Mountain momma Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 So come on, tell me, how long from when you started hunting did it take to get the 1st nug? I ask because I have yet to find one. I have been working some quartz bands on top of a mountain and down in a dry creek bed. I have pulled gold out the hard way- by filling zip locks and packing the material out and sluice @ home. So I know there is gold. It is small and jagged. Not a ton but, it's there. I have found square nails, bullets, staples, old cigarette tins and an old tin cup. I am starting to think that it takes a long time to find one. I once heard 100 digs to 1 nug. True? I only ask because, I love it so and I don't want to get discouraged. Any tips, advice or a prescription to treat this fever? Thanks hunters and a very happy holiday to all of you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 It just depends, some people go a year or more without finding there first, some one day, Learning your detector, getting in a gold bearing area, and digging every target, and sooner or later you will find your first nugget, Don't give up, look where the old times mined, sounds like with what you have been finding{trash} your in a good area, hit the fringe areas around it, expand your looking farther out. And don't give up. what detector are you useing? Because you need a gold detector, not a coin machine. research more areas. You'll get one. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain momma Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Thanks Grubstake. I am using a minelab sd2200. I am in your neck of the woods. A side tributary to Sherlock Creek. I get tones that seem good but, it goes away. (I think it is from the mineral and charcoal from the ground.) The other issue is getting to the good spots. Mosher road is a mess so we have to hike in from Telegraph Hill. If you have been there you know that it is not an easy hike with gear. I eat, breath, and sleep gold. I had the fever so bad last winter that I went panning up Sky Ranch in 2 ft of snow & loved it. I know it will come, I just wanted to know how long it took most people. Thanks for the tips. I'll spend a bit more time where we found the artifacts. I got a wild hair and thought I could find a load. Greenhorn! Oh well you never know, now I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Took me 13 months..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Mountain Momma, you might try down at bagby, back down around the back camp ground, and up in Rocky Gulch or the north side in David or soloman Gulch, both have nice gold, its the walk in that kills me. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigDeep Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 If you have found gold in the dry creek bed using a sluice then at least you know it has potential for nuggets and that is great. Even Better is you are finding trash in it! Yea it kinda sucks digging trash but you now know it hasn't been detected or at least not detected very well. I don't know if you are using or thinking of using the discrimination feature but you will be better off not using it and digging every target. After a while you will get a better feel for ground mineralization by the way it sounds and acts. For example if you've dug down a foot and it's not getting louder, you're probably just in a hot patch of dirt. What I often do, especially when I was running a 2100 is I would first find a nearby quiet area and throw the dirt I was digging in that direction and wave the coil over it. If it was signaling on the dirt I threw And still signaling in the hole then for the most part you can concede it's just hot (mineralized, carbon etc.) dirt. But be careful because their may be little nuggets in the pile and still in the hole so rub the coil and dirt around to make sure you don't hear any spikes or hot spots in the dirt pile.Alot of people say it took them a year or six months / or whatever... What really matters is how many hours you spend swinging. I detect more in a week than some people detect in a year. Guys like Montana and Uncle Ron (and many more) swing more in a month that most people detect in their entire life. So what I am saying for example is if you only go out a couple of times a year, and it takes you 5 years to find a nugget, that sounds like alot but in reality it is very little time... Only took 10 Days to find one.BTW it took me about 20 days DigDeep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOC Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 My first time out with a XT18000 I found a 1 grammer. Second time out I got sckunked. Third time out I found a 1/4 ouncer. Been finding them ever since. However, I was trained by an old seasoned veteran that taught me how to read the land, and what to look for.If you are finding square nails and you know gold is there, it just takes patience. