Brought the river home with me

Im a big fan of bucket classifiers. Sure ya gotta buy em but