nuggethunting

Hey Guys, Thanks for the kind words. I'm sure we all have experienced a friend or family member in this situation. All I can say, don't just walk away, do what you can to help. Looking back at the situation, could I have done more to prevent it, I'm not sure. If I would have known the outcome, I would have done anything to save this guy. Sometimes when a person feels someone is "listening to them" it can make a world of difference in their life. For all the great guys/gals that have passed, I haven't forgotten you. For all the great people I'm going to meet in the future, I'm looking forward to that moment. Golden Trails for all of you!

Hello All, I have to send a big "Thank You" out to Jim Straight. He is my long-time mentor when it comes to searching for gold and gold geology. During my early years of studying Economic Geology, Jim was a huge help beyond searching for gold. That all being said, this is what the thread is really about below - Back in the early 90's I spent majority of my time dredging the major drainages of Arizona with fair success. I worked my butt off and might have got a Gram or so a day behind a 4-inch Gold King Dredge with Dual 5hp motors. Weekend after weekend I was hammering it, making holes large enough to sink full sized pickup trucks. Many of my dredge holes were 5-8 foot wide, various depth to bedrock and many yards long. All that hard work, majority of the gold was small flakes and fines with maybe an occasional small gold nugget. One weekend I decided to take my Tesoro Lobo up into the Bradshaw's as I heard about decent sized nuggets being found. I might of has the patience to detect for an hour, digging everything but gold nuggets with the Lobo. I was frustrated to say the least, but would attempt it from time to time, but managed to always go back to the dredge nozzle. That weekend I remember seeing a "Metal Detecting" sign along a store in Rock Springs, Arizona, so I thought it was worth taking a look. I walked into this small store and browsed around. There was a glass display and behind it was hundreds gold nuggets from the size of a piece of rice to pretty decent pieces. The guy running the store (Richard Doherty) introduced himself and was very pleasant. I asked him about the nuggets and he said he found all of them in the hills within 10 minutes away. I couldn't believe it, I worked for months and might have found one or two of those pieces, so I knew I had to learn to master metal detecting. Richard, not only took me under his wing, but taught me over the course of several years how to become a very successful nuggetshooter. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now without Richard's help. He is a true inspiration, master metal detectorist and the best instructor one could ask for. As life takes its toll on people, Richard had financial issues and family health issues that drove him to depression. It was very sad, as Richard was one of the more intelligent people I have ever met, besides all the other great qualities. Richard and I talked a bunch during these times and he would even start crying. One weekend he was so down and out, it took several hours of talking about metal detecting and old times together with friends to bring his spirits back up. Towards the end of our talk, we both talked about writing a newsletter, which he once done in the past. He said the newsletter he wrote was a big hit and really drove a lot of guys to the shop. He met hundreds of new friends from the newsletter and it seemed to really help new guys learn about the wonderful hobby of metal detecting for gold. Before I left, we both had a plan to really get some ideas and articles together for this new project we had planned. I was excited, as I knew working with Richard would help both of us and the hobby. Unfortunately, a few days later I received tragic news that Richard took his own life. It about crushed me, as when I left that weekend I really felt he was in a positive place and it was going to get better. I don't know what was on Richard's mind, but I think about him all the time when I'm out swinging. I still hear his voice in my head at times and hunt some of the same places we hunted together. I can picture Richard on the hill above me and places I knew he sat and observed me detect. The Legend of Richard Doherty will always live as long as I and a few others are swinging our sticks out there. Now we fast forward many years and I receive a package from Jim Straight. Low and Behold, it's Richards "First Newsletter, Volume 1, edition 1" from the early 90's. It was hard to read the newsletter, as there are several articles from Richard in the newsletter and it was written with the same passion as when I first met him. Richard, I'm writing this in hopes that where ever you might be roaming, you will know that guys like myself will never forget what you taught us! Even though we never got to write the newsletter, I promise to pass on what I learned to guys that really want to learn. Thanks you Jim for the newsletter. God bless both you guys, you both are my mentors and best friends.

Hey Jim, Thanks for bumping the "Pyramid Nugget" post back up, it's a great read.

Hey Yukonlewis, I have done some testing here at home since I live out in the sticks. I have simulated a trashy goldfield from all the trash I bring back from nuggetshooting. This includes bits of tin, boot tacks, wire and other rubbish. I placed a few small gold nuggets, around 1/2 gram among the rubbish to see if I could figure out "what is what." I'm impressed so far, so I'm excited to give it a whirl on the real deal soon. The damn Deus is so light, I can swing it with one finger.

