Howdy fellow prospectors,

Well I finally got out to the hills for a couple of hours this afternoon with my GPX-4500 and managed to nail a couple of dinks with the new NF 14"EMS Advantage coil; man that thing is HOT! The gold is small in the area I was hunting, so the 14" was definitely the way to go. I'll be patch hunting a new area tomorrow, so I'll have to take my new NF 24"EMSL Advantage coil for it's maiden voyage into the vast Nevada outback. Good luck out there!

- Lunk -

Good job on the gold. I got a buddy that uses the 17"Em and he is finding that small stuff your getting there. I don't have one, however wish I had one to try one the end of my machine.

Lunk,

Congrat's on the finds! Hope you find a couple pounds on your extented prospecting trip...cold up there?

LuckyLundy

Lunk,

Nice couple of nuggets with the 14.

Best of Luck with the 24 and the huge nuggets in Nevada.

Rich

Hey thanks Nuggetslayer,

The legendary Smokey Baird literally loves his new NF 17"EM Advantage coil; he told me he kisses it every night before he takes it to bed with him...

- Lunk -

Thanks LuckyLundy,

Just a couple? Yeah, it's pretty cold at night, but we're on a warming trend now; only down to freezing at night, woohoo! And besides, there's nothing wrong with cold gold.

- Lunk -

Thanks Rich,

Didn't find a new patch with the new NF 24"EMSL coil today, but I thoroghly enjoyed the scenery...(here's one of your skyline shots, Reno Chris! )

- Lunk -

Lunk,
Chukar season opens this weekend so there''ll be a lot of folks out about. If you find a spot where there's no gold but lots of birds let me know!!

lunk,If you find a spot where there is no birds and lots of GOLD send picture with GPS cordinates.
Harry

Aha! So that's where you were...

What are you doin' way down there????

Last time I was down that way, there was a BIG wild stallion standing on that ridge, sizing me up...

Good to see you at IHOP, see you on the return trip.

I might be headed that way if the weather holds...

Did you get any snow in the past few days??

Gary

Funny, guys...

No snow here! When I left Boise on Sunday, there was a skiff of snow in the mountains all the way down to McDermitt.

Well I hooked up with Ron in Idaho (who lives in Imlay now) today for a little nuggetshooting. It was a beautiful day with warm weather and blue skies; I went over a spot I cleaned out last spring and the new NF 14" EM coil was able to squeeze out one more dink from its hiding place in a bedrock crack. Ron had a great time and found a couple of little nuggets to boot! Thanks for the company Ron, and I hope you find that virgin nugget patch soon!

- Lunk -

Man looks like a great place for me to go coyote hunting. I would have a hard time putting my rifle down.

If you'll look more closely, you'll see that you are correct.

Lunk, My friend Estile Hunt got a total of 16 Small nuggets with his 18''NF Advantage coil in two weeks detecting in the Rye Patch area last month.
Harry

Howdy,I'll try and download a couple of Estile's RP gold pic's
Harry

Lunk,

Big storm is heading to Northern California next week. Looks like 3 to 4 days of rain and very windy. Toss the anchor out on your camper!

LuckyLundy

Howdy fellow prospectors!

Time for the daily gold report:

First off, on our hike to an old nugget patch, the legendary nuggetshooter Smokey Baird, his border collie Buster and myself were enjoying the brisk morning air and pungent scent of sagebrush when I noticed a faint sound; it was like somebody had partially twisted the cap off of a soda pop bottle and the gas was slowly escaping, making a hissing sound. Then the sound got louder, and as I looked back I noticed that Buster was curiously looking into a clump of brush. Suddenly I realized that the source of the strange noise was a RATTLESNAKE! Smokey and I yelled at Buster to get away, which he promplty did, and Smokey muttered that he sure wished he had his camera because it is rare to see a rattler in such a posture, standing erect and ready to strike. "Well gosh Smoke," I said, "I just happen to have my little digital right here on my belt." I proceeded to put the camera in close-up mode and, from a safe distance of about 20 feet away, zoomed in and snapped several shots. In the meanwhile, Smokey went back to the truck to retrieve his camera and pistol. You see folks, Smokey made a deal with rattlesnakes long ago and I quote: "If I don't see 'em, I won't shoot 'em!" Well, needless to say, after shooting the snake with his camera, you can certainly guess what happened next...one well aimed shot and it was all over for the sinuous reptile. It was definitely a first for me since, in my dozen or so years of roaming the southwestern deserts during the winter months, I have never even seen a rattlesnake until today.
Secondly, as I scrubbed my new NF14"EM Advantage coil over the familiar old patch, I wondered if it would see gold that was missed before; sure enough, I scored 7 nice little nuggets by the end of the day, for a total of 7.1 grams. All but one were 6 inches deep or less; the one was a good foot deep, believe or not. All I know is that nuggets have nowhere left to hide when you have the Advantage!

