Beat The Heat Hunt

[LuckyLundy]

Recouped from the 4th of July BBQ Party under the new Pergola.  I loaded up my truck in the hot driveway and set my sights Eastbound I-80 to the Rye Patch area.  Leaving at 1530 hrs (3:30 pm) and looking at my Thermometer on trucks dash bouncing from 99 to 101 for the 1 1/2 drive.  I wasn’t smiling but, but eager!  I wanted to put my thoughts to the information I received from a couple of my partners who hunted Rye Patch the week before finding 13 nuggets in a day and half, before the heat sent them home.  The first spot I hit, was in the shade of the Eugene Mountain, I just hit the area we did best at with the 2300 and 7000’s.  No Joy, but a few trash targets!  Loaded up and off to the next spot to hunt till dark.  This spot we killed the little patch with 2300 and 7000’s.  Again, I hunted the heart of the patch!  No Joy, with same results!  Oh, by now you might be asking what settings was I using.  Normal ground, Auto Plus w/Threshold and headphones.  Machine was running great with mid day EMI’s down to minimal.  I hunted till past dark with no Joy, same results with small trash targets!  Putting my partners information together with my current results, I drove off in the Moonless darkness of the high desert to my next location.  I’ve been to this area countless times and still missed my turn.  I parked on a Patch we camp for the evening.  Had some left over Baby Back’s from the party and was enjoying the cool breeze in my face!  Up at 0500, boots on and geared up, I hit this patches best spots with no Joy!  OK, now to a hottest dirt patch to put our thoughts together!  This patch the ground is hot and we never could run the 2300’s on 5, and ran kind of ragged on 4.  7000’s High Yield/Normal was tiresome to your ears and mind to listen for targets!  Again, I set my sight to the hot spots of this patch to see the power of the new 6000.  I was surprised it would run in the same setting as I was using in the prior milder patches.  Running great, in the still cool morning.  I swung over to one of the sweet spots of this patch and Bam.  Amongst, dozens of old dug holes a nice loud signal.  There wasn’t hardly any trash on this patch, but it still had me thinking maybe we dropped something from out trash pouches?  A couple boots scraps and looking at the family soil told me it’s not trash.  Clearing off the area with my boot so the coil would cover the target.  I tested it in different sensitivity setting.  Seemed the highest Manual setting was louder than Auto Plus?  But, it heard the target down to the lowest setting!  Well, time to see what it is, 7 inches down and out, it’s in my hand!  A little .549 gram nugget in a sea of dig holes that we pounded.  I was impressed!  Swung the area well with no other Joy.  I swung over to another hot spot of the 2 acres patch.  Seeing all the old dig holes, I wondered!  I didn’t have to wonder much any longer and I heard a nice sweet little tone familiar to my ears!  Couple boot scraps of the fluffy ground cover dirt and down to hard pack dirt!  It sounded shallow.  A couple more hard boots scraps and the target was out and into my hands a little .152 gram dink.  Wow!  This 6000 in my mind would be a fresh patch Destroyer!  Mild or hot ground, it wouldn’t take long to empty the vault, just keep digging!  Ok, the cool morning was evaporating with the Sun well above the Mountains shade lines. I wanted to swing some deep nugget spots on some old patches at Rye Patch that my Partners didn’t have time for.  On the Move again, to beat the heat.  Donned my gear and swinging on deep nugget ground with 1 bar left on my battery.  Machine, still in Max setting and running well with the expected retuning of the rapped rising temperature.  No Joy at either of the two different deep patches, I chose at Rye Patch.  I didn’t swing the Burn Barrel, but my Partners did and pulled 5 off it the week prior, which they ended their sweat feast 1 1/2 day hunt there!  Burn Barrel, will always produce!  Well, I agreed with my partners assessments of their hunt to mine!  6000 is not a 7000 killer which Minelab says!  But, it’s light weight and deadly and really is sensitive as the amount of little trash pieces I picked up in the heart of several whirlwind patches in this Beat The Heat hunt.  I know there is gold left on every patch I stopped at, but I wasn’t there for extended amount of time!  So, the patches we want to hit are the ones that gave our 7000’s the most difficult settings problems.  My Partners in California, are having a blast in the hot difficult grounds of many Hydraulic Pits where running the 7000 in High Yield/Normal was impossible.  So, no your ground with the 6000 for best results.  Until the next Hunt!

