(small) River Hunting w/X-Terra 705

Noktrnl

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
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36
Location
Southern Utah
So I've been doing some research and have found that my Dad's friend owns property in an area known to be a popular stop for those along the Spanish Trail, near towns founded in the mid-to-late 1800's. The property is quite large and has a river (which is more of a creek) running through portions of it and from old photographs I can see there were several buildings, some of which still stand (barely).

I have an X-Terra 705 with the standard 9" coil and have become fairly comfortable in setting the ground balance and noise cancel but am wondering if I'll have to adjust ground balance as I swing closer to the river? And as I am searching in the river? I plan to search everything underwater first before I hit any land and once I've covered everything underwater, I have a rough grid planned that will bounce me between river and fence for a good portion of the property. Would I be better swinging along each side of the river before moving onto the drier areas further away from the river?

I am prepared to take plenty of time and will attempt to run All Metal with multiple tones, digging every solid sound. The majority of the property is unmaintained desert so even though I am going to be clean and respectful in my searches, I will have a bit of leeway :lol: I'm still waiting for a few proper tools, my tile trowel seemed very crude and I feel a pinpointer would cut my dig time tremendously.

I'm also very sporadic with my sensitivity setting as I always feel like it's too high? Would that change from dry land to in the river? Sorry for all the questions but I would love any feedback and advice while I wait for everything to arrive, thank you for any help in advance!
 
Sounds like a great spot to hunt .
Water was one of the things that was close to a lot of trails.
Camp close to water for the livestock and people.
 
If you run with the Tracking feature turned on, you won't have to worry about transitions from damp to dry relative to GB. Since conductivity is affected by the presence or lack of moisture, sensitivity may easily need to be adjusted to reach max depth everywhere while maintaining stability. It is a very stable running machine when set properly, and it shoudn't be constantly chirping and talking to you unless there is really that much metal in the ground as to cause it.
 
Sounds like a great spot to hunt .
Water was one of the things that was close to a lot of trails.
Camp close to water for the livestock and people.

Aye! Maybe I can find a popular laundering spot :)

Longhair said:
If you run with the Tracking feature turned on, you won't have to worry about transitions from damp to dry relative to GB. Since conductivity is affected by the presence or lack of moisture, sensitivity may easily need to be adjusted to reach max depth everywhere while maintaining stability. It is a very stable running machine when set properly, and it shoudn't be constantly chirping and talking to you unless there is really that much metal in the ground as to cause it.

Thanks Longhair! I've seen many of your posts related to the 705 and have learned a great deal from just your posts alone, thanks for all of your help on here!

I was using Tracking last time I took it out but I kept forgetting to turn it off when I caught a solid signal, definitely something I need to work on. I really enjoyed the multiple tones though, was nice hearing the difference as opposed to having to read the difference!

Considering conductivity and sensitivity, if I understand correctly, my sensitivity would generally need to be lowered for moisturized soil? And when in the water, would you recommend prospector mode or the pinpointing feature once a signal is found? I went to my local fishing hole on my first MD trip and tested it briefly in a nearby river that was known to give gold back in the day and it went nuts in prospector mode! I figured my settings were all skeewampus and I should focus on learning the basics before I started looking for gold chunks! :lol:

Thanks for the help guys!
 
Considering conductivity and sensitivity, if I understand correctly, my sensitivity would generally need to be lowered for moisturized soil? And when in the water, would you recommend prospector mode or the pinpointing feature once a signal is found? I went to my local fishing hole on my first MD trip and tested it briefly in a nearby river that was known to give gold back in the day and it went nuts in prospector mode! I figured my settings were all skeewampus and I should focus on learning the basics before I started looking for gold chunks! :lol:
Prospector mode is really only useful when you're hunting sites that have had very little traffic or where there is little metal in the ground to find. Sites that have trash are a nightmare in Prospector mode, so I would recommend Pinpointing located targets either with the Pinpoint ID or Pinpoint Sizing.

And yes, sensitivity may need to be lowered a little when working damp conditions because conductivity and resonance are affected.
 
Good luck and I know you already know it but you're tempting fate. One slip on a slippery rock or step into a deep hole and you just fried your machine. I think I'd get a waterproof machine for this venture.
 
Good luck and I know you already know it but you're tempting fate. One slip on a slippery rock or step into a deep hole and you just fried your machine. I think I'd get a waterproof machine for this venture.

I did actually think of that but I do appreciate the heads up! I haven't physically been on the property yet but I'm quite sure the river is narrow and shallow. The river that flows through his property flows through our whole city and the majority of the 'river' is actually a small creek, being only maybe 8' wide with a 6" depth at it's largest point. The deepest I have ever witnessed it anywhere is maybe 2' at the most and that's usually in 2' wide chokepoints, usually very few and far. I do thank you for the heads up about it though, I would definitely hate to lose my new machine :no:

Longhair said:
Prospector mode is really only useful when you're hunting sites that have had very little traffic or where there is little metal in the ground to find. Sites that have trash are a nightmare in Prospector mode, so I would recommend Pinpointing located targets either with the Pinpoint ID or Pinpoint Sizing.

And yes, sensitivity may need to be lowered a little when working damp conditions because conductivity and resonance are affected.

The area that his property(75+ acres) is on is quite barren and I think would fit the bill of having very little traffic? The property was purchased by his father and passed down once he himself passed on, with a cabin recently built 2 years ago. I haven't been there yet so I can't say for sure but I'm quite confident that there won't be much 'new age' trash. Honestly at this point, I'm just excited to find anything as at least then I know that I am doing something correctly :lol:

If I do run in C/T mode and don't pick up any signals in the river, would you suggest re-swinging the area with Prospector mode on? Would my 9" coil really be able to pick a gold nugget out of all the other stuff in the soil?

Thank you again for all your help! My Dad's friend is going through several surgeries right now so he can't help me much... This forum board is extremely fortunate to have an asset such as yourself Longhair.
 
Thanks. I have a great mentor.

Something that I try to get people to do with their machines, is experiment. You have a plethora of adjustable features, so if one thing doesn't yeild results try another. In other words, if you don't find anything in C&T then deffinately try Prospector mode.

As for finding nuggets, the 9" coil is a bit big for nugget hunting. Combine that with 7.5kHz not being a suitable frequency for locating small gold, and you really have a poor chance of finding any. The 6" HF(18.75kHz) coil is the one to use for small gold/nuggets. It's waterproof too, so creek hunting isn't a concern with it.
 
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