Hello All, The new Coiltek 14-inch Round Mono Camo "Elite's" are getting excellent results on the goldfields. I have another smaller shipment heading my direction, should have within a few days. If you're looking for one of these coils, please make sure you call so I can hold one for you. I won't have them more than a few days after they arrive, a few are on hold already. Information from Coiltek Manufacture's website on the new coil - http://www.coiltekmanufacturing.com.au/products/products-1/14_mono_elite/ Order directly from my online store here - http://www.robsdetectors.com/coiltek-camo-elite-14-inch-round-mono-searchcoil Call us at 623.362.1459 Thanks!

Hey Lchavezmisc, I have never heard of this, check out this PDF file from the US Forestry Department - http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_018677.pdf and this link - http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tonto/specialplaces/?cid=fsbdev3_018726

Hey Guys, Doc - Thanks. I have a few more videos, just have to upload. Tortuga - Ya, the 14x13 can be funny at times pinpointing, especially when you're so used to using a Monoloop the last 15 years. That being said, I've never seen a large coil so damn sensitive to small gold. I found two pieces last week that I didn't even show in the picture that were under a grain. One was 0.8 and another 0.9 grains. My partner and I pushed them around for like 10 minutes, finally able to get them in the scoop and recover. I'm pushing close to 200 nuggets with the GPZ now on old patches. My Summer goal is to pay for the GPZ on old patches and then hopefully have the investment paid for this Winter season. That means all nuggets found after that point put me in the "Green."

Hey Doc, Damn that would be scary. Glad everyone went well, wife is more important. The nuggets will always be waiting for you.

Hello All, Yep, I did a Father's Day hunt early this morning, left the house at 2:30am. I was on the placers at 4:30am waiting for a bit more light to start hiking. Worked for about 4 hours, dug about 25 pieces of iron rubbish, a few lead bullets and 6 gold nuggets for 3.1 Grams of gold. The gold has really nice character to it, hasn't traveled too far from the source. Pops and I are going to meet up for a Father's Day Lunch. Just had to get the edge off and detecting a few nuggets always seems to work for me. It's still out there!

Hello All, Here is another short Youtube video of myself finding gold in Arizona with the Minelab GPZ 7000. I worked this wash hard with the GPX 5000, missed a bunch of gold. It's out there .....

Hey Fred, Well I consider myself one of the biggest, small dealers in the US and I don't have any. The last I heard, they didn't have them. I talked with several people at Minelab about it. I don't know anyone that has one to be honest. I will check again with Nadia, but if shipping don't know about them, they never received them.

Hey All, Typically the Summer are the slow time on the forums as less detectorist are out swinging. Figured this would be an excellent time to reach out to the forum members as ask for stories/finds to get us through the slow Summer season. If anyone would love to share a story without or without finds, we all would love to read it. I will try to dig up some old pictures and short stories myself. Thanks in advance!

Hey Alchemist, Sounds like the same general geology that I hunt a lot. The main host rock is Schist, some Slate and Shales. My spreadsheet results were a bit less than 5%, but just rounded it off. I think the actual number was like 3.9%, so not far from what you found out. I think this is the cause in most placers. The GPZ is an amazing detector. My partner asked me if I was going to "really" tell the truth on what I'm finding in some guys old placered washes where they said it was DEAD. Like some guys say on other forums, I don't show all my gold ..... Haha I have requested a Ferrite Tube from Minelab, but not sure when I will get one. I have one spot with tons of ironstones, but the GPZ still struggles on it. I would like to try the Ferrite Tube Ground Balance Method here to see if it would help eliminate some of them. P.S. Would love to hear more about your stories/finds (general information, no specifics) if you ever get any free time on the forums. Take care,

Hey Goldfind and others, I will let you know what I find out. I'm so limited on free time, for the most part I don't want to experiment, but rather go hunt with the GPZ!

Hey AJ, I'm just razzing you. I understand there are a lot of Internet forums anymore, some more popular/more traffic than others. I really haven't updated this forums or jazzed it up in a long time. Hope all is well and your run of gold continues!

