"Hello all, I took off by myself today for bit of walking and detecting. I got up late and that should have been my warning as to how the day would go. My wife Deb dropped me off and I headed down the dirt road to the trail. I planned on going up a canyon and detecting bedrock, and when finished I would crawl up the canyon walls and cut through the manzanita to get high up on the ridge. From there I could call Deb and walk out to the road to get picked up. Well, before I hit the canyon things started to go bad. I took my shortcut down into the canyon via a small wash that was ok last time I came into the area. This time all was well until I almost got to the bottom, then I heard all the snakes saying hello. My fault, I was on the sunny side of the canyon, morning and the beginnings of a hot day. I never saw a snake, but it sounded like there might have been four or five.
After getting out of the thick brush and into the clear I headed up the creek bed. I was moving through some bushes and a branch caught up and smacked me right in the face. Oh no, it couldn't be a regular shrub, it had to be stinging nettle. That was fun. I moved on and dug a few targets that turned out to be lead. I decided to go up into the canyon further and hunt. I got to a spot that I had detected last year about forty feet up and on a side bench. I got one piece almost immediately that turned out to be a pennyweight. As I went to pick up my 3000, I caught something out of the corner of my eye moving. I was on the edge of the bench and lost my footing right when the rattlesnake struck at me. The snake had so much force in the strike that he went over the edge with me, detector and all. My finger got slammed against some rocks on the way down and I got a skin tear on my butt about a foot long. The snake had come to a stop a few feet to the right of me, right where I could nail him with the first big rock, I could get my hands on, and I did.
With that ordeal over I took a short break, that was when I found out why my pack felt so light, my iced tea bottles were all still at the house. I moved up the creek to a spot where a small gully entered the mainstream and got some cold water from a feeder stream... As I was sitting down and looking at the bedrock just in front of me, I saw what I thought was a piece of gold. I leaned over to see better and picked up the piece of gold. I decided that I better turn the 3000 on and go over this small area of bedrock and see if there was any more gold.
Well... there might be more gold in that spot, but I was not going to get it with a broken coil. My Sadie is gone.... no detector, no water, getting hotter, ass is hurting, and I still have walk out of here. And... oh hell, where is my pick? Well, I did get two nuggets for about two hours." Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
After getting out of the thick brush and into the clear I headed up the creek bed. I was moving through some bushes and a branch caught up and smacked me right in the face. Oh no, it couldn't be a regular shrub, it had to be stinging nettle. That was fun. I moved on and dug a few targets that turned out to be lead. I decided to go up into the canyon further and hunt. I got to a spot that I had detected last year about forty feet up and on a side bench. I got one piece almost immediately that turned out to be a pennyweight. As I went to pick up my 3000, I caught something out of the corner of my eye moving. I was on the edge of the bench and lost my footing right when the rattlesnake struck at me. The snake had so much force in the strike that he went over the edge with me, detector and all. My finger got slammed against some rocks on the way down and I got a skin tear on my butt about a foot long. The snake had come to a stop a few feet to the right of me, right where I could nail him with the first big rock, I could get my hands on, and I did.
With that ordeal over I took a short break, that was when I found out why my pack felt so light, my iced tea bottles were all still at the house. I moved up the creek to a spot where a small gully entered the mainstream and got some cold water from a feeder stream... As I was sitting down and looking at the bedrock just in front of me, I saw what I thought was a piece of gold. I leaned over to see better and picked up the piece of gold. I decided that I better turn the 3000 on and go over this small area of bedrock and see if there was any more gold.