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagdoctor1 Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I am using a gold bug 2. When I first got it I went straight to some tailing piles that I had found some gold in before I ever got the detector and it got me some gold. Then I started on some club claims and after a few months was able to get my first nugget. It was several months after that before I found another one with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain momma Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Wow! You guys rock. You got me all fired up to go out again. These tips are great. I have another question. Do you follow the same rules for reading a creek to sluice than with metal detecting? I mean, down stream from a big rock, inside bend of a curve type of stuff or is it different? Thanks to all of you. I hope that other newbies will see these posts and learn from you, as I have. Good day to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dorado Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I'm embarrassed to say it took me nearly 3 years with a SD2200. This year has certainly made up for thos long years of frustration. Keep at it, you are in a great area and will hit them soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 GP3500 took 8 months for my first nugget, 2.5 grams.Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leroym Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I'm embarrassed to say it took me nearly 3 years with a SD2200. This year has certainly made up for thos long years of frustration. Keep at it, you are in a great area and will hit them soon!El Dorado,It only took you 3 years! It took me 3 detectors and several years. I traded a rifle for a Garrett Scorpion. I used that forever, it seemed like. Score zero.Traded that in for a Whites VSat and ran that forever, seemed like. Finally, I got a little tiny nugget that was on a rock shelf where a guy before me shoveled it out with the overburden. Then I got a Minelab 18K and went to a different area and finally started finding small nuggets. Long after I got rid of the Scorpion I bought all of Jim Straights books directly from him and learned more about that detector than I learned from Garretts books.Anyway I have skunk days and days when I find 10 or so. I just recently got a ML 3500 and just got a NF coil for it so waiting for the spring thaw.Anyway for me it was years before I found one. It really helps to have these forums because these guys know so much and are willing to help anybody out with answers.Not knowing anybody who had ever used a detector we always had this little nagging thought wondering "do these things really find gold"?LeRoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gold dredger Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I'm embarrassed to say it took me nearly 3 years with a SD2200. This year has certainly made up for thos long years of frustration. Keep at it, you are in a great area and will hit them soon!El Dorado,I am in the same boat 3 years now and no nugget yet. I am bummed to say the least. You would think with shear dumb luck I would have gotten one by now. I am doing the right thing and hitting it hard but no gold yet. I have a bucket of lead and tons of scrap boot tacks and nails but the gold still has not found it's way to me yet. I guess I am holding out for the BIG one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I had always been a coin and jewlery hunter, and competion hunter, I was looking for coins at my Eldorado site, and had found a few dating back to the eary 1800.s one day I was hunting for coins with my Tesoro Lobo St and hadn't found anything, on the way back to the truck, I decided to try for the gold, I hit a 7dwt cystaline nugget about five minute after I switched to all metal gold mode, and another 3DWT nugget within ten minutes of that, it was getting dark and starting to snow, so I went home and called my uncle to come over the next weekend, He found 9 nugget that day and found around 5. The rest is history, Many pounds later, nuggethunting is all I do now. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted December 22, 2009 Admin Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Hello Mountain Momma, Finding the first nugget can be tricky, but I've seen some find it their first day out. There are a lot of variables when it comes to finding a gold nugget and luck also plays a role. Some things that will help you find your first will be:(1) Research, hunt areas that are known for gold nuggets or at least around them (use of old bulletins, books, forums & internet)(2) Understand how gold can travel in washes and where some of the most likely areas to search would be(3) Have a good metal detector and understand how to use it(4) Potentially find someone that has experience nuggethunting and might help(5) Don't give up, keep spending the time searching(6) Luck is always better than being good! (hope you're one of the lucky ones)All of these things above will help out. I'm sure there are hundreds of things, but these cover most of the basics. Wishing you success out there.Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrocks Posted December 23, 2009 Report Share Posted December 23, 2009 Gooday Mountain Momma-All Coupla years ago I met an older couple at the Tarnagulla caravan park (Golden Triangle, Aust) They had all the goodies, latest machines, nice motor home , they spent their time travelling OZ, detecting-prospecting....They had not found a nug in NINE years! Most important thing was......They didn't care. Their approach was "When we walk over it we'll find it" Thats dedication or the sense of old age.Cheers Hotrocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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