New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Hi all, the last three hunts results are in. Basically pretty sad.... But interesting at the same time!
Hunt 1 and another fabulous evening.



I have been here before and to be honest I wasn't expecting too much.... Why you ask? Every time I have hunted here (approx five times) I have struggled to get onto the nectar. But on this particular hunt things were different!
Enough talk onto the finds...... Ahh correction 'find'



Yep that was it after around an hour and a half or so, ohh and around 30 bottle tops/20 pull tabs.
I was actually praying for a 1c at one point, unbelievable really but she can be tough out there at times.

Hunt 2 (still licking my wounds from the night before)


Another late evening hunt and a new spot.
Plenty of targets, soo all good. Failed to remove anything of greatness from the ground but had a good time out.





Hunt 3 was a wee evening/night mission.


Wanted to try out a new floating sifter I had made. Overall it worked pretty well really. I have added an extra noddle around perimeter of main screen (one noddle is inserted inside of pvc pipe) and fined up the screen on the upper level as the lower screen was getting loaded up too much.
Now here's a question for you water hunters out there.....
Ever lost your scoop before?
Well after sorting a few teething problems darkness fell and this spot isn't exactly known for its clear blue water, so visability was poor at best.
I was four of five scoops into a target ( yes still struggling a bit with retrieval) when I noticed my top screen floating away happily by itself. Mm mm not ideal I thought to myself so off I went in pursuit.
I probably only went 20 maybe 30 metres from were I was digging but when I returned do you think I could find my scoop!
After about 5 minutes or so this was starting to get embarrassing and to cap it off I could hear a ' just turned up dog walking passer by ' calling out "excuse me what are you looking for?" And not just the once, thank godness for headphones!
Long story short it took me a solid ten minutes of frantic searching in the murky water before I finally was reunited with my scoop WHEW unbelievable it actually felt like twice that long. It turns out I wasn't alone as I could just make out a nice big two foot long eel, maybe it moved my scoop!

Anyway the results were slim but I did learn a couple of things ( a float for handle of scoop for one)


Ohh and after all that I still couldn't get the target out of that five scoop hole, but the ground is super hard.
Happy hunting all Iggy

Yeh thanks MW I might look into a wooden one at the moment it's fibreglass and usually the tip of the handle bobs on the surface- but not the other night!
Cheers Iggy

Thank PD ha ha you nearly had a job after finding that ring in Fiordland. Yes she's got a small anchor on it once I sort the bugs out I will post some pics.
HH Iggy

Cool button Iggy. Hope you can id it as it looks very interesting.

.

Thanks LKWD mmmmm scouts could well be, I will do a wee search on that.
Cheers Iggy

No cant see anything visible at all just a rope like pattern around the outer edge of button. There is a faint mark on top left of flag which I can't make out even under magnification .

Hi all, managed an enjoyable evening hunt a week or so back. The wet suit stayed behind and I concentrated on the shallows and shoreline.




It was one of those nights where every man including his dog wanted to come up and chat :) we have all been there though.

Next we outing and back out on the expansive beach sand. Couple of days earlier surfing with the kids couldn't help but notice the packed beach and where people were sitting/ playing etc. Wasn't expecting much and didn't get much :)



Tried to grid off the beach as best I could and got just enough signals to keep the interest there including the usual bottle tops.
I was quite happy beach to my self .....to be expected 10.30 week nights, and then the dreaded low pitch growl hit with no warning indicating flat battery.
Bum I hadn't charged her since last two hunts and I would have to leave all those rings on the second half of the beach I wouldn't be able to search (I wish)

Next hunt was a quick wee poke around the rocks while waiting on the young surfers.



Had a cute kid following me round repeatedly requesting that I remove my earphones....probably because I was repeatedly telling her I couldn't hear her :)

Final hunt was late arvo today. Nice handy spot ground was rock hard ( farm paddock, so no biggie) but left the jack hammer behind.
Couple of paddocks later and at the river banks





The half crown was a needed boost as I seemed to be digging lots of faint as signals only to find super deep beer cans.
HH everyone Iggy

hi,what you recon that stopper is off, beer keg? ye old rum barrel,good pics

Evening all, a quick roundup of last two hunts.
Hunt#1
An after work mini road trip to a new coastal spot.


There were plenty of targets lurking around the rocks and unusually not alot of trash.

The century old shilling was a nice moral booster along with the ring.







Hunt#2

Managed to sneak a wee Central Otago hunt in the next day after work. ( the advantages of being on the road early). Nice day up there, not too hot perfect for treasure hunting.



I seemed to get along much better with my scoop, which was pleasing........although I did chase the odd bottle top half way around the lake. Most bottle tops have a bit of a give away sound, however a few were not so clear and the old what if it's a .....mindset.




The ring I'm guessing is junk there are no markings, it's not yellow enough for gold but dosnt look orangey (is that a word ?) for copper. Anyway I'll take it, until next time Iggy

looks like 9ct rose goldnice find