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My buddy Steve and I re-visited the "desert dink patch" area and managed to add a few more to the poke yesterday and this morning. May be our last session for a while as we both have deer tags to fill. Here's the November tally thus far... Steve's (GPX 5000) Mine (SDC 2300) Steve discovered another use for his pick. Turns out it makes a pretty good beheading tool! Check out the rattles on this guy... Fourteen buttons!!! What a stud! We usually don't kill them but this one was too close to camp for comfort. Good Luck! Dean

Last week I flipped the ole Zed ferrite ring and it landed on heads (gray side up) so instead of the desert Lisa and I headed to the high Sierras for a nice long weekend of gold hunting. We were lucky to find some of the yellow stuff. 9 pieces totaled a little over 8 grams. I found a nice 5.2 gram piece that will make a perfect pendent for her next birthday. I covered some ground trying to find a new patch but I had most of my luck slowly and persistently working the patch that I had scored previously. The 2300 never left the back seat of the truck on this trip as I'm starting to feel now that I don't want to put the 7000 down and miss a deep nugget. Speaking of deep I dug a big lead slug on this trip that had to be 24 inches down. The deeper you go the more exciting it gets. Good hunting to you all. strick

Found a few weeks ago.

went up to the sierras for a few day of hunting to test out the zed after installing the new software update and getting my yellow ferrite. my take, the update made a noticeable difference in the behavior of the GPZ, in basic settings it was much more stable and slightly more sensitive, so much so that I was choosing to run zed a little bit hotter. the ground chatter was readable in a way thats hard to explain and tiny targets were popping, although some subtle signals may have been masked. still i was recovering some of the tinniest pieces of trash and bird shot yet and recovered a .38 gram piece down about 3 or 4 inches, that gave a clear signal after a little boot scrape from a very very pounded patch. i almost had one little mishap while i was wandering through the forrest, as i was walking along stepping over dead wood and rocks it became apparent my pick was not banging on my leg. somehow it came unstuck from my holder and i didn't notice it falling off... so, s**t... i have no idea when or where it went and I've walked quite a ways since my last dig. luckily my ZED gps trails were on and after about an hour of walking with the gpz backwards and upside-down i was able to retrace my steps and with one last effort before daylight fell, found myself looking down to see my pick at my feet, I'm gonna paint the handle orange so its easier to find next time.

Hey everybody, With summer officially over here in Idaho, it will be time for me to start heading south towards the desert southwest, hitting my favorite gold fields along the way. Between 70-hour work weeks and area closures due to forest fires during the past few months, I was able to hit the local nugget patches with the GPZ 7000 only a handful of times...far less than I usually do...but the new ZVT technology of the Zed more than made up for it. I have literally scoured these old patches for years with VLF gold machines as well as most every model of Minelab PI units, from the old SD 2100 on through to the GPX 5000; it was a rare event to find a buried crack or crevice in the bedrock that contained a few small nuggets, however with the Zed it has been a common occurence with half a dozen to 2 dozen nugget pockets being unearthed. I was lucky to find three nuggets in a day with the GPX 5000, but have been averaging a dozen with the 7000 - in all, 98 pieces of gold with a total weight of over 25 grams - not a bonanza by any means, but it's a real eye opener as to how much gold the new zero voltage transmission technology can pick up in an area that has been virtually cleaned out with previous technologies. Looking forward to more fun in the sun this winter...hope to see you in the gold fields and good luck out there!

I got out early this morning in an area I found last year. I had high hopes that the 2300 had missed some deep gold. Very little trash last year, so I intended to dig everything. Unfortunately, the last rain storm really hit that area hard and stirred up a bunch of old can fragments. I concentrated on bedrock areas with a foot or less of overburden. I got a good signal and opened up a foot deep hole to bedrock. Interlocking rocks made it no easy chore. As I'm scooping out the loose rock this nugget is laying right in the bottom. Whew, I'm really pleased so I take a break in the shade. After I get all my gear ready to go again I sweep the dig hole, a booming signal comes through. Wow, this is gonna be awesome, not. It takes me another half hour to open up the hole to get more interlocked rocks out. I'm sweating buckets, but jazzed at the propect. I finally get the last rock out and start scooping out the gravel and this old tin can seam comes out. Total buzz kill. I pushed on for a 4 hr rountrip, nothing else but junk.