LuckyLundy

[mn90403]

Thanks for the long, honest report.  It mirrors my 7000 results from the same area.  When the gold is gone ... it is gone.  There is nothing going on geologically to replace it.  Previous technology has removed most of it and maybe all of it in some areas.  It is just a fact you demonstrated again with your highly trained ears.  Thank you.

[LuckyLundy]

Mitch,

Just means either California side of the hill or more out laying areas of Northern Nevada!  I’ll find a new patch and then swing my 7000 over it, to see what the deal is 👍

[Gold Catcher]

There is always gold left somewhere. I have not yet seen an area that has been completely depleted by detectorists, with the exception perhaps of very small club claims. But normally, the area ratio of land/coil is just way to big. Even at Majuba placers I find gold most of the times I go there, albeit granted much less than years ago. And this area is probably one of the most pounded areas on Earth...😉

[LuckyLundy]

GC, 

I’ve been going to Rye Patch for years!  Have we ever met?  I know you own a 7000 & 6000.  I’m not saying all the gold is gone at Rye Patch!  My group has over 40 patches there, that we’ve been swinging on for years.  I didn’t swing the entire patch of any of the ones i visited, in the story above.  Just the sweetest spots!  It was 101 at Noon when I left.  There’s gold on every patch we know there waiting for a 6000 to find it.  Now, would it be enough to put a smile on my face?  I’ll find a spot, that will if it ever cools down 😂

LuckyLundy

[Gold Catcher]

I think it really depends on the perspective and expectation what to find, LL. I am fine with smaller finds as long as I learn something about the area and my machines. Now, if you go for larger gold patches with the potential for higher return then this is a different story, and I am with you completely. I just hear way too often that all gold is gone from a certain place while I (and others) still find some. But as I said, it all depends on the goals you set. For instance, on Friday I will be back at Big Bear to hunt an old patch with the 6000 at mild temps. My goal is to have a pleasant hunting day without heat and perhaps find what I did not find with the 7000 before. So, I have rather modest expectations and little can make my day 😁 

[Valens Legacy]

12 hours ago, LuckyLundy said:

Until the next Hunt!

Great reporting on your hunt and thanks for sharing it. Glad to see you came up with a couple of pieces of the golden joy.

Could someone use a bulldozer to turn to ground over to uncover more gold? Is that possible or am I wrong about that? I am new at this and am trying to learn everything about prospecting out there.

Good luck on your next hunt.

[Lunk]

Good job, Lucky; way to persevere and beat the heat...and the 🦨!

[LuckyLundy]

16 minutes ago, Valens Legacy said:

Could someone use a bulldozer to turn to ground over to uncover more gold

Valens,

You have to know your ground!  Vast majority of Northern Nevada’s nugget patches are shallow.  Now, don’t get me wrong!  I carry a shovel in my truck or Side X Side and have dug a few holes a little over 2 feet to retrieve deep nuggets.  I’m sure back in the Hey Days of Rye Patch with many multi ounce nuggets some where deeper than mentioned with my shovel.  But, normally, a foot or less deep.  So, scraping a few inches off could make a difference.  If you’ve pulled several nuggets out of a patch a foot or more it could be worth the expense of the equipment, fuel, permit, reclaiming push and seeding!  For the most part, most gold detectorist search for the next patch instead of rolling the dice on hopes of deeper nuggets.

Rick

[mn90403]

54 minutes ago, Valens Legacy said:

Could someone use a bulldozer to turn to ground over to uncover more gold? Is that possible or am I wrong about that? I am new at this and am trying to learn everything about prospecting out there.

There have been many areas pushed at Rye Patch.  Some legally and some well ... at times when there was no one around to do anything about it.

I remember one of my first trips there about 10 years ago and there were 'pushes' all over the place for some reason.  They were not very big but ... I didn't know.  I was told that someone from a University was taking samples.  I very much doubt that story years later.

Other sections that are owned by the mining companies have been pushed.  Claims can be 'staked' and permits can be issued for pushes as long as you put up a bond to put the place back in order.  This was allowed by the BLM in the past but the nominee for BLM now may not issue such permits.

There is also something proposed called the 30x30 plan which may put many of our patches off limits.

Get your gold while you can ladies and gentlemen.