AZ - Little San Domingo Wash

[ARROW1]

Hello,
I'm new to detecting and would like to adventure out of local parks to look for gold in the hills. The Little San Domingo Wash is within driving distance from my home - I have only few hours to devote to detecting each month. The Little San Domingo wash is miles long so I hope I'm not committing a sin by asking for some practical orienting. Where is a fair place to begin looking?

Thank You

 

[cpomike13]

There are alot of claims out there. You can join a club and get access to them, then you are hunting legal. You're also going to need a metal detector that can find gold

 

[islamoradamark]

Welcome to Treasurenet

 

[Lanny in AB]

Welcome to nugget hunting! Lots of good (also not so good) nugget hunting videos on YouTube--stay away from the click-bait nonsense videos where they go out with dishes to collect nuggets or the videos where they keep digging out large nuggets on "secret" islands with 4-dollar detectors. Look for the videos where reputable nugget hunters post ongoing videos of finds where a lot of investment in time and technology returns finds every once in a while. (You'll soon know how to tell the "real" videos from the click-bait artists.)

All the best,

Lanny

 

[leadnugget]

research links.

https://mlrs.blm.gov/s/

Welcome to Land Matters

https://thediggings.com/

or if you dont like doing research and looking over mining claim maps.
you might want to join a club gpaa is cheap, roadrunners pricey but i think its worth it.

you dont say what kind of beeper you have.
little san domingo is actually a pretty hard hunt due to the nasty ground conditions, basalt rock.
also its been hunted very hard by alot of talented hunters.
heres a tip, hunt the hill sides and not the washes. theres still some out there.
bill southern, nuggetshooter, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdas7vSePGkIT20cAOTd5Gw
has a good youtube channel, he hunts the lsd all the time.
i brake for bedrock https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCObciZukJa3K5IOIF2_4ZdA
also has a good channel.

 

[cpomike13]

Bill Southern, Adam and Balderdash(I brake for bedrock) are true nugget shooters. I watch every video within a day of publishing! They show us the the junk and the gold! Bill has decades of knowledge.

 

[Terry Soloman]

 

[ARROW1]

May I ask you a question? I have a Garret ACE 400 that is great for finding things in parks and fields - I'm not confident it can find gold nuggets. But for nugget hunting, must I spend thousands of dollars, say on a minilab GPX 6000? Do you have any idea if the ACE 400 can do the job? Can you recommend something lower end that will get the job done in a capable way but wont slaughter my bank account? There are a lot of choices out there and it's all rather daunting.

 

[Lanny in AB]

May I ask you a question? I have a Garret ACE 400 that is great for finding things in parks and fields - I'm not confident it can find gold nuggets. But for nugget hunting, must I spend thousands of dollars, say on a minilab GPX 6000? Do you have any idea if the ACE 400 can do the job? Can you recommend something lower end that will get the job done in a capable way but wont slaughter my bank account? There are a lot of choices out there and it's all rather daunting.

Absolutely not. You can find nuggets with a variety of older machines as well as newer ones that sell for under a thousand dollars or right close to it.

I have found lots of nuggets with the Gold Bug Pro, and they're affordable. The Minelab Goldmonster is a proven machine, Nokta/Makro make good little machines (VLF's) as well that find the gold. As for PI's, you'd have to buy an older used Minelab SD, but they treated me to a lot of nuggets in the past and they deal with bad ground very well. My philosophy has kind of been to buy the detector I could afford (when I started out), then find enough gold to pay for it, then upgrade from there. It's gone well so far. What worries me is people with no experience (no previous nugget hunting/nugget shooting under their belt, no research background, no established contacts in placer operations, no real idea of where to go or who to contact to help them get started) that jump right into the game with a high-dollar machine only to find nothing but trash the first few times out, and then quickly give up.

You've got some good tips in responses above that direct you to some solid (YouTube) information providers, and there are other good sources on the Internet/on YouTube as well.

So, no, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars to get started, but you'll need to do some honest research/generate some good contacts/join some reputable clubs so you can hang out with like-minded people that will show you the ropes. Then, after lots of perseverance by getting lots of hours on your machine, and after lots of hours of digging trash, eventually with more perseverance, you'll get your coil over a nugget.

Good luck, and all the best,

Lanny

 

[cpomike13]

What he said, completely.

 

[ARROW1]

Lanny,
Thank you so much!!! All of you folks!! My wife has me on a budget (stranglehold) so my purchase must remain modest - Gold Bug Pro I think.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Lanny,
Thank you so much!!! All of you folks!! My wife has me on a budget (stranglehold) so my purchase must remain modest - Gold Bug Pro I think.

Gold Bug Pro is a great machine, and it will definitely find the gold.

As for a bit newer tech., take a hard look at the Minelab Goldmonster (maybe a good used one?), low learning curve, great little machine if the soil conditions are not too extreme.

(Both machines have a lower learning curve, and either one will find the gold for the price.)

All the best,

Lanny

 

[cpomike13]

Got one, and its the best vlf and easiest to learn to use.

 

[leadnugget]

Classifieds over on detectorprospector has a gold bug 2 for 500 shipped.
might be better holding out for a used monster. you can get one new for 799.
gb2 is a good beeper but has a longer learning curve to it. vs the monster, dead easy and fun to use, that i think most can figure out pretty fast.