Hunting in New Zealand ( Lots of NZ Photos in this thread)

[Wildcat]

Here are some little babys I picked up last time I went to New Zealand for a holiday.
They were found between and to the left of the 2 rocks in 2nd image

 

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[Wildcat]

Well JW. I really have to say you have come a long way from when I first met you to now as far as experience and success goes. Looking forward to some lessons from you now. lol Congratulations. You will be able to buy your own bit of country down there before too long! Hope the wifes video sessions were a success.
Cheers
The Cat

 

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[Lanny in AB]

A big hello to the Cat!

Hey there JW--what the heck? It sure has been a long time since you've given any news of what you've been up to. And, then when you do, you show up with a whack of sassy gold!!

Well done--beautiful stuff. What a nice reward for all of your determined, hard work.

I especially liked your story of digging up the 22 casings (how you wanted to clear the obvious targets in case they were hiding/masking something else--brilliant!). Now, that's a story that taught me a great lesson. I always dig everything (learned that one long ago), except when I'm in a trashy area, and then I convince myself that there's too much trash, and why bother. But, now you've got me thinking for sure.

There's some areas in good nugget ground that are full of old square nails from the 1800's--I know the spots. I've got tired of digging those nails more than once. But, the reality is--there's great gold there too.

So, I guess I'll just grid off an area and dig until there's no more sounds at all--those nails could be masking/hiding something good. Funny that fact didn't sink in before.

Who knows, maybe all I'll get is a pocket full of old nails, but at least I'll know they weren't hiding something much better!

All the best, and nice to see both of you again,

Lanny

 

[kiwi jw]

Hi Guys, Well I have learnt a valuable lesson today & one you can all learn from my mistake. It has happened to me twice now at this same spot & only a couple of feet away from each other. The other weekend I went back to a spot where I had some exposed bed rock schist that was giving me three very strong signals that screamed at me .22 shell, .22 shell all in very close proximity to each other. Well last weekend I dug up those targets to get rid of them in case they were masking a good signal from that schist. Well they were not only masking one good signal, but 5.
Today I went back to these old sluiced workings thinking I had pretty much done them over for what ever gold they were going to give me. The bigger mono's were too noisy now in the wet ground & I had been all over them with my smaller mono's & 11"DD. Today I gave the 18" DD a run to see if there was anything of size at depth. I went to the spot where I had dug out those 3 .22 shells & then got those 5 good pieces. Well not 2 feet away there were a number of other loud junk targets that I decided to get rid of. They turned out to be lead bullet heads & then I got a "sweet" target that was a half gram piece of gold with the 18" DD in DD mode. It was only a couple of inches down & had I got rid of those junk targets earlier then any one of my other coils would have snapped it up.
So the lesson is.....GET RID OF ALL JUNK TARGETS!!!! You never know what they may be masking.

Happy hunting

JW

G'day Wildcat & Lanny . I put in the above quote from a post I did last year & echos what I said in my previous post & what you are talking about now Lanny. I have now lost count of the number of times I have found gold after getting rid of a junk signal that was drowning out any soft deeper gold signal. I now think back to how much gold I have left in the ground where, in my last post, that loud in your face signal was in fact a gold nugget itself. Being so close to the surface & a good size piece. Not really your normal gold sounding signal these days. They are usualy that very soft gentle smooth sounding signal.
Where I was detecting is a big open area & the gold could & is any where . So I was starting to ignore the loud junk sounding targets as it was bloody hot & I was getting sick of digging all the junk. But then of course you never know your luck as to the 8.5 grammer I got. But I have a massive area to cover & rather than grid an area totaly & dig EVERYTHING I was only digging the soft mellow sounds that are usualy gold but can also be lead. I was more intent on finding a patch, which I sort of did. I then slowed down & used a few different coils & dug every thing in that patch area. Once the gold stopped coming I would just carry on with the big coil & cover as much ground as I could to hopefuly pick up another patch. There were of course the random loner bits where I would put a stick in the ground & often there would be a 2nd bit of gold close by were I would put in another marker & try to work out if there was a patten as to if the gold was on a down hill course or try to work out a direction the gold was coming from. There never was, so I am just picking that it is gold randomly dropped by a retreating glacier. No rhyme nor reason as to where it has really come from. Frustrating as there are reefs in the area but the quartz shows no sign of gold let alone the type of gold I am detecting in the area. More frustration. It does make for a very interesting area though & who knows....one day I just might uncover a blow of gold coming out of the ground. As long as I keep getting gold there I will keep at it. For ever searching for the SOURCE. Dont you love it?? I do

Happy hunting

JW

 

[strickman]

good to hear from you cat ,and kiwi .been a while since you posted .

