Often called the metal of monarchs; probably none of the gifts that Nature has bestowed on humanity, has been the source of so much happiness and misery, so great joys and sorrows as that glittering yellow substance called, GOLD. The day of the original 49’ers may have long since passed, but even now, over 150 years later; the search for this elusive metal is still alive and well. Indeed, another rush is brewing even as you read these words. Prospectors of all ages, races, and walks of life are flocking to the hills by the droves. No, these men and women aren’t using pack mules, constructing long-toms or using hand stills to drive tunnels into a mountainside, they are tackling this age-old challenge from a slightly different angle. Their new tool of choice can be used in virtually any type of environment; doesn’t require water, or countless hours of back breaking labor, and has the ability to locate all but the tiniest of gold flakes. This magical device is none other than the metal detector. Modern detectors, especially those of the PI-type, are once again opening up the goldfields. Even those areas believed to have been picked clean by the old-timers are providing 21^st Century gold seekers with handfuls of shiny nuggets. 

Some operators have been rewarded with hundreds upon hundreds of ounces – others have not a single piece. Why is it that a few find so much, while many find so very little? A fascinating question that has intrigued me since my earliest days of detecting. If you happen to be one of the many that are still searching for that first piece of detectable gold, rest assured, you are not alone. The point of this article is to help you; the up-and -coming electronic prospector, to realize and feel good about the accomplishments you have made thus far, and by the same token, help you identify and correct some of the things you may potentially be doing wrong. 

Whenever I am trying to learn something new, I seem to find it easier if the person explaining it can relate the information to something in the real world; something tangible, something you may have already experienced, something you can really sink your teeth into! That is what I will attempt to do here. In the paragraphs to come, we will examine some common pitfalls encountered by an imaginary detector operator; we will call him Mr. Smith. It is my hope that by giving you a glance into last six months of his life, that you will be in a better position to identify, analyze, and hopefully prevent yourself from making the same mistakes. So, without any further delay, let’s get into it.

Mr. Smith and the elusive nuggets

Our story begins in the front seat of Mr. Smith’s car, who is at the moment, on his way home from the local prospecting shop. After a lifelong interest in the precious metal, Mr. Smith decided to follow his dreams and try his hand at panning. It is a two-hour drive from his home to the goldfields, but Smith doesn’t care – he loves the fresh air and the anxious feeling he gets each time he dips his pan into the river. He enjoys getting out in the hills whenever possible, but he works a 40-hour week down at the factory so the only time he can really get away is on the weekends. Panning was fun, but after a solid month of only finding the occasional bit of flour gold, Smith began to wonder if there wasn’t a better way. At the advice of the prospecting shop owner, he decided to attend one of the club meetings held every Wednesday night. What a thrill it was to be surrounded by others that shared his passion and to hear nothing but the sound of gold talk in the air.     

He viewed display cases chock full of shiny nuggets, vials of sparkling butter-yellow flakes, and listened intently to story after story about the glory holes that had been found and lost. Smith became a regular member, and it wasn’t long before he had made friends with some of the fellows that already had gold in their pokes. Ah yes, the gold bug had bitten him bad – Smith was hooked! Even though the thought of dredging in a clear mountain stream, or dry-washing an arid desert gully sounded intriguing, he couldn’t help but notice that the folks with the larger sized nuggets all used metal detectors. He thought to himself, “Those metal detectors are just what I’m looking for!”  

While at a yard sale one Sunday morning he spotted something interesting lying beside the remains of an 8-track player; it was a metal detector! The gentleman selling it said he had only used it a few times without success, but assured Smith that it would indeed find coins, rings, and possibly gold if he knew where to look. Smith hadn’t seen many detectors before, but for only $100 he figured he couldn’t go wrong. After all, a detector is a detector – right? 

At the next meeting Smith informed a prospector by the name of Mr. Brown that he had recently acquired a metal detector. His newfound friend, Brown, was a veteran detectorist of three years and was kind enough to share with him the location of one of his “secret” nugget patches. After several trips to the area Smith accumulated one of the finest collections of trash and hot rocks in town - but not a single piece of gold. Something was obviously wrong. Perhaps he wasn’t hearing the gold. Smith took a close look at the machine’s external speaker and found it in poor condition, so he decided to invest in an expensive pair of headphones. The following Saturday, just like clockwork, Smith was back out there on the patch, but even with the new phones, he couldn’t find a piece of gold to save his life. In the weeks that passed, Smith began to seriously question his abilities. “I must have the machine adjusted wrong, or maybe the ground balance is messed up - yeah that’s it,” he would mumble. His disbelief in his own skills as an operator continued to fester and before he knew it he was spending more time fiddling with the knobs and dials than he was putting the coil over the ground. Smith enjoys detecting, but has reached that point where it is not only becoming discouraging, but is also becoming increasing difficult to justify the costs involved with his weekend trips to the goldfields.  

Smith’s story may not sound so unfamiliar to some of you. In fact, he has been luckier than most, having already been shown the location of a nugget patch. Nevertheless, he has been at it for six long months without a sniff, and is getting perilously close to shoving the detector into the deepest, darkest corner of his closet. Sadly this is the fate of about 75% of all detectors that are sold. What is he doing wrong? Why does the gold continue to elude him? Will he ever be able to find a nugget? The answer to these questions is – yes. However, there are steps he will need to take in order to turn his luck around for the better.

The Right Things…

Let us first examine all the things Mr. Smith has done right. First and foremost, was the decision to purchase a metal detector. Sure it was a second-hand unit, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he took the initiative to get himself a machine – and that was a step in the right direction. The second thing he did correctly was to make contacts with people at the prospecting club. Whenever you are new at something be it fishing, carpentry, rebuilding an engine, or even trying to figure out a computer, it always helps to associate with those that are more experienced than yourself. Knowledge is not something we are born with, it must be acquired. Hanging with folks that have been at it for a while is the quickest way to learn the ropes. Mr. Brown helped him to gain a better understand of the machine’s operation and how to use it, but more importantly, he pointed him to a known gold-bearing area, in Smith’s case, an old patch.  

The third thing he did right, was investing in a pair of headphones for the detector. Smith’s belief that he wasn’t hearing the gold may have in fact been true. Although many of the detectors being sold today come equipped with external speakers, they are not always the best choice when nugget hunting. The reason is simple. Picture this; it is a cold and windy day. You and a friend are prospecting along the base of a mountain range somewhere in the Mother Lode. It is getting late and you want to tell him that it is time to head back before dark, but he is clear over on the next hill. You yell across the ridge, but the howling wind muffles your words completely. You try again, but still your call goes unanswered. Eventually you end up screaming at the top of your lungs just to get his attention. The same thing happens with external speakers. If it is an especially windy day, or you happen to be working beneath an airline flight path, there is an incredibly high chance that the faint whisper produced by a nugget at depth will go unnoticed. The fact that the built-in speaker is held about two foot away from the ear to begin with only worsens the problem. This is why I never rely on external speakers unless I have no other option.

The Wrong Things…

Now lets take a look at some of the things that might have been keeping Smith from becoming an accomplished nugget-shooter (don’t worry, we won’t hurt his feelings!) Any guesses as to what he may be doing wrong? If you said the quality of his metal detector you’d be absolutely right. That $100 machine he picked up at the yard sale was assembled back in the mid 1970s. It’s big, bulky, and chews up batteries like they are going out of style! The old machine struggles to maintain a ground balance in mineralized soil, and loves to “squawk” at just about every other rock out there. The amount of depth penetration it gets is another concern. Even on a good day, the deepest target Smith has ever dug was a large, rusty bolt at 5 inches. The annoying background noise and lack of depth penetration are all things Smith has learned to deal with, simply because he doesn’t know any better. The detector he swings may have been top notch 25 years ago, but as Bob Dylan once said in a song, “The times they are a changing….” Trying to compete with outdated technology is truly an uphill battle.

