Nugget Shooting with Mike “The Kid”
Join Mike “The Kid” as he ventures off nugget shooting in the Dale Mining District (near 29 Palms) and the
Coolgardie area (near Barstow). He is planning group or private outings to these locations for both
beginning and experienced nugget shooters. On his trips you can expect to learn about Gold
Geology, how to read the land, and learn some tips about your metal detector.
We welcome and urge those who have gone out on his trips to comment here with the details ~
testimonial of your trip, we’d all love to hear about it!
Call 951-676-2555 or email info@aptsgold.com with any questions, let’s get your trip booked!
The American Prospector Treasure Seeker Family
All of Your Prospecting & Treasure Seeking Needs!
16 Comments
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Thank you again, Mike, Kristie, and American Prospectors
Went out with Mike on Wed, September 18th. This time both Mike and I found some gold. Just like my first trip with Mike, he taught me a bunch. The Dale is starting to get hot during the day but we hung in there until 5:00 PM. We checked out a couple of good places and Mike was able to show me some great ways to fully “read” and cover the different areas. It was wonderful that we both got a nugget, but the real fun was learning how to be a better prospector and just being out there chasing the gold. Will be back again. Just can’t say enought good things about Mile and the great time. John
My wife & I went out with Mike on Monday to the Dale Mining district. We had a blast swinging our detectors. Mike spent allot of quality time with us and was able to answer any of our questions. We have been prospecting for years but never really spent much time with anyone who knows what to look for nugget shooting. I was very satisfied with his knowledge of the area and where to look for gold. Well worth the fee to go out with Mike on his outing! We now have favorite place to spend time with our detectors. I would like to plan an outing to the Randsburg area soon to gain his experiences and knowledge. I highly recommend Mike for an outing, especially if you are new to prospecting.
My Dad and I met up with Mike out in the Dale District in mid January. We are both novices only going out detecting a few times on our own. After following Mike a few miles down the road we stopped at the first patch and he proceeded to show us the geology of the land and what exactly to look for. We use VLF detectors. He showed us how to tune them properly to deal with the heavily mineralized ground. “Hot Rocks” if you have never dealt with them your in for a big surprise. Your detector will beep and bong every step you take, Mike showed us how to deal with them as well. After about 2 hours I found my first ever nugget 4 inch’s deep, its half a gram. We moved on to another patch and continued the search. We had a great day out there and will definitely be hiring Mike again!
It would have taken us years to learn all of that information on our own. Mike is a Champion! Do your self a favor and book a trip.
Thanks,
Rick
I selected a Nugget Shooting Adventure with Mike as a Christmas present for my wife Lola since she is becoming addicted to the Gold Fever TV series and all the others reality shows on finding gold. We met Mike at the Dale Mining District east of 29 Palms on a beautiful February day. After walking the area and learning about the geology and what gold bearing indicators to look for, the detector came out and we were off. After locating several targets of bullets, wire and shell casings Lola hit on a small nugget in a little ravine and it was a thrill. I had no such luck but really enjoyed finding targets anyway. Mike was very experienced and it is obvious that he lives for the outdoors and the gold that is in it. A highly recommend trip for newbies and experienced hunters alike.
Thanks for a great time Mike and to Kristy at American prospectors for arranging the trip.
Sounds like a great time! I posted the pictures that you emailed over, thanks for sharing!!
Kristie
Fantastic outing! Mike was great! VERY knowledgeable about the desert “lay-of-the-land”. I learned what to look for and where to devote my time while metal detecting. He taught me tricks on my detector that shorten the time spent verifying targets. I would highly recommend Mike for future outings. Thanks to American Prospector TS for making this possible!
Thanks,
Dane
We went out to Dale District with Michael Greyshock on Jan 14. Michael took us out to a patch he had found and explained what indicators worked in that area and how he locates patches. He really worked hard to get everybody on the right track with their detectors and with the local geology. I would recommend doing your homework and reading Michael’s articles in ICMJ before going out in the field. One 5 grain bit of gold was found on this outing. All in all an educating and worthwhile trip.
Mark
Mike, Kristie and American Prospector,
I wanted to let you all know what an unforgettable time my son and I had with Mike nugget shooting this week.
My son Aaron and I have done some panning at the East Fork of the San Gabriel river that produced a few small flakes. Understanding the amount of hard work involved to bring up those few small flakes my son expressed interest in using a detector to find a more substantial specimen. So looking to gain only the experience, and with no expectations of striking it rich, I called American Prospectors and scheduled a trip out to 29 Palms with Mike. Well let me just say that Mike is the most patient, understanding and knowledgeable person a couple newbies could have ever asked for. Mike explained the geology of the area, explained how the old timers mined, what to look for and why it takes the right combination to make for good nugget hunting. Mike was intent on making sure we were doing everything right, always watching and listening, I literally had to plead with him to get out his detector and have some fun!
Well it all paid off when I saw the look in my sons eyes as he held up his first ever nugget!.. It was just shy of a gram, but the moment was priceless to me!
Thanks again for such a great trip!
