don’t want to dig 2’ or 3’ deep holes and those occasional 4’ ones will practically kill you. On the rare occasion there is big thicker gold (Ganes Creek, AK). I recommend if you swing a PI, you better have a quality VLF detector handy to help ID as you dig. So many varieties of gold and the areas, terrains and methods they were minded in the US. Australia and other countries of the gold bearing regions are different and those of you from there may not see any use in my techniques and style of hunting or the detectors I use. That’s totally understandable and I have no issues. But if you do have hard rock ore dumps and hand placer workings with trash, it might be worth the time to swing PI and DD coil or a VLF with good target identification. I look forward to hearing from those who use my techniques and I also want to hear from others who might have things to add. What is most important about this post and discussion is the actual discussion and sharing of knowledge. After all, that’s why were on here right? Thanks for your input and reading.
  19. Last night I just had to get OUT and detect. We haven't had many waves but you just have to get out in the night sky and low tide and detect. A few dry sand coins and then only a nickel for over a mile. On the way back I got a bit of an iffy signal and it turned out to be a corroded, copper cross. At least it was something. While I was digging it around 1 AM a guy came up to me and just was asking questions. I told him about the energy needed to make targets get washed up. I showed him what I found and upon his parting he wished me good finds. That was nice. About 20 minutes later I got a 12 with the 800/11 and dug down about 7 inches and discovered this 'thing' I've never seen before. It's a ring but for two fingers. Then I couldn't read it to know if it was real or not. I couldn't make out a k so I thought it might be cheap. When I got it home I could see some workings and also read 417. It weighs 6.7g. The internet says it is 10K. Yahoo! It has been a few months since a gold ring ... that this one is a double. But what do you call it? What are the key words? I found this one online for sale from a pawn shop. It is 3.6g. Solid 10K Yellow Gold Two Finger Bar Ring 3.6gr. Size 5 | eBay
  20. I recently spent a couple of days with ---- ----- ----- and ------ at the famous ----- ---- mine in ------- county, California. We all found some nice gold, but I found a bit more because I was willing to dig a little bit deeper. The gold was mostly in a strata of ----- ---- rock and was very course and there were few small bits, even using a 6000 to check behind my 7000. If any of you should go there be advised to say to the left when you get to the --- ----- ----- or you will definitely get stuck for hours, and if you camp out be sure to ---- - ----- ----- because there are numerous -------- and ---- --------- teeth and will tear you apart with there claws. Oh, by the way don't try to get to the mine by going -- --- ----- ----- as the map is incorrect and you will ---- ---- ------- and there is no place to turn around
  21. polished end of specimenthis came off of a matrix on the end of a red host rock seen in following pics end of a host rock . A matrix cluster of … ? host rock is red and seen in the following pics peice end of a host rock matrix of a host rock with large cluster matrix on end of red rock end of host rock matrix
  22. Here is the latest Video. The . 63 g nugget I will put up next.
  23. I took a trip out to Rye Patch last Wed. Packed the whole family, CEO and herd of Doodle Dogs, towing the 5th wheel toyhauler with RZR aboard. Weather was awesome on day 2, almost needed a hoody at sunup, but that changed quickly. Day 2 I did some quick recon with the 2 big Doodles riding shotgun. Clearly, Rye Patch had seen some significant rain in early June. The roads were rutted and the gullies showed a lot of erosion, with bedrock showing here and there. I detected some places that had produced gold in the past for no joy. The next morning my big Doodle dog was really feeling out of sorts from a recent vet procedure. We made an appointment for Fri morning, so that shut down my detecting. Fri, we hauled her to Fallon and got some medication, then opted to take the Boss and Doodle Dogs home to Fernley. I drove back out to Rye Patch Fri evening, leaving the Doodles and Boss at home. Turns out to be a good decision since the weather turned hot quickly. Sat morning I got out early and detected a long line of exposed bedrock. Since mine were the only boot tracks, I decided to cover a lot of ground looking for the sitting ducks from the recent erosion. Surprisingly, the freshly exposed bedrock was barren, but I managed to get the bigger nugget in a newly exposed cut in the gully side wall. It got hot by noon so I surrendered and sat out the heat in the trailer with generator going and air con on max. Afternoon cooled down some and I went back out to another gully with exposed bedrock. Again, nothing in the exposed bedrock, but I pulled 2 out of the freshly cut sidewall. Sun morning I was out early. No breeze and a promise early hot weather. I put in nearly 3 hrs of detecting exposed bedrock and fresh sidewalls with not much but trash. I did a complete loop, ending up back where I had found the nuggets yesterday. 10 ft from one of my dig holes I got a faint whisper of target tone. I should mention the atmospherics were jumpy and the 6k with 14x9 Coiltek was sparky, I lowered the Sens down to 5 and that seemed to help. The nugget was flat and way down in the bedrock. I'm glad I kept my Dave' Gold Australian pick which makes quick work of the soft bedrock. I was sweating buckets by the time I got the nugget out and decided to call it a trip. Rye Patch is a tough place to score nuggets these days. All the washes I was working have been detected 1000's of times. The freshly exposed bedrock was never all that deep so my only advantage was I was first to detect the newly exposed sidewalls. If you are planning a trip mind the weather, and as always it's a tire killer out there. I saw 2 trucks on the road fixing flats.
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