It is not a bit unusual for someone to start an avid rockhounding lifestyle purely by accident. One day you see a curiosity lying on the ground and pick it up to find a beautiful specimen of a favorite gemstone and you are hooked. After a first terrific strike, it is very easy for the beginner to give up in frustration, thinking that all finds will be as easy as the first. Even a beginner that has taken the time and effort to study, may find they have much trouble finding prizes out in the field. If you are becoming discouraged with telling your friends "well, I needed the fresh air and exercise anyway" instead of "wow, you should see what I found" there are a few things you need to know.

Finding gems is not merely a matter of learning about geology. When you are in the field, brain power doesn't hurt a bit, don't get me wrong here. In fact as your hobby grows, you will probably become more and more interested and involved with geological study. Recognition, however, is the key to beginning to find excellent gemstones. You can spout geological facts all you want while you are in the field, but if you can't recognize a stone in the raw or the rock it is associated with when you see it, no amount of knowledge is going to help you out. The plain fact is that many stones just don't look the same after being cut and polished as they do in the rough and if you don't know what the gem bearing rock looks like in any specific area, you can be very close to a great outcropping of gemstones and walk right by it without a glance.

Needless to say, when starting out your rockhounding lifestyle, you need to gather all the visual information you can get about gemstones, and the particular areas you are going to search in. While most people have heard of rubies, sapphires, agates, jasper, and the more common stones, there are hundreds of lesser known stones that you may have never heard of where you are going to search. For instance you may never have heard of chabazite or orpiment. So your first quest is to browse as many pictures of minerals as you can. An Audubon Society Field book is a great resource for pictures of gemstones and there are scores of mineral galleries on the web. If you are lucky, you will find pictures of stones that are in their original state before polishing - and even more importantly, with a portion of the host rock still attached. You don't need to memorize all the different types, just make yourself aware of them and how they look.

Once you have a good working knowledge of what actually exists to be hunted, it's time to take your research out of the home. Rock shops are excellent sources of visual information and usually carry both worked specimens and gems in the raw with the host rock still attached. While you will want to pay attention to how the stone itself looks before being worked, it is equally, and maybe more, important to study the matrix, or host, rock. When hunting in the field you will probably notice outcroppings of the rocks which bear the gem before seeing any gemstones themselves. Outcroppings don't guarantee that gemstones are present, but they are good indications that there could be. After all, there isn't much point in hunting through schist to find treasures that only can be found in sandstone.

Another great source is museums. Again, you will find already worked stones there, but you will also find many specimens in raw form. Most exhibits will also include information about where the specimens came from. Rock and gem shows also will have a mix of raw and worked stones on display. You will also find people at the shows to talk to about hunting the stones. Do not go there expecting someone to give you details about locations where you can find the stones. They are usually quite willing to give you good solid tips about what to look for though.

It is important that you visit these museums, shops, and shows at each locality, or that feature gems from the locality you are planning to hunt in as the host rock of the gems will often be different in each locality. For example, if you find garnets at Ruby Hill in Colorado then go to Idaho to find garnets, you will not find them in rock that in any way resembles the garnet bearing rock at Ruby Hill, Colorado. You could spend ages walking past garnet bearing rock and just not recognize it if you use what you found in Colorado as reference.

Paid and free dig sites are also excellent resources. You have your hunting areas already outlined for you in these places and sometimes attendants to answer questions for you and help you get started. While maps of rock sites are available for purchase, the locations listed are often vague enough that many new hunters can get to the mapped sites and still have difficulties finding specimens, so I recommend visiting established dig sites first.

The importance of joining your local rock and gem club as a teaching tool for beginners can not be stressed enough. In these clubs you will find many experienced, life long hunters. These people are very willing to teach new hunters the tricks of the trade. They have established collections and are usually very willing to show the collections and talk about the specimens. Rock and gem clubs also organize field trips so you will have experienced people to go with to already scouted locations. Not only can you learn much from the people in these clubs, you can make good friends with people who share your interests.

As your visual skills grow, so will your other skills and knowledge base. So be patient if you are having trouble finding great gemstones when you first start your hunting trips. It takes time and practice to train your eyes to see what you are looking for.