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Haven’t posted in a while. I enjoy seeing everyone’s gold finds so here is some pics. I will do a SG on this one at some point. I’m pretty good at guessing weight especially the half - 5 grammers. I was way off on this one. Found in a small wash about 3’ on the bank just out of the wash. 18” deep approximately. Probably knocked off 5 grams of caliche. I keep the scale at work so no pre weight taken. Brownie

Let me know what you guys think. Might be a little boring, its my first attempt at doing these kind of videos!

I just gave birth to a big chunk of hernia mesh. I have had a wad of that stuff that got displaced and formed a big knot about ten years ago. This deer season it started giving me grief after packing my deer out. Mighty uncomfortable. I got imaging and it showed a big wad in the fold of my leg that looked just like the brow tine on that big buck. About an inch in diameter and a couple inches long. The point was just about in my scrotum and the butt end was over my femoral artery and vein. No surgeon would touch it. It got worse as the weeks went by and I was frantic. My only option was to go to UCLA and try and get into a research program to remove it. I finally found a cowboy with a sharp pocket knife to take it out today. He is an awesome trauma surgeon at the local hospital. He got (most) of it out and I am back home resting comfortably. He managed to save most of my nerves and muscle and didn't even kill me. I know I have been a bit of a prick in the past three months. That is probably not going to change much but at least you guys know why. Now I expect a lot of sympathy because I am laying here like a gutted trout. It will be six weeks before I can lift anything heavier than my big furry peaches. So if any of you guys have been entertaining fantasies of whipping my azz now is your chance. Your window of opportunity wont last long so make your travel plans now. Soon I will be up and around and as ornery as hell. The good news is I have nothing to do except gripe and preach for the next six weeks. So if any of you guys want to squabble I am your huckleberry.

The actual mass of Canyon Diablo before it struck the Earth was 8,578,642,193 pounds, or about 4 million metric tonnes. The incoming bolide was 160 feet across with the average iron nickel mass of 500+ lbs per cubic foot, based on actual calculation of its components. The estimated recoverable mass of Canyon Diablo is a mere 30 metric tons, or 0.00077% of what hit the Earth. No, it it not possible. A massive bolide coming in at a slight angle which still impacts the ground would still be slowed to a steep decent by the dense atmosphere while maintaining some percent of it cosmic velocity. It it was so large to barely be slowed it would still make a large, deep circular crater upon impact. Bolides can graze the upper atmosphere or skip off provided they are not slowed by drag too much. The Hoba Meteorite when found in 1920 was buried completely. It has been estimated to have fallen nearly 80,000 years ago and likely made a crater that was worn away from higher ground and then covered up naturally with dirt and sand over the millennia. Not correct. Essentially all meteorites first ablate (detonate) to varying degrees before slowing to terminal velocity. Only extremely massive meteorites whose main mass remains car sized or above will be able to maintain some of its cosmic speed before impact and not fully slow to terminal velocity. What this means for meteorite hunters is that no matter what angle the meteorite enters the atmosphere it will drop from a steep 65% angle to nearly vertically at a slow speed its last ten miles of descent. Weather radar returns of the falling rocks will be nearly directly above the recovery zone. Happy hunting, billpeters

Well, I tried a new way to get out to this new gold area I found. The gold seemed fairly small, but I had to hike in at least 3 miles to get there. So I tried to drive in another way in hopes of only having to hike in a mile. Of course Google Earth made things seem better than they were (almost like I could drive right there), but in the end I only cut about a mile off the hike (one way). So now I had a decision to make … take my GPZ 14" coil, the GM1000, or what I call my Midget Coil (10" Xcoil). GPZ 14" about killed me getting out there last time so that was out. I love the GM1000 on bedrock, but some of the bedrock here was very hot. Usually in those cases, I will go to my GPZ 10" Xcoil, which I venture to say is at least on par with the SDC 2300 (with the exception of being a little bigger). And the Xcoil is still a pleasure to hike with. So off I went. I started out hitting the areas I had been to before and got some good signals. First piece was only about .1g. Then I started finding slightly bigger .2g pieces. Most of these seemed to be what I call runners. Those are the ones in washes that I find on the sides of the wash, trying to run away when they see me coming. The larger coils tend to lose a bit of depth when checking the sides and depressions. The 10" Xcoil, however, does very well getting in there. Overall, 5 pieces were found (total .75g). Not a lot, but at least half of these finds were detected very carefully with the 14" coil and were missed. The Xcoil was very clear on all but a 1 grainer piece that was about 2" deep on it's side. All in all, it was just a fun day crumb chasing.