Lunk. That is one mad snake !!!----Nice gold.

Bob

Dang Lunk,

That was a healthy and ticked off rattler!
You really need to have more skyline in your pics, just a suggestion, you see...
You always have interesting tales to tell, and tell ole Smoky thank you for returning the
little plastic bottle with my test nugget in it... Most people would have added the contents
to their poke and called it theirs, where Smoky asked folks if anyone had lost a little bottle
with gold in it.
The tough part about it was Smoky jokingly chastising me about littering his desert with
gold containing bottles!

Gary/LARGO

Wow!! Awesome snake pic. I've never seen one so fired up. Amazing the dog didn't get bit. It's odd this is the first snake you've seen in all the years and all the ground you've covered. I've seen a bunch of them in my time hunting and hiking around Northern Nevada. Now you know what they sound like, anyway. Keep the stories coming, Lunk.

Lunk,nice gold and a once in a lifttime picture of a rattler ready to strike. keep us posted.
harry

I'll be sure and do that, Largo.

Yep, that was one gnarly mad rattler! Thankfully, the nugget patch was free of snakes today; it was a beautiful, sunny October day in northern Nevada...the kind of day where any nuggets found are just icing on the cake of nature's awesome beauty. I did happen to dig some icing, by the way; 3.3 grams between 4 golden dinks. Loving that Advantage!

- Lunk -

Lunk . Slowly but surely they are piling up. Looks like your trip is starting out well. There will be a "lunker " somewhere on your journey.----Bob

Lunk,

That is one nasty snake!

Great start with the winter nugget hunting.

Please keep posting your finds as the Washington nugget hunting weather is starting to turn and make detecting much more difficult.

Rich

Great story, good pictures and nice gold. Thanks John

thanks for the great pics! keep up the good work.

Hey Lunk
Sounds like an adventure! That makes a great day and one I bet you remember.
I really enjoyed the story that's some really good writing. Thanks!!!

Best Hunting
Herb

Lunk,

Them snakes will be hitting their Winter holes in a few days, then you'll be snake free to pile up that gold. Keep finding them!

LuckyLundy

Hey thanks guys,

I'm definitely having a blast as always. Got a couple more today for a hefty sum of zero point nine of a gram; but hey, two dinks are better than one!

- Lunk -

Two dinks are better than one or none for sure. Lucky and I have a dink patch that is where we go when the skunk won't leave us alone. There is always a monster lurking in every patch. You just have lure him out. Like Rick says ya got to have the right bait.

NuggetSlayer,

Your giving away a secret!!! Them lunkers have seen every detector and coil made. It's the presentation that lures them lunkers out from the depths...low & slow!

LuckyLundy

LuckyLundy & NuggetSlayer,

You're right about the presentaion, and I thought I had that lunker yesterday; I got a nice "down" noise and thought, "oh boy, there it is!" but it turned out to be just a buried pocket of decomposed ironstone about a foot deep. I had a good feeling from the start that it was mineralization since there was barely any response in ENHANCE timing, but the signal was very strong in EXTRA. So that lunker is still lurking somewhere out there!

- Lunk -

Hope you're staying warm out there today (tuesday 10/13). Its raining here is Reno, and I figure you are getting the same out there.

Chris

Hey Chris,

I went out this morning and got about an hour and a half in before the wind gusts drove me nuts; didn't get over any nuggets, but found two tiny buckshot. It started raining pretty good on my way back. The system is supposed to hang around for another day, but it shouldn't be as bad tomorrow. Take it easy!

