Midnight Gold

[Andyy]

So I titled this as such because when it gets especially hot (here in Arizona) I start my hunts at midnight and go thru until the morning until about 8am.  For me, this offers multiple benefits.  There is more time with the family on weekends, which for me is #1; I cherish this more than gold.  And secondly, if it is hot out, I cannot keep my ground balanced, as some put it.  When it starts getting hot, I would tend not to look as hard and rush through areas. 

 

Anyways, back to the gold.  I was in a wash last week when I ran into some pretty good gold.   I found 11 small pcs adding up to almost 4 grams.  Now, for my night hunts, I won’t go every weekend, I usually skip 1 or two so that I get my sleep cycle working again.  But then there is Mother’s Day coming up and so my wife briefly mentioned that I should go this weekend, too.  An hour later I am charging batteries.  She walks by and says, “wow, you really have the fever don’t you”.   I just laughed.    She knows me.  She has seen me prospecting for 5 years and put up with it for 5 years.  One of the best decisions I made was marrying her.  I explain all of this because it was nice to come home and show her the source of the fever. 

 

So I went back to this area with my GPZ and started walking through more washes I had marked out on my gps.  Nothing for the first one, but the second one, I got a nice strangely shaped 2.75 grammer.  Now, I can kinda see a patten on my gps when I look at my finds.  I finish the wash and go to a wash that is in the direction of the gold distribution.  Good topography … I am in.  First couple of minutes of slow hunting in this wash yields, nothing.  And then I start focusing on a bench that is maybe a foot higher than the rest of the wash… and I get a signal.  A clear, still loud, but smooth signal.  My heart jumps as I begin to dig.  The dirt just fell away until 15-16” I hit gravel.  By now the target was booming.  I scrape the gavel back with my pick and I see a large piece of gold flip out!  It replays in my mind over and over.  Needless to say, you may have heard my scream at 2:15 in the morning (Arizona time).  LOL.

 

From there the gold kept coming.   I got a couple more pieces farther up the wash and then came back and placered the area for a couple more little ones missed by depth.  Wide range of sizes.  THAT is why I love the GPZ.    And it was nice to see my wifes face change to a smile when she felt the .86oz chunk fall into her hand.  Priceless.  All in all, my findings came to just over 1oz.  Who needs sleep ...

 

Andyy

[IronDigger]

Now that's a lunker....nice.

[flakmagnet]

That's a great story about your two sources of gold, the Arizona landscape and your wife. I love hunting at night although I have not done it the way you do it...using the whole night. Continued good hunting. I'm sure Mother's Day will be a good one. Best...

[Northeast]

Great gold and story  ?

[Andyy]

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

? Your wife will want to keep that chunk, I think I'd have trouble standing after finding something that big.  Staying conscious would be hard enough.

Phrunt - short story ...

When I had a GPX5000 I would set up these little glass vials with nuggets and tie a string to them to do different depth and timing testing.   (sort of a DOE for us engineers, who have testing in our blood)  Unfortunately, I'm somewhat clumsy and dropped one of these glass test vials and it broke.  I cleaned up the glass and somehow missed picking up the nugget inside.  Well my wife is cleaning up the area, later on, and picks up a rock that was on our rug and went to throw it away.  Mind you, this wasn't a lunker but probably only a 1 gram nugget. But she stopped after picking it up.  She knew from the weight and feel that it was no ordinary rock.  So yes, women are natural gold seekers, too.  So ever since, I lock up all my nuggets in a safe to keep her away . 

Just kidding about the last part.  The rest is very true, though.  Ha..Ha..

[Andyy]

3 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

That's a great story about your two sources of gold, the Arizona landscape and your wife. I love hunting at night although I have not done it the way you do it...using the whole night. Continued good hunting. I'm sure Mother's Day will be a good one. Best...

Well, it definitely made my Cinco de Mayo one to remember.  Thank you for the comment!

[jasong]

Awesome Andy, sounds like you earned that one! Nice work being tenacious and changing your sleep schedule to get some hunting done in the off season, paid off.

[beatup]

A real beauty congrats on a great night out

[mn90403]

WTG Andyy!  You and I have talked about night hunts before.  I've done less of them lately but in the next few weeks I might have to try them again because the days are short and the nights are long!

Mitchel

[Andyy]

3 hours ago, mn90403 said:

WTG Andyy!  You and I have talked about night hunts before.  I've done less of them lately but in the next few weeks I might have to try them again because the days are short and the nights are long!

Mitchel

Ahhh... yes, Mitchel.  I remember those discussions.  Yet aren't you currently in Australia?   I wonder how different night hunts out there would be.  The only thing I have to worry about for Arizona night hunts are crazy people, getting bitten by a rattle snake, falling down a mine shaft,  the occasional hungry mountain lion, and UFO abduction.  And so far I haven't had any of those things happen to me (at least I don't think so)

Andyy