Obnoxious Signals

[GDM/PV]

Have you ever had a day when all you get while swing’n is one Obnoxious signal after another from trash targets?? Well, I had one of those today, and the relatively-same Obnoxious signal was given off by each target. I was using my Coiltek 17†Walloby in a wash and couldn’t take a step without multiple targets screaming this nauseating sound in my ears. It was mainly from 22 shell casings that were buried under the sandy sediment. Apparently somebody(s) in the distant past had done a straiffing-run (from the creek bottom) on the immediate hillsides and left all the shell casings lying in the wash. I found very little lead shrapnel nor bullets, but the shell casings (as well as rusted-tin and wire-fragments)-where liberally-strewn for about a half mile in the wash bottom. I started out digging every target in an attempt at alleviating the trash in hopes of getting a good signal, but after about an hour of nothing but trash, my eyes started to twitch, I was getting nervous and jerky, and frustration definitely set-in. I had also brought my little Coiltek Joey in my backpack as a backup, and decided to change coils. After taking a break, eating a sandwich, and regaining my “sanityâ€(---somewhat) I worked my way down stream to an exposed bedrock section, where I figured…“maybeâ€. there would be less trash.

“Wellâ€, even with the little Joey I was getting the same Obnoxious signals from the cracks in the bedrock, and was finding the same 22 casings that I had found just a little up stream. I had uncovered 2-3 of them and was about ready to give-it-up. The bedrock cracks were running horizontal-to the downward stream-flow, so most of the cracks were full of sand and small rocks. I swung my coil over another upstream crack and got that same “Obnoxious-signal†that I had been getting all morning. I almost walked away, but for some reason decided to go ahead and dig it. I used my angled-screwdriver and sliced-thru the horizontal crack to loosen-up the material. In-so-doing I lost my balance and sorta-fell-back on my haunches. When I regained my equilibrium and looked up at the crack, I couldn’t believe my eyes, and actually had to do a double-take to reconfirm what I thought I was seeing. There, lying half out of the sand was this “little-finger-sizeâ€-nugget just-a-shinning in the sunlight. After getting a “good-taste-of-itâ€, and putting it into my “lucky-vile†I put it back onto the exposed bedrock and swung my coil over it to see what it would sound like, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t have the exact-same sound as I was hearing all morning from those 22 shell casings !!!!

SOooooo, It definitely pays to dig-every-target (especially on exposed bedrock) “WHEREVER POSSIBLEâ€, and Tuff-it-thru-the-racket and Obnoxious signals from trash, because you never know when one of those nauseating-eye-crosser’s will actually be what you’re looking for. Good Luck,..

Now where’s my Excedrin bottle and a Corona ?.. ..Oh, the nugget weighed in at 2.5 grams…..Gary

[Guest keninla]

That's a very handsome nugget.

way to go.

Ken

[COLORADO BOB]

Hey GDM/PV,

That trash is a real pain but sometimes it pays off.

Very nice nugget. Last photo looks like a little dog sitting up, open mouth, little ears, even a stub tail.

Bob T.

[nuggethunting]

Hello Gary,

Great looking piece of gold. Really has some good character to it. Just imagine if someone would weed through all the trashy placer fields .... I'm sure in some spots there are some real lunkers to be found. However, some are so trashy you get multiple targets every foot!

Congrats on the new find. You're really doing well out there.

Thanks once again for sharing your find and story with us.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison