Nugget Hunting Yesterday with X-Terra 70 (+ 2x HF coils)

[nero_design]

[size=small]My friend gearing up with his equipment after we parked the car in the shade.[/size]

LOCATION: NSW Goldfields, Australia. January 2008
Back to the goldfields I went. This time armed with a few more tools, including my chum Robert. He's a big guy who's been a good buddy since my school days and he's taken an interest in detecting since I took him away with my wife on a trip to Sofala a few months ago. He uses a generic detector which was purchased locally and I suspect his has the "Standard" version of the Gold Snoop sometimes sold in department stores here. I was using the X-Terra 70 as usual. This land used to be private and has not been previously accessible to the public except in the last 20 years or so. Even then, it required a hard slog on foot to get into the hills to where we were headed.


We parked under a tree for shade in the 37

 

[BarnacleBill]

n/t

 

[Ancient Dave]

Congrats on a beauty of a nugget. Thanks for taking the time to write this lengthy post, it was very interesting.

Dave

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I always enjoy seeing a nice nugget that was found by a fellow gold prospector. I wish that I was there instead of looking at 2 feet of snow and at least 4 more months before I can get my X-70 out and hunt for gold.

 

[therover]

That made my day. Beautiful surroundings you were hunting in.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Digger]

n/t

 

[nugget71]

n/t

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

That looks like your best slug to date.
You sure do have an interesting time with nature. I was thinking about you earlier today when I was picking up a bunch of cat heads to throw into the bin. I was half tempted to post a picture of them hear just to show some of the little surprises that you can get when you go prospecting around Hill End bare foot. A big no no! I stepped on 3 of the little blighter's inside while bear foot. I'm awake now.
i hope your friend gets an X-Terra 70, as there really isn't anything else out on the market that is cheaper for gold hunting. I don't know why the Gold Snoop is advertised as a gold hunter. The company doing that, is only hurting there reputation. $239 for the same detector that can be bought from a department store for $89 is not a clever move. I helped a guy out on a beach once that had one. It wouldn't go near wet sand. Alright on the dry stuff though.
Mick Evans.

 

[BarnacleBill]

[attachment 79844 yosemitesam.jpg]

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[nero_design]

I'm guessing Nugget 71 recognizes my 'secret' location (Laughs). I think he lives out that way.
Having done a little research in the last day, it seems the ancient flood plain there is probably too deep to detect with the X-70 since gold tends to fall below the mud and soil until it hits the bedrock. We both spent a while detecting on the flat area and found nothing... probably for this very reason. I found the nugget whilst working down the slope and hit it just where the thicker soil was beginning to 'wash' up against the bedrock sticking out all over the mountain and hills. A few prospectors tell me that it seems to have been washed a distance.

/Still cleaning the ironstone & bits of quartzy stuff out of some of the pits with acid.

 

[nero_design]

Hey Mick! I was in Hill End last month... is a Cat Head one of this long spined Cactus? I grabbed one in my fist when trying to climb a cliff with the X-70 in one hand near there in December near Sofala. The spines went all the way down to the bone! Took half an hour for the pain to subside.

I detected up at Hill End one afternoon but found it to be absolutely chock-a-block full of trash! So much trash I just couldn't understand how anyone could even attempt to prospect there in a serious quest for gold. Probably some private leases which would do well though. Most of the town is under a Parks Protection Order to prevent fossickers.

Technically, the Hill End river feeds into the Turon river if I remember. And the creek I was prospecting on also feeds into the Turon indirectly.
I'll pop a message in a bottle next time and throw it in!

 

[robert roy]

Wow. Nice story and great pictures.
I have only one question: Arn't you the least bit nervous
walking around in tall grass with all those snakes you guys
have down there? I mean you got some real killers down there.


Regards
Robert R

 

[nero_design]

Re: Question regarding Snakes in the Grass

Yes I was. I was more nervous thinking about it before I got to the location because I saw the tail of an Eastern Brown Snake disappearing into the rocks about 40 meters away from where we detected only a week earlier. The brown snake is a particulalrly aggressive snake with a venom so potent that the odds of survival are a little slim unless you use a pressure bandage and get antivenin within minutes. It's venom is 12 times more toxic than the Indian Cobra which claims 200,000 lived per year in India & Sri Lanka. I used to catch cobras in Sri Lanka when I visited the region at the age of 17. Most bites from the Eastern Brown Snake are deadly unless treated within 5 minutes. We walk heavily when detecting and I feel somewhat secure with the coil a few feet ahead of my feet. I keep a pressure bandage in my pack at all times and always detect with a 2-way radio and a plan should one of us get bitten. The limb must be immobilized and the victim (in my opinion) should be dragged to the vehicle and then driven within range of telephone signals or to a gas station. I believe the Brown Snake venom contains 30% coagulant mixtures which turns your blood into molasses and triggers renal failure and heart attack. The other deadly snake in the area is the Red Bellied Black Snake which is very fond of the water as it eats frogs and water lizards. The venom of the Red Belly is quite different to the Brown Snake and triggers necrosis (instant tissue dissolve) as well as triggering the loss of either sight, color, taste or touch.



Brown snakes are a large snake and the Prospector who sold me my X-Terra swears he was chased by one when prospecting once. Locals tell me they travel in pairs with a mate and that they show spiteful behavior when interaction with humans occurs. I spoke to a snake handler last year who had lost a finger from a snake bite when necrosis set in after he arrived at the hospital. I was with him when he was handling one and it started the climb the inside of his pant leg. This guy had been bitten 14 times by snakes and was literally across the road from the largest hospital in Australia in a park and yet he was genuinely frightened. I've been trying to photograph the snakes of the region for a book on detecting but so far have only encountered the snakes when I've left the camera with my wife to use. May last trip with her I almost trod on a Red Bellied Black Snake which is another snake here which claimed a lot of lives on the Goldfields back in the 1800's.

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

I talked to a snake handler a few months back about our snakes. A couple of useful pointers for you. When they bite, 90% of the time, they don't inject venom. Also, if you are unlucky enough that you do get bitten, immediately a apply a pressure bandage to the whole limb, AND DON"T MOVE AROUND! Venom is not injected into the blood stream , but the lymph system. Provided you stay calm and remain still (lying down) you can survive for many hours, without too much ill effect. (he told me of a chap who was fine for 18 hours after being bitten, before recieving help when this was applied) If you move around, you will be dead in minutes!
He also indicated that snakes are not aggressive. I pointed out to him about the tiger snakes, but he said that although they can lunge at you, when they are surprised, generally they will not attacked unless provoked.. Most of our worst snakes have small fangs, so will have trouble penetrating thick pants and leather boots.They can go up pants though, so gaters might be a good idea.
Mick Evans.

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

What you came across was probably Bathurst bur. Very nasty stuff.
Cat heads seem to be found in most dry climates. They don't seem to grow on the coast. They are in most lawns out here. It's a real pain when they come inside attached to a shoe, and get left in the carpet. They are usually discovered around 3am when you get up to go to the bathroom.
Mick Evans.
[attachment 79933 RIMG0752.JPG]

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

The post in which I wrote about about snakes and snake bites is only intended as a discussion point ONLY and not EXPERT INFORMATION. I am not a medically trained person, nor a snake expert, so anything I have said is NOT to be used as medical advice. If you want to know what to do when around snakes, or dealing with snake bite, then proper medical training must be undertaken as well as speaking directly with a professional snake handler.
Mick Evans.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

a similar one called the Cholla cactus. Round balls break off and disperse which are covered with sharp barbed spines. Pliers are a necessity to get them out.. Ouch!!

Tom

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I guess that we are lucky here in the western USA, only rattle snakes and grizzly bears to look out for. Thanks for posting the pictures of the snakes. Now I know what you are referring to.

 

[BarnacleBill]

[attachment 79968 knight2.jpg]



Memories of too many childhood close calls with those dang Cottonmouths, now there's a ORNERY critter.

HH
BarnacleBill