Smith may still manage to find gold with his machine, but any of the discoveries he does make are not likely to be as good as to what he could be finding had he been swinging a newer model. I liken it to that of a drag race between a Model-T and a Corvette. The driver of the Model-T may be just as skilled, but he will always lose the race because he is limited by the power of the vehicle’s engine. Perhaps not the best analogy, but I think you get the point. Don’t get me wrong, you can still find plenty of nuggets with an older model detector, just be aware that you will have to work that much harder at it. To really find serious gold you must give yourself every advantage possible, and the easiest way to do this is by investing in a high performance gold machine.

For Smith, and many beginners out there, this is an especially hard concept to accept. Many of the daily phone calls I receive from people wanting to get into metal detecting tell me they are going to get an inexpensive “starter” machine to begin with, then when they begin finding gold they will eventually upgrade to a better model. I cannot help but cringe whenever I hear these words. In theory they are right, after all, if I had never been fishing there is no way I’d go out and sink $2,000 on a rod and reel! For most hobbies this train of thought works just fine. Unfortunately metal detecting is not one of them! Let me explain why. Inexpensive metal detectors often lack the ability to work effectively in mineralized soils, which is where most gold nuggets are found. They are incredibly noisy, pick up tremendous amounts of hot rocks, need constant rebalancing, and require massive amounts of patience and experimentation to get any results at all. In bad ground, these types of machines can drive even the most seasoned operator crazy, let alone a novice. In most cases, a person with little or no detecting experience will spend about a week with the machine. They will walk the hills, dig up a handful of bullets, kick a few hundred hot rocks, and arrive back at home each night disgusted with themselves and the detector. Ultimately the machine winds up being an expensive coat rack. Had they just made the commitment in a good detector, 90% of all those hot rocks, false signals, and headaches would have been eliminated. Sure, there is always the possibility that they would have found nothing, but at least they may have stuck with it another day.  

If you are serious about metal detecting my advice to you is this: buy the very best machine you can possibly afford. Metal detectors can run as high as $3,000, so before making any commitments, give your budget some serious thought. If that happens to be $150 or $150,000, so be it. In any case, get the best your pocketbook will allow. When you are new to the hobby you need to give yourself that extra edge, and as I mentioned before, the quickest way to do this is by swinging a quality machine. Think of it as a one-time investment that has the possibility of paying for itself many times over - lord knows it can’t be any worse than the stock market!   

The second cause of Smith’s lack of success is the amount of time he was able to dedicate towards hunting. He only gets out into the field once or twice a week max, not because he hates the great outdoors, but because he works 40 hours per week. He has a family to support and is in no position financially to spend any more time than he already does. Smith is in the same boat as a vast majority of all prospectors. We all want to go out more frequently, but cannot manage to find the time. Herein lies the dilemma; limited time translates into limited results. Inevitably, the more time you spend at something the better and more proficient you will become. Take two basketball teams for example – great here I go with the analogies again! Two teams, one practices together on the court five days a week, the other for only two. Who do you think will be in a better position for success when the day of the big game rolls around? The same holds true with metal detecting. The more time you can spend swinging the coil, the more chances you have for success. The old-timers had nothing but time. They searched day-in-day-out for years. A few got lucky quick, but most spent countless hours tromping the hills looking for the big strike. You can only cover so much ground in a day with a detector; so in order to really be successful you must dedicate as much time to it as humanly possible. Even the best nugget hunters in the world that do it for a living must swing at least 200+ days a year to stay afloat! 

Another problem was the fact that Smith allowed himself to become doubtful of his own abilities. It got to the point where he spent more time worrying about the position of the dials and knobs, than he did actually putting the coil over the ground. In essence, he “psyched” himself out! Without a positive attitude or the belief in oneself it is extremely difficult to ever succeed, not just with metal detecting, but also with any of the challenges that life throws your way. It is crucial to become proficient in the operation of your machine, but don’t allow the words written in the instruction manual to consume your every waking thought.  