- Lunk -

Hey Lunk,

Great stories and even greater gold. You should copyright that picture of the snake and sell it to National Geographic or someone else. That's a one of a kind.

sourdough

Hi Lunk,
Sorry I was unable to meet up with you and the gang this year, I was really looking forward to it.
As you know the timing just didn't work out for me, as we were moving that weekend.
We are all moved in now, and just have a garage full of boxes to unpack.
Thanks for sharing your stories and pics, you are sure making me miss those Nevada goldfields.
October is by far my favorite month for romping around the hills.
I wish you continued success and great weather for the rest of your journey.
It has been a couple weeks for me now, and I am hoping to get back out swinging for a couple days this weekend.
Tell Smokey I said HI. Not sure if he remembers meeting me in RP?
Gus-

Gus, I had a great visit with Lunk and the other guys. I was also looking forward to seeing you again, and I was hoping you would bring some of those quartz and gold baseballs you've been finding. Hopefully, Lunk will come back through Boise in the Spring, and we can all get together over pancakes and gold.

Hey Gus,

Like Ron said, we'll definitely hook up this spring on my way back to Coeur d'Alene. Hope you're able to get out detecting soon; I'm sure you're relieved now that the big move is over - good luck when you do get out, and find another baseball or two!

I was able to get out today now that the storm blew through; didn't get across any nuggets, but I saw a bright green mantis praying for breakfast to come along...he sure was a stark contrast to the monotonous earth tones of his surroundings.

- Lunk -

Lunk. you should be calling this "lunks nuggetshooting spree and wildlife tour". ----Bob

Agreed, Bob; today I saw three antelope - they were a little too far away and moving too fast to get any pics, though.

- Lunk -

Hey everyone,

Well, the last couple of days of patch hunting haven't panned out, so I headed for the old Nevada nugget patch this afternoon for a couple of hours; it was pretty quiet for awhile, but two dinks finally revealed their hiding places. One point zero grams total weight. Good luck out there!

- Lunk -

Ron & Lunk,
I look forward to hooking up with you guys and the gang this spring.
Gus-

Well Gosh Lunk... You are really enjoying a great adventure...
Quit goofing around chasing crumbs and find a lunker...
Tailgate

Oh by the way Lunk.. I like your silver war nickel... my guess it is a 1943?
Tailgate

Hi Tailgate,

Good guess, but it's actually a 1945; I wish it was one of the rare ones ('42 or '43 I believe) that are worth a LOT of nickels! I found it, along with my very first nuggets, in some old bench diggings near an old timer's cabin in the Coeur d'Alene gold country.

Your right; it is alot of fun "dink"ing around, but a lunker or two would be nice - just a matter of time, I suppose. Hopefully it will be soon!

I hope to get together with you and Sandtrap for a hunt in the El Paso Mountains during our stay at Ridgecrest this winter, Jim; 'til then!

- Lunk -

Sounds great... Both Sandtrap and I are finding a few, but we have left many
for you... The El Pasos have a known history of large nuggets... there is a
Tertiary channel cutting W to E across the range from the S end of the Sierras.
However, I like hunting the N and S slope of the Rand Mountain.

Hey guys and gals,

Today I took my new Nugget Finder 24-inch elliptical SL Advantage coil out to the ol' Nevada nugget patch and worked a small section of familiar wash that myself and several others have gone through over the years. Thanks to the super steady threshold of my trusty GPX-4500, I was able to discern a faint yet obvious target response; I had to smile as the first six inches of loose material graded into a layer of reddish compacted gravel. When I finally got down to the bedrock at the 18-inch mark, the target was screaming! All it took from there was removing the material from a crevice in the bedrock and the target was finally out of the hole. As the the heavy object slid out of my hand and into the scoop with a welcome thud, the glint of shiny yellow greeted my anxious eyes. The 6.8 gram beauty is a nice change from the usual assortment of dinks; now, hopefully, I'll find the motherlode it came of off!

- Lunk -

Obverse and reverse views...

Hi Lunk,

Now yer talking!

Nice rough one!

I thought that ole wash was was played out long ago.

How long did it take you to dig that deep hole with your geologist pick???

It's always good to have a good assortment of digging tools along to get the deep ones...

Congratulations!

I may have to come down yet...

My wife just keeps me busy doing home chores, and I am about played out with that tune...

Tell Nevada Chris and Wilma hello,

As well as Crystal John if you see him.

I wonder if that tail-less lion ever came back to visit him at night...

Keep up the good work! That Advantage coil must be awesome, I can't wait to try mine.

~LARGO~

Beutifull man, Congradulations.