Last couple weeks i have been waging my new wond, minelabs equinox 800, and it's been fun. Here are some keepers i found. So i reeled in some clad, some diamond gold plated ring ( costum) and earring that looked real but not a diamond. Also included is a few other things i picked up learning my new machine. ht

Great surgeons in New Mexico. IMHO I got one of the best there is. He did a hell of a good job. FYI Most private practice surgeons wont touch a meshoma no matter what state they practice in. Think about it. Why would a surgeon take a job someone else screwed up? They would be risking a lot of business on a job that may very well end badly. There are a very few surgeons who have ever done it. The mesh attaches to organs and creates a mess that can involve lots of stuff down there. So most of these procedures are experimental and done in big universities that are developing data and statistics. The rest are done by trauma surgeons on an emergency basis. Only the surgeon that placed it would consider removing it. In my case he retired 7 years ago. When I spoke to him he told me the same thing the rest of them did. "Go to UCLA or to MT. Sinai in New York. There is one guy in Las Vegas and a place in Hollywood. Good luck!" A trauma surgeon takes any mess that comes down the pike. They are paid by the hospital and their business does not rely on 100% reviews on social media. So they are willing to take the jobs the others are not. The guy that did my surgery cut his teeth in Chicago and is a super good guy. He is the head of the regional trauma unit here and is considered one of the best in the southwest. He was willing to do it and many others were not. My criteria for a "good" surgeon is one that is willing to help even if the risk of failure is high. You can contrast this with a guy who has a perfect success rate and wont accept risk if you want to. I didn't have that luxury though. I had a problem that was mighty risky but not an emergency. So I got stuck with the crappy no good surgeon who saves lives even if they have to risk their perfect reputation. I would kiss him on his fanny for taking the job. The alternative would have bankrupted me and sent me far from home to achieve the same outcome. So I am really happy with my shitty New Mexico surgeon!

Bob your funniest and toughest man i have heard of, that story is amazing your right interesting is slightly an understatement. Thanks for sharing, it does not get more real or human than this thread.

Interesting may be an understatement. The surgeon is a brother from Jamaica. A young squirt about my son's age. He has been cutting for only about 6 years. He took a shitload of photos and has them on his phone. So I have some photos of the incision with the meshoma in situ and as he was cutting it out. Also a glamor shot of it sitting on a plate. Ugly rascal. But my baby nevertheless. I invited him to go fishing with me on the condition he gut the fish. He jumped at the chance and told me he would love to. Then my son suggested we use my little giblet for catfish bait. We laughed and laughed. Then he said we could request it be returned to me. It would take 5 weeks. So... It looks like we have bait. Sometimes the truth is much better than any lie you could make up. IMHO this is one. So this little thread might end with fish pictures. Maybe a fish fry with my new Jamaican fishing buddy that cut the bait from my belly. It just don't get weirder. So stay tuned!

double dose.

Just installed my new LEC (light emitting carbide) lights.

Related, I came across this as the anniversary of Sikhote Alin just passed. That fall created over 100 craters and I think it's cool that they worked backwards to figure out how the initial mass broke up.

Thanks Frank. Im doing really well. Already better than before the surgery. I'll be on light duty for a while but I feel great. I should have had this taken out years ago. The first surgery put me down for weeks and was just horrible. I didn't get it fixed for ten years because it was so bad. This time was a completely different experience in every way. I just can't believe the difference in the way the surgeon and the hospital handled it. The initial surgery was a horror show from start to finish and they screwed up the job. Afterward they stuck a pain pill in my mouth and wheeled me to the curb. Then it was nothing but denials and excuses. This time I was treated like royalty and they really took care of me before and after the surgery. They made sure I was OK before releasing me and gave me good instructions in case things got weird. They call and check up on me and answer any questions. The difference in the care and the outcome is like night and day. I'll probably have some lasting pain and discomfort but they honestly did the best they could given the circumstances. They really tried hard to insure I got the best care they could give me.

