DJ's Detectors
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Hello All,
It is the coldest month of the year here in Iowa. Not to much
for treasure hunting going on here outside the library, and other research
places. This is a great time of year to be lining up new places to hunt for
spring. Also be sure to have all your equipment in tip top shape for when you
hunting season starts again. About this time of year, I really get to wishing
I lived in a much warmer climate. We sure are ready for spring here in Iowa.
An update on Jarita and Mason. He was born on Jan 17th at 11:02 am,
and weighed 7 lbs. 14 ozs. Mason is just 4 weeks old as I write this. He and
Jarita are both doing well. One day, people tell me, we will actually get some
sleep again. Grin. We are truly enjoying being parents, and thanks to those of
you who have sent emails and cards. Here is a link to Masons Photos page:
http://www.djsdetectors.com/Photos/Mason_Heidebrink/mason_heidebrink.htm
Congratulations to the winner of the Digital
Gold Scales in DJ's Detectors first contest, Chris Dryden from Hannibal
Missouri. He was just 4 hours off with his guess, and missed the weight by
only ozs. WELL DONE CHRIS !!! I will try to do a new contest this month, so
check the contest page.
Links For more tips on detecting and gold prospecting be sure to read the newsletters from past months. If you missed any of them, they can be found at: http://www.djsdetectors.com/NewsLetter/newsletters.htm
If you have an interest in minerals. Here is a
link to a very well put together site on minerals:
http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/byname.htm
Be sure to check out the Links Page on our
site. We add new links to interesting places on the net that we think will be
useful to you. Also if you have a personal web page that you would like to
have a link added let us know.
Detecting Tip
By Daniel-TN
This is the lighter side of the getting permission game. But all of it is
110% true, just in not a formal way of "normal" writing.
Here has what has helped me a lot. If you have somewhat of a home base to work
from, you need to gather as much info about the property you are wanting to
hunt. Try to find out who owns the land and such. If you have a good landowner
friend in the area, question them one day about "so and so's" property and
you'll usually find out how you need to approach the situation by the type
response you may get. For instance, "I've known them for years, nice folks.
I'm sure they probably wouldn't mind you looking if you just ask 'em about
it". That is your icing on the cake opportunity there. Or the response might
be "Oh him. Well he don't even want a person to so much as glance over on his
place". LOL That's my first step in getting permission, is to get a rough
draft as to the personality of the people I will be asking.
Then take the next step and just set aside a day to go out and get permission.
Dress nice but don't over do it. It's always easier to find the landowner
outside and ask them than it is to knock on doors but don't be afraid to
knock. Go up to the door and give it a few knocks or ring the door bell. STEP
BACK from the door and whatever you do keep your hands out of your pockets and
in sight.
Be
polite but don't kiss butt and don't lollygag around either. Be straight
forward but be polite. If its a lady that answers the door, fellas you gotta
keep in mind that she might be there alone and in today's world it is NOT a
good thing to approach her or babble. Look 'em in the face and don't be
looking around or down at the ground or past them. You got to remember you are
the stranger and you are the one out of place. So don't try to look
suspicious. Don't ask if her husband is around either. That may add some RED
ALERT message to her and she may get extremely uncomfortable and GAME OVER for
permission. ALWAYS give a greeting followed quickly by who you are and where
you're from. The words usually out of my mouth are "Howdy ma'am, my name's
Daniel, I'm from Athens TN.". Whether you know their name or not, always
address them by ma'am. Then you lead into why you are there. You're not a
salesmen nor are you some psycho rapist or murderer. Tell them your interest
in local history and that you've been researching the area and think their
property may have a few relics or coins on them. And that you were "just
wondering" if you could LOOK AROUND, (never say dig) on their place with your
metal detector. If you've been hunting in the local area tell her that, and
that so and so has been letting you look a little bit and you've found a few
things there. At this point she's either going to tell you YES or NO, or give
you the "you'll have to talk to my husband" and he is either there, or isn't
and you can wait there a minute for him to come to the door, or you can come
back another day. If you are to come back another day you tell her thank you
for her time, and if you have a card, give it to her at this point and time.
In
dealing with men you have to take a different approach. Other men aren't as
prone to feel threatened by a man's presence, although they may be suspicious
of you. That's why you keep some of the same basics as dealing with the lady
of the house. You don't lollygag around and you look him in the face too. Now
what I like to do here is kind of play dumb and ask questions in which I
already know the answer to. If I know the guy's last name I will address him
as MISTER xxxxx whatever his last name is. So the conversation goes like
"Hello there, are you Mister xxxxx?" and you'll say it. He'll either say yes
or no followed by a question. Now the question that will follow will have a
wide range of what it may come in. It may be "how can I help you?" and it may
be "what the
$^@$
do you want?". That's when you lead into who you are and where you're from.