Oh and if you go to the Dale district I would really recommend a truck with good clearance, it’s a pretty rough area to get to, but then just imagine how the old timers had to do it!
Robert and Aaron Strain, Orange County Ca.
Thank you Jim, and American Prospectors
Wanted to thank you for showing me how to use my new Jobe sluice today. Had a great day and brought back my materials to pan at home. Looking forward to your next outing,
Thanks again
You’re welcome Ray, we’re glad to hear you had a good time! We’d love to hear about your gold you got and pictures too if you have any!
Until next time…..happy prospecting!
Kristie
Thank you Mike, Kristie, and American Prospectors
Went out with Mike to the Barstow area and had a great time. Worth every bit of time and effort. I’m new to desert detecting and Mike’s explaination of desert geology was in itself worth the cost of the trip. I learned a bunch. I’m also new to the GPX Minelab and Mike made it easy for me to get up and running with the machine. Teaching a 66 year old is not always easy but Mike did so in simple and easy to understand terms. The things that I learned I will take with me and benefit from them. We went to two different locations to detect. In moving around Mike explained the area we were in and made recommendations for future trips. Very helpful to me. We found some of the smallest “targets” imagineable but the old man just didn’t get the coil over any gold. I doing that I am confident that when the coil does hit the gold in the future I will find it. In shot I had a great time and learned a lot. Thanks again you guys and I will be back as soon as I have a little more time in with the trusty GPX. John McCann
Nugget Shooting – Dale Mining District -
My day with Mike.
I wanted to thank everyone at American Prospector, not just for helping me purchase the right equipment for all types of gold prospecting, but turning me on to Mike the geologist and successful gold hunter.
I had been interested in nugget shooting for about six months and ventured out on my own expeditions many times, always coming back both empty handed but full of questions. Luckily AP sent me an email about this guy Mike, it was perfect timing. I wanted, want, to know everything about this, I want an expert tell me if I was on the right path or if I’m wondering on cold soil. After meeting up with Mike all things came together, the seeker becomes enlightened with just enough knoweldge to become obsessed with the quest.
We met up in the morning out side of the district and headed out to the prospective coordinates. I don’t know why I expected him to be both heavy on frame and years but as I climbed into his truck I couldn’t help but laugh and reveal to him that he was much younger and lighter than my own premonition. But as he drove on Mike demonstrated a seasoned knowledge of all things gold. Geology, history, placiers, lodes, everything I should be looking for to make the perfect hunt. The day I chose there was a biting cold wind, one of the first winter days in the desert. The kind where the sky is just huge blue with stretched gray and white cloud streams making way from north to south, it was beautiful. Once we arrived at the designated area and started to shoot he shadowed me, then me him, all the while explaining the conditions, why it’s good here,
not there. The metaphore was a recipe, the mix of green, iron, white and black, high, low, small and large. If the recipe is complete and properly mixed the hunt will be good, if some of the ingredients are lacking then maybe more difficult. If none are present best to stop baking. At one point I thought of a popscile, where the lode is constantly melting away as the stick pushes up from the ground. It didn’t have anything to do with our frozen faces, red from cold and wind. Because suddenly it was 5 hours later, only the fading light of evening approaching stopped us.
In the end Mike came up the winner with a small piece about 3 grams, under a small creacote bush. And that was perfect in my education because he emphasized I needed to slow down, swing low and for sure swing under creacote bushes. He humored me, I made him replace it and let me find it again, so I could hear what the treasure sounded like. The drive back to the main road was just as educational, stopping at points where gold is to be found or was found.
Mike is one of the nicest well dispositioned, patient individuals I’ve ever met. Famous as an author in his own right, I can’t wait to go out shooting with him again. Thank you Mike, Kristie and American Prospector for making such a great day possible.
Hi Kristie,
I just wanted to say that my friends and I had a great time going on Mike’s outing. We went to the Dale Mining Distric near Twenty Nine Palms.While we didn’t get lucky and find any colour we all learned a lot that day about prospecting and about our detector’s. Mike has a wealth of knowledge and he takes the time to explain what are some of the things that you want to look for when your out prospecting an area. He works with you while your hunting and takes the time to answer all of your questions. It truly was a great experience for some one like myself that has very little experience metal detecting for gold. Mike is a great kid and it is was a pleasure going out prospecting with him.
Dave
I have always been interested in nugget shooting but never have had any luck finding much more than bullets, nails and hot rocks.
After stumbeling across American Prospectors site and reading about Mike the “Kid” nugget shooting adventure. I thought this might help develop some missing skills for me. For me reading about has never been as good as hands on training! Hey and Im always up for a good prospecting adventure!
After booking a date with Kristie, Mike called us to set up the details. We decided to go to the Dale Mining District (close to 29 Palms) we met Mike in the morning and the adventure began.
We drove to our first site and yes i do recomend a a high profile vehicle. At this point Mike explained the terrain and what we should look for when choosing a location. Then he answered questions I had about my MineLab Eureka Gold. He helped my wife with her Fisher Gold Bug Pro and our friend Mike G.’s MineLab. Then we were off to find some gold! After a bunch of bullet shards and hot rocks i ran across i started to distinguish my sounds. I then got a faint sound, took my Eureka from 20 to 60 and hit boost. A little louder hit… I dug the ground in the wash, filled my scoop and then i found it! Small but my first baby picker .25 grams chunky gold.. So COOL!
