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Not every hunt is what you hope for! Nice nuggets, dinks or a Skunk is one thing for certain. My goal for today's hunt, was to burn some of the great food I had at a couple Reno Casino's over the weekend. I wanted to hunt a patch, but on the way I was swinging through and old patch first with the GPZ. I found myself keeping busy, digging up Bird Shot in this old patch which I thought we got them all. Well where there's trash in and old patch there's still nuggets left. Didn't take long before I dug up a dink, lots more BIrd Shot and another ding! From stretching out my stomach this weekend, I build up a hunger and called it a hunt. I still need to swing the GPZ on the patch I intended to today, but there's always tomorrow...Until the next hunt. LuckyLundy

Well it wasn't the best of weather this week in the Rye Patch area. One day it was very windy and all I could hear was these three nuggets! The next day was much better and all I found was dinks, what's up with that...lol. Headed home today to beat the rain called for Friday and ran into some May Snow Flakes at Donner Pass...love them new tires! Until the next hunt LuckyLundy

Back home now for the summer in northern Idaho, I got out to swing the mighty Zed for a couple hours at an old spot where the skunk now dominates when searching with a vlf or pi machine. I got the first signal within the first minute after powering on, and after six inches of digging the target was out of the hole and in my scoop - a small golden "watermelon seed" nugget. At that point I knew it was going to be another productive outing with the Zed. Most of the gold unearthed was small and thin - more like flakes than nuggets - too deep for the vlf's and invisible to the pi's. It's going to be a great summer thanks to ZVT!

Headed up to the high sierras on Friday for quick one day recon mission. I wish I could have spent at least 3-4 days up there. Hopfully in the next few weeks that will happen. Beautiful country. The amount of work that the old timers did is amazing. Boulders stacked 15 feet high. And trenches 15 feet deep. What a way to make a living. We have it so easy now a days. Makes you wonder what the gold was like back then. Were there 5 gallon buckets to throw it in? Got the meet the legendary Klunker finally. Thanks Norm for taking the time to drive up and meet with us and show us where the claims are. Your Bernese Mountain dog is a compliment to your good looks. strick

Had a great time this past weekend in the Nevada desert. The weather was a bit crazy with lots of rain, some hail and a bit of snow even. A special thanks to Gerry and crew for taking the time to show Lisa how to use her Gold Bug 2. I think I'm in trouble now as she has the bug real bad. As we were leaving she said that the next time a big rain comes through we need to drop everything and run back to Nevada lol. Also thanks to Lunk for spending some time with me on the ZED settings. I even got to shake hands with Steve Herschbach and Chris Ralph! It was great meeting you guys. Wish I could have stayed around for the talk but there was no way I was going into that trailer! Lisa's nuggets are on the right.

Some big nuggets unearthed in WA yesterday afternoon, apparently another good signal was left overnight to dig out today. http://gpwa.forumotion.com/t221-30oz-and-50-oz-with#1161

Now I wish there was some epic story to go with this find to match the sense of achiement I got from finding it. I have been detecting for around 6 years and have dedicated a large amount of time to researching the topic (for both gold nuggets and treasure/jewellery) and I have been reasonably successful. Well at least I have always had a good time out hunting . Anyway. Our local beaches have become sanded in over the summer and finds have been hard to come by of late with just the odd gold ring for entertainment (and then just 9ct). Tonight I went to a beach and noticed that the far end, about 200m away, had washed out exposing the soft clayey bedrock. The base is a sort of mudstone and in this area had just a few crevices that might hold goodies. The rest was smooth and barren. Most of the crevices had iron signals which kick the discrimination of my excal 2 into action and killed the threshold. So I get a loud positive signal and look down. See the edge of a gold tinged coin, no way, and I pick it up. JOB DONE! Meant to be I recon.

