[meteorite-list] Hunting hours vs recovery rate

From: Norm Lehrman <nlehrman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Mar 5 23:23:50 2006
Message-ID: <20060306042348.83559.qmail_at_web81005.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Sonny & list,

My stats are not going to be what people want to hear.
 I have been collecting rocks, fossils, and artifacts
since I could walk. I have been a continuously active
exploration geologist for 35 years. I have been
looking at the ground in front of me with something of
a trained eye for something like 50 years. Unusual
rocks came home with me without fail. When I joined
Homestake Mining Company about 25 years ago, they had
to pay to move something like 10 tons of rock. When I
sheepishly apologized to my new boss, he said "I guess
if we hire a geologist who doesn't like rocks, we made
a poor choice!" This is the long way of saying: none
of those were meteorites.

When I became interested in the current subject, I
spent (as for most of my life) on the order of 150
days in the field per year in my normal work routine.
Always looking, but with very limited knowledge (none
the less, a well trained eye for the unusual).
Nothing. No memories at all of something I wish I
could go back and view again.

As the obsession grew, I gradually acquired a small
collection of meteorites via purchase specifically to
train my eye. I started looking where there were few
or no rocks (thanks to Nininger's "Find a Falling
Star" that had been given to me).

I can't guess how long it took after that--- I'd say
weeks of "quality" time before the big moment for #1
(described on our website and IMCA). Speaking only of
dedicated meteorite-search time, I spent another three
or four man-days in Nevada, then say 5 man-days in
virgin country in the high Andes in Chile, then
another 3 days in Nevada before my next tiny find at
Majuba (also on the website). Learning from
experience, my next effort was where meteorites had
been found before, and I found 21 fragments in 2 days.


The next page will be written soon, but I suspect no
armchair quarterback has any idea what kind of
patience and perserverance it takes to beat the odds
on one of the longest shot endeavors on earth!

I serve as living proof that you can go nuts before it
happens.

Cheers,
Norm
http://TektiteSource.com (where you can read the
longer versions of #s 1 & 2)


--- wahlperry_at_aol.com wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Have you ever wondered how many hours you must spend
> before your first
> cold find ? Or how many hours after you find a new
> area with a new
> meteorite before your next find?
>
> I would like to say that you will find a meteorite
> every 40- 50 hours
> of searching for cold finds not counting driving or
> prep time. The only
> problem is once you find one you will spend 4-5 days
> or longer
> searching the area looking for the rest of the
> meteorite or the
> continuation of the strewn field. In my own
> experience in a know
> strewnfield ( Gold Basin) I spent 16 hours of
> hunting plus 6 hours
> driving time for my first meteorite. I might have
> recovered one faster
> if it was not for the 10 pounds of meterwrongs I was
> carrying in my
> pockets before I found one.
>
> On some of the new areas I have spent as little as
> 4 hours before a
> new find in a new location. I have also spent weeks
> before a new find
> at 8 to 10 hour days. In a strewnfield that I have
> been working there
> are times were you may not find one for a week and
> then find one or
> two. In one area a friend & I spent 3 days hunting
> before the frist
> find. We spent 2 more days looking for the next find
> paired to the
> first find. We have done 3 more trips to the
> location for a few more
> pieces. Average hunting day 8 hours plus 4-8 hours
> driving time to get
> to location one way.
>
> I would like to say the average time to find a
> meteorite in a known is
> location 2-20 hours. For a new cold find from a area
> with no finds may
> take 50 plus hours of hunting not counting driving
> or prep time.
>
> I am interested in hearing input from other hunters
> especially from the
> Southwest. I have been asked by some new meteorite
> hunters what they
> can expect before they find their first meteorite.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sonny
>
>
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Received on Sun 05 Mar 2006 11:23:48 PM PST