Well... there might be more gold in that spot, but I was not going to get it with a broken coil. My Sadie is gone.... no detector, no water, getting hotter, ass is hurting, and I still have walk out of here. And... oh hell, where is my pick? Well, I did get two nuggets for about two hours." Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out with the guys today for a hunt. We all met up and headed out to the site at 0800 this morning. After making sure everyone had everything we were on the trail down to the creek. After a mile of walking we hit the mouth of the canyon and split up here and there and began detecting. We were detecting bedrock along the edge of the stream. We had four Minelab's and a GB Pro in motion. It was a hot one today and after about five or so hours we were all ready to go get a cold one at the local store. We all got gold so all were happy. There was a total of 7.3 grams found between all of us. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I ended up being by myself today for a few hours out in the woods. I actually had a first-time occurrence and was very surprised. I was in an area that has been detected very hard. As I was working my way through the area, I came upon a newly fallen pine tree. The ground was very dry and almost all the dirt and shale had come loose from the roots. I swung the Sadie over the pile but got no signal. I started to move on and thought to myself, I better just slow down and rake that pile down a bit. I did and when I went over the material, I got a nice mellow signal this time. About eight inches down I saw the glint of yellow and reached into the hole to pick out a small, but thick bit of gold. It weighted out at just a hair under a gram. I didn't meet the skunk, so I headed back to the rig and on to the house. Thanks all," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"On a lighter note, for you guys that are always raising heck about the BLM, look at what they are doing for us at each of the parking lots that we use while out detecting. They put up these really neat green sluice boxes for us, after depositing your material at the head of the box, then just push the silver button and look for the gold. I was really happy to see this change in BLM mining attitude and then someone told me they were drinking fountains. LOL Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Just a few minutes after getting things done at the house I got a text from a friend, Scott. He was in Redding for his mother's birthday and had a few hours for a short hunt. I decided to go back out for a bit. I took him to a place that I have been getting some nice gold that is throwing out of the shale which is intrusive on an almost level slope. There have been a few big rainstorms since my last trip to the area so it had washed a bit here and there. I had just walked away from Scott, not even two minutes and he hollered at me that he had a piece. I walked back over to see the nugget. It was nice marble looking piece. It turned out to be two penny weight even. The clouds started to gather again and within minutes we had raindrops hitting us. He was ready to head back home with his prize, so we did. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out this morning with Chris, (Nuggeteer) and we hunted bedrock for a few hours. I found one crumb that came in at four tenths of a grain. When I left Chris had two pieces that were far bigger than my crumb. I had to get back to the house and left Chris to his hunting. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello everyone, Chris and I got out this morning and got three pieces of gold between the two us. He got the larger piece while I got the two smaller ones. He was using the GB Pro/10-inch coil and I was using my 3000/Sadie. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, Gold River Mike came up to Shasta County today for a hunt. After meeting up we headed out to a spot that I usually score a few nice pieces. We did a few loops to look at some other draws but ended up back at the pre-selected site and began to detect. We were both using PI's and had detected for almost an hour with no results. After taking a short break I went a bit lower on the slope and right away got a nice soft signal. It turned out to be a nice rough bit that was .74 grams. Another half an hour and Mike hollered at me that he had just found a nugget. I went over and he had found a nice piece, about twice the size of my piece. We hit it again and within fifteen minutes Mike hollered out again, he found another. This one was a bit smaller. Mike will have to post the weight on his pieces and may have some other pictures. The two on top are Mike's and the other one is mine. Thanks all," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hey all, I got out today with some friends for a hunt. We went to an old spot that has been detected out, or so I have been told. I went through the normal rounds of showing the areas to the guys where I had found gold in the past and then we all split up and started detecting.
Two friends, Mark and Chris went down into a draw to try their luck. I stayed up on the flat top with my two new friends, David and Wyatt, who I had taken out the day before for prospecting classes. David was using a 5000 and Wyatt, his son, was doing the digging. I had my 3000/Sadie Mono and walked out to the end of the ridge through the young but dense manzanita bushes. I had been hunting for just a few minutes when I got a nice mellow signal right in the thick brush. I had to stay standing while I dug the target out because of the brush. The signal turned out to be a nice little starter nugget about 4.4 grains. I began to detect back towards David and in just a few feet I got another real weak but soft signal, it turned out to be a 4.1 grainer. I detected for another hour and picked up several .22 rounds and an old fifty Cal Ball at about twenty inches, but no more gold.
