NorCal rookie

Chiro22

Greenie
Jul 19, 2017
13
3
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hi,
Excited to join the community. I'm in SF and have always been interested in metal detecting, but have never got into. My wife and I just got a cabin, near South Lake Tahoe, in the Twin Bridges area and I feel like now is a great time to get into it. I really don't know anything about it yet and don't have any gear yet. I will be doing a lot of reading and researching to get everything together now that the snow has melted. I look forward to the opportunity to learn from this forum and will contribute when I can.

Any information is greatly appreciated and I'm anxious to get started.

Thanks!

Doc
 

No gold in NY

Bronze Member
Mar 22, 2015
1,688
2,921
Detector(s) used
Whites Coin Master,
Whites Gold Master GMT, Whites MXSport
High banker/dredge,
DIY hand trommel,
DIY Miller table,
DIY fluidbed gold trap sluice,
Keene A-52 A-52s
2186 Wheaties
Primary Interest:
Other
Welcome to treasureNet Doc. Don't be afraid to ask questions to get started. There is a bounty of good info here.
 

Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett: AT Pro, AT Gold & Infinium; Minelab: Explorer SE, II; Simplex; Tesoro: Tejon & Outlaw; White's: V3i
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Hello Chiro22,

Welcome to the forum from Massachusetts!

GL & HH

Doc
 

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Chiro22

Greenie
Jul 19, 2017
13
3
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks! If I'm going to be doing most of my Metal detecting in the woods and foothills of the Sierras, what metal detector would you recommend, and is there one that is good for gold nuggets as well?
 

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Chiro22

Greenie
Jul 19, 2017
13
3
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Awesome! Nice to meet you. How often do you get out and have you ever been out to the Sierras?
 

ButteCo.Bedrock

Jr. Member
Mar 2, 2017
48
54
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Awesome! Nice to meet you. How often do you get out and have you ever been out to the Sierras?

I live in the northern sierra foothills and as of late (due to a sore back), coin shoot (detect) about once or twice a week. After I sort out my back issue I'll be out after the gold again. As for your metal detector question, what will you be primarily using the detector for? Dry land, water hunting, coin hunting, gold? If you want an educated answer you will need to be fairly specific in regard to what exactly you'll be using it for.
 

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Chiro22

Greenie
Jul 19, 2017
13
3
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I live in the northern sierra foothills and as of late (due to a sore back), coin shoot (detect) about once or twice a week. After I sort out my back issue I'll be out after the gold again. As for your metal detector question, what will you be primarily using the detector for? Dry land, water hunting, coin hunting, gold? If you want an educated answer you will need to be fairly specific in regard to what exactly you'll be using it for.

Hope the back situation gets sorted quickly. I'm a Chiropractor if you ever need some help, I'm up that way a few times a month. We can exchange info via DM. As for my question, you are right, I should have been more specific. Mostly going for relics, Coin hunting, and gold and primarily on Dry land. Thanks for any advice.
 

vpnavy

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jun 15, 2008
35,092
18,589
York County, PA (USA)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
tn_md.gif
Welcome Aboard Doc! Take a look at Sub-Forums: California for information (i.e., clubs, etc.) directly related to your state.
Whatever you finally decide on - please consider buying one from one of
tn_02.gif
's Supporting Vendors.
 

Obsessive

Hero Member
Apr 16, 2017
604
861
NW Portland, OR
Detector(s) used
XP Deus/MI-6 w/ HF/XF/LF
Tesoro Cibola / Land and Sea pinpointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Welcome! I could use a good visit with good chiropractor from time to time... especially one in a cabin in Tahoe that owns a metal detector. :thumbsup:
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Thanks! If I'm going to be doing most of my Metal detecting in the woods and foothills of the Sierras, what metal detector would you recommend, and is there one that is good for gold nuggets as well?

Welcome from Salinas, CA. The rates here for fellow CA hunters is reasonable: You send me 30% of all your finds (I accept paypal ) :)

You're asking about gold nuggets: You realize the elevation of tahoe is too high up for the nugget producing ranges, right ? But to answer your question: There *are* machines made that are attempts at cross-over machines. That ...... with the flip of some switches, can either go for nuggets (pinhead sized targets) or coin/relic/jewelry. An example of one such machine is the MXT.