Well, I installed Doc's(Doc's Detecting Supply) New Arm Cuff Cover on my detector today and took it out for a spin in one of the gold areas here in Arizona. I will say that it fits very snugly, is made of strong-durable material, with an adjustable arm strap, and is an added improvement (comfort-wise) to the worn-out cover that I was using. I don't know if any of you out there are like me, but I bought my Minelab GP-3000 new in 2004 and have never replaced the cover(as my photo's reflect). I have had to sew it up a couple of times over the years just to keep it from coming off. So, if the Arm Cuff Cover on your SD/GP/GPX detector is due for replacement due to it having very-little-to-no padding (as mine was) take a look at Doc's latest post entitled: FRESH OFF THE BOAT! Do you have an SD/GP/GPX? to get more specific details on this great addition (his photo's are much better than mine too ). "THANKS" Doc... Gary

Couple more months and we will be in dry wash season brother.

Gold Monster 1000 and the accuracy of its discrimination I didn't mention it in the video but I wanted to point out something to everyone that questions how well the discrimination works on the GM1000. First off I would say on bigger targets the discrimination is more accurate. However, if you watch the video you will notice that the second piece of gold that I find, the detector was strictly telling me that it was iron. It was a small target and I have had this happen a lot. I've also had a small piece of gold literally bong like a hot rock. Lesson of the day, DIG EVERYTHING! The only time discrimination is an acceptable option is when you are in a highly trashy area's like a cabin site, or when the hot rocks are a huge issue. My opinion! But you will miss gold, guaranteed! Not my opinion!

Nice job on the video . . . Actually, any video that shows nuggets being found are win in my opinion.

Sold

The black star in the upper right corner of flag, Cherokee Nation added that to original flag years ago, to represent it's fallen veterans.

