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Luckiest meteorite hunter in the world
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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"
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