The PROBLEM is, that any such "cross-over" machines are always going to be mediocre in each task. There will be better nugget machines, and there will be better coin/jewelry machines. Because think of it: The goals of each task are almost opposed to each other: The coin guy DOESN'T want to hear every speck of birdshot, staple, pinhead, nail, etc... But the nugget guy DOES want the bells of notre dame to ring on those things. Hence to make a machine that does both, is going to be compromises in each department.

So you might want to consider 2 different machines if you intend to get serious.

The south lake tahoe shore beaches can get mighty packed with tourists and swimmers. So I've heard that some Sacramento hunters used to like to go there to ply the beaches for coins/jewelry.
 

RustyGold

Gold Member
Aug 16, 2013
9,372
10,901
Southern California
Detector(s) used
XP Deus I & II
Xterra Pro
Primary Interest:
Other
Welcome Doc! Don't forget to check out all you can on youtube! Also you may want to check out Teknetics "Patriot" as it may be in the gold range as far as kHz.
Best of luck!
 

digging440yrs

Gold Member
Dec 5, 2012
5,946
4,410
UPSTATE NEW YORK
Detector(s) used
1970 COMPASS-
WHITES SILVER EAGLE-
WHITES DFX, 4X6DD COIL, 6X8DD COIL, 950 COIL, 10X12SEF COIL-
GARRETT PRO POINTER AT, GARRETT AT PRO , MINELAB EXPLORER SE with 8.5x12.5 Cors coil
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Welcome aboard :icon_thumright:
 

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Chiro22

Greenie
Jul 19, 2017
13
3
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Welcome from Salinas, CA. The rates here for fellow CA hunters is reasonable: You send me 30% of all your finds (I accept paypal ) :)

You're asking about gold nuggets: You realize the elevation of tahoe is too high up for the nugget producing ranges, right ? But to answer your question: There *are* machines made that are attempts at cross-over machines. That ...... with the flip of some switches, can either go for nuggets (pinhead sized targets) or coin/relic/jewelry. An example of one such machine is the MXT.

The PROBLEM is, that any such "cross-over" machines are always going to be mediocre in each task. There will be better nugget machines, and there will be better coin/jewelry machines. Because think of it: The goals of each task are almost opposed to each other: The coin guy DOESN'T want to hear every speck of birdshot, staple, pinhead, nail, etc... But the nugget guy DOES want the bells of notre dame to ring on those things. Hence to make a machine that does both, is going to be compromises in each department.

So you might want to consider 2 different machines if you intend to get serious.

The south lake tahoe shore beaches can get mighty packed with tourists and swimmers. So I've heard that some Sacramento hunters used to like to go there to ply the beaches for coins/jewelry.

Hi, Thanks for the info. I am realizing that if I hunt my property it's above the "nugget line" so I'll probably focus on relics/coins/jewelry. Which machine would you recommend for that in the Tahoe/El Dorado area, considering the ground composition?
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Hi, Thanks for the info. I am realizing that if I hunt my property it's above the "nugget line" so I'll probably focus on relics/coins/jewelry. Which machine would you recommend for that in the Tahoe/El Dorado area, considering the ground composition?

I'm fond of the Explorer II for all types of "genera purpose" coin-relic hunting. It handles a wide variety of soils (so long as not jet-black minerals). Others in the same family of detectors are the XS, the Se pro, the Etrac, and the CTX. The ctx is over-kill, expensive, and complicated IMHO. So I'd go with the earlier ones in the line-up, IMHO.

And if you just want to "make it easy" (don't want to get complicated tooty-fluty orchestra sounds and star-ship enterprise controls), then consider a CZ6. They show up on the used market from time to time. Easy to use, deep, etc.... I don't care for the silent search, and they are known to get fooled by deep bent nails. But .... they are still a good machine.
 

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Chiro22

Greenie
Jul 19, 2017
13
3
NorCal
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm fond of the Explorer II for all types of "genera purpose" coin-relic hunting. It handles a wide variety of soils (so long as not jet-black minerals). Others in the same family of detectors are the XS, the Se pro, the Etrac, and the CTX. The ctx is over-kill, expensive, and complicated IMHO. So I'd go with the earlier ones in the line-up, IMHO.

And if you just want to "make it easy" (don't want to get complicated tooty-fluty orchestra sounds and star-ship enterprise controls), then consider a CZ6. They show up on the used market from time to time. Easy to use, deep, etc.... I don't care for the silent search, and they are known to get fooled by deep bent nails. But .... they are still a good machine.

Great info! Thanks. How do you like the Tesoros? all the way down to the amigo 2?
 

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