I met up with David and Wyatt to find out that he had found his very first piece of gold. He was a happy camper. Being it was his first nugget I immediately took his cap off and slapped him on the head with it. After a short break we went back to hunting and, in a few minutes, David had his second nugget. About that time my son in-law, George, was wandering up the hill towards me. He had not found anything yet. George was using my GB Pro/five-inch coil. I sent him a few yards away from my position and told him to stay close to the brush with his sweeps. In a few minutes he had his very first piece of detected gold, it was about a 15 grainer. A half an hour later I got a screamer that was an 11.6 grain piece of gold that was stuck in a dirt clod when I dropped the target on the coil. It looked like a piece of rusted tin at first. I was close to the other guys so walked over to show it off. About that time my son in-law found another little nugget that was about twelve grains just a few feet from our location. A few more sips of tea and I was off again into the manzanita where I found two more pieces in just a few minutes. One was a 7.6 grainer, and the other was another 4.4 grainer.
As I was detecting I heard my close friend George talking to the other George behind me. He had his GB Pro and hunted with us for about an hour but was unable to get a piece. George was getting ready to leave when I got a phone call and I hollered to the son in-law that we had to head out. The three of us headed towards David and his son to let them know we were leaving. They had found two more small nuggets for a total of four, not bad for the day. He had gotten his first nugget ever and three more to really give him and his son the fever. Mark and Chris were still off somewhere down a draw, and I did not hear from them till they got home. Chris had found two small pieces and Mark drew the skunk card.
All in all, it was good day, and I was very happy to see George and David both get their first nuggets ever with a detector. Thanks all," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
Two friends, Mark and Chris went down into a draw to try their luck. I stayed up on the flat top with my two new friends, David and Wyatt, who I had taken out the day before for prospecting classes. David was using a 5000 and Wyatt, his son, was doing the digging. I had my 3000/Sadie Mono and walked out to the end of the ridge through the young but dense manzanita bushes. I had been hunting for just a few minutes when I got a nice mellow signal right in the thick brush. I had to stay standing while I dug the target out because of the brush. The signal turned out to be a nice little starter nugget about 4.4 grains. I began to detect back towards David and in just a few feet I got another real weak but soft signal, it turned out to be a 4.1 grainer. I detected for another hour and picked up several .22 rounds and an old fifty Cal Ball at about twenty inches, but no more gold.
I met up with David and Wyatt to find out that he had found his very first piece of gold. He was a happy camper. Being it was his first nugget I immediately took his cap off and slapped him on the head with it. After a short break we went back to hunting and, in a few minutes, David had his second nugget. About that time my son in-law, George, was wandering up the hill towards me. He had not found anything yet. George was using my GB Pro/five-inch coil. I sent him a few yards away from my position and told him to stay close to the brush with his sweeps. In a few minutes he had his very first piece of detected gold, it was about a 15 grainer. A half an hour later I got a screamer that was an 11.6 grain piece of gold that was stuck in a dirt clod when I dropped the target on the coil. It looked like a piece of rusted tin at first. I was close to the other guys so walked over to show it off. About that time my son in-law found another little nugget that was about twelve grains just a few feet from our location. A few more sips of tea and I was off again into the manzanita where I found two more pieces in just a few minutes. One was a 7.6 grainer, and the other was another 4.4 grainer.
As I was detecting I heard my close friend George talking to the other George behind me. He had his GB Pro and hunted with us for about an hour but was unable to get a piece. George was getting ready to leave when I got a phone call and I hollered to the son in-law that we had to head out. The three of us headed towards David and his son to let them know we were leaving. They had found two more small nuggets for a total of four, not bad for the day. He had gotten his first nugget ever and three more to really give him and his son the fever. Mark and Chris were still off somewhere down a draw, and I did not hear from them till they got home. Chris had found two small pieces and Mark drew the skunk card.