Take the game of chess for example. If a person spends their whole life studying openings and end games, but never sits down at the board and moves a pawn, how can they ever expect to mate the king? You can read and theorize about it all you want, but until you actually play an opponent, you will never know what you are capable of. The same thing holds true with the metal detector. If we have a 3-gram nugget lying within an inch of the surface, it won’t matter how the machine is adjusted – you will still pick it up. Unfortunately not all nuggets are this big, nor are they always found this close to the surface, but for the sake of this argument it doesn’t matter. The point I am trying to make is that even with your detector tweaked completely out of whack, you will still find gold. Maybe not as much had it been adjusted properly, but gold nonetheless. Take the time to learn its’ capabilities, experiment with the settings in various soil conditions, practice ground balancing and all that other good stuff, but don’t let it become an obsession that blinds you from your ultimate goal – finding a nugget! When in doubt, set up the machine as best you can, then just go to work   

The fourth and final mistake that Mr. Smith made had nothing to do with the quality of the machine or his hunting technique, but rather the area he was detecting. On one hand, it was good for him to search a known nugget patch, as it provided him with a viable starting point. By visiting the old patch he learned to recognize what “good” ground looked like. Even if he didn’t realize it, his mind was taking note of the color and texture of the soil, the plant life, and the types of rocks associated with gold-bearing regions. It also forced him to deal with trash, concentrate on the task at hand, and learn how to really operate the machine. On the other hand, it was bad because it was the only area he has been for the past six months. Getting a nugget off a hammered patch is a good accomplishment and a huge confidence builder, but by the same token it is taking away valuable time that you could be spending looking for a new one.  

The “secret” nugget patch was shown to him by his friend Mr. Brown, who in turn learned about its’ location from another prospector named Jones. Mr. Jones heard about it from another guy named Johnson, who had originally heard about it from someone else. The list can go on and on. So what does all this mean for Mr. Smith? It means that there have probably been at least a dozen or more search coils waved over that ground. Chances are, all the good stuff was cleaned out years ago, and all that is left are a few scattered bits hiding in the brush or cactus! This is the trouble with some patches. Unless you know the history behind it you are really at a loss, and can find yourself wasting countless hours chasing “crumbs” on an area that has been flogged to death! Again, just like the older model detectors, please don’t let me give you the wrong impression about known patches. There is nothing wrong with hunting them, and I will be the first to admit that I have spent a fair amount of time reworking old ground. There is no such thing as a completely “worked-out” patch. It is physically impossible to remove all the gold from any area. I have proved this to myself numerous times in the past. No matter how hard I pound a spot, I can usually come back weeks, months or even years later and snag a lonely piece that was left behind.  

Old patches are a great place to visit when new technology becomes available. In fact, I have a couple of patches that I routinely use to test the most recent metal detectors and search coils. This is an excellent way to determine if the new gear is really any better than the old. Like I said above, you can always sneak one more nugget from even the most beat-up patch, but at some point a person needs to start thinking about paying for gas money, and after a while those old patches simply don’t cut it! You never want to abandon an area prematurely, but after a half dozen or so trips without success, perhaps it is time to start looking towards greener pastures.

The gold is out there, and it is attainable by anyone with the proper equipment, and above all else, the proper mindset. What adventures and golden treasures await you is anyone’s guess; however metal detecting is one sport that is guaranteed to refresh your spirit and rejuvenate your soul. For myself, I cannot imagine doing anything else. Gold prospecting has not only put money in my pocket, but has left me with enough pleasant memories to last a lifetime. If you are still searching for that elusive nugget, don’t give up; the gold will come. The beginning is always the toughest stage, but if you can see your way through to that first piece, the rest is all downhill – I promise. And if you do ever find yourself in a similar position as Mr. Smith; struggling to keep yourself motivated and tempted at the thought of wrapping your detector around the trunk of a nearby tree, may you find a new sense of strength in these words written by E.S. “Rocky” LeGaye, “And when you find your first real nugget…hoo, boy! Let me tell you, no matter how much money you make, no matter how much cold cash you have in the bank…when you actually see that first golden nugget in your palm – that beautiful, priceless treasure that you have personally wrested from the jealous grasp of Mother Nature – why, at that moment, you suddenly feel at least nine feet tall!” I wish you the very best of luck with all your prospecting.

For more information on using a metal detector to find gold, please visit the author’s new website at: www.arizonaoutback.com.