nuggethunting

Hello Grubstake, Shep and Rye Patchers, I hope you guys all have a great weekend and find some gold. If it wasn't a 12 hour drive from the Phoenix area I would be there with you guys. I seriously considered the drive with a friend, but for a couple of days it's a long haul and the price of gas would kill us. Several years ago John B. and I worked around the scraps and did find gold at depth. Most of the stuff was small, but John did manage a nice 1/2 ouner I believe on a hillside. Keep those coils moving low and slow and hope someone gets over a nice Rye Patch nugget. Hammer - I nuked the double post. Sometimes it happens if you're on a dial-up connection and you hit the "Add reply" button twice. No biggie, I just clean up the double posts from time to time. Talk with you all soon, Rob Allison

Hello Darin, Thanks for posting your find and congrats! The piece sure looks bigger than a 10 grainer, but sometimes nuggets can fool you. Did you happen to find that in Arizona or another State? Thanks for posting and hope to hear more stories and nuggets in the future. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Ryan, Welcome to the forums! The Minelab X-Terra 70 is a great machine for coin, relic and gold nuggets. Glad to hear you also got the 10-inch elliptical DD coil, which will increase performance while gold nugget hunting. I will try to answer most of your questions in general terms (not getting too technical). From what I have read and heard, the earth around Arizona and the Bradshaw mountains has a ton of hot rocks. Is that the case? Arizona does have hot rocks, but they are also scattered throughout the US. What makes a hot rock, a hot rock? A hot rock is a rock that has different mineralization from the surrounding soil or ground. Typical hot rocks are ironstones and basalts, but not just these two types. What other metals would sound like a hot rock to the Xterra? Humm ... That's a tough question to answer. A faint hot rock at depth can sound like any small shallow or deep faint metal target. I think I heard Lead sounds like Gold to the detectors, is that true? For most Yes, but when you master a detector you might be able to determine most lead from gold. However, for the most part they sound pretty damn close, same to most. IF so, would d a lead ball from a cap and ball rifle work to test the detector? Yes, any small target would work well as a test piece. Many use a small gold nugget attached to a poker chip to set up their detector. Practice listening to the faint targets as anyone can dig the loud screamers. Most unexperienced detectorist will miss the faint whisper type targets. Sometimes those faint targets might be nice gold nuggets at depth. I use 12 on the sensitivity setting as per the New User recommendation from the manual, is that a decent setting? That might be a "new user recommendation," but the higher the sensitivity the better if you can run it. Try to run the sensitivity as high as you're able to. If the detector is not balancing well, back the sensitivity down to a level that works well. Have to run for a bit Ryan, an important phone call just came in. I will post some more information tomorrow on the rest of your questions. I'm sure others will jump in and help out also. Thanks for joining the forums, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Bigfoot - Thanks for the comments. I found another nugget this weekend stuck in the bedrock, but forgot to get a picture of it. If take some In-Situ pictures we would love to see them here. I have one real "Scratch and Sniff," most of the time I don't scratch, just sniff!!! Bob (AK) - Well that sucks you're not going to hit up Ganes or Moore Creek this year. Hope you have plans to attack a few other places with the detector or dredge this season. I really enjoy hearing about your dredging experiences in Alaska. Keith - What's your game plan this year at Moore Creek? Did you decide on searchcoils? Talk with you all soon, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, Curious if you ever tried running the Coiltek UFO or Minelab Commander 18-inch round mono in "Tracking" mode? Sometimes those faint (no metallic) targets will just fade away if they are faint. Was considering using the tracking mode, but I really don't care for it much. I hate the constant background noise you get from the tracking mode. I've always been a "Fixed" hunter, so when it comes to tracking it takes some adjustment. I think most will be taking DD's to be safe. I've been telling everyone the Wallaby DD Pro is a very safe choice and you will find deep gold with it. I know Glenn, Rich L., and I did well with them up there. I think we found about 20 ounces combined with the Wallaby DD Pro at Moore Creek. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Arizona Guide, Yep, their point is to Spam the site with just one URL or name. They just want to get the link or name out there and figure these sites get thousands of hits/views per day. The minute I see them I nuke them down! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Frank, Thanks for posting. I seen you were posting a message and couldn't find it. Low and behold when I was typing my message to the above members you were posting yours here also. Would be interested in hearing about the additive package you use and the ingredients. I pretty much carry a 100oz water bladder that I fill completely with ice and water. I normally also take (2) big Gatorade bottles on long hikes. In the winter seasons I only carry the water bladder and hardly ever drink it all. The key is to keep your body hydrated before you start hiking. Sometimes this might mean a day or so prior to the hike. