azdigger Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 I go out, I find bird shot, .22 lead , lead shavings , small pieces of wire , assorted brass , and tin foil (lots of foil) ,but no gold. I worked an area about 12 x 12 today, I worked top to bottom then right to left.....2 guys show up ask if they can hunt, I am done so I tell them to go right ahead. They both have SDC 2300 ' s they found a total of 6 nuggets in the same area. I ain't doing sumpin right or the gold gods don't like me..............not giving up , not at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 10 minutes ago, azdigger said: I go out, I find bird shot, .22 lead , lead shavings , small pieces of wire , assorted brass , and tin foil (lots of foil) ,but no gold. I worked an area about 12 x 12 today, I worked top to bottom then right to left.....2 guys show up ask if they can hunt, I am done so I tell them to go right ahead. They both have SDC 2300 ' s they found a total of 6 nuggets in the same area. I ain't doing sumpin right or the gold gods don't like me..............not giving up , not at all. Do you know how deep the nuggets were that they found? I'm guessing that they could get a bit deeper with the 2300 than you can with your detector, or maybe they were digging faint signals that you couldn't or didn't hear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 I dug most all signals that was non magnetic and a lot of the magnetic signals because they was faint ' or back and forth...........They never did say how deep . I did see one of them reach about half way up to his elbow in one hole. Might be I got the trash out of the way 1 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relichunter2016 Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Your a nice fella.....I am sure they appreciated it... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 1 hour ago, azdigger said: I did see one of them reach about half way up to his elbow in one hole. So , you werent working on bedrock then? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 Quote Adam I was working a side of a hill that had been dug out for drywashing , no bedrock showing but lots of digging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alwaysdirty Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Hillsides can be tough all around. Like adam is saying, try to find exposed bedrock in a drywash or very shallow overburden like less than a few inches and placer some dirt off, focus on widened areas and level grade areas with exposed bedrock. I've had best luck with a GB2 doing just that. I dont take hours detecting every square inch of a 200 yard wash, I "cherry pick" exposed bedrock and get several washes detected in those few hours, keep an eye out for handstacks, or flattened out small rockpiles on the sides. Try to cover lots of ground in a day until you get that yellow nugget and things start to click, then slow it down and learn the area. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 (edited) Rick.... Is there any bedrock poking through in the immediate area? Uphill or downhill? At least you know there is gold at that location. It's not a total loss. You'll get some. It will happen.... Today.... I went to a 'new' spot. New to me, but I've found gold in the area and the 'dirt' looked the same on Google earth so it was worth checking out. I went up a narrow gully and after about an hour and still within a hundred yards from the truck I found this: The bedrock is mostly a schist type rock with quartz and ironstones mixed in. After about ten trash targets and based on what I was finding, I knew it hadn't been detected much, if at all. I reached a point where the schist bedrock turned into a decaying granite of some sort. Right there the schist was dark blue/green and cut across the wash at an angle. It had a slope and materials from the hill above were 'washing' down from there. I swung over this area and there were a small pile of baseball sized ironstones. They sounded off, but the weird ironstone sound. I kicked them aside and there was the sweet sound I was wanting to hear. Another scrape and it was screaming. Once the ironstones were out of the way, it wasn't more than two inches deep, laying on top of the bedrock maybe two feet above the bottom of the wash. I stuck around there for another hour or so and nothing else today, but now I know there's gold there and I'll have a different plan next time. I know you've got to be tired of hearing this, but once you get over one, things will 'click'. Good luck out there Rick. Luke Edited September 29, 2017 by LukeJ 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Nice one Luke! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 Quote I should have added , there was several large rocks sticking out from the hill, they has been worked (dug) under and around. I did work that area real slow and carefull , I thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefire Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Are you rechecking your holes after you clean up the trash ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 12 hours ago, azdigger said: I ain't doing sumpin right or the gold gods don't like me..............not giving up , not at all. You're doing everything right. The gold gods don't like ANYONE as we've all been through the same spells you're going through. Just keep trying. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 yep checking and rechecking holes............the machine (GM1000) is working great , it has got to be me I guess. I will keep plugging away. Sooner or later it will happen. