Anyone here do gold nugget hunting?

[mohayes1046]

I would like to hook up with someone who does nugget hunting and other MDing. I plan to snowbird south to AZ this winter and would like to find a place to stay and look for nuggets and anything else interesting.
This is a 25.5 ounce nugget from Alaska I believe. It is found on www.gerrysdetctors.com under photo finds. If you want to see some NICE nuggets, wander around his site, it will amaze you what they find on his trips.
Mark

 

[Mike from MI "Iron Brigade"]

but someday I will! I wanted to when I was prospecting in NC on a gold dig but never got the machine out.
Steve is in AZ!

 

[rentasquid]

n/t

 

[steve in so la]

I have been nugget hunting a few times but dont anymore. One really needs a sensitive to gold detector to find them. My Fisher 1266 just isn't built that way. If you have a good gold machine then you may have some luck. There are several gold clubs in the state that go frequently - at least in Phoenix & in Tucson.
Like most detecting pursuits, it takes a lot of patience to be successful. There are a few guys in my area who go out to the gold fields most weeks and they do get them.
And luck has something to do with it also. One time my friend & I had been scouring the hills & gullies for gold and were walking back to the truck, following an old dirt road. He got a signal right in the road, dug up a nugget and that was the only one that day Steve in so az

 

[camel]

what part of AZ are you going to.Years ago i had a little luck in the Yuma area..we used dry washers.Steve is correct you need a machine designed just for gold shooting.Threes a spot on the Gila river that had a gold camp called Gila city,well the whole placed washed away one night during a flash flood.I would love to go to that spot and try my luck for ore or relics.The river changed channels and you would have to to a little research to find the exact spot.

 

[mohayes1046]

I'm not sure where we will end up in AZ, that's why I'm asking for help in finding a good area and anything else I can find out about the southern part of AZ. Just after I retired I drove tour Jeep for "A Day in the West" in Sedona and that's the only area I am kind of familiar with.
I'm using a Minelab X-terra 70 which is capable of picking up nuggets down to the size of the 0 in 70. It definitely has the capability, now it has to train me to understand its language. I'm scheduled to go out with Gerry in September either to Sumpter, Oregon (17 square miles of tailings) or Rye Patch, Nevada on a training trip and that will help. His web site has some astounding nuggets on it that have been found by his clients. One in particular was a nugget that looked like it completely filled the holders hand and supposedly weighed " four pounds" and that would be troy ounces involved.
Anyway, enough babbling, thanks for your inputs and I definitely appreciate your notes and any comments you have regarding safe and unsafe areas of AZ to spend time in.
Mark

 

[steve in so la]

I go about 1 hour south of me to the Santa Rita mountain area, long time gold area. I have a dry washer also, steve

 

[steve in so la]

All areas of the southwest are sometimes unsafe. With so many illegals crossing over, drug running, etc. We always wear a gun - no troubles yet.
One bit of advice - get a gold nugget to try out and see how your machine reacts. Then you will know beforehand. And anything larger that 1/5 of your small fingernail will be extremely hard to find. But luck does have something to do with it. Steve

 

[SEMPERFI61]

i have had the terra--70,but the mxt is more nugget friendly!!gerry takes his groups to gaines creek and most of them take mxt's with the super 12 "coil,and the 6x10 d.d.coil.there's the regular gold machines ---------minelab has the best gold machines!!!