All in all, it was good day, and I was very happy to see George and David both get their first nuggets ever with a detector. Thanks all," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I met up with Matt today for a hunt and also to help him set up his new detector. He got himself a clean and used 3000 with stock coil. After going over some stuff and setting the detector up we were on our way. Today's hunt was a bit slower than the last time we were out together. I tried some different areas and did not get my first piece till early in the afternoon. Matt got a nice two gram plus nugget about an hour or so into the hunt. The smaller piece I got is kind of an odd piece as you can see in the pictures. I thought at first, I had found part of a piece of gold jewelry but after cleaning it off I could tell that it was native gold. It came in at a half a gram. My second nugget came about an hour later and is 9.71 grams. It was about eighteen inches deep. I was using the 3000 with the Sadie coil. All in all it was a good day and Matt is getting a handle on his 3000. He will have to post a picture of his nugget, it was a pretty one too. Thanks all," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I met up with Shasta Gold Hunter and his brother today and we took a walk through the woods to check out an area. The ground was not what I was looking for and we returned to a spot we have been detecting. I was using my 3000 with Sadie and Shasta Gold Hunter and his brother were using GB Pro's. We had been hunting almost two hours with no results when I got a real subtle signal. After scraping about five inches of leaves and grass off the surface and making another swing the signal was still there. The signal was still weak but solid, so I continued to scrape off the soil another five inches. Swinging again the target gave a more audible sound. I opened the hole up a bit on the sides and took the now gritty soil down till I hit bedrock and clay. Sticking the Sadie in the hole gave me that wonderful signal I love to hear. I used the pointy end of the pick to loosen up the bottom where the clay was and then pulled the material out. I went over the hole and there was no signal, it was in the pile. The guys were watching as I waved the coil over the pile a few times, I love that sound. I picked up a handful of soil and waved it over the coil and had it in my hand. Using my finger to move the dirt around I could see the nugget. The piece was a bit over an inch long. I figured about four penny weight.
After recovering, I went back to detecting and within just a minute or so I had another signal, this one was a screamer. Four inches down and right where the topsoil hit the gritty clay like material was another nugget lying in the dirt. We went back to detecting and Shasta Gold Hunter hollered at me that he had just found a small piece. A few minutes later I was trying to find some quiet targets for the brothers to dig. I found a few but they ended up being lead/trash. We all moved down a way and began hunting again, right away I got a solid signal. One more nugget for the poke. After an hour I had to call it quits for the day and we all headed out.
The actual weight on the big one turned out to 7.26 grams, or for Shep, 4.67 penny weight. The other two were 1.37 grams and .55 grams. Again, for Shep that's .88 penny weight and .35 penny. Thanks for looking," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
After recovering, I went back to detecting and within just a minute or so I had another signal, this one was a screamer. Four inches down and right where the topsoil hit the gritty clay like material was another nugget lying in the dirt. We went back to detecting and Shasta Gold Hunter hollered at me that he had just found a small piece. A few minutes later I was trying to find some quiet targets for the brothers to dig. I found a few but they ended up being lead/trash. We all moved down a way and began hunting again, right away I got a solid signal. One more nugget for the poke. After an hour I had to call it quits for the day and we all headed out.
The actual weight on the big one turned out to 7.26 grams, or for Shep, 4.67 penny weight. The other two were 1.37 grams and .55 grams. Again, for Shep that's .88 penny weight and .35 penny. Thanks for looking," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out between raindrops for a few hours the other day and went back to an area that I had come across a while back. I sort of stumbled on this area on the way out from another location one evening. It was getting dusky, and I came across what I thought was a natural draw. Looking at it a bit closer it appeared to be an old skid trail used to bring logs out. I stopped for a minute and had a drink of water and looked around a bit. The whole area has been machine brush cut by the BLM sometime in the last few years. This also made it hard to see much of anything.
Convinced that it was an old skid path I started to head out to the rig. As I started out, I hit a slick rock and busted my butt. As I was getting up, I looked at the skid mark and saw that it was green shale, one of my favorite colors for shale here in the Redding area. Upon closer inspection I realized that this was indeed used as a logging trail but only because it was already in place, I had stumbled upon a line of contact shale that the old timers had worked. I was still not too excited because many times the gold was tiny in size at many of these locations. It was getting dark quick, so I decided to get out to the jeep.
