LukeJ 2,077 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 ....well at least for me. I was able to sneak away the other day and I wanted to go back to an area that's been kind to me in the past. My goal was to 'connect the dots' and hopefully find my way into a hillside patch between some gullies that are gold bearing. I brought out the GPX and I put on the 11" commander because I was in prospecting mode and I feel very comfortable with it's capabilities. The ground was going to be wet, and the 11" has the right combination of depth and sensitivity to smaller gold. So after a short hike, I started up the hill. I was finding smallish trashy bits as I went along. Every now and then I got a boomer. The kind of stuff that tells you that if it's been detected, it hadn't been detected very well. Had one nice mellow signal at the base of a rock outcrop. It got exciting for a minute, but it was lead. After a few hours, I was almost at the top of the hill and I turned around and looked back and I could see all the spots I had found little nuggies with the SDC this last year or so. From that perspective, it wasn't difficult to see where I hadn't been either. So back down the hill I went. When I got down there, I was standing on a bench of sorts, and looking across to places I had found gold before. Trying to 'line up' the bedrock so as to be on the 'same ground' even though I was on the opposite side of 'normal'. Probably not even ten minutes later, I got a broken signal. Some might dismiss it as noise even. I kicked a baseball sized rock out of the way and flattened out a tuft of grass. Now it was a repeatable mellow signal. Roughly five inches down, I'm into the decaying bedrock. The dark red clay is like playdoh. After pinpointing where the target was located I used my screwdriver to carefully pry up the soft bedrock. Once it was moved, the signal sharpened up and the first nugget of the day was found. So now, I'm looking around and I start kicking things aside and making sure I can get the coil flat on the ground. I worked my way up and around a cacti-grassy-cat claw zone and when I got down the other side, about five feet away from where I found the first one, there was a large basketball sized rock sitting right on the surface. I was able to roll the rock into the gully with my foot and sure enough, there was a nice mellow repeatable signal underneath. This is the point where I wish I could go back and play with some settings, maybe try to prop my phone up somewhere for a video, call out to a friend that was nearby..... Nope. So I made a nice couple scrapes with my burro pick and cleared a flat landing pad of sorts. The signal was still there and sounded very nice. So I start to dig. Fist sized rocks are coming out of the hole and I keep checking and the target is getting louder. Eventually about ten inches down (measured by turning the coil on it's side), I'm on bedrock. The target is giving the overload sound and I'm having trouble pinpointing exactly where it is. I tried the 'cancel' trick, but not a peep. So I widened out the hole and got a better idea where it was. I was almost certain it was gold, and it was going to be 'big' so I didn't want to take the chance and damage the nugget. After another few minutes or so, I finally managed to move the nugget out of the hole. Based on it's size, I guessed at least 2 grams. It did feel a little light for it's size, but it was clearly my second largest gold find. After I got it home and cleaned up, 1.75g was the weight. It's a specimen or something like that. The minerals that are trapped in the gold look like sand particles to me. I don't know if the gold somehow wrapped around the sand, or if the sand was in a crevice and the gold filled in around it. Either way, I'll take it. Luke 12 8 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
matt 188 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Congrats on the hard won gold nugget! It's a beauty. Keep at it and they will continue to find their way into your poke. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mcgator 209 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Nice going!! Those are keepers!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 344 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Way to go man!!! The basketball size rocks hide the best ones !! The irony.. Keep on hitting it big!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nugget108 1,667 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Heck yeah Luke, nice chunky sucker. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drillerdave 10 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Great looking nugget and great story Luke, congratulations. Dave 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NvAuMiner 344 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Nice nugget Luke... Good job on lookin back of where ya been and where ya need to be. Thats always a good plan on finding their friends. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
frank c 968 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Nice beepin, don't ya just love lookin at that "Red Dirt" knowin what it may hold ! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Randall 114 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Nice detective work on tracking down the area and what a "daisy" specimen of natural raw oro 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adam 3,120 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Gosh Luke, You are doing great ! Super stoked for you 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nugget Shooter 4,611 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Yes sir that is a really neat looking nugget and good on ya! Thanks for sharing and great read 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sonoran Dave 2,129 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Awesome man! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AzNuggetBob 1,550 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 11 hours ago, LukeJ said: ....well at least for me. I was able to sneak away the other day and I wanted to go back to an area that's been kind to me in the past. My goal was to 'connect the dots' and hopefully find my way into a hillside patch between some gullies that are gold bearing. I brought out the GPX and I put on the 11" commander because I was in prospecting mode and I feel very comfortable with it's capabilities. The ground was going to be wet, and the 11" has the right combination of depth and sensitivity to smaller gold. So after a short hike, I started up the hill. I was finding smallish trashy bits as I went along. Every now and then I got a boomer. The kind of stuff that tells you that if it's been detected, it hadn't been detected very well. Had one nice mellow signal at the base of a rock outcrop. It got exciting for a minute, but it was lead. After a few hours, I was almost at the top of the hill and I turned around and looked back and I could see all the spots I had found little nuggies with the SDC this last year or so. From that perspective, it wasn't difficult to see where I hadn't been either. So back down the hill I went. When I got down there, I was standing on a bench of sorts, and looking across to places I had found gold before. Trying to 'line up' the bedrock so as to be on the 'same ground' even though I was on the opposite side of 'normal'. Probably not even ten minutes later, I got a broken signal. Some might dismiss it as noise even. I kicked a baseball sized rock out of the way and flattened out a tuft of grass. Now it was a repeatable mellow signal. Roughly five inches down, I'm into the decaying bedrock. The dark red clay is like playdoh. After pinpointing where the target was located I used my screwdriver to carefully pry up the soft bedrock. Once it was moved, the signal sharpened up and the first nugget of the day was found. So now, I'm looking around and I start kicking things aside and making sure I can get the coil flat on the ground. I worked my way up and around a cacti-grassy-cat claw zone and when I got down the other side, about five feet away from where I found the first one, there was a large basketball sized rock sitting right on the surface. I was able to roll the rock into the gully with my foot and sure enough, there was a nice mellow repeatable signal underneath. This is the point where I wish I could go back and play with some settings, maybe try to prop my phone up somewhere for a video, call out to a friend that was nearby..... Nope. So I made a nice couple scrapes with my burro pick and cleared a flat landing pad of sorts. The signal was still there and sounded very nice. So I start to dig. Fist sized rocks are coming out of the hole and I keep checking and the target is getting louder. Eventually about ten inches down (measured by turning the coil on it's side), I'm on bedrock. The target is giving the overload sound and I'm having trouble pinpointing exactly where it is. I tried the 'cancel' trick, but not a peep. So I widened out the hole and got a better idea where it was. I was almost certain it was gold, and it was going to be 'big' so I didn't want to take the chance and damage the nugget. After another few minutes or so, I finally managed to move the nugget out of the hole. Based on it's size, I guessed at least 2 grams. It did feel a little light for it's size, but it was clearly my second largest gold find. After I got it home and cleaned up, 1.75g was the weight. It's a specimen or something like that. The minerals that are trapped in the gold look like sand particles to me. I don't know if the gold somehow wrapped around the sand, or if the sand was in a crevice and the gold filled in around it. Either way, I'll take it. Luke Very Nice nugget Luke. And a lot to be learned in your story too. very well done. AzNuggetBob 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Micro Nugget 770 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Yahoo! A picture is worth a thousand words, but your story is worth a thousand pictures... 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alwaysdirty 914 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Skills! Nice going Luke. Taking a step back and soaking in the area for a few minutes always helps me too. Congrats on a beautiful piece of gold! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LukeJ 2,077 Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 (edited) Once again, Thank you guys for all the kind words and encouragement. I'm happy to be able to participate and hopefully pass along some insights to those who may still be trying to get over that first nugget or those (like myself) who are always looking to learn more. Here's a few macro shots that TomH was gracious enough to help me out with.... Enjoy !! Luke Edited February 22, 2018 by LukeJ a couple errors 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
frank c 968 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Nice close ups ! Nice GOLD ! 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SanDomingoJim 458 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Awesome Luke...you're not only hunting it, but you are scoring some really nice gold. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Uncle Ron 1,486 Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 That's a couple great nuggets, Luke... That one that combines solid and sponge is really interesting and has great character, certainly one to keep in your collection for a long time ... Way to go ... Cheers, Unc 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fishing8046 329 Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 Very nice! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andyy 1,057 Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 Oh yeah, Luke!! Great finds and a good story. Glad to see you're doing well with that GPX 5000. It is a rock'n detector. And I hear you about wishing you could go back and try some different settings. I need to get better at this as well. Keep that gold coming! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LowPoint 1,248 Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 Well done Luke, ....that dirt looks a lot like what I have been working in ( nice red-stained decomposed granite). Maybe you are working right over the same hill from where I am???? Gary 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Terry Soloman 915 Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tortuga 138 Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 I thought you said it was big just kidding congrats 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LukeJ 2,077 Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 1 hour ago, Tortuga said: I thought you said it was big just kidding congrats Thanks.... When your average is .19g per 'nugget'. That is a big one. I'm starting to think about heading down south before it starts getting too warm. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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