nuggethunting

Hey Doc, I agree with you. Oneday is a very experienced detectorist, so I think he is experimenting with "hot" settings. I run a much lower Sensitivity and have had great success in my eyes with the GPZ 7000. I would rather hunt with a very smooth threshold, minimal if any background noise and play close attention for disturbances in the threshold or signal response. Some non-traditional hunting styles include hunting with no threshold and a very high gain/sensitivity. The Yellow Ground Balancing Ferrite Ring from Minelab helps maintain a smoother ground balance on very hot ground. If you don't have one yet, get a hold of your dealer and give it a try. Some places it might work ok, other places it might make all the difference.

Hey Tortuga, The best part when the price of gold was low, was you could go almost anywhere. The amount of claims in known gold areas was 1/100's of what are there now. I think for the most part, most didn't have interests in gold when it was under about $600/ounce, so the guys that were chasing it could work areas you couldn't today due to claims and mining companies. I guess I was fortunate enough to be one of the guys with an early PI, on great unclaimed ground back when the price of gold was low. Any of those early hunters that "banked" the gold nuggets they found at $400-600/ounce have doubled or tripled their investment! I kind of wish gold was around $500 per ounce, as it was fun working those areas, which will probably not see many detectors anymore.

Hey Guys, The GPZ is a pretty amazing beast! I've been amazed on the nuggets/specimens I have found at depth, some super small. I have experienced the same thing with Normal-High Yield. High Yield seems to be my favorite gold setting so far. I have experimented between Normal and Difficult and found Normal does much better on depth, but it's much more noisier. On very hot ground or bedrock, the Difficult just purrs. I guess it's just preference and where you're hunting.

Hey Guys, Thanks for the comments. I guess the most important part of getting old is trying to stay healthy. Without our health/wellness we really don't have much and it would be pretty hard to chase nuggets. Wishing you guys the best!

Hey Chip, That is correct. I'm hoping to have a bunch of them once they are released. Eric is a great guy and probably one of the most knowledgeable when it comes to gold geology. P.S. Still have a few more of the Rich Hill books available for sale, the remainder I'm going to hold onto.

Hey Chip and others, Thanks for the comments. Maybe I better stop advertising and share more gold finds ......

Hey Guys, I'm always trying to keep the customers in the loop on new products/deals, along with sharing my finds for the most part. I really haven't had anyone complain, but rather "Thank Me" since most don't run the deals I do. I can only recommend guys like Adam and Alwaysdirty to talk about their experiences/finds here on the forum. Maybe I'm a bit more open letting others advertise their products from time to time, unlike other forums.

Hello All, Many have asked over the years if I'm willing to trade gold nuggets, flakes or fines for metal detectors and accessories. I'm personally not into the gold buying business, but over the years have done trade deals. I'm just tossing the thought out there for anyone considering doing a trade for gold nuggets for equipment, I could be in the market. That being said, I'm only interested in good quality clean gold. I'm offering 90% of spot value on any gold. I'm personally not interested in hearing "how your gold nuggets are worth 2-3 times the spot value." No gold out there is 100% pure (.999 fine), so the 90% is pretty firm, regardless of size. Basically the breakdown is 90% of currently spot value for your gold nuggets for any product at the normal MAP (minimum advertised price). Feel free to call me and we can discuss this more if you're interested. I'm always willing to be fair, so figured this might allow some to move some of their gold for anything we might carry. Talk with you later,

Hey Tortuga, I would say back in the early 90's when the first Minelab PI's came out, it was easy. I think the reason being is the PI's were new technology, first to hit ground that was moderate to highly mineralized and had depth. The VLF's left so much gold behind, finding an ounce a day in some spots was common for awhile. I remember days with 20-30 nuggets from some locations, all pieces that were just beyond VLF range. At some point, once you went over these places with that technology, the gold started to thin out, no different than today.

Hey Steve, I have some Makro Racer's in stock and even the Pro-Packs. I don't have much time on mine yet, but pretty impressed. I'm also pretty impressed with the XP Deus, so it's a toss up now which one I will use the most. Too many detectors coming out .....

Hey Boulder Dash and others, Thanks for the comments. I guess I'm fortunately enough to find gold as it's not any easier today than 20 years ago when I started. Luckily technology is on our side as the goldfields get worked harder and harder each year. Wish I had more time to play.

