You Are So Lucky

  • Luckiest meteorite hunter in the world
  • Well I have been accused many times of being the luckiest person ever.
    Every time I find a meteorite someone says man you are the luckiest
    guy I know... That has really started to aggravate me over the years.
    If people had any idea what it takes to get lucky they would find a
    new way to say it. They might say you are working way too hard at this
    or dang it is about time you found something.
  • I have called my self meteorite looker many many times when I was feeling like I was
    terrible at hunting meteorites. I have even thought about starting
    another web site called meteoritelooker.com no I mean really building
    another site because most of the time I am just a looker not a
    finder. I have come home many a times and had to tell my wife no I
    didn't find anything I am just meteoritelooker today. Then there have
    been many times when she didn't even ask if I found anything , boy I 
    must have been in a real slump those times.
  • It is not just looking that allows you to get lucky. There is the preparation, research,
    equipment, mind set, inside information, tenacity and I am sure I
    forgot half of the attributes that help to find meteorites. A book
    could be written on each of the items I listed.
  • Equipment wow not only do you need the right equipment for the job but then you have to know how to use it. I once took an acquaintance to hunt the Franconia
    strewn field. He is a smart and well equipped person of above average
    intelligence. He is very well equipped with a brand new top of the
    line Fisher detector. New state of the art touch screen just out of
    the box and after many hours of practice might even work to find a
    meteorite. But in this case he turned the detector on and poked a
    couple of times at the screen and thought he was ready to go. I was
    not so sure so I threw a nice 30 gram Franconia on the ground in front
    of him and said see what it sounds like on that, because that is what
    we will be looking for today. So he swung the shiny new detector over
    the meteorite and to our surprise there was no report? Huh well....um
    I must have something set wrong so he struggled to see the LED screen
    in the bright sun and poked some more buttons and then gave it another
    try nada...hmmm. I reached into my van and pulled out a back up Gold
    Bug 2 and gave him a 30 second lesson and told him to leave that new
    detector in the car until he figured out how it worked. I have
    different types of detectors, I have different size coils for each of
    the different types of detectors and I have spent literally hundreds
    of hours learning how to use each of them. I have worn out more
    detectors and coils than most meteorite hunters will ever own. Notice
    I said most because I am not the only one out there that is working
    very hard to become lucky.
    Ok so forget about the equipment lets talk about the research and
    time spent figuring out where to go look. Yes I am talking about old
    books, new books, the Internet, the meteoritical bulletin. Keeping a
    group of friends that are willing to share information with you and
    you with them. Making allies with people who will help you get to right
    spot when the time comes. These are not easy relationships to be in
    because they must work both ways. These relationships must benefit
    both parties. Then after you have sifted over all the data and
    listened to all the rumors. You have to actually get in the car and go
    to where they might be, you won't find them in your house. Those have
    already been found.
    You have to dedicate enough time to getting lucky and you have to keep
    going back over and over and over and over until that glorious day
    comes when you are the luckiest person alive. Really I have a friend
    who has done more than 30 days of hard hunting at Glorieta in the
    right areas. Ok think about that we are in strewn field he is a very
    good hunter and he came back over and over and over for 30 different
    days and he found nothing. Now when he does find a hundred pounder are
    you going to call him lucky? I sure am not going to call him that
    maybe crazy, or too stubborn for his own good but you wont catch me
    calling him lucky.
  • I have been skunked in every strewn field I have
    ever been in, that means the luckiest guy you know (to some people)
    hunted hard all day long in the middle of many strewn fields on many
    occasions and found nothing. Gloritea, Franconia, Gold Basin,
    Hollbrook, Coreeo, Admire, Ash Creek, and Red dry Lake. I am sure I
    have forgotten some as well but all of these I have been skunked more
    than one day. The truth be told it would likely come out that I found
    nothing as often as I found something. Then there are all the other
    places I have been and they are many... As I drive down any major
    highway leaving the Kingman area I look out in the desert and think
    yea I have hunted out there and there and over there. Sometimes I will
    even burst into stories about what happened out that way and man you
    should have been there when this or that happened. So when it is all said
    and done I spend way more time looking for meteorites than finding
    them, I mean way more time. So lucky is just not the word I would use
    to describe a meteorite finder. In very recent memory I have been to
    southern CA several times to Essex, Merced fireball, Needels, Water
    road, I have hunted several places in Arizona. Trips to New Mexico to
    hunt Acomita, and several unnamed areas for one reason or another. I
    have been to Utah, southern Arizona, Georgia, Flagstaff, and several
    others places chasing fireballs. All without a meteorite, how does
    lucky work anyway maybe I just don't understand the word.
    So the next time you see someone with an exceptional meteorite think
    about what they went through to find it. Who knows maybe they just
    walked out their front door and got lucky, but the chances are better that they have been hard at work for a long time to become the "luckiest person you ever knew"