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Cross Field Advice


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A couple weeks ago when I got back from a hunt my wife asked me "what did you find" and I had to respond "nothing worth mentioning" (meaning no old coins or decent relics or jewelry).  She then said "well, maybe you need to find a new spot."  Now, my wife wouldn't know which end of the detector to place on the ground (because she couldn't care less about using one), but her advice rang true.  Coincidentally I was reading the October issue of the ICMJ Journal and there was an article there by Chris Ralph (who posts here, in case you weren't aware of that) titled Is it time for a change? New ways to find more goldHow appropriate!  I see this quite often in this endeavor.  For example, advice which seems like it is specific to one detector applies to many, sometimes all detectors.  Even though finding native gold poses different challenges than coins/relics/jewelry, there is a lot in common.

Chris's article covered quite a bit of detail.  For many reasons I don't want to try and reproduce what he said.  But a couple key points are 1) instead of going back to the same spots where you've been harvesting gold for a long time, with diminishing returns, start fresh and find a new (with emphasis on minimally searched) location.  2) Try using different equipment.  For the latter, he was giving examples of changing from detector to dry-washer/sluice/etc. or vice-versa.  But even a change of detector model or just the coil for a coin hunter could break the trend and provide new insights (and valuables!).

Regarding Chris's point of finding a new location, I know in my town there are way more old parks that I haven't searched than the ones I have.  I've made the mental excuse "I bet those have been hunted hard" but I don't know that.  It's kind of a 'sour grapes' rationalization.  They're harder to get to (farther away), they have more human use (most of us like to hunt in solitude/peace), and maybe they require more work (new research).  But all that seems minor compared to the potential.

 

 

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Good post GB. I too forced myself to try something new and out of my comfort zone and get the heck out there and do it!! 

Picked a new I place I've been staring at on my screen and saving for that "full" day I may get some time. And yes the usual excuses dribbled into my head as I am contemplating going.... yup - it was a long drive and not prepared for the cold. I had to hike in a few miles and I had to go alone and barely got out by dark.. blah, blah, blah.....and it was freaking AMAZING and can't wait to go out again.

And for my efforts, I was rewarded with my first piece of silver in the three years I have been doing this. Needless to say, I drove home with a very big sense of accomplishment. 

Nugget hunting is on my list now to get out there and DO IT!! 


Cheers


G

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I am often faced with this dilemma, spending many nights persuing google earth to scout out new locations.  9 times out of 10 when I head back to well detected areas, I tend to be surprised on what targets still remain in the ground, the type of areas that I had almost totally given up on.  You do tend to get a bit lazy after a while on those sorts of site once the good stuff has been cherry picked out, the best line of thinking is probably to walk away and come back later with some renewed enthusiasm.  

That's when I start making headway into some good finds, investigating any tone regardless off how crap it sounds (still repeatable and breaks through discrimination), and taking my time to cover area in more detail.  I also try and think outside of the square -  for example, old house site at bottom of hill, mmm, would they have climbed to the top of the hill to see if anyone was coming down the road on horseback?  Turned out that hunch was indeed correct, several buttons and an 1820's US Naval buckle later I had happened upon a completely new area (yes, quite a rare US buckle in Oz).   I do like a challenge, and probably find it more rewarding to locate that single masked silver during a several hour session over cherry picking coins in a fresh area.  Just seem that more rewarding, though some seem to think that the quantity of finds trumps the quality of finds.  IMG_20160401_173701.thumb.jpg.d382ea42de5e78f35079f21c326d7f52.jpgIMG_20160401_173610.thumb.jpg.f9c2fcf30372199d40810ca5bbd06fca.jpg

Sometimes a simple weekend drive in the countryside is enough to garnish some new sites, those sorts that don't appear obvious from satellite photos, and sometimes often not seen as prosepctive in any way at ground level.  Only way to tell is to get out and give the area a quick test detect to see if anything with some decent age turns up - sometimes it can lead to a new honeyhole, other times it can draw a complete blank.

Sometimes visiting your local historical society can open up a whole new number of options.  Many of these guys have info stored in their heads on where old houses or sites used to exist, and are a valuable resource.  Last guy I talked to gave me a hand drawn map of where many houses used to stand in the local forests, and since then I have managed to locate most of them (no surface evidence of existing). 

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Good point on how sometimes doing a personal recon to areas you are investigating, open up potential areas that you would not see via computer images. Also talking to the older folk at places like the Historical Society etc. who have a plethora of info in there heads and most enjoy sharing it too. 

Sweet find on that belt buckle!! if it could only tell us it's story.....

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