Detecting For Nuggets The Hard WayArmed with my detector one balmy, late-summer weekend, I set off to find a nugget or two.As a nugget shooter, I sometimes stupidly fail to appreciate the difficulties associated with hunting nuggets or the low level of compensation that might be the reward.So, I set off to work a spot where a tiny creek intersected a famous, gold-producing river.The Oldtimers had worked the area heavily; their hand-stacks of cobbles and boulders lay piled on a bench of highly fractured, black slate bedrock. However, I realized that moving all of those boulders would require far too much work. Therefore, I chose to hike instead along the river banks to detect the low-water levels of exposed bedrock.Square nails, blasting caps, a coin, lead fishing weights, .17 cal. lead pellets, pieces of disfigured iron junk were my only rewards. However, during my excursion I noticed two rookies panning across the river. Staggering and stumbling among the cobbles and boulders beside the stream, they entered the stream and flailed the water to a white foam in their steel pans. (Carefully concentrating heavy material, specific gravity? What’s that?) Regardless, it appeared they found no gold, as nothing was put in a bottle. (At the time, I wondered if they had even put dirt and rocks in their pans, giving them a better chance at finding the gold—just kidding. Regardless, their technique was awful, almost exactly like mine when I first started out.)Forgetting about the rookies, I looked up the bank and stared with no eagerness at the washtub-sized boulders and melon-sized cobbles stacked on the bedrock above. I knew the hard work ahead to detect any gold missed by those Oldtimers, ones who often worked swiftly, and sometimes sloppily, before sprinting off to the next gold rush farther north.Using a massive steel pry bar, buckets of elbow grease, and convoluted body positions any contortionist would avoid, I finally uncovered the bedrock after sending the rocks into the river.This was accomplished while simultaneously terrifying the aforementioned rookies across the stream. (Maybe chucking all of those cobbles in every direction, while generating colorful, explosive expressions had an impact?) Those rookies were somewhat shaken as well by the thunder produced by those rolling boulders, and the fountains of water generated as everything plunged into the twenty feet of fast flowing water that separated us.To calm the rookies’ fears, I stopped tossing and rolling rocks, and detected the bedrock instead. Nine targets were quickly identified. All turned out to be tiny bits of rusted tin can . . ..Quite demoralized, I sat down to think up a new strategy. Meanwhile, across the river, the rookies abandoned their pans, and they now attacked the bedrock on their side of the river. Cobbles filled the air, and boulders were rolled into the river—colorful expressions filled the air. Afterward, they scooped newly uncovered material into their pans, then foamed the water yet again, but still, they captured no gold. (At least, I don’t think they found any gold, because they kept throwing everything from their pans back into the river! However, perhaps they were members of that new, environmentally conscious breed of "catch and release" panners.)Knowing I wasn’t getting anywhere, I abandoned my diggings, waved a quick goodbye to the rookies across the river and fled the scene.As nuggets prefer clever hiding spots, I had a giant brainwave to drive a short distance to a veritable abyss. At its bottom were a series of exposed bedrock outcroppings. Being not so foolish as to hunt such easy pickings of bare bedrock at the bottom (although the next day, a wiser nugget shooter took an eight gram nugget out of said bedrock outcrops, #@$!*!), I chose instead bedrock covered with cobbles and boulders.After a leisurely two hours of hot sweat and ragged pain, the area was cleared to hunt. After numerous passes with the detector, a tiny whisper emerged as the coil gently scrubbed the sharp, steeply angled slate bedrock. After chipping and chiseling, the signal was slightly louder. Next, I turned the mono coil on its side and pinpointed the signal. Working with hammer and chisel around the signal, I popped out a quarter-gram nugget. (Well, back then pride [whose slave I sometimes am] demanded I call it a nugget! I mean, after all of that work, what else could I call it?)With a calm, yet horrifying recognition, my dim brain was forced to admit that never, with the exception of a near-death trip down some slick boulder clay, had I ever worked so hard for far, far less than minimum wage!Nevertheless, to lift my spirits and put me in a playful mood, I now had to plan how to pack sixty pounds of equipment up a mostly vertical, scree covered slope . . ..All the best,Lanny

Wow, that means every time we did that rugged 8 mile hike, or were out drywashing and digging, or sitting on the kayaks for hours, that sucker was in there!? Unreal man, I can’t imagine how good it must be to have it out!

Will, lol, please hold off on that phrase until you’ve found one. Magical and helpful phrases like “keep looking down they are out there” and “gold is where you find it” are only meant to be used by guys who have actually found it. You can’t go around telling people that if you’ve never found one, your trying to sound like your an old veteran meteorite hunter now just because your obsessed with the subject but not any of the facts about it. Your going to tell someone that phrase and get them all excited about meteorites and then show them a hunk of asphault saying it’s a meteorite and it will be detrimental to anyone who wants to learn about the subject. You are spreading the opposite of knowledge.

Damn, sorry to hear you're all laid up , I hope you heal fast and completely!! But now I'm feeling sorry for myself because now you can't do much but raise hell on the forum and I have to moderate your A$$!!!

I have met him. He started as an arrowhead hunter in the blowouts. Dean Miera and I had plans to hunt with him. We were setting the date when Dean died. I never made the trip. One of these days im going to look him up again. ...one of these days...

The most prominent meteorite hunter in this area just has to be Skip Wilson. He's amassed a collection of hundreds of finds including Portales Valley which almost hit his house. Talk about luck with that find. All he had to do was walk out the front door and pick them up.