My office computer woes shut me down this afternoon. Soooo, I left it to the IT guys and escaped for a short swinging session with the SDC. Found this little .2 subgrammer within 10 seconds of turning the machine on! It was left for me courtesy of a dry washer who, obviously, did not believe in detecting his tailing pile. I walked up to the pile that was maybe thirty yards from my truck turned the machine on performed a quick balance swung over the top of the pile and BANG... Signal! Out came this little guy. There were four piles within a few yards of each other so I kicked them all down and detected them. This was the only one. Climbed back in the truck and was out of there in about an hour. I think this is what they mean when one "turns lemons in to lemon aid". Not huge by any stretch but it beat the skunk. Dean

I’ve been using a specialty detector in search of gold nuggets for over 20+ years. Some of the tips and lessons learned while in the gold fields are not as well known by many of today’s newer hunters. On my last trip to Australia I was fortunate enough to run into a full time nugget hunter (I don’t recall his name) and we chatted up our experiences and knowledge. One of my eye openers was when he shared with me a gold nugget that sticks to a rare earth super magnet. Since that time, I have always paid a little more attention to my Hot Rocks and especially the ones that look like this. Wonder how many nuggets and or meteorites we have tossed into the nearest bush because we did not know? If anyone else has photos of nuggets stuck in ironstone please share so we can all learn. Yes I did purchase the nugget from the guy as I needed Proof and also wanted to educate others. It weighs a total of only 2.6 grams but I expect at least half the weight to be gold.

Hope this picture turns out. This was found in Northern Nevada in the last two weeks. It has been dipped in acid but just enough to bring out the character of the nugget. The weight is 2 1/2 ounces after being cleaned. Pretty piece with more to come, hopefully. Steve

This one gets funny near the end as the detectorist gets a bit frantic trying to find that nugget!

A whopping .13 grams... but it busted the skunk! Took the SDC for a swing in the rain today and scored first gold as well as some junk with the new machine. Learning the SDC language. The dime (2010) was the first target of the day. The knife is an El Cheapo brand and will be relegated to utility status. I also did the head phone lead mod and it works like a charm. The stock Koss phones will now be back ups. No looking back now. Thanks to everyone for all the tips and tricks for the SDC. Much appreciated. Dean

Hello All, Here is another short video I filmed of a nugget I found at depth with the GPZ 7000. Makes me wonder how deep one would dig a multi-ouncer with the amazing metal detector. Thanks for watching. Rob Allison Rob's Detector Sales

I spent a few hours time checking out a club claim just a little southwest and over the hill from Rye Patch with no success, although the GPZ did find about an ounce of scattered lead and copper. on my way through the desert heading to rye patch at what i thought was a safe speed to avoid tire damage, my luck ran out and my right front tire turned into something that looked more like a birds nest. I haven't used the spare for a while and forgot it was one of those skinny you don't really want to be driving in the desert type of get you home jobs. I pull the thing out and damed if it don't feel just a bit soft... I grit my teeth, put on the tire i wish id checked before i headed out and hope for the best. I probably had a good 20 to 25 miles before i had any hope of paved road. kept the speed around 15 until i hit pavement and breathed a big sigh of relief. I detoured into lovelock and after a quick stop at Jim's Tire Store, (not to be confused with Jim's Auto Service a few blocks away) and i was on my way with a good used tire for 50 bucks mounted and balanced. I was finding bullets and very small pieces of metal also a single strand of very fine copper wire from graded wire about 2 cm long, most of this stuff was shallow. Ive been thinking i have to be missing something, but my 3 grain and spongy 149 grain test nuggets provided a great signal. finally very close two a small desert shrub i hit another signal, it sounded like the other signals, but the location next to the bush was more hopeful for me and when i removed the first inch or two my signal stayed in the same spot. I could be off but I was pretty cautious and dig my holes wide, id guess this was at 5 to 6 inches deep and a strong signal. Finally my first piece not much at .56 gram fully cleaned, but a start and much better than lead. i worked that area very hard with no more luck and drove back to Lovelock for the night. next day i headed back for another session with renewed hope, finding a little nugget gave me a little confidence the detector was really working. just as I was nearing the first place i wanted to check out my left rear tire found a sharp little piece of bedrock. I was only going 10 mph or so, to no avail another flat... at least my crappy donut spare tire is now filled with air. so, i spent another couple hours as long as i was there, but did not have the liberty to do any scouting around at different spots as the only reasonable route at this point is one that takes me back to pavement.

