How Often Do You Get Skunked?

[MSC]

Klunker, I think I found that one you left, thanks. 

[geof_junk]

A skunk day depends on what you are searching for. A speck, a "rattler in the poke", or a patch. My longest was 10 weeks (70+ days) of 10 hour days way back in 1980 when gold was everywhere. I look for patches and a week is common, but then i have days some times weeks and once or twice, months without a a skunk in sight at these patches.

[George Kinsey]

When you are walking for miles down old civil war roads it can happen. But it can pay dividends.

[Sérgio Campos]

When looking for nuggets in virgin patches, my longest skunk was about 10 days. To add to the frustration, at the time I would get up at 4a.m and drive 300km, detect from 9 a.m to 6p.m and drive back. This went on for a few months… the secret is to remember that we do it for the fun of the adventure 🙂 

These days I prefer to stay a few days camping or even in a hotel. This way I try to dedicate at least one day looking for virgin patches and if I start to become frustrated I go and hit the gold patches, there I usually find something (sometimes nothing).

It’s amazing how, as much as I detect an area I will find a nugget just a few feet from the find I did in the year before. And that is using the same detector (ATX). 
 

 

[flakmagnet]

Guessing that there is no-one who hasn't been skunked. But outdoors hunting for gold, even while you may come up empty-handed, you can't lose. There is always something that we bring back when stepping out of our 'everyday' lives and into nature.

Because I live in the LA area and only get day at a time to get out and search, I usually go to known patches. On one hand it's dumb because they're pounded to death, but if I find something I know I'm setting up and using the detector right. If I showed you what I've found in the last two years, you would understand why some of my friends call me Flakemagnet instead of my online handle.

I made this up a couple of decades ago and used to tape it to my coils…I thought about marketing them, but…like most of my marketing ideas, it seemed a little silly. Anyone who wants to use this is welcome. I think it helps 😉