Im not sure...

taternut

Full Member
Apr 12, 2013
212
38
Northern CA
Detector(s) used
Hand sluice, Gold bug pro
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
So there's a small creek that runs through my town, and during the gold rush it was pretty much mined through with bucket dredges. But there's another small stream that connects to that same creek, and I'm almost positive it's untouched. I've only ever seen homeless people in the area. But I'm sure it's not blm or fs land. So would that be a no go? Or should I check it out? I'm not looking for a fine or anything lol. Any insight on the area would be appreciated :)
 

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There's some good vids on YouTube, from our area, I'd try to work bedrock and try to find cracks you cant see with naked eye I saw a guy finding pickers inside the bedrock cracks in a video with a hammer and chisel. Good choice on detector I think too.

I've watched a few videos on YouTube but not many show what they're running the machine at and why lol. There's a couple guys up here that offered to take me out and teach me but its too damn hot
 

I got the gold bug pro, I've talked to a few guys in this area and they
said its by far the best especially with the kind of ground we have here. But I've never been metal
detecting before so I'm super confused and intimidated lol

Fear Not there Tater, as the GBPro is one of the most simple machines I've ever used.

For nugget hunting, simply plug in your headphones, turn the knob on the left (Power/Sensitivity)
to the 12 O'Clock position, and then turn the Threshold knob on the right up slowly until you just
barely hear the sound.

Now, hold the Ground Balance/Pinpoint button in the middle down and "bob" the coil up and
down a few times over a spot that is metal-free. A Ground Balance number will appear on the bottom
right of the screen, and when it stabilizes you will hear little to no sound difference between moving the coil
up and down while bobbing the coil.

Get a few small objects (piece of wire, nail, split-shot, etc.) and do some testing to get used to
the sound of the machine.

Go nugget hunting! I recommend digging all signals, and as you get more acquainted with the
machine you'll learn (read the manual) how the display also shows you a reference number for
the amount of mineralization present in the soil you are detecting.

One thing for sure, it can't find you any nuggets until you take it out in the field, so
read the manual again and take the plunge...you'll be glad you did. 8-)
 

Thank you dizzy that kind of breaks it down for me. So the big number is the amount of mineralization? So if its gold/lead it should be a pretty high number?
 

taternut,
Everyone has really good advice here. Once you get the detector out into the field, you'll understand everything they're saying. In the beginning, you might be overwhelmed with all the aggressive numbers and tones that come at you, especially if you're in high trash areas or among many "hot rocks." Although the GB Pro is a relatively easy machine, it took me a few months to learn how sift through it all to find the gold. While the weather is hot, spend some time at the library and in the public records of the county administrative office. There is a lot of valuable information about the geology and mining history of our area.
 

taternut,
Everyone has really good advice here. Once you get the detector out into the field, you'll understand everything they're saying. In the beginning, you might be overwhelmed with all the aggressive numbers and tones that come at you, especially if you're in high trash areas or among many "hot rocks." Although the GB Pro is a relatively easy machine, it took me a few months to learn how sift through it all to find the gold. While the weather is hot, spend some time at the library and in the public records of the county administrative office. There is a lot of valuable information about the geology and mining history of our area.

I was hoping to go out this weekend but of course the heat and my brother came up from San Diego so I was hanging out with my 11yo nephew and I figured he wouldn't have much fun :/ hopefully next week
 

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