I made it home to godforsaken Yuma AZ. Temps are downright awful. Low of 84, high 107. Fortunately, there are a couple hammered gold areas 30 min from my front door. I've been out for a couple hrs at sun up for the past few days. The ground is relatively mild so I run the Z hot, HY, ,Normal, Sens 12, minimum threshold. Clay domes and red bedrock send the machine into yowling and growling fits, but I'm getting impressive depth on tiny bits. The smallest is 2 grains, the largest 2.9 grams. The 2300 missed that bigger nugget last year. I saw my own dig spots not a foot from the bigger nug, but it was down a solid 12 inches. Can't wait for cooler weather and a chance to do some serious detecting.

working these tailings is paying off everytime we go there. getting the gold out of the quartz is another job.

went up to the high sierra for a couple days of swinging zed around in the dirt. first day out spent the morning hunting in an area that looked heavily worked with not much to show for my time except a small pile of lead and a mess of tiny rusted iron fragments, the gpz can really see those even though i can barely find them in the scoop. stopped to take a break and eat a few crunchy nut bars and drink some coconut water and then headed back out with my zed settings different than in the morning with sen up to 20 and the thresh down to 15 (later i set the tresh at 3 this seemed to run even better). after about 20 or 30 minutes i hit a nice soft high low and dug this little 1/2 gram piece, wonderful seeing something with a glint of yellow in the scoop for a change. hunted the remainder of that day and the next with nothing to show but more junk and a lot of hot rocks.

Howdy folks, Got out sunday for the first time in awhile. I ditched my Zuma a few weeks back climbing a steep hill to an old mine and cracked afew ribs so today was my first day digging much. Out of the house after chores and lunch. I hit a stream that i have never mined but have been wanting to check out for awhile. Found good access lately so i gave it a shot. Found my one and only nugget of the day at the second bedrock outcropping i scanned - about 20 min in to my hunt. It was wedged into a crevasse on the downside of a slight drop. I fanned off a little DG sands and out she shone. Low and Slow for the next hour but nothing. Up slope from this stream was a series of very rich ground sluice and high terrace placer mines so i decided to head that way and scout a new spot. Found some good looking ground to return to and work but found no more gold. I did find a knife with a little wood still on the handle - much of it crumbled when i dug it up but a little held on and its just pulp. Also dug out a cool shovel thats got a neck and rivet style i have never seen. The knife was near the top of a rise at the edge of a very small ground sluice workings - just the place for a brake or some lunch - nothing else around it anywhere near by. Love the character of this nug - just under 1 dwt weight wise and warbled like old lead on the SDC coming off the target. A short but very needed and enjoyable hunt May ya find some gold! AjR

This specimen was found in Downieville with my 3030. It is 18.3g.of mostly gold with a little quartz.

Arrived home after a quick trip north of Perth, just seven days and three of those taken up with driving there and back. Set up camp on some likely looking ground and keen to try out my discounted GPX4500 with the Coiltek Elite 14 inch coil I managed to get in two hours before dark on the second day for nil return. I have a Zed but my reason for buying the 4500 was for patch hunting, sweep speed being the determining factor. The GPZ 7000 is unbeatable in the sensitivity stakes but she likes a slow swing so I figured, find the first one with the 4500 and then put the Zed into action. Next morning I'm off on a four kilometer loop from camp and bugger me my first find is just 100 metres from camp on my return! A nice little .8 gram piece six inches down, the 4500/Elite combination gave a very definite dig me signal, very happy with that setup. Had a late lunch and then put the Zed into action, several more small nuggets and a nice nine gram piece before the heat got the better of me. I just kicked back and relaxed for a couple of hours before getting back into it, another couple of little ones for a total of 14 grams for the day. Just before knockoff I had what I thought was an iffy signal with the Zed, six inches down still iffy, eight inches and the signal was better but it had been a long day so I knocked off, time for a cold beer, left the hole open to check with the 4500 the next day. I also left another very faint Zed signal undug to compare the 4500/Elite combo on tiny gold. Here's a pic of my smalls for the trip