I got out today to the same area and took the trusty old 3000 for spin before the rain started back in earnest. It only took a few minutes to get to the site and before long I was detecting. I was using my new 8 X 6 Mono coil, Sadie, a new Nugget Finder addition. My very first target was a half inch long crinkly nugget about six inches deep. Wow, there is detectable gold here I said to myself. As I meandered up the draw, I could see that it averaged about twenty feet wide with granite walls going almost straight up about six feet. The bottom being shale with lots of clay mixed in with some small coarse rock. The old timers had followed this soft shale contact for almost a half mile and now I saw why. Within a few minutes I had another nice shale pressed nugget. It was starting to get fun now. The very next target was about twenty yards up and it turned out to be another piece of gold albeit a bit rounder than the other two pieces.
The rain was starting to come in harder and I decided that I better get going swinging as I went. Within a few yards I turned up another flat nugget. I took a final look up the draw wishing the rain had not come back so soon and then headed out to the jeep.
The gold came in at 2.6 dwts. I really like this new Sadie coil. The last nugget was down about sixteen inches, and the coil had no problem giving a real clear signal. I will be headed back out soon as the rain stops...Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
Convinced that it was an old skid path I started to head out to the rig. As I started out, I hit a slick rock and busted my butt. As I was getting up, I looked at the skid mark and saw that it was green shale, one of my favorite colors for shale here in the Redding area. Upon closer inspection I realized that this was indeed used as a logging trail but only because it was already in place, I had stumbled upon a line of contact shale that the old timers had worked. I was still not too excited because many times the gold was tiny in size at many of these locations. It was getting dark quick, so I decided to get out to the jeep.
I got out today to the same area and took the trusty old 3000 for spin before the rain started back in earnest. It only took a few minutes to get to the site and before long I was detecting. I was using my new 8 X 6 Mono coil, Sadie, a new Nugget Finder addition. My very first target was a half inch long crinkly nugget about six inches deep. Wow, there is detectable gold here I said to myself. As I meandered up the draw, I could see that it averaged about twenty feet wide with granite walls going almost straight up about six feet. The bottom being shale with lots of clay mixed in with some small coarse rock. The old timers had followed this soft shale contact for almost a half mile and now I saw why. Within a few minutes I had another nice shale pressed nugget. It was starting to get fun now. The very next target was about twenty yards up and it turned out to be another piece of gold albeit a bit rounder than the other two pieces.
The rain was starting to come in harder and I decided that I better get going swinging as I went. Within a few yards I turned up another flat nugget. I took a final look up the draw wishing the rain had not come back so soon and then headed out to the jeep.
The gold came in at 2.6 dwts. I really like this new Sadie coil. The last nugget was down about sixteen inches, and the coil had no problem giving a real clear signal. I will be headed back out soon as the rain stops...Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I only had a few hours this afternoon to go out, so I did not get to spend the time at the new location I had wanted to. I went to the far end of the wash and after detecting for about forty-five minutes I found one more nugget that came in right at a gram. About ten minutes later I got a booming signal and after digging down about fifteen inches I pulled an old lead bottle cap out of the clay. I am not sure exactly when they made these. It cannot be too old, but I am sure it has been around a few years. It was a pretty neat find.
I have no doubt at all that any one of the smaller coils would have found any of the five pieces from the last two hunts. I have used all the coils mentioned and would find it hard to say anything good or bad one way or another or even try to compare any of those smaller coils. I can say that after using the coils on the ground that I am used to here in the Redding area that the Sadie was a bit more stable on my modded 3000. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
I have no doubt at all that any one of the smaller coils would have found any of the five pieces from the last two hunts. I have used all the coils mentioned and would find it hard to say anything good or bad one way or another or even try to compare any of those smaller coils. I can say that after using the coils on the ground that I am used to here in the Redding area that the Sadie was a bit more stable on my modded 3000. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"I came up on this young rattler today while checking an area out. It had one button and was about 14 inches long, thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"OK guys, I got tired of talking about it and went out for a few hours yesterday after it warmed up. Got one of the tiny round pieces and then scraped a bit of soil off to find three more. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"I went out for a day trip today with Scott S. We went to one of my old haunts. Scott says that detecting up here sure is not like being out on flatland. I think he was happy with the day's outcome, however. I walked him through some diggings that are getting pretty slim nowadays. I think he wanted to stop and start detecting several times. We kept on moving up the canyon and finally hit the turnoff trail. I showed him the area and gave him a few pointers and we were off and running.