After lunch we decided to explore another spot till the end the day. We looked at some old quartz pockets and tailing piles. Reviewed the day and what we had learned. Would I recommend going out with Mike? YES! Well worth the money for the knowledge I gained. Once more thank you Mike and hope to do it again. This time maybe Coolgardie???
Nugget Shooting Adventure was a “HIT”
When I read the Outings section on your website I noticed the Nugget Shooting Adventure with Mike, I grabbed the phone right then and called my long time buddy Todd who is always up for an adventure. I knew what his answer would already be, so we booked our Adventure and Kristie hooked us up with Mike. He suggested we head out to the Old Dale Mining District since the weather has been bad lately we would be better off heading there and Mike said there finding good Gold over there….Cool! That’s a new area to both of us which made it even more of an Adventure.
We hit Yucca Valley early for our quick prospectors “Drive Through Breakfast” then we met Mike at our planned turn off and followed him to what he called one of the “Patches” where a four ounce nugget and others were found. Mike took his time to make sure we had our detectors tuned in and ground balanced correctly. He then showed us the terrain we would be searching and why! We started right away and I noticed he had no detector? Mike wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing, give us tips and answer questions. OK! why here I asked him? out of the million plus acres out here how do you tell where to start? After covering more ground and listening to his advise we learned more of what to look for and explain his ten year’s of experience nugget hunting and he still hasn’t broke out his detector! Mike’s a great person to be out prospecting with and he’s full of stories…. that’s worth the trip itself!
We decided to hit another patch a few miles away so we were off. The weather had turned out to be one of those days in the desert that keep you going back time and time again. The sun was shining, no wind, crisp cool air and spectacular views for miles. This time Mike broke out his detector and told us his friend had found four nuggets here recently. After a cool drink we grabbed our detectors and were off to hunt. As we walked past old diggings Mike gave us some of the old history as well as the recent mining going on in the area. He really knows his stuff! We spent the rest of the afternoon there hunting, learning and just having a great day hearing a few of Mikes stories… like the one about his friends girlfriend that he took out nugget hunting the first time and she was standing up on a big boulder swinging her detector, he yelled that’s not how you do it, she kept yelling but its beeping! well you know the story…… he went over and looked and there was a nugget on top of the boulder!
In the last hour Mike had a good hit just above the creek in a large rock cropping and picked out a nice piece of Gold! It was exciting to see and made it an end to a great day. We went back to the trucks and got out the scale and it weighed six grams.. nice!
We had learned a great deal in one day with Mike as our guide, and definitely made a new friend. I don’t know anywhere you can book an outing like this and even though we did not get a nugget this time we now know more about Gold Geology, reading the land and using our detectors. I highly recommend booking your nugget shooting adventure and feel very confident that finding my first nugget is now 100% better!
Happy hunting and thanks again for a great outing!
Steve “Scout”
My experience with Mike was very positive!
We went to a spot deep in the Dale District about 12 miles south of Hwy 62 on Gold Crown Road. The trip to the spot was awesome.. I have 4WD, which made it a breeze. It would have been tough with a 2WD, but it would probably still be possible. The scenery in the area is beautiful!
Mike did a great job of explaining the geology of the area and walked me through some of the rocks and features known for carrying gold. He is very patient and answered every question I through his way. I’m new to metal detecting so I had several questions. Mike then went on to explain how the equipment worked (Minelab 4000). He described the features and how they helped with prospecting. I am very happy that my first experience with metal detecting was with a seasoned professional.
I was really clumsy at first with the equipment. I did a really good job at finding hot spots, which included my hiking shoes, wedding ring, watch, belt, and pick. All of the metal was off of my body within the first 15 minutes. My first recommendation to greenhorns is to take off anything with metal. Mike’s equipment had an additional handle that could be held with the non-detecting arm. I found that this was really helpful in keeping my “swinging” arm rested. I will definitely want this feature in my detector.
We went down and up several washes that had all of the indicators. I would guess we walked 2-3 miles in total over a 6 hour period; that was about all my arm and back could handle. 2-3 miles of metal detecting is equivalent to 8-10 miles of hiking. I’m sure that it would get much easier over time. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything on this trip. Mike assured me that I was doing things correctly, which was the most important part of the trip to me. Finding gold was secondary to the experience. Mike didn’t even detect until I asked him to. He was more concerned about teaching me than anything else. I wanted him to detect so that I would know if I was missing anything.
I will definitely go back to the Dale District and will purchase a metal detector in the next 3-6 months. I may also go back to this spot for some dry washing. There were several good looking areas with lots of bedrock.
Mike did a great job of sparking my interest for metal detecting. I hope to see him out there again sometime. Mike is very personable and an easy going guy with the perfect demeanor for teaching. I will definitely sign up again when I get my detector.
Thanks,
Lon