Do you find more gold with a pan or detector?

It depends on where you are and what's in the ground. I'm on a nice streak if 40+ hours of no gold while detecting. However, every time I sluice/pan, I come home with at least a few specs.
 

Wow 40 hours!? :0 where are you looking? Gotta bring home the bacon somehow man ;)


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Yeah it depends on where you are. But you could spend 100+ hours with a detector and not find anything, and at 101 hour you find a nugget that blows all the fine gold you've been panning for the last two years.
 

$20,000 in gold in one day would be one heck of an accomplishment to say the least.......and not likely!!!! There is no answer to your question. You can pan all day and find nothing. You can detect all day and just dig junk targets. It might take you all summer to pan 1/4 oz. of gold, or to detect a 1/4 oz. of gold. The fact is that not everybody will succeed prospecting by either method. First of all you need a proper location. Then you need knowledge. Then you have to work hard long hours. In the right hands a detector can compliment a pan and vise versa. Both methods require lots of research and hard work. If it was easy everybody would be doing it.

Beyond all that, it's not about having the gold so much as it's about the stalk. I myself prefer to metal detect, but we don't have much water most of the time in Az. so that makes detecting a better choice for me personally. I relate detecting to being like fishing. Digging normal junk targets like nails and general scrap is like catching stockers. When you pop a nice nugget out of the ground it's like catching a trophy or unexpected larger fish. Just like when fishing, you never know what that next target or strike might be till you dig it up or land it. Dennis
 

Good question and great comments. My two cents - the pan is generally more effective over a short time span, especially when sniping bedrock. The detector is more fun and increases the potential. Everybody has a pan but not everybody has a good detector and the ability and the patience. ie. most areas have been panned, but not necessarily detected and if detected, not well.
 

I love sniping! As soon as I find clay, I start piling it into my pan. I've had to go quite deep (just using my hands! Not even a shovel hahaa) on the American river. I found a couple small nuggets in the hole I was in... That's what got me interested in the detector side of it. To get to where I was, I don't think anyone would want to take their detector into the water, unless it was waterproof!

I'm thinkin about getting myself a whites GMT to use during the winter... Cause there's no way I'm getting in that freezing water.


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I have yet to find gold with any detector that I have used, I am currently using a Gold Bug 2.

I have found pounds of gold sniping over the last 3 years.

So yeah, so far, Sniping wins out massively. :)
 

Pounds of gold sounds good to me NeoTokyo!
I also love sniping and detecting. This is a tough question that as stated above all depends on location and time spent. I have found just under an ounce this summer only getting out every other weekend or so. Detecting i've found a 1/4 oz nugget and two small nuggets just at penny wt each, all the rest was found sniping and panning. Mostly all pickers but the one 1/4 piece found detecting dwarfs the pieces i've picked or panned. Did find a cool copper lid to a small box that was stamped with chinese writeing this past weekend while detecting but no gold. Probably have 15 hrs since my last nugget detecting, but the ground i've been covering latley has been hammered. Looking forwrd to hitting into some near virgin ground this fall.
Happy Day - Happy Hunting
Adam
 

This year has not been so great for me, only a few ounces so far this year, my first two years were stupid with the amount of gold this newbie was finding.

My 2012 taxes came to the tune of $21,427 dollars all from gold.
I found about the same in 2013 but gold was way down and I only claimed about $15.5k from gold.

The vast majority of that gold found came from just 2 easy access honey holes. ;)
 

It depends on the ground. I've panned a quarter of an ounce in a few hours in a hot spot, and I've found some great nuggets in just a few swings as well. However, most of the time, either method requires a lot of time.

You go through dry spells and hot streaks with either method, and as others have said it's how much gold is in the ground that pays off whether you're detecting or panning.

Moreover, I get good gold either way, and I enjoy either method. But, when it's stinking hot outside, I'll pan down in a cool canyon by the river any day rather than detect.

If I get wind of some virgin ground or a new patch that pops up, I'll grab the detector and have at it, and yes that even means in the heat!

So, with five hours using either method, it all depends on the quality of the ground, really.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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I hear ya! I was on the north fork Friday and yesterday... First day I was sniping, second day I was above-water crevicing. Found a bunch of TINY gold in the crevices, but found the big flakes under water. Only got about a grain worth of gold total :/

That area has been gone through so hard... I'm gonna try up by mineral bar next week
 

TravyLeigh said:
Wow 40 hours!? :0 where are you looking? Gotta bring home the bacon somehow man ;)


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40 hours with no gold detecting is nothing. Almost normal I'd say. People generally underestimate just how hard it is to find gold nuggets with a metal detector. It is the most difficult type of detecting there is and most people who buy a nugget detector probably never find a gold nugget with it.

When people like me post about gold finds it looks easy if you read the post. This year I made a trip to Alaska and end result was two ounces of some really nice gold. Problem is that I had maybe 250 hours of detecting in to get those two ounces.

I usually do find gold every day I detect but that is not saying much. It may be a small nugget weighing 0.1 gram.

The thing is I just love metal detecting. I have no desire to go panning or sluicing or anything else these days. I may as well sell that last little bits of sluicing gear I have because it just do not see myself trading a day of detecting for a day of running a sluice box ever again.

So I think the answer is all about what best suits your temperament. Most people find detecting to be boring at best and when digging nails downright stupid. Panning can provide the more consistent gold most people prefer. Detecting is more for people willing to accept long dry spells for a shot at some bigger returns. Maybe a long shot, but when detecting pays off it can pay off big.
 

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use the detector to find the "black sands area" then bust out the pan..
 

Steve makes an excellent point about temperament. Just how aggravated can one get before one drops one means, panning, for another means, detecting, to put gold in the poke. Can one sit in the same hole for hours looking for that pay streak or pocket or does one have the drive to wander for hours and days looking for that nugget or patch?

What collects more gold, detecting or panning, is really all about temperament (that ability to deal with aggravation about the work) and a healthy dose of reality for the terrain ones prospecting in. For me anyway.

For me panning puts more gold in the kitty when I know the area is nugget poor. Its my temperament that allows me to work that much
harder on my hole to pull the gold in. Its hard slow work and the scenery never changes but the gold is there.

Where as in nugget rich areas detecting is preferable and more profitable but I know I'll work almost twice as hard finding those patches; however the scenery changes and I can experience some of the wonder of areas I'd never see sitting in a hole.
 

I gotcha guys. I love detecting (never prospected with a detector though), I love panning, I love sniping... I just love adventure. I think for me, it's just trying to figure out how to make a living at what I love to do. I think that's what most of us want!

But bills are a bit more expensive than what I've been finding on a day on the river.

All I need is that one BIG nugget, and I'll be good to go!
 

TravyLeigh said:
Wow 40 hours!? :0 where are you looking? Gotta bring home the bacon somehow man ;) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Southern California. I haven't driven further than 45 minutes from home yet for any kind of prospecting adventure. I am using a very decent PI detector (it's blue and it fits in my backpack!) so hopefully it will come eventually. If it doesn't, detecting/prospecting is certainly not something I rely upon to earn a living. It's just a hobby for me and I really enjoy it. I'm always looking forward to the next hike.

One big nugget WOULD be nice though! And sooner than later. ;) Hopefully Wednesday is the day.
 

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Heck yeah man. I'd just like a VW bug sized nugget... Is that too much to ask for? ;)
 

It would be absolutely impossible to pickup so worthless and you'd be driven mad trying to pick it up and keep others from stealing it-think smaller and profit-John
 

Heck no, I'll chop that thing up with a chainsaw hahaa
 

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