Absolutely they hit at different speeds. No argument there at all. Their speed is reduced to terminal velocity or they explode. After that point their speed is determined by aerodynamics, weight, and time in dark flight. I see where orbital speed of the planet affects impact force. Good point. It probably makes the bolide more violent. So it stands to reason that large, durable pieces that withstood the explosion may make a bigger crater on impact than those going with the orbit of the planet. It also seems since the bolide would be more forceful that the "sweet spot" would be a smaller size window. It is a mighty complex calculation. If you say that the end result would be a bigger crater with all other things equal I certainly won't argue. But since it is such a complex calculation I suspect that your assertion might be over simplifying a bit. It is kind of like taking into account for coreolis when shooting long range. If you are comparing long shots in exactly the opposite directions east and west with all other factors equal the difference is real. But given the other variables in the solution coreolis may not even be a factor between 2 shots. The same with two meteorites. One may travel faster or slower and still make a larger crater. We just can't make the correlation between crater size and direction relative to orbit without the rest of the ballistic formula as well as a whole other set of factors related to the impact surface, size of impact or, angle, etc. It is a great conversation! Thanks for having it!

Dude, come on. This is getting ridiculous. Wait, already been there, this is ridiculouser.

Exactly. Because it detonated in the air before it reached the surface. It could not shed the required velocity and (mostly) vaporized. As the case with Tonguska. Once again. Only the fragments that slow to terminal velocity hit the surface. Only the explosions close enough to the surface displace material and leave craters. Objects that are too big/too fast detonate high in the atmosphere and do not leave craters. And those that do leave craters are subject to erosion and tectonics. So most craters on earth have been erased. Earth had (relatively) as many craters as the moon at one time. But the forces at work on earth have erased them. Our (relatively) heavy atmosphere and erosionary forces erase craters. Only the largest and most recent remain. There is a sweet spot in size/speed that allow an object to penetrate our atmosphere. Too big or too fast and they vaporize. Too small/ too slow and they burn up high above the surface. Just right and they impact or bolide close enough to displace material and form a crater. Any mass that remains after slowing to terminal velocity falls to earth. The crater is formed by impact. Any explosion close enough to the surface to displace material forms a crater from explosion. A bomb that falls unexploded makes a little crater formed by its mass/speed. A bomb that explodes just above/at the surface forms a larger crater by the energy released from the explosion. A bomb that explodes high in the atmosphere leaves no crater at all. Big craters like Barringer are formed by explosion. Little craters like the one in Peru a few years ago are caused by mass impacting. It can be assumed the 60 tonne Campo slowed to terminal velocity before impact and left a crater. It just was erased by the forces of nature in the past 50,000 years like so many other terrestrial features have in that same time period.

No doubt the earth's atmosphere slowed that one quite a bit. And changed its trajectory/orbit. Chaotic chunks of stuff rattling around out there until they smash into something. If that isn't cool then nothing is. About as real as it gets.

https://www.geologyin.com/2016/10/worlds-second-largest-meteorite.html?fbclid=IwAR3Aee7Olih5d9Khs4E4TNi3JPz8o9FUTwozAEyin0iRYBP3Zg9WFPHPqHA

By the way, if any of you are thinking about buying a claim... DON'T.. until you do research and check with others. I've seen some pretty convincing ads for gold claims on Craigslist and eBay that are pretty much worthless but asking $5000.00 to $10,000.00.

WOW, you were really ready for a new cuff cover. I think that thing you had on your machine might be the source of the Corona Virus. Doc

enjoyed it.....good job!!!!!

Thats a juicy looking area! WTG on the nuggets. Tom H.

Thanks! That helps a lot. I always wanted to try and find some gold but just didn't know where to start. This makes me want to learn more about it. Maybe someday I will find some too!

That is all way above my head. What is "placers"?

Nice finds!!

Thanks for the input. I believe you, it does have lipped curved rimmed edges like it flew out of a volcano lol.

Yup. Since we met I have had a deer antler sticking me in the belly every step. Attached to my nerves, abdominal muscles and other giblets. The top of it just under the belt line (thats why I wear suspenders and not a belt) and the point down near the goodies. The arthritis in the back was related to the foreign body in my belly too. I have that back problem for years and it got so bad the last year I almost got surgery. But when this mesh started swelling up the back got better. I think a lot of the inflammation in the back was related because I have zero back pain now. The first time in three years I have been able to stand or sit without pain in my back. It just went away about Thanksgiving when this mesh decided to swell up. The doctor said that the junk in my belly could have caused an immune reaction that could set off swelling in joints. So my tendonitis in the wrists and arthritis in the back could have been aggravated by the wad of mesh. As soon as I can muck again we need to go dig holes! And yeah...the kayak was like sitting with a pistol in my belt. It poked me in the belly on one end and in the groin on the other. So I have been working with that handicap since the day we met on this forum many moons ago.

