The winter nugget hunting season has finally arrived in Arizona. While I’m sure that many people have been pushing back into the more remote locations of the desert for several weeks now, it’s finally cooled off enough that the remote nugget hunting areas are no longer off limits. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to break the 5000 ft. barrier for nuggets and so, at least in the past, it’s felt like cabin fever during the summer. Either that or heat stroke in the Little San Domingo at 9 in the morning.

Anyhow, this past Sunday, we got a chance to get back to one of our remote nugget patches for the first time in several months. We found that the area had been hit moderately by the monsoon rains and so Rod and Laszlo with their GP Extremes, Scott with his GS5 and I with my SD2100 hit the deck, excited to score some nuggets. We got there early and temps remained moderate all day long. After checking a few areas with my Coiltek 14″ mono, I decided to switch gears and changed over to my trusty Minelab 8″ mono, thinking that I would be able to get into some smaller areas. Hunting below an area where nuggets had been found previously, I was able to score a nice little .1 gram nugget. Moving up, I cleared a small area of detritus and heard a nominal ground signal which I passed over and then moved on.

A little while later, Rod came by with his GP and 14″ mono and in the same spot heard a clear signal. I was there so I helped him dig as it was under som low lying brush. Sure enough, he scored a nice 1.1 grammer, adding to the 1.2 gram nugget he had found earlier in an adjacent wash. Neither Scott nor Laszo scored that day but we all had a good time. We even discovered some additional clues that merit further investigation on the next trip. Luckily, the weather is such that we have months of great detecting ahead of us.

Or is that Nugent hunting and Cat Scratch Fever?? Sometimes I’m not sure which. I get a lot of people coming to the site when they type in “Ted Nugget Hunting”. Sometimes they are looking for my nugget hunting blog but very often, they are looking for Ted Nugent, hunter, guitar player, motor city madman and activist. Well, they got a few things right. I’m a hunter and yes, a guitar player. Hey, when I was a kid, I even got Ted’s autograph.

Hey Ted, let’s trade hunts. I’ll take you Ted nugget hunting and you take me Ted nugent hunting. Whad’ya say pal?

There is an interesting thread on Arizonagoldprospectors.com regarding ethics in the field on open ground. Here’s my response:
Obviously more and more of these scenarios will come to pass as the available ground and access to prospecting areas continue to shrink. Twenty five years ago there were few people metal detecting for gold,mostly coin and relic stuff. These days beepers travel far and wide just for a decent place to find a few little nuggets and companionship.A few handfulls of lucky beepers and prospectors must exist in say the lightly populated areas of northern California above Sacramento where the cpometetion is light and people don’t post of their diggings and perhaps confide their finds and stories to a couple of trusted friends. If one has worked a good spot by whatever your preference is, it’s likely you’ve been highgraded and have had equipment stolen, even plastic 5 gallon buckets. When a no nothing newbee rips you off, there is slight room for understanding. On the other hand if a fellow with 30 years in the field, who has half the gold of the Vatican already in his pouch comes a scratching at your spot where there are obvious signs of a recent dig and he knows your the only prospector who does hardrock, well eh matey he ain’t worth a spit of snoose in his eye. It is inevitable that violence will occur in the goldfields at somepoinover a few bits of yellow and fellows arguing principles. Such is the case of whose fire hydrant is it really,as we all lift a leg to mark our teritory. Not easy to be civil as they cut the back pocket right off the jeans your wearing while smiling in your face. Be kind to each other and lend a hand to the newbees as many of you have done. We all must decide what the value of gold really is!

Ah yes,the thrill of searching and finding that elusive yellow stuff. Many of us us on the various forums have found nuggets, quartz species, fine gold, all in varying sizes, configurations and value.This is the end product of the best find, the search itself, for one’s self and sense of accomplishment. Who among us posters and lurkers have not had a helping hand in this gold business, whether it be through a club, a forum, a friend or stranger…even the old odd book or two.New chums to the game should be encouraged and helped as this promotes and keeps alive the spirit of the west,the spirit of the quest, the ultimate American theme,”Persist and do not quit”.These newcomers are likened to young relatives who will pass on the family traditions and keep the prospecting game and know how alive.How many of us in this life when floudering were offfered an unasked for helping hand by a stranger and it pulled us through a hardship or brought us closer to job, a life, a happiness, perhaps undeserved but apperaring out of the blue to put us on the right track. Go west young man is perhaps not a physical direction, but a general encouragement to the old bible saying Seek and ye shall find. The path to the yellow has many great adventures along the way and letting a greenhorn ride your shirtails for awhile is an honorable and useful thing………. Dave Wiseman

Well as the summer heat begins to go down and cooler weather starts to set in, the old 29 Prospector has formed a game plan. Jan. to May was slow for me simple because I was busy helping to form a new club and check out potential areas for claiming. So now it’s almost the end of September and I’ve managed to get out to the mine 4 times this month. The going has been slow since I haven’t loaded the generator and jack hammers yet. I wanted to get a good game plan going and I believe that I have with the help of a new partner by the name of Micro-Nugget. Between the two of use we have a 3-4 day camping trip planed and should be able to finish up our exploitory work on the big hole and determine how the gold is running. Meanwhile, we have another person running the 2 tons of material through a Keene 151 and back filling an area that has already been worked.