Hey Guys, Here are my thoughts, for what they are worth. First, the large gold is much more scarce overall than smaller gold nuggets. Years ago I ran a spreadsheet for one season of all my finds around Arizona just to collect data for my own personal use. What I found after about 1,000 nuggets is that the percentage of larger gold over 1/4 was like 5%. I would find like one 1/4 ounce nugget for every 100 nuggets from a few grains to a few Grams in size. Figuring most of the old goldfield have been worked for 20-30 with modern VLF and now PI technology, the easy pickings from the surface to like 6 inches are gone. We are talking about the larger nuggets. The larger nuggets sound louder, even at 6 inches vs. a smaller nugget, so these targets have been plucked away for the most part. Doc mentioned a good point also that many known nugget patches that produced nuggets of size have been ran over very slowly with PI's from the SD, GP and GPX series with coils as large as 25-inch Round. These PI's with large coils no doubt would hit large nuggets at 1-2 foot range, I found many myself. Overall, there is much more smaller gold in reality to larger gold. The smaller gold is fainter at depth. The new technologies are getting better with faster timings and allowing the smaller, more porous gold to be found at depth. I think once a larger coil for the GPZ is released, there could be some larger nuggets come from some old patches. The depth is amazing with the 14x13 now, so I could only imagine what a 20-inch Round would do. I'm not sure I want to dig those faint whispers with a 20-inch round on a GPZ. The hole might be 2-3 foot deep and take hours to extract (hopefully not iron rubbish).

Hey Guys, Thanks for all the great info, sounds like a lot of choices guys are doing well with. Deathray - Since I have a Deus, and originally purchased it for this task, I'm going to give it a whirl. I heard it handles the goldfield mineralization better than others.

Hey Blake, Ya, it actually a really good book. A lot of good history, pictures and some good info on placers if you really read it closely. I thumbed through it several times and then realized a few short mentions of some locations and actually searched around and found gold there. Sounds like you guys are doing well detecting. Keep up the great shooting. P.S. Tell him to post here, he stopped posting here. Maybe I'm not his favorite dealer anymore ..... LOL

Hello All, The X-Terra 50 is now sold.

Hey Chris, Thanks for the information. This is one reason I picked up the XP Brand about 6 months ago. I haven't had the time to use it much, but heard it was great for this. Are you using the 9 or 11-inch coil, Chris? Any suggestions on settings on the XP, I'm going to play around with mine more this week on a test bed.

Hello All, There has always been a debate to what detector is best for trashy areas, but I have a handful of areas that have potential for shallow nuggets (surface to 3-4 inches), but riddled with surface rubbish (wire, bits of cans and such). Anyone have a suggestion from experience on what is the best to find gold nuggets in these areas? I want to be able to walk through an area and eliminate as much rubbish as possible and hopefully ID the better targets such as gold and lead and dig them. I know guys have mentioned the Fisher Goldbug 2 with Iron ID on. Dig only targets that talk. I still have a Minelab CTX 3030, but haven't messed with it much for gold nuggets. Any thoughts?

Hey Chris, Pretty much confirms the question on "why there is so much smaller gold." This is always the question when a new detector comes out, why is so much smaller, deeper gold being found. I think overall, the rarity of large gold is the answer. I have kept some records over the years here in Arizona and for about every 1/4 ounce I find, I will find several hundred smaller gold nuggets from a few grains several Grams. Congrats to the owner of the 75 ouncer. Hopefully by searching the outer regions of the pits will allow you to find a golden lump!

Hey Doc, What editing program are you using to format and save your video in? I've been using the Microsoft Movie Maker that comes with most PC's. It's real basic and limited. My internet upload speed is only around 0.8 - 1 MB. My download speed is over 20MB. I think the upload speed is what matters when uploading a video from your PC to Youtube.

Hey Jim, Great to hear from you. Thanks a million for the "1st edition of Richard Doherty's Newsletter." I will make a new post about it. Just talked with Erik, he said he is in the process of finishing Volume 3 on the Plomosa Mountains of Quartzsite, AZ. I'm hoping to have them soon. Erik's a great guy and close friend. One of the most knowledgeable, updated geologist on gold that I know.

Hey Guys, Thanks for the comments, which seems to be lean these days .... LOL Dave - It might seem easy, but I bust my butt when I'm out there. The GPZ 7000 helps in finding more gold, but the majority of it is locating the areas, understanding where the gold might be and then digging it up. There are a bunch of guys out there with GPZ's not finding much gold. It's only a "Magic Wand" if the end user really does everything to make the "Magic" work. Doc - I know there are some lumps up there with your name on it. The GPZ loves the small deep ones, but we both know from experience now if a larger one is there, it's going to find it. P.S. Doc, we shouldn't have to explain, tell them to let us hunt their old patches and the GPZ will explain itself!