After spending my first week with the GPZ 7000 on some old patches in Nevada, I am a true believer...an official "Zedhead". Pictured is an half ounce of nuggets, some surprisingly deep and others surprisingly shallow...enjoy.

Hello All, Here is another short video of a very small gold nugget I found at depth with the new Minelab GPZ 7000 metal detector. It's amazing on the depth this unit is getting. Hope you enjoyed. Rob Allison Rob's Detector Sales

The monkey just jumped off my back and ran down the dry wash in Arizona! The first two nuggets found with my GPX4000! Iv'e found plenty panning, sluicing and dredging, but these are the first nuggets found detecting. Awesome! Long time coming.... -audog First nuggets - chrisshawver7@gmail.com - Gmail.html

My last trip to Northern Nevada Goldfields, started off with a few nuggets at each place we hunted. My last day started off pretty good and at lunch we tossed them on the scale I had 4.82 dwts and only needed a dink to hit my goal of 1/4 ounce. Now late in the afternoon, I was the only survivor of my hunting party everyone else called it a hunt and headed home. I was lost in my thought as a truck pulled up next to mine and I noticed it was Lunk. He said, Rick your one Ridge from my patch, you'll get that dink there. Well feeling some what refreshed, we hit the Ridge. I found myself in the same rut as Lunk and his partner where adding to their pokes. The GPZ, is a very sensitive detector and I did find a micro dink. But not near enough to get me close to achieving my goal. The Sun was setting on top of the mountain and was starting to get the evening chill and I hated the thought of coming out in the morning just to find a dink before I headed home. Lunk and Partner, looked like they where about to load up and I walked over to say goodbye. Lunk, pointed to his patch and told me I left you one, go find it. As their truck crested the Ridge I had a sweet target which was gold and I added one more for good measure. Until the next hunt, thanks for the Rut Buster pointy finger, Lunk LuckyLundy

Hello everyone, I found out yesterday that i wouldn't be able to get out this coming weekend so i took a short 4 hr trip into the place i nabbed the merc nugget and saw the Mountain Lion afew days back. It snowed last night and i was stoked to have a wintry day of mining. We've basically had no winter the last two yrs so this was a welcome suprise. My wife dropped me off and the dogs and i slowly made are way down into the headwaters. It was slow going for my Queensland Healer Zoe, she's going on 10 and after braking her back while mining last year has never been as spry. Droping over the ridge the snow slowly rose until it was waist deep but very light and fluffy so easy to brake trail. We got about half way and ol Zoe slipped into a small streamlette and couldn't get out, so down i went to get her and away we go. We arrived at the spot i'd scored the last nugget and i went to un-stacking the old tailings that the nugget had been just along the edge of. A half hour later and snow ablown i had opened up another 10 sq ft or so of bedrock and began to detect. With the snow flakes growing in size i hit the small piece first with just the faintest of a whisper. I doubted it was actually a target and thought it was ground noise until i got it in my scoop and closer to the coil. The bigger piece came a few minutes latter near the upper edge of the area i had cleared it was a cool mellow tone. Knowing this area rarely has any flakes or fly chit, but wanting to be sure i had brought my EZ sluice. I put thru about half of the gravels on the bedrock but got only one small flake as expected. That took my few hours and left an hour to hike out so i decided to clean up. I snapped the pic of the gold and then drooped the small piece as I tryed to put it in my poke. looked for it a little and then figured easy come easy go - i'll get it when i return in the future. I hiked out a different route up a more sheltered ridge which was good for the old dog being the snow was mostly ankle deep but very windy. Took pics of the old road that hits the ridge i came in on. I acquired a video camera lately and used the still shots from it for the first time today. They appear a little dark but will work on that in the future. I had a great time and enjoyed the solitude and brisk quiet the snow brought to the forest. I was very stoked on the little nugget, only weighed .2 grams, but its the roughest piece I've seen come from here which is cool because I've been trying to find the golds source up the hill. The old timers have a few runners above but they could have missed one. Likely the last deep snow trip for the old dog but a rememberable one for sure - and I'm proud to say ive gotten gold every trip out with my trusty SDC. I hope you enjoy the pics AjR

GPZ nuggets so far, all from old hammered patches, all from Arizona. 77 nuggets, the biggest is 2.2 dwt, total weight is 21.2 pennyweight. Enjoy the picture!