I went up a long pocket run that led me all the way up to the top of the mountain. I blanked and was able to find a few somewhat clear areas and make it back to the trail. When I found Scott down along the gulch, he was breaking brush to wedge his body into position to swing his detector. He had found one nice piece of lodestone with gold attached, he found it in a red clay pile along the edge of the gully.
After a break for a few minutes, we moved down the draw and worked a little point that had some cobble mixed up with the country rock. I played with the area by myself for a few minutes and stayed right along the watercourse when Scott came by and detected just a few feet above where I had walked. Within a few minutes he had a nice signal. About six inches down he pulled out his second nugget of the day.
We detected a bit more and started to head back down the trail stopping at a few of the places we had seen while coming in. With no luck and the skies starting to get darker we headed back to the rig. We got to my place and put the clean piece on the scale first, 2.6 pennyweight. Next, we put the lodestone specie on the scales, and it read 3.5 pennyweight. All done Scott had a good day and I think he was happy. I blanked, it's been a while since I have done that, and I don't like that feeling but it was a fun day seeing Scott find gold. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
I went up a long pocket run that led me all the way up to the top of the mountain. I blanked and was able to find a few somewhat clear areas and make it back to the trail. When I found Scott down along the gulch, he was breaking brush to wedge his body into position to swing his detector. He had found one nice piece of lodestone with gold attached, he found it in a red clay pile along the edge of the gully.
After a break for a few minutes, we moved down the draw and worked a little point that had some cobble mixed up with the country rock. I played with the area by myself for a few minutes and stayed right along the watercourse when Scott came by and detected just a few feet above where I had walked. Within a few minutes he had a nice signal. About six inches down he pulled out his second nugget of the day.
We detected a bit more and started to head back down the trail stopping at a few of the places we had seen while coming in. With no luck and the skies starting to get darker we headed back to the rig. We got to my place and put the clean piece on the scale first, 2.6 pennyweight. Next, we put the lodestone specie on the scales, and it read 3.5 pennyweight. All done Scott had a good day and I think he was happy. I blanked, it's been a while since I have done that, and I don't like that feeling but it was a fun day seeing Scott find gold. Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, here are a few pictures of today's gold. I went out with Adam who is a friend of mine. We were both using GB Pros and it was another real clear and warm day in the North state. After a mile long walk, we stood above the diggings and I outlined the pit to him. He went to the far end while I took off down the middle. I found two tiny crumbs near the top of a rock pile with lots of clay streaming down the slope. After an hour we met up again and Adam had found three small pieces that were a few grains each. We both hunted for another hour or so and then met up at my initial patch that I had hunted yesterday. I was eyeing a small area that I had not detected at all. We had our drinks and went to swinging, within minutes I had my first piece. It was nice round solid nugget and just a few minutes later I found its twin. I kicked some more rocks off the slope to clear it and started to detect again. I got a screamer and saw a flat squash seed looking piece of gold laying on the surface. We piddled around a bit more and decided to start the long walk back out. Adam ended up with .2 dwt and I had a total weight of 1.6 dwt, Thanks" TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out for a few hours today and almost got run off by a thunderstorm. The big rain came through last night and it started to clear off about eleven this morning. I headed out to a place that is only a few miles from the house. I got to the location and the clouds started to close in on me. Within a few minutes I had lightning all around so I found a place to sit and let the storm go by. The thunder and lightning were so close the pine cones were dropping out of the trees with every hit. After about ten minutes the sun started to shine again and I took off to hunt. I was using the GB Pro and after about five minutes I got my first signal which turned out to be a small piece of gold, maybe a few grains. I found two more crumbs in between the quartz that was littered throughout the area. After three more hours of detecting the skies were starting to get dark again so I headed back towards the rig. On the way back I saw a small drop in the bedrock that looked good. Sure enough there was one piece in the hole wedged in the bedrock underneath a dime. It turned out to be a .2 dwt piece. The other three pieces came in at .2 dwt. The total was a hair less than a half a pennyweight. This was not one of my better days but it was a beautiful day in between the clouds. Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hey all, usually we are talking about rattlesnakes, well while out on a walk yesterday I came up on this King snake. I had my cell phone off so by the time I got it back on these were the only shots I could get. What was really weird is that the King snake was on the left side of the gully when I noticed it. As I looked around, I saw that there were two small rattlesnakes on the right side of the gully. There were also two more smaller King snakes that I eyed moving towards the rattlesnakes. At the same time the larger King snake was moving around the head of the gully towards the rattlesnakes. Well, here we go again, I had to set the machine down and get the cell back out. By the time I got the cell turned on and ready to take pictures again, everyone was gone. I am not sure what I interrupted, breakfast, or the Kings just doing their thing and taking rattlesnakes out. I sure would have liked to have seen what happened even if I did not get pictures, I missed both. Has anyone else come up on something like this? This was really neat to see all at one time.
I had one other picture that I wish I could have taken years ago. As I was driving up a road along a local stream a group of salmon started moving through the fast water heading upstream. In the same instant I saw a bear right near the water watching the salmon. In that split second of seeing the fish and the bear here comes a huge eagle making a fly by right in the center of what would have been a fantastic picture. All my years in the military being ready for anything at a seconds notice its funny that I can't seem to keep up with ole Mother Nature when she presents a show for me to view, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
I had one other picture that I wish I could have taken years ago. As I was driving up a road along a local stream a group of salmon started moving through the fast water heading upstream. In the same instant I saw a bear right near the water watching the salmon. In that split second of seeing the fish and the bear here comes a huge eagle making a fly by right in the center of what would have been a fantastic picture. All my years in the military being ready for anything at a seconds notice its funny that I can't seem to keep up with ole Mother Nature when she presents a show for me to view, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out today for a few hours and walked into a place I saw from a distance last year. After I got to the area it ended up being smaller than I had thought. Someone had done surface work in the past. I don't think the material was any deeper than a few inches originally. It may even be ground erosion as the telltale rock piles and ground scars were not there. Either way I got two signals, and both were small nuggies right on the surface. I was using the GB Pro and the ground looked good, but still just the two pieces. I will take the 3000 in next time as the ground was deeper in a few areas, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, the storms have passed, leaving today to start with a nice morning. I took off early as I have to work at 1400 today. I went to a nearby patch and used the ole 3000 for an hour over some deep ground and got a few pieces of old white lead that I had missed before somehow. I went back to the rig and swapped out for the GB Pro. After putting a fresh battery in, I walked across the draw to a open red flat. There is a lot of trash in this area but we have pulled a few nice nuggets out from in between the trash targets. I was going for the obvious signals. I got several signals that jumped out right at 54 and gave me two bars. Sure enough they were lead rounds. I got into some tin trash and in an area about five foot square it was solid trash. I went back and forth and heard a different signal than the tin. I put my pick down and got the tin out of the way with the magnet. Still a nice loud signal there. The GB Pro was showing no bars, 40 to 100 back and forth and an 8. I knew it was good now. I scraped the red ground about two inches and hit yellow clay. I went back over the target and it was gone, out of the scraped area. I looked down at the pile and saw that broken yellow color in the red soil. I reached down and picked up the nugget. It looks like a big flake, normal pocket gold being coarse on one side and smooth on the other. As thin as it was I figured maybe four dwt. When I got home and put it on the scales it jumped to 9.6 dwts. Another nice morning and off to work I go, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I did get out today and I didn't blank. You guys will probably be glad to hear that it actually took me almost 5 hours to get a decent signal that turned out to be a nice one pennyweight nugget. This joker was down almost 22 inches sideways in the rotten shale. No I did not hear it with the GB Pro, I was using the ole 3000 today. This piece has ironstone on it, same as many of