Trials And Tribulations Of My First Steps Into Detecting.

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Hi everyone,

Im new to the forum and wanted to share the story of my first trips out detecting.

Its a bit lengthy but hopefully some of you will enjoy reading through and no doubt will have a chuckle at the all too familiar beginner mistakes I made.

Skip to the end if you just want to see the results.

For me, detecting was a natural progression from the infrequent alluvial prospecting I have been doing over the passed 12-14 months since moving to Victoria and first coming across youtube videos on prospecting.

The alluvial stuff was good fun with some exciting results, given it was all new to me at the time, getting down in the creek and finding any colour in the pan was great.
It was satisfying to learn the various aspects of prospecting, applying it all in field and hopefully finishing the day out with something to show for it.

A couple months ago detecting suddenly became a lot more accessible when a friend heard of my new hobby and told me he had an old 4500 that had been sitting in his cupboard for years and I was welcome to use it when I want, exciting times.

I was hanging to get out there and have a crack so after getting it from him,I have a quick flip through the manual, watch a couple youtube videos and the very next day I charge out to the GT to an area of known workings I had found on Geovic.

Upon arriving I decide the best spot to start is wherever I stopped the car, no time to look around and read the grounds, best to just fire up the detector and crack on, Im here to find gold!

I start swinging away pushing through thick scrub which is happily growing in about 3 foot of top soil and leaf litter, not the typical shallow alluvials we should be targeting, something I did not know at the time.

Nothing, nothing, nothing but then
A rise in tone pierces my ears and my heart starts to race, this is it!
Ive found gold!
I frantically scratch through the soil and get the target in my scoop.
Now its in my hand, and I can see what it is.
My first 2 gramma!
One problem.
Its in the form of a .22 slug.
Not gold, but thats okay I tell myself, it just means no one has been swinging here, likely on account of the 3 foot of top soil

The remainder of my afternoon was spent digging pieces of rubbish, spending too much time driving gully to gully because surely Im just in the wrong spot , switching between coils, setting gain too high, setting gain too low before finally calling it quits and heading home, no gold to be seen.

Regardless, it was an important experience as it highlighted clearly that I had no idea what I was doing and that there was a lot to learn.

I got back to studying, reading through the posts on here, especially those regarding reading the grounds (The time knowledge Loamer has put in to this forum with his posts is amazing). I continued to watch more youtube videos on technique, settings and whatever else I could and actually ended up getting in touch with Minelab Gold through his YT channel.

Its a shame he doesnt post on here anymore, the knowledge he has is phenomenal.
He was happy to meet up for a training day and was confident that even as a total beginner I would be able to take a lot away from it and really jump start my detecting.

The training day was great and the experience really was invaluable, every question I had was answered in depth and he was able to highlight and correct a lot of the beginner mistakes I was making with technique approach etc.

Of course, the most exciting part of it was finding my first couple bits of gold! (With some X marks the spot help)

I was itching to get back out and put my new skills to the test.
I had no access my friends detector at the time but couldnt wait so I hired a 5000 with an 11 mono elite and raced back out to a spot that I know had a shallow gold bearing reef from my research on Trove & Geovic.
After arriving at the spot I began with my new approach, I walked the area, studied the ground and tried to think like gold, identifying a couple places I planned to detect in, some shallow workings down a gully and the base of a very large Mullock heap further into the bush.

After a couple hours of swinging in the first spot all I had found was a metal clip from my backpack that I had unknowingly dropped while walking the area.
I was dealing with hot ground, balancing the detector and generally being more methodical, but a lack of targets had me disheartend that this area had already been smashed.

I took stock, had a brew and decided to give the base of the Mullock heap a go.

I start swinging and not 2 minutes later while passing the coil over some leaf litter the detector starts to scream, great, this sounds just like all the junk I had been cleaning up on my training day, regardless I was told to dig all targets so I will.
First thing I do is grab a handful of the twigs and leaves on the surface wave it over the coil and it goes off, good, at least this will be quick.
Slowly I start working through whats in the scope and then I see it, my eyes nearly popped out of my head, it was gold, just sitting there on surface and now it was in my hand.

Im sure all of you remember your first piece and the joy it brought. To have researched an area, gone out with a strategy and to find something was such a great experience, but to have success like that on just my second trip was really unexpected.

I gave it a quick clean and spent a good ten minutes just basking in all of its 1.23grams of glory ;)
Undoubtedly I will never forget it, and what I way to re-enforce the dig all targets mantra.

For the next couple hours I worked the area and Mullock heap only scoring a few more bits of junk but I didnt care, I had found gold!

I returned home exhausted from the long day but the beer tasted like sweet success that night.

Anyway, thats my story, unfortunately it will be some time before I can head back out, so for now it will be more research, study and time to start asking a bunch more questions here.

Special thanks to all the numerous people who put in the time and share information on this forum, everything I have read on here has helped in some way or another.

Cheers, hope you enjoyed the write up

-TG

1551569086_20190212_214054.jpg

First couple pieces I found with Minelab Gold

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I was so excited I immediately took a picture

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Cleaned up at home - 1.23g - I can't believe that for a first nugget
 
Well done T.G.
I also can't speak highly enough of MG and must say I learnt more from his patreon site and 1 trip out with him than from all the time spent researching here and elsewhere, he certainly knows his stuff :Y:

It goes to show good research pays off and you nailed a great first piece. Congrats and well done :perfect:
 
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