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, Hehe.... You know I'm just razzing you. I wish someone would stalk my hotspots so I could have someone to talk with. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Grubstake - I pretty much did the same, stuck around home Sunday to rest up. Talked with Reno Chris tonight, but forgot to ask him about Rye Patch. You mentioned Chris was joining your group up there? Uncle Ron - I think the area is pretty clean now. One of my partners, Ohio, returned to the area today and found one 14 grainer and a few copper nuggets. Sounds like it's pretty beat down now. You been hitting LSD lately? Colorado Bob - Thanks for the comments. Was wondering if you have been doing any more exploring in the Quartzsite area? How about the heat down there? I really love that country down there, but hate to prospect it during the summer months. I know a couple of areas that we talked about that need some serious exploring. Make sure you're not passing my secrets to others! Kamikaze - Well I just hope I can continue the luck at Moore Creek. I know Moore Creek is spotty, but can be very productive if you're in the right area. I know I hunted for hours, sometimes all day before hitting a piece of gold. However, there were other times when I hit multiple pieces on one single pile. I'm just trying to keep my skills polished for Moore Creek. Mick - Thanks for the comments and joining in. I hardly see you post much, so I must say it's good surprise! I can't believe my partner couldn't locate the water, but then again it was his second time to the area. I would think he would have left the water out in the open, but he buried it with rocks and make it much harder to find. I also make sure I carry more liquids than needed since I had a bad experience about 8 years ago. I'm not sure we will be hiking into the area anymore this year, it's too hot and most of the easy stuff is now gone. Talk with you all soon, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, Well I was too lazy to get up and get more gold. Did you happen to get out? Any luck? P.S. I agree the Summer sucks, but then again you see less people in the field. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, I killed the user and the users posts! P.S. Why did the IP address match yours? Rob Allison

Hello Bob, I seen a registered name, but didn't see any posts. If there is something I'm looking over please let me know. That shit is un-welcome here on the forums. I banned the user that registered under that Porn name! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, That's some good advice. Last year I took way too much of stuff I didn't need and too little of stuff I really needed. I'm going to take you up on one of your Walco picks this year. As for clothing, last year I brought 6 complete sets of cloths. However, I only wore one shirt and two pair of pants the entire week at Moore Creek. As far as shirts, I purchased a couple of the Carhart long-sleeved work shirts and they worked excellent last year. They were a bit pricey at $40 a pop, but they were enough to keep me comfortable and thick enough to keep the bugs from biting through. As for pants, I brought about 5 pairs last year. This year I'm going to cut back and bring maybe 3 pairs of Levis. Heavy-duty socks are very important, so I brought 7-8 pairs and changed them each night. I also recommend a couple pairs of boots since there isn't a boot warmer in camp. If your boots get wet the first day you might be miserable the entire week. I also recommend a good bug suit. I purchased the same one Rich L. used last year. I'm hoping it's going to work since it's not really rainproof. As far as detecting accessories, this is what I broke last year - (1) lower shaft from slipping in the wet grass (2) broken power cords from snagging in the Alders (1) one bad charger that didn't charge my battery one day/night What I recommend at the least for the Minelab users - (2) Searchcoils (2) Heavy Duty Coiltek Power Cords (at least) (2) Lower Shafts (at least) (2) Minelab handles (can break with just a slip or fall) (2) Detectors (however, Steve has backup detectors) (3) Batteries (at least one charging all times and two with you) (2) Chargers (one might go bad) I know there might be more, but the above will keep you in the game all week. It's easy to break a power cord, lower shaft or handle. Also, with as much daylight as we will see you can easily drain a small battery. Hope this helps a bit, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, Going back and looking at the 25 ounce picture, it kind of looks like the piece was found in the flats, not on the pile. Just curious if the big nugget was found on a pile? P.S. Someone asked me if you will have Soda Pop at camp? I told them if you didn't you could purchase some at the McGrath Store and toss it on the bush plane. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, I know I will be bring what worked the best last year, which is the Coiltek Wallaby DD Pro. This coil is such a hot seller it's on backorder again! When you were using the Coiltek UFO, how many hot rocks were you picking up? Was it really bad, or just one here and there? I know a mono would get a bit more depth, but I don't want to digging hot rocks more often than gold nuggets! Would like to hear more about the mono coil experiences at Moore Creek if you don't mind. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, I think I might take tomorrow off. Both nuggets (dink & 3 Dwter) were both found with the Coiltek Wallaby Mono R-Factor. Yes, this is a secret coil, so I have to hide out with it in the goldfields. My partner was using a normal Wallaby Mono on his new GP3500. The nuggets are pictured on his Coiltek Joey Mono though. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, One of these weekends we will have to get together. I woke up today at 3am to get into the goldfields. However, we didn't arrive until around 6am (another story). Those so-called cavity fillers are mighty fine for me! You just get what you can and when a big one gets in your way you take him too. The 3 Dwt nugget I hit today was lying right on exposed bedrock. It actually sounded like a piece of trash and I almost walked. Since it was shallow (from the target response) I knew it would be easy diggings. Luckily I didn't walk away and leave it for another electronic prospector. On another note, makes we wonder what the Verde Valley looked like 500-600 years ago. I really like Indian Heritage. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Mugsy (Keith), The Coiltek coils I'm going to take are at least the Coiltek Wallaby DD Pro and possibly a Wallaby Mono. I have no interests in small gold, so I won't be taking a smaller searchcoil. I would recommend a coil you think you can swing all day. I know most can swing a Wallaby all day for the entire duration of the trip. I know Steve H. uses the Coiltek UFO 24x12 Mono. However, he also stated the Mono's pick up some hot rocks. I know last year I might have dug 2-3 hot rocks the entire week with the Wallaby DD Pro. I'm still tossing the idea around of bringing a Mono coil. Rich L. just wrote me an email. I will tell Glenn to leave you a few pieces of gold. I'm sure there will be plenty of gold found on all the weeks, just hoping we get the bulk of it in the first week. Hehe... Just razzing you! Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello All, For the last couple of months I had my eye on another location, but knew it consisted of a good hike. I was able to convince a good friend today to make the hike, but it ended up more as an adventure/learning experience. The hike was much longer than expected so by the time we arrived we were pretty pooped out. The area looked much better from a distance, but still showed promise once we arrived. The old-timers sampled parts of the wash, but from the workings it probably wasn't real productive. My good friend decided he would lighten his load and leave half his water about half way to the location. Long story short, on the way back he couldn't find the spare water and he was about dehydrated. Luckily I was able to ration some of my fluids and had a spare Gatorade to give. I have no clue where he placed the spare water, but he was so delirious he couldn't remember… Luckily we were able to get the hell out of there and I had a few nuggets to show for. When in doubt, take 3 times the liquids you think you will drink! The biggest piece is 3.0 Dwt's and the small dink is .01 Dwts. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, Now we are talking Gary!!!! Five nuggets (regardless of their size) in one day is a good hunt. Did you happen to find my hot spot? The arrowhead find is also impressive. Looks like it might be a small bird shot arrowhead. Keep up the good hunting, Rob Allison

Hello Bob(AK), Are you heading back to Moore Creek this year? Sure wish you could have joined us again on the first week. Last year you seemed a bit bumped out and wish you would have used my used Minelab I brought along. With the water being higher I'm not sure about my game plans at Moore Creek. I will probably just wonder around hoping to stumble onto something Yellow. Thought about using the dredge one day, but haven't decided. I know I can probably get 1/4 - 1/2 ounce of gold detecting per day if hit it hard, but not certain about dredging the piles. I guess you could hit a nice batch of nuggets in one of the dredge tailing piles. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Thanks for all the comments. Done really well lately, but I know it back to prospecting again. If its Yellow I'm happy to dig it. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Reno, I was half tempted to take the Coiltek Wallaby Mono to Moore Creek. However, Steve mentioned you will find more hot rocks & basalts with a mono. Yes, give me a call anytime after 4pm M-F or later in the evening on the weekends. I'm going to be gone tonight, but any other time is fine. If the items are fairly small I should be able to find room for them. P.S. What, no Rich Hill in June? Haha... Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, To my knowledge, and I could be wrong, it don't come in nugget form. I've haven't seen any pictures of it in nugget form at least. If so, I would like to find about a pound nugget! I also believe it’s in the Platinum metal group. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Chris, Thanks for the detailed information. Sure sounds like a great spot to detect. The Wallaby Mono is a great coil and will get good depth. Hope on your next trip you find more nugget gold. Only 3 weeks until we land at Moore Creek. Rob Allison