I just seen this nugget posted on PA's Site, Not quite a retirement Nugget but it sure would ease the pain https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6453&p=57 https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/img/member-images/5730/1442825719_img_1485.jpg That's 13.117 ozt

So when you get out and run your detector in the right places, this is what you can find: Its the gold I've been getting in various locations in Plumas and Sierra counties in July, August and early September - just going out and prospecting for a few days at a time. I figure I'm probably out digging about 1/3rd of the time. This is just from my detecting in California - it does not show about a half ounce of fines and small bits from some days of dry washing nor does it show the gold I have detected in Nevada. All of this gold was detected using either Minelab's GPZ 7000 or the SDC 2300 - I find I am using both. I use the GPZ in areas with more open country and little in the way of trash, and the SDC 2300 when I am working in trashy areas. The SDC does not have any iron discrimination, but its faster to pinpoint and get the trash out of the ground when you are digging a lot of targets and you may find multiple trash targets in a single swing of the coil. I have used the GPZ in what were once trashy places after the trash has been cleaned out.The two make a great team. The largest nuggets across the top are 0.52, 1.10 and 0.41 troy ounces from left to right. Finding these big guys was very exciting - though every one is a joy to discover.

This Guy must be one of the most successful prospectors In OZ , check out the Video and see the rocks and watch it til the End,,, Enjoy john https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOB-7j8JQa4

Hello After a couple months of too much going on and too much forest fire smoke to even see, finally got back out detecting with fors gold. We hit an old hydro mine that we only detected a small part of last year. The place has alot of iron junk but was able to pull gold and a bunch of lead out regardless. Detected for a couple hours for a 5.4 dwt day. It was a nice day, the skies are finally clear of all the smoke, and it was so good to see the ski blue again. Thanks to all the firefighters for doing a good job on the worst fires in 50 years. Amid the drought conditions on top of all that. I think fors gold was happy to get out aswell. Good luck

Got out three times this week for a total of about ten hours of detecting time. Spent some time looking for a new patch, but when it wasn't to be, I went back over old patches and didn't come home with the skunk, just over a quarter oz.

I am re posting this nugget because the quality of the picture in the original post just didn't show the beauty of it. Thanks to Steve H for the pictures. The gross weight is 4.68 oz. (145.1 grams) net weight is 3.68 oz (114.46 grams)

The SDC 2300, is a fantastic detector and I lost count of the nuggets I've found with it. I sold my 2300 and upgraded to the Big Brother GPZ 7000. What I noticed with the GPZ, it finds the same nuggets...but deeper and it has a bigger coil to cover some ground with. Now, a bunch in our group still swing the 2300 and I don't push the 7000 advantage on them. I know the 2300 can put up a mighty good fight with its Big Brother 7000. This mornings hunt was one of them days, no skunks just smiling faces! Until the next hunt. LuckyLundy

Four members of our group met up for some hot August gold hunting in some rugged country. SDC 2300, was the choosen nugget Slayer vs our heavy GPZ for the hike up the steep hill sides that we needed to scale with the use of our hands to reach the exposed Acient channels of the hill sides. Plenty of nuggets, but to steep of and angle to keep your feet under you and swing a coil without sliding down to the bottom of the hill and working you way back to the pay zone. Tuff earned nuggets, dirty tired prospectors and some cold beers at camp...perfect hunt! Until the next hunt LuckyLundy