No nuggets for me but I had bought some gold panning dirt from an Ebay seller from Arizona for $40 + $8 shipping for 4 pounds . I got me a nice blue plastic washtub from Wally World ,holds about 7 gallons of water. I used a small gold pan to pan out the dirt finally, in the washtub , with nice warm bath water. This seller uses a contraption that looks like a cement mixer but with a cylindrical screen mounted in the center with a spraybar that he shovels dirt into .He has a claim near Rich Hill, Arizona he says. He has videos on Youtube. His outfit is Johnny Gold Dust and he will take people out to his claim for $50 a day per person, up to 14 days.His email is noyesboy@yahoo.com I think I'd rather pay $50 a day to dig near Rich Hill vs $300 a day from others which would break me in a hurry I am afraid... Anyway, see photo and scale readings. I panned out 10.5 grains of gold flakes from my 46 dollars of dirt, so I guess thats around $25 dollars worth. Does anybody else sell richer dirt? I tried Felix paydirt but it wasn't so good.I wonder how Chicken Miners dirt is? -Tom

I was going to wait until I finished 30 days of swinging and post the results but I've ended up reinjuring an old disc in my back and have been in bed for the last 3 days. So from here out if I'm able to get up and able to detect again I'm going to have to stay pretty close to roads and easy to drive into places so not really expecting much more unless I get crazy lucky, never know. This was 17 days total of swinging, 1.1 troy ounces or 34.84 grams, 36 nuggets total. I like to shoot for 2 grams a day when I'm in full time mode and I hit that mark almost on the nose so I'm pretty happy with the Z overall. Especially since Nevada is almost completely new territory to me and I didn't know a soul up here when I started last month so most of my time was spent wildcatting - though now I can say I'm glad to meet the folks that I was lucky to run into and hope to see you guys in the future! Also looking forward to taking the Z to home turf on some of my patches in Arizona this winter and other more familiar ground and seeing if I can pull some big ones up from the depths out there in places I already know they are at and spend less time exploring. Though I love NV detecting so far, the weather up here is perfect and it looks just like Wyoming so i'll definitely be spending more time up here. An aside, but all the gold I find is always for sale. Update: the Nevada gold is now all sold. I also have about 2 ounces of Gold Basin nuggets left and some smelted gold. In 1 ounce lots I'll sell any size, shape, or weight for spot. Some of this NV gold is almost specimen quality though the pic doesn't do it justice so spot is a pretty good deal. Cubic structures, chevrons, wire, etc. If you are in the Winnemucca area and interested then once I can get up and walking again you can look in person. I'll also trade for a Fischer F19 or other potentially interesting small scale mining related opportunities.

Went out relic hunting with a buddy today. The spot I picked ,the grass was about 3 feet high,making it a pain to swing. We didnt find anything of interest,and by noon he had to leave. I havent swung in a month,and this was my f19's maiden voyage,so I wasnt done. I decided to try a spot nearby that Ive been eyeballing. On the side of the hill,I got a smooth signal,and popped out what I thought was lead...untill I saw some golden glitter! Popped that sucker In my mouth to clean it,lol. I know its average for alot of you guys,but its huge for me,haha. Ray

Here's a picture from just a few hunts using my GPZ 7000. All flogged ground finds.The nuggets come from areas I hunted with my 5000 and 2300 not to mention thousands of other detectorists coils over that area in the last 30/40 years.Except for the river worn boomerang 2 grammer nugget. Directly under the number fourteen in the picture. From what I understand no detector has been over that area in at least 20 odd years. The boomerang nugget is totally a different looking river worn piece by the looks of it. Compared to the other nuggets. Cant wait to get back out there to that spot. I have permission to hunt there and have been told there are over 300 Chinese mullock heaps there. 41 plus grams.

A post from Doc over on Rob's forum about a customers finds - with photos. http://forums.nuggethunting.com/index.php?/topic/11369-gpz7000-3-ounces-in-two-trips/