This was a mellow “high-low” signal. Sounded like gold, lead or meteorite. No trash in this area. I did think it might of been hot bedrock at one point though.

lot of law suits on hernia mesh get well

Dang, that is a bummer to say the least, but on the bright side i have a feeling there will be some interesting conversations around the corner. Get well soon Bob! In the mean time might as well raise a little hell. ht

Two points. I made a mathematical cubing error. The correct figures are the original "mass of Canyon Diablo before it struck the Earth was 603,185,779 pounds, or about 275,000 metric tonnes. The incoming bolide was 160 feet across with the average iron nickel mass of 500+ lbs per cubic foot, based on actual calculation of its components. The estimated recoverable mass of Canyon Diablo is a mere 30 metric tons, or 0.011% of what hit the Earth." And no, Canyon Diablo is not typical. Composition is a big determining factor is percent of recoverable meteorite material. Recoverable mass of most irons and pallasites will be in the 20% range, stoneys 10-15%, and carbons about 5%~. Of course, these are rough estimates. billpeters

Beautiful, that's the way ya do it !

https://geology.com/records/largest-meteorite/ Apparently there was substantial iron oxide in soil when they excavated the Hoba which means it was much bigger then it is now. Just how much is hard to say. The meteorite that created the Barringer Crater weighed about 4 million metric tons before entry, was 160 feet in diameter and left behind 30 tons of recoverable pieces. It just makes me wonder how big Hoba originally was before entry. On the ground as it stands now, it's a 9ft by 9ft by 3ft square which is an unusual shape for a meteorite. The article seems to imply the shape is the reason why it didn't make much of a crater. I find it hard to believe it just fluttered down from the sky and plopped down on the ground. Does anyone really think aerodynamics played a part in why their isn't much of a crater. 60 plus tons is a lot of weight.😉

Hematite is usually non magnetic. In the window you made you described it as "sort of metallic". In our world that is called sub-metallic luster. You have identified the terrestrial iron ore hematite. Hematite streaks in red hues. When you ground the window it made a rusty red mess didn't it? Streak it again and refresh your memory. It will streak hues of red. Free metallic iron is what you are looking for in a meteorite. Just like knife steel. Sub metallic iron is mineral oxide. There is no oxygen in space so oxides don't exist. Only unoxidized elements. So with very simple observation we can be certain that this is not meteoritic. Sorry. Keep looking.

We are also pulling cash out to do home improvements. Get your docs in a row ,,, 2 yrs tax records, recent bank statements, W2's,, recent paystubs, investments, insurance statements of coverage, etc.,,,,,,,,then line up a couple local providers and a couple more not so local. Get the ball rolling so they pull credit reports simultaneously and provide you with official loan estimates. Then play them off one another. I was able to knock off $5000 in closing costs by making them sweat over more competitive loan estimates. Dont allow them to pull credit reports until they talk rates with you. Same goes for a home appraisal...not until you decide on a provider should you take that step. Take note of what they say regarding rates and closing costs vs what loan estimate says in writing. I couldn't get Quicken to talk rates at all without pulling credit. I hung up. Loan "Cheepo" could not match, in writing, what they were telling me over the phone. Not at first... they did wise up, but weren't competitive until I twisted their arm with a better offer. But then I prospected another company that was just as "hungry" for my business and, being local, eliminated dancing around a fax machine or emailing photos of doc's. BNC Nat'l Bank was in the running, as was Paramount Mort, but neither is local to us.

Objects regularly skip off the atmosphere, but since there is no other force is space to act on them they just keep going and don't stop. One of the most famous is the great daytime fireball of 1972.

Can you imagine the fireball that created the Campo del Cielo strewn field? It must have been an amazing sight.

Meteorite ring how to