Had an awesome day off today. All caught up on the yard work so my wife and I were able to spend some quality time together and I also managed to make it out for about two hours with the SDC. Scared up these dirty nuggets... They can't hide from the SDC. Hope everyone had a great day as well. Dean

I haven't posted a nugget in a while...don't get me wrong I'm out 4 to 5 days a week and having a blast at this hobby! Today, I felt like a hike and some patch hunting. So I, tightened my boot laces and loaded my pack up with water. Well as you know not every patch hunt will end up in a new patch. But you can mark some ravines and saddles off your to detect list. Lucky for me, on the way back to the truck I was able to swing through and old patch. Now just like the GPX's the GPZ coil needs to inch along when swinging over some hard it dirt. Your targets may not even make a squeak, so listen for a nosiey spot that won't balance out and bust that dirt a inch or two for enhancing the possible target! Well this nosiey spot was a good one, at 10" deep and past the trash layer I was starting to rise and eye brow and the target was screaming through my Black Widows. I had to dig out 5 or more inches and the target was overloading and not feeling like making my hole wider to find the exact spot to dig, I pulled out my pin pointer. It's a great tool and has aided me in numerous deep target locations. The pinpointer was telling me, I was on target, but was a couple more inches down. So, I cut out some more dirt and then used the pin pointer again...this time it nearly vibrated out of my hand. I fingered out a little dirt and seen a glint of gold. At least 17" deep the 1.45 dwt'er was in the poke and I headed home for some lunch...until the next hunt LuckyLundy

I thought it might be cool to start a new thread where you tell a fun or unique story accompanied with a pic, even if it was a long time ago. I have a handful of such ideas but chose this one: I had always hoped to find a real white quartz/ gold specimen. About a year ago I was hunting a small creek with my "SDC Birdshot Pro" where I had found many bedrock nuggets over a 6 to 8 week period. This day I was only getting bullets, birdshot and rusty square nails. I was starting to get burnt out with that and ready to move to a different area as I was hearing another "bullet sounding" target in alluvial creek gravel. I turned to leave but stopped and looked back at where the target was, and again listened to the target. I knew it was another bullet and I usually dig all my targets. But again I turned to go, again stopped and looked back and just stood there staring down. Finally, I sighed then bent down and had the target in the first scoop. My eyes went wide as I chastised myself for nearly making a rookie bone head mistake. It's not very big but for me it's a treasured little piece.

My buddy and I have been looking at a promising spot on Google Earth for the past few weeks so we decided to give it a go this weekend. We started early on Saturday morning and had to wait out the rain for a while as we gazed down this monstrous canyon that didn't look that monstrous on Google Earth. No shrinkage here. We did "the hike" which turned in to a death march and didn't even turn our detectors on . After braving the heat and being tired and hungry from our "hike" we decided to go re-visit an old area that always gives up a dink or two so that our effort wasn't a total bust. We both scored three for the afternoon. My buddy had visited another nearby spot on Friday afternoon after he got done with work and he scored three there as well. The only positive that came from "the hike" was that we spied some other good looking country (not in the bottom of a huge canyon)and decided to go there and check it out this morning. Now, lesser (smarter) men would have stayed home and got a massage after "the hike" but not us. And it's a good thing that we are not that smart. In just a few hours this morning I scored fourteen and my buddy another three! So, our weekend total was twenty six. I swung my SDC and he his GPX5000 with a "Sadie" coil. Fun in the Arizona sun. Here are some pics of my take... My buddy did a careful excavation of this one. It shows just how stuck they can become in the bedrock. Good luck. Dean

Hi, I just returned from a ten day trip in the Gasgoyne area of Western Australia. The first seven days were spent going over new ground patch hunting without any luck then ground I know has produced for the bread and butter gold. There is over 50 bits the largest being four grams and a few nice specimens.