I've done gold panning for a few years, and been detecting with a friend a few times. Never any big finds... yet. But I read the forums a lot for tips. I come across stories on a regular where someone did hit a big find, very large nugget, or coin box or whatever. When they declare their find, they often lose a good portion if not the totality. Why anyone would declare their find to the state is beyond me. If I ever find a vein, I'm keeping that shit for me. I've put in hundreds of hours of research on local geology and at least a hundred to two hundred panning dry sand to find next to nothing. When I get my hands on some gold, its mine, I worked for it and earned it.