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hi Guys, Well I have learnt a valuable lesson today & one you can all learn from my mistake. It has happened to me twice now at this same spot & only a couple of feet away from each other. The other weekend I went back to a spot where I had some exposed bed rock schist that was giving me three very strong signals that screamed at me .22 shell, .22 shell all in very close proximity to each other. Well last weekend I dug up those targets to get rid of them in case they were masking a good signal from that schist. Well they were not only masking one good signal, but 5.
Today I went back to these old sluiced workings thinking I had pretty much done them over for what ever gold they were going to give me. The bigger mono's were too noisy now in the wet ground & I had been all over them with my smaller mono's & 11"DD. Today I gave the 18" DD a run to see if there was anything of size at depth. I went to the spot where I had dug out those 3 .22 shells & then got those 5 good pieces. Well not 2 feet away there were a number of other loud junk targets that I decided to get rid of. They turned out to be lead bullet heads & then I got a "sweet" target that was a half gram piece of gold with the 18" DD in DD mode. It was only a couple of inches down & had I got rid of those junk targets earlier then any one of my other coils would have snapped it up.
So the lesson is.....GET RID OF ALL JUNK TARGETS!!!! You never know what they may be masking.

Happy hunting

JW

G'day Wildcat & Lanny . I put in the above quote from a post I did last year & echos what I said in my previous post & what you are talking about now Lanny. I have now lost count of the number of times I have found gold after getting rid of a junk signal that was drowning out any soft deeper gold signal. I now think back to how much gold I have left in the ground where, in my last post, that loud in your face signal was in fact a gold nugget itself. Being so close to the surface & a good size piece. Not really your normal gold sounding signal these days. They are usualy that very soft gentle smooth sounding signal.
Where I was detecting is a big open area & the gold could & is any where . So I was starting to ignore the loud junk sounding targets as it was bloody hot & I was getting sick of digging all the junk. But then of course you never know your luck as to the 8.5 grammer I got. But I have a massive area to cover & rather than grid an area totaly & dig EVERYTHING I was only digging the soft mellow sounds that are usualy gold but can also be lead. I was more intent on finding a patch, which I sort of did. I then slowed down & used a few different coils & dug every thing in that patch area. Once the gold stopped coming I would just carry on with the big coil & cover as much ground as I could to hopefuly pick up another patch. There were of course the random loner bits where I would put a stick in the ground & often there would be a 2nd bit of gold close by were I would put in another marker & try to work out if there was a patten as to if the gold was on a down hill course or try to work out a direction the gold was coming from. There never was, so I am just picking that it is gold randomly dropped by a retreating glacier. No rhyme nor reason as to where it has really come from. Frustrating as there are reefs in the area but the quartz shows no sign of gold let alone the type of gold I am detecting in the area. More frustration. It does make for a very interesting area though & who knows....one day I just might uncover a blow of gold coming out of the ground. As long as I keep getting gold there I will keep at it. For ever searching for the SOURCE. Dont you love it?? I do

Happy hunting

JW

JW--Excellent lessons and excellent posts. It's funny to me sometimes how simple something is to understand when someone else explains it to you, and yet, on your own, you never seem to quite grasp how simple the concept really is.

I know of an are on the lip of a canyon--a spot where the oldtimer's took out lots of nugget gold. But, today, it's just loaded with nails (squares and rounds) from old sluicing operations (you know, the boxes rot and then the nails get moved along by run-off water to the edges of canyons where they get caught in bedrock traps all along the edges.

Well, I get so frustrated detecting along those edges due to all of the nails. However, reflecting on your posts, I now realize that I'd spend my time better in getting rid of all of the loud masking signals, and then spending the time carefully, and slowly scrubbing the ground and detecting, listening for the soft sounds of gold. And, most of the time, that's exactly what it (the sound of gold) is--very, very soft.

So, the lesson here for me is that how in the world could you ever hear those soft sounds when the iron is screaming in your ears? Well, the simple answer and simple solution to the problem is you can't.

Well--thanks for the free online detecting lessons JW. I've now got some great gold traps to check out.

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. Thanks for allowing this discussion Wildcat.

