4 grammer found in new area....advice

[BrownNugget]

Been getting the skunk on old areas and club claims.  Tried a new spot Mojave desert CA on Friday.  20 pieces of trash later as I headed up a slight gully with iron rich dirt, broken ironstone, fractured quartz beautiful miners foley plants etc...  I scored a 4.2 grammer about 10” down and then the little guy about 10 ft up.  I thought hold on I just hit a patch!!  Well that was it.  No other dig marks around so I think I might be the first to hit the area.  There has to be more right??  I covered the wash pretty good and the on next to it.  The hillside slope could be hit harder I suppose.  Hit it harder right?  I’m using a ZED.  Sensitivity 5, normal, high yield, smoothing low.

Thanks!  

Brownie

 

[roadapple]

NICE !!! I would pound that spot until I was sure there is nothing else left behind !

[Rod]

Nice gold Brownie. If you're hitting that at 10 inches with the ZED it's very possible that the bulk of the gold is the same depth or deeper, and smaller (or bigger). There is no "one size fits all" detector so hitting the area with another detector (like a vlf) and possibly doing some digging down to bedrock are certainly in order. As a fellow ZED owner I agree its a great machine; however, it has a lot of settings for a reason. Experiment a little with your settings and you might just be surprised at what you missed. Detect, dig, detect some more. Over the years we've found many great patches by finding that first "leader nugget(s)" as you have. IMHO it does not sound like you've worked it very hard with just one trip, one detector, and no digging. Hope you return and find much more. 

[BrownNugget]

Rod thank you? .  Just the kind of opinion I was hoping for.  That nugget was not on bedrock so there may be some deeper targets.  I’m still a bit conflicted on sensitivity.  I hear less is more and then hear guys running the ZED at around 12.  Factory is 9 if I remember.  I’ll definitely hit it again at extra deep like I’ve heard B Southern talking about.

Brownie 

[wes]

Many places are like that, just a few nuggets.

But Id still do some stripping down to bedrock around where you found it.

I agree 12 is ideal on sensitivity, as its not too ratty soundy.  Also make sure you run in Normal ground timing to max out your depth.

Difficult runs smooth, but you will loose  depth, unless you're in super mineralized noisy ground.

Edited April 23, 2018 by wes

[Rod]

3 hours ago, BrownNugget said:

Rod thank you? .  Just the kind of opinion I was hoping for.  That nugget was not on bedrock so there may be some deeper targets.  I’m still a bit conflicted on sensitivity.  I hear less is more and then hear guys running the ZED at around 12.  Factory is 9 if I remember.  I’ll definitely hit it again at extra deep like I’ve heard B Southern talking about.

Brownie 

Glad to help. Sensitivity is important but remember running the detector to where is you can best hear the signals and whispers is paramount. The sensitivity setting on the GPZ is more like a volume booster, it amplifies the receive signal. You may increase the sounds that nuggets make by turning the sensitivity up but you might also (will likely) do the same with ground noise and hot rocks. I've hunted areas where 2-4 has proven to be the best sensitivity setting. Again, I really encourage you to try different settings and remember there are no magic settings. One setting that is underutilized is the threshold pitch, it can really be good to experiment with it because we all hear differently. Wes is right, there are some areas that are one or two nuggets to be found but, you never know until you placer it out. I'm very excited for you to hear that the nugget was not on bedrock. Might be a good bet to pick a few 10x10 areas and slowly begin to scrape down 2-3 inches at a time and run them until you hit bedrock. Even the ZED misses so hopefully you can bring a VLF along to check that bedrock and get any tiny bits too, they can be plentiful and are sure fun to find. Looking forward to hearing about your return trip. 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Rod
Fixed "can be plentiful are are sure fun to find" removed the double "are" and replaced it with "and"

[BrownNugget]

Awesome input.  Now that I think about it she was running a bit wobbly. I wouldn’t say difficult ground but iron rich.  I remember going slow and trying to get a lot of noises to repeat but they weren’t.  Probably will try a 3-5 sensitivity.  Also going to do some testing at the house tomorrow.  I’ve only had the machine for 6 months used so no training was given unless you count 36 hrs on YouTube and the web.  

Edited April 23, 2018 by BrownNugget
Grammer

[adam]

At least you guys have a detector with a cool nickname 

Edited April 23, 2018 by adam

[geof_junk]

Forget about the setting and detectors just cover the ground. Cover it casually and spread out wide as the ground will allow. When you have done this , it is then time to ask for help providing you have not found any gold.  

[Rod]

I was a skeptic of the ZED long before I bought one. When I did buy one and invested a few hundred hours into learning it in the field, I then realized how capable and versatile it really is. It's huge leaps forward from many of the older (and newer) SD and GP models on the technology side. I'm not an expert in all things ZED and have not broken any personal records with it but have been surprised at the gold it has found in ground that was detected many times by a wide variety of detectors, SDs, GPs, VLFs, etc. As a veteran of decades of hunting gold there is one thing that I can say for certain, you can't find gold where none exists. You can however use the tools in your toolbox (including your brain) to maximize recovery and get the true potential out of any area. Some friends and I have performed comparisons between the ZED and other units like a 4500 with a 19 inch coil. The results are mixed and likely boil down to more than just the detectors and settings. There is always a human factor involved, like focus, hearing ability and sound preferences. There is no perfect detector or magic settings, there are possibilities. 

[BrownNugget]

Update?.  I got back to my new spot to pillage the ground and find where my 4 grammar came from and rescue it’s brothers and sisters.  Well after anticipating for over a week I grided the area above without luck.  I wandered into a few very shallow undefined washes and then found myself in a deeper 45 degree wash with grey schist looking material.  Not a ton of quartz in the area but some above me.  2 hours later I found 29 grams total within a 50 ft stretch on the same side of the wash.  I can assume it came from the eroded stringer 75 ft above me?.  Anyhow 2 successful back to back trips and found gold in two completely different looking ground 4 washes from each other.  There ya go...........

Edited May 3, 2018 by BrownNugget
Grammer

[Rod]

That is awesome Browine, thanks for the continuation of the story! Very nice gold. It's out there.

[adam]

Dude ! your killin it !   You dont need advice !

[BrownNugget]

Going Monday for maybe the last trip of the season.  If I get something I’ll post it here?.  

[geof_junk]

Now if it seems like there is no more gold left,I bet if you take a rank beginner out with you, he will do something stupid and find a good lump.?

Edited May 13, 2018 by geof_junk

[beatup]

Good job sniffing those out.