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmason Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Rick; back in the late 80's I lived in Chino valley. I met some very successful nugget hunters. I went to the same areas they did, found tons of thrash but no gold. George Med was very helpful and said their was no good reason I was not finding gold... After I finally found my first little nugget I realized two things...I did not really believe I could find gold with a detector and I had not stuck to the search long enough to be successful. After my first I never got skunked for two or three years... You will find one, stick to it! fred 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 Fred , ya might be right . So far I have not got any gold with a detector , got some with my dry washer and recirculating sluice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Rick, What was the size of the nuggets they found? Size does matter. Mitchel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 In weight I don't know , but they was the size of my test nugget or a little larger, it is about 5 grains if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmason Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 1/3 gram...practically a boulder to your machine and theirs...if you went over it at any reasonable depth and paying attention you would have heard it... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampstomper Al Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Rick, can you hear test nuggets ok..? This may sound a little far-fetched, but after your most recent mis-adventure where you worked an area n got nothing and then a couple folks came in behind you and scored is making me wonder if possible audio Andromeda Strain'ish could be happening -- where you're sub-consciously blocking out the nugget sound..? Or a more likely cause might be due to: when was the last time you had your hearing checked..? Just wondering if you could have reduced hearing capability at that particular frequency..? Merely grasping at straws for you.. I know this long-time skunk has to be frustrating, especially in light of what just happened.. To me it all adds up to never hearing the hit.. And if you're not looking at the meter at the same time, which really, who does, you don't "see" the hit either.. Swamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 All I can say about my test nuggets is when I take them outside and bury them I hear them just fine. I can hear the little lead birds shot real well (got a collection of them) as well as ...................brass , tacks, and FOIL . The only thing I can think of is maybe what they found was deeper than the GM would "see"....not sure. Not ever giving up , planning another trip soon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 31 minutes ago, azdigger said: The only thing I can think of is maybe what they found was deeper than the GM would "see"....not sure. You may be right about being too deep for the GM1000, especially if the ground is mineralized. One major difference between the two detectors, besides one being a PI and the other a VLF, is the lack of traditional threshold in the GM1000. There's also a possibility that those nuggets were found at the edge of detection of the SDC. Which means only a very slight change in the threshold. Made easier to hear since all the other targets were previously picked up. With the GM1000 lacking a threshold, it could be that the detector will only sound off on 'verifiable' signals and balance out the rest. Since I haven't personally used a GM1000, I can't say much else about it. I know there have been times in the past where I got into 'noisy' ground, but no 'distinct' signals. After scraping the loose surface debris aside with my foot, a target signal emerged from the 'noise'. Luke 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 I can say that if I got an iffy signal I scraped ground to get a better read on the target.......I am looking at a PI , or at least thinking about one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 azdigger--I'm also looking for my first nugget, although I have not got out since May. At the beginning of the year, I got a PI. I've used that 4 times and found a few hundred pieces of trash lead bullets to rust to wire, etc, but no gold. I think both our problems are only putting the detector over ground that has gold. Nothing more than that. IMHO if you had a PI when you went out, you probably would have ended up with those six nuggets, but I'm not sure the purchase of a PI for a couple of grams of gold would be worth it. That's a personal call. At the beginning of the year work kept me so busy, I had some extra coin to spend on a PI, but thinking back on it now, not so sure I should have. All I can say is my four times out with the PI have yielded nothing, and I know another avid detector who got one of the earlier Minelab PIs, and after a couple of years had only netted a 3/4 ounce specimen with an undetermined amount of gold. His dry spell after the first nugget was over a year long and had not found a second. I do hope to see you at the November outing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 I will be at the outing , just look for a dark gray avalanche and a black Polaris ranger next to a red tent....that's me. I am thinking if I get a PI , I will have to spend more time in the field, but that is ok with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I will be in a white F250. I will probably put a cot in the bed to sleep. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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