Then followed quickly by another question "I was wondering if you know who
owns this land over here" and give some sort of direction towards the place
you want to hunt. If you have done your research he is going to tell you that
he owns it. This is your point that you break into your BRIEF story about your
interest in local relics/coins, and that you've hunted so and so's land a
little in the past. Here is where you can break out some examples of what
you've dug. Always have common stuff. Like bullets or something of that
nature. Now when they see what you are looking for you lead into "Well I was
wondering if you'd mind me looking around with my detector up there on that
hill or in the woods there". If its a farmer that's been there a while, and
they see those minie balls you are wanting to dig. He is going to tell you
about finding them himself when he was a kid. Usually in the form of "boxes
full of 'em" and they will have no recollection of whatever happened to them.
And as always, there has been people look there in the past and they probably
picked up most of them, but "you're more than welcome to look around up there
if you want to". Thus has been the case 100% of the time thus far.
From the months of Dec 2003 to first week Jan 2004 I done the methods spoken
about above and secured over 900 acres of land to hunt from 4 different land
owners. If there is one secret to getting permission to hunt. It is so simple
we often take it for granted: YOU JUST HAVE TO ASK FIRST !!
And once you get in, hunt it like its the last time you are going to be there.
you can do everything by the book, pick up the trash, leave no signs of you
digging, not tearing down fences and such, and then someone comes in
un-invited and ruins the whole thing for you. REMEMBER to just be friendly and
stop by to show the folks what you've found after you get done digging. Don't
be stingy with what you've found. Offer to give them something in the bunch
they really like, and more often than not, they will turn it down. THAT'S when
you really surprise them at Christmas. I made two display cases for two
landowner friends of mine for Christmas 2003. I gave them nice cases with some
relics in it that I'd dug on their place. If you show them you aren't greedy,
and just be a friend, you might be surprised what it may bring you. Just make
courtesy calls every once and a while if you are in their area. Stop in to say
hello. And around Christmas time stop in and hand deliver them Christmas
cards, and say a warm and honest holiday greeting to them.
Do
that and you may just find something along the way that you weren't expecting
to find with a metal detector, friendships to last a life time.
Hardrock Gold Pocket Hunting
By Bill Anderson
Things to
be aware of regarding hardrock gold pocket hunting
Placer gold prospecting isn't the only type of gold hunting that can make you smile a lot after a good day. Consider gold pocket hunting. These are small, to not so small, deposits of gold that form in cavities and decomposing quartz vein material. Sometimes the cavity volume is as small as a small matchbox, and may contain only 10 dollars worth of gold. Other times the cavity may be large as a small bathroom and may contain many many tens of thousands of dollars of gold. Usually the cavities aren't empty but have mineral and mud fillings. The trick to locating pockets is positioning the search effort well. You have to be in the contact zone of two dissimilar types of bedrock that are both metamorphic in nature. Metamorphic means that which has been altered by heat and pressure. Volcanic and sedimentary rocks don't count therefore. You need bedrock types like slate and serpentine, granite and slate, or marble and greenstone. When you do get in a proper contact zone, look for quartz veins. People most always see a vein as a long skinny ribbon type structure. But in fact, they are only looking edge on to a tabular thing. A quartz vein is shaped more or less like say a magazine, or sheet of plywood. It may or may not be in a plane. It may bend or curve a bit. Quartz veins are often not alone, or exactly parallel to each other. This is what you want, two nearby veins that will soon intersect because they are not parallel. Imagine two intersecting planes. Use two sheets of paper to help picture. The intersection will be a line. In pocket hunting lingo this is the shoot or chute line, depending on local custom. This is the line that gold pockets will occur on. Pocket hunters find a small pocket, get the gold out, then carefully remember the location. If they are fortunate enough to locate a second pocket, they strike a line between the points, and investigate that as the line of pocket occurrence. The extension of the line gets the most prospecting attention. Accessory minerals like limonite or manganese alerts to very favorable conditions. Mariposite, a greenish mineral is very often a pocket indicator, especially in the mother lode of Northern California. A world famous and classic pocket gold mine is called the Red Ledge, near the town of Washington California. It is situated on a serpentine and slate contact. Mariposite is common at pocket locations. On a new location, a successful prospecting program would be standard float tracing practices put to action in such a metamorphic bedrock contact zone. The general rule is to stay to the slate side of a contact, and within a dozen or so feet of such a contact. Intersecting veins aren't the only pocket trigger in a good contact zone. Apexing of vein structure, or certain types of intrusives may also be considered. But this is a starting place.
Jarita, Mason, and I would like to thank
all of you who have purchased products from us in the last month. Also to
all of you who stop in the chat room on a nightly basis to share your wisdom
with the new people in our hobbies. For those of you who are interested in
learning more about prospecting or detecting, be sure to stop by the chat
room, and don't be shy. No matter what the conversation is going on, we are
always happy to change it to treasure hunting. We chat most every evening
between 8 and 10 Central time. Have a great month everyone and we are
looking to talking with you all in the chat room.
May you all find many treasures,
Doug and Jarita Heidebrink
DJ's Detectors
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