No. Cal gold prospector detector

[mikegeld58]

Hi guys,
I live in the middle of CA gold country, but it is surprisingly difficult to detect placer gold in many areas.
Guess because I live in the Peoples Republic of Calfornia.
I have a Whites MXT and looking to get a Goldbug 2. I live near Placerville and would like to find a metal detector buddy.
I will drive, have a great 4x4.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[vpnavy]

I noticed this is your very first post - so Welcome Aboard! I was going to suggest you look at Sub-Forums: California for information (i.e., clubs, etc.) directly related to your state but notice you already found it. Again - welcome aboard.

 

[63bkpkr]

mikegeld58, Indeed welcome, you are certinally in the right area but of course metal detecting for Gold is a tough thing to do. How long have you had the MXT, do you have a test garden with various targets lead/a nickel/brass shell casings/hunk of steel-cast iron-tin can-pull tab-penney and the like? Practice is very very important before hitting the hills but then as you live in NorCal the ground near your 'home' may be well mineralized and would help the practice.The White's blog site may very well offer you the experience of many others that will be willing to share with you their settings used when they have found Gold, give it a try! Best of Success.................63bkpkr

 

[Goldfleks]

Hi guys,
I live in the middle of CA gold country, but it is surprisingly difficult to detect placer gold in many areas.
Guess because I live in the Peoples Republic of Calfornia.
I have a Whites MXT and looking to get a Goldbug 2. I live near Placerville and would like to find a metal detector buddy.
I will drive, have a great 4x4.

You're going to need to be on bedrock detect any small gold. It's going to be in cracks and crevices mostly. Not saying you can't get lucky and find a nice "sassy" nugget near the surface in a spot it's not supposed to be. Gold is where you find it. But detecting on bedrock is going to greatly improve your chances.

If you want placer gold that's not on bedrock then grab your shovel and sluice and get digging. Plenty of placer gold to find that way, but it's too small for your detector to pick it up.

 

[Grumpie]

You're going to need to be on bedrock detect any small gold. It's going to be in cracks and crevices mostly. Not saying you can't get lucky and find a nice "sassy" nugget near the surface in a spot it's not supposed to be. Gold is where you find it. But detecting on bedrock is going to greatly improve your chances.

If you want placer gold that's not on bedrock then grab your shovel and sluice and get digging. Plenty of placer gold to find that way, but it's too small for your detector to pick it up.

Placer gold doesn't nessaraly mean to small to detect with a metal detector. It means it was gold that was redeposited from its original source. Most commonly associated with alluvial gravels in stream beds

 

[Grumpie]

The GB2 is an excellent small gold detector with lots of how to vids out there. Good choice

 

[Goldwasher]

the advantage of a shovel and a sluice is that you can find detectable nuggets that a detector wouldn't have hit because of overburden.
With a VLF try to work areas that are less than a foot to bedrock. Work hillsides around old mines that show signs of having been dug and scraped.

 

[mikegeld58]

Thanks for the replys, everybody. I will have to do my research and detectable places to go. As I said, California is increasingly becoming difficult to prospect in. Thanks to our extreme leftist
gov, Lt.gov , senators, etc, etc.

 

[Grumpie]

Thanks for the replys, everybody. I will have to do my research and detectable places to go. As I said, California is increasingly becoming difficult to prospect in. Thanks to our extreme leftist
gov, Lt.gov , senators, etc, etc.

I hear ya, I lived in So.Cal for 36yrs, nice place to visit these days, but not live if your a conservative.
I went as far south as Holcomb valley near Big bear and as far north as the Greenhorns to prospect. Some of my favorite areas I prospected in for decades were closed and fenced off, the so called arroyo toad was being used as the excuse. But I'm not gonna get into that. Living in TX doesn't afford me the opportunity to do as much prospecting these days so I do a lot more research on the out of state areas before hand, which can also be just as fun. You get a real satisfaction finding the elusive gold after doing all the research on an area. It's like cutting down a tree to build a bow and arrow and taking game with it or reeling in a trout that just swallowed the fly you tied the night before. Good luck in your adventures.

 

[Hard Prospector]

Should be lots of opportunity to detect around the bigger boulders in stream gullies after winter/spring flows (finally) recede later on. Don't be afraid to roll that boulder over and run that GB2 over the spot. Usually worth while also to remove any packed gravels under that boulder to pan or sluice later on. I'll bring a couple of plastic grocery bags along rolled up in the bottom of my pack in case I come across such a spot while prospecting.. You know, the thicker plastic ones they rip us of for these days at the grocery store by charging us a dime (its a" Kali thing"). You'd be surprised how well a full bag fits in side most day packs and sure beats carrying around a 5 gal bucket. I'd rather carry 20-30lbs of pay dirt up the trail in my pack instead of by the handle of a bucket any day.

 

[californiagold]

There is tons of good gold detecting places down there in that area. Dont just check out creek areas, get up on the hillsides and detect in the gold deposit areas. Look for old diggings where the old timers dug up on the hills. They always lost some with their technology back then. Also check out a website called CDNC . Old newspapers for California use the search box at home page. Type in the county that you want to detect in and words like Lump, nugget; gold, Rich diggings after the county name. You will get search results of newspaper editions with articles about where they found coase gold. Thats whats your after. Then find these places on a map. If it turns out it is private. Go to local county assessor office and find out the owners name. Contact them and see about detecting on their land. Make sure to offer some gold if you find some. Good luck