 

[kiwi jw]

(Quote from Lanny), So, the lesson here for me is that how in the world could you ever hear those soft sounds when the iron is screaming in your ears? Well, the simple answer and simple solution to the problem is you can't.

Hi Lanny, The simple answer & solution is.....REMOVE THEM
That can be tedious I know .....but can be well worth the effort. The spot you are talking about.....try taking a big magnet or rear earth magnet & wave it over a signal. Hopefuly any iron rubbish will leap up on to it with little digging effort & save you a LOT of time.
Lanny... I have learnt a lot from your fantasic posts, & there have been many, over the years & glad I can "awaken" something that is helpful to you.
Yes this is all Wildcats fault & I thank him immensely. We keep in touch with PM's.
All the best & Happy hunting

JW

 

[Wildcat]

Hi JW, Strickman and Lanny. Well, the way life has been lately I have got very little prospecting done at all. In fact, I have only been doing a little relic hunting around my property and neighbouring properties and I have found something that I can't mention here.
Needless to say it was a surprise at the time. Sadly it was of no value to me. Interesting all the same.
I have been posting on another forum fairly regularly as JW knows under the avatar of Panther in case you come across me.
JW, I am pleased you followed up the leads I gave you but I do believe your own perseverance and determination has been the key to your success.
Gotta go, the neighbour has arrived to cut some concrete for me. Happy hunting

The Cat

 

[Lanny in AB]

Cat--where you at? Still chasin' the gold?

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Wildcat]

Hi Lanny, Nice to hear from you. Been very quiet here and only been out once in a long time. Still got lots to do on the property and health hasn't been great. (can't walk far) MRI tomorrow to see whats happening...(to legs)
Cheers
Cat

 

[Lanny in AB]

Cat--that sounds very serious--I sincerely hope all goes well. I'll be thinking of you. Sorry about that.

Keep us updated please.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[kiwi jw]

Hi there Doug, Sorry to hear the health news. Hope you come right & get to the bottom of it & get back out there doing what you love to do.
I have been very quiet on the forums due to lack of getting out there swinging the coil. The Coromandel just isnt the place to do that but I still go up my favourite little creek with pan, box, hand crevice suckers & sometimes the 2" suction dredge. But even then the gold is pretty piss poor. Even more so when one gets "spoilt" down south. The access up this little creek I go to up here is very difficult & wears me out. I have now stached my gear back in then bush to save carting it in & out every time. Motors, pumps & every thing. So far it has survived. This area interests me as it was one of the very few areas that was ground sluiced for detrital (alluvial) gold in the very first days of gold discovery on the Coromandel. Mid 1860's. Through this ground sluicing of the surrounding hill side talas & the loose alluviam they uncovered very rich stringers of gold & got some great finds in the creek itself. As we know they never get it all but what was in the little creek they would have got so what I am finding in there has been washed in to there since they went through. They were pretty thorough though & chased these rich stringers into the hill sides & they have modified the ground no end with there trenching, quarrying & general hard rock mining activity.
The country is very steep. But I am sure there are some pockets of trapped gold somewhere between the reef stringers high up & the creek that there water from there ground sluicing wouldnt have dislodged. There just has to be.
I have been up there a few times with my GMT but it is such a hard task. I did find an old pick head complete with the metal wedge that held the handle in place. But no sign of any wooden handle. That was completely rotten away.

And some nice pieces of Jasper, not with the detector of course

The bush is getting the better of me though & keeps driving back in to the creek looking for the yellow, but I know there just has to be some good finds to be made up on the bush covered hill side.
This was my last play in the creek last friday. I know I have posted these pics on the bed rock & its mysteries page but they probably should have been on here.

Close up of both sides of the little speci bit

It is these little speci bits that I know are going to be trapped higher up & hopefully some bigger bits as well. It keeps me going back there for ever searching. Dont you love it.

Happy hunting

JW

 

[Wildcat]

great to hear from you JW. Every little bit counts and even though the price of gold is fluctuating, it is still well worth while storing it up. I am ever hopeful of getting out regularly again, but, I had a laminectomy 17 years ago and it is not something you want to have again. I think the risk factor goes up and I don't want to end up in a wheelchair. The trouble is detecting involves a lot of spinal twisting and I don't think it is the best thing for me. I remain hopeful. Gotta go get ready for my MRI. Catch up later for one of these?

Cat

 

[kiwi jw]

G'day Wildcat. Very good to hear from you to mate. All the very best to you & I really do hope to share one of those with you.
take care

Regards

John