the other nuggets out of this patch. I am going to start going over this patch with a bigger coil and see what comes out. Good luck to all, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hey all, I had a spare two hours in between all the running around I had to do today. After seeing Deb and paying bills I decided to run out to a new place and hunt for a bit. Well, when I got out there it had gotten colder, and the wind was blowing a bit more. I said to myself, it is just too windy and cold, I will give it five minutes and head out. Watching the time, I headed towards a manzanita bush that Adam scored a small one at the other day and decided to check around it real slow with the GB Pro. Well just a few feet away from Adam's dig hole I get a screaming signal. All the ferrous bars go away, and the meter is jumping from zero to one hundred. The meter number was five to eight. I looked down and there is a sunbaker that turns out to be 3.5 dwts. What a surprise, I smiled to myself and headed to the rig and back to town. The gold in this area has a lot of iron stone attached to it, you can see some in one of these pictures. Thanks All," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out with Adam again today for a few hours at a new area. Adam was using the GB Pro and his Lobo while I concentrated on deeper targets with the 3000- and 14-inch NF Mono coil. I ended up with eight pieces for 3.1 dwts. I am not sure, but I think Adam got the skunk. Nice sunshine and a little breezy, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out this morning to try and find a birthday nugget. I had to get up early to make the long ten-minute drive to a secret place right next to the highway and then make the long two-minute walk into the goldfields. The sun was shining brightly, there was a breeze blowing and I could hear the traffic behind me. After the long trek, I stopped at a likely looking spot right out in the open and turned the old 3000 on. I was using the Sadie coil; it finds gold on its own. I moved three feet to the left of a wet spot and with one sweep of the coil I had a real nice audio response. The signal was very shallow, didn't want to dig deep holes on my birthday anyway, so that was alright. The ground was wet, so I made a small scrape with the pick about as big as my hand, getting the grass out of the way. I made another sweep and the target had moved. The target was in the small pile of mud. I reached down and poked my finger around, trying to stay clean, and I saw a flash of yellow. I wiped my hand off and put my glasses on and bent over again to pick up the nugget. It turned out to be a pretty little nugget, my birthday nugget. I dropped the gold into the vial and decided it was time to make the long trip back to the rig. After the brutal two-minute walk I got into the Jeep and headed home. The nugget weight is 2.36 grams, for Shep that is 1.53 pennyweight.
I wish it was this easy every day... Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
I wish it was this easy every day... Thanks," TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Chris, one of my hunting partners got three small pieces for 3.77 grams, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"Hello all, I got out today with one of my friends and we went exploring. We were moving up a wide draw that had water running in it and came up on an inside turn where we found evidence that someone had been playing around recently. There was a black plastic gold pan lying near the creek by some cleaned out cracks. We had not found any gold yet, so we decided to stop for a bit and see what was in the area. Chris used his small pick and scraped out a few shallow cracks that had moss covering them. He then panned the material out to see several pinpoint bits of gold. The area was worked all around by the old timers, but I am pretty sure the fine gold is what they were recovering. I continued to detect near the water's edge and finally got a soft signal on the bedrock, but it turned out to be a tiny piece of lead, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"While on my knees and looking at the bedrock in front of me I saw what I thought was a boot track in the bedrock. In the split second that my mind was telling me one thing I was thinking another. This is pretty hard bedrock and there should be no print. Looking again I realized that was looking at fossilized ground. Checking closer I could see lots of prints embedded in the rock. I don't know what many of them are but it sure was neat seeing them like that. After playing around and taking some pictures we decided to move on and see if we could find a piece of gold a bit larger than what was in the pan, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
"As we were going up the public side of the draw, I spied a digging up the hill on the private side. We checked out our location on the phone and have it earmarked for a possible trip in the future if we can gain permission from the owner. We were really close, however without permission it was a no go for me, Thanks." TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS