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Hard Times At Rye Patch!


LuckyLundy

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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

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Beautiful nugget. Congrats! Haven't seen one that size from there in a long time. Good to know that Mother RP has still milk to give. 😝

GC

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