Hey Steve, Pretty much the results I anticipated to see. No real secret that Minelab is "King" when it comes to gold hunting PI's. Anyone that don't own one that is a serious gold hunter is missing out in my opinion. The combination of a high end PI with a good gold hunting VLF is probably the best combination. "In my opinion" Fisher and Minelab have always been the most popular metal detectors, so the polls pretty much show that. I think if some of these US manufactures don't step up their game, some of these European companies like Makro, XP, Fors and others will take over. They are all making very impressive lightweight detectors, waterproof or waterproof coils, wireless features and more.

Hello All, A customer of mine purchased a new Minelab GPX 5000 and wants to upgrade. He is asking $4400.00 for the used Minelab GPX 5000, but in only has 2 hours of use on it. The unit was purchased from Rob's Detector Sales as a Genuine Minelab GPX 5000 metal detector. The normal sale price on this unit is $5795.00, so this is well over $1300.00 in savings beyond the additional 15x12 coil included. More pictures are available if needed. Contact Olumide at - timelesspiecesng@yahoo.com Great bargain for anyone looking for a very good conditioned GPX.

Hello All, Ran back out this weekend to give the GPZ 7000 one last whirl before we leave on a short vacation. The forecast was showing temps into the low 100's again, so headed a bit higher up to hopefully have a few more hours of hunting before the heat ran me out. The morning started slow once again, thinking I might be onto a "skunk trip." After pushing hard and hiking a bit further than anticipated, I hit a small batch of nuggets down deep. The total was 5 nuggets for just over 6 Grams of gold, but did hit one more small .25 Grammer right at the end not shown. Can't wait for the Summer 100+ temps to get over. Looking forward to exploring new ground with the GPZ 7000 this Winter season. Thanks for viewing.

Hey Jimmy, There are handfuls of them out there, just about every maker that is making sluices and dredges are making a recirculating sluice. There is a guy down the road from me that operated online, but now just opened a store here in Surprise (I think it opens in Oct) that does great work. He manufactures his own products and they are high quality. Here is his website if you want to take a look - http://www.prospectorschoice.com/ Hope this helps a bit,

Thanks guys.

Hey "in the mountains" I sold mine!

Hello In the Mountains, Well that is the tricky part as the mineralization in most places is different. I think there is no question you're getting more depth if you can keep the GPZ 7000 in Normal vs. Difficult, but in some places you have to either adjust to Difficult or lower the Sensitivity way down. To be honest, many believe you have to have a "high sensitivity or gain" to achieve deep targets. I don't think this is absolutely true in moderate to high mineraliztion as you create more ground noise, making it much more difficult to hear those faint whispers. I recommend a lower sensitivity in "High Yield/Normal" if possible over Difficult. It's really a game, a lot of experimentation on targets on different ground. It might come down to running the unit in one settings with a certain sensitivity, then doing it again another day with a different setting or sensitivity. I really wish I had the right answer for you, but it's such a loaded question. Thanks for sharing your finds. I'm sure other GPZ users will chime in!

Hello All, I was able to escape over my Birthday weekend to get out and hunt for a bit. I ended up scoring three pieces for a bit over 6 Grams total. All found with the Minelab GPZ 7000 Metal Detector. The morning started slow, several hours of no gold and a bunch of iron rubbish at depth. The pieces came towards the end of the hunt, all in one small area.

Hey Shep, They are actually Camp Four 5-10's. This is a pair similar to what I have. They are great, but expensive.

Hey Guys, For years I swore by the Bates Boots Doc sells, but last year a hiking guy turned me onto these extremely lightweight hiking boots. I believe they are 4-11's or something, will have to look at them again. They have aggressive traction, no metal and crazy lightweight. That being said, they are like $200 per pair, but I love them so far. I forgot to mention they are only 3/4 tops, not high tops. P.S. I only put on the Doc's boots when I'm hunting other people's patches!

Hey Steve, Since Sept. of 2014 I have been using the SDC 2300 and GPZ 7000. Since the release of the GPZ 7000 and seeing what I'm doing with it, I have sold the SDC. Both are great detectors.

Hey Dennis, Great finds and thanks for sharing with us again. The SDC 2300 is a great detector and I actually miss mine at times. Wishing you much more success over the Winter season.

Hey GUys, Thanks for all the Birthday wishes. I did get out and snagged 6 Grams today!

Hey AzNuggetBob, Great information. I have seen some washes with higher stacks on one side vs. the other. I might have to go back and investigate some of those locations as I never found the hillside gold (if any exists). Looking forward to the cooler weather heading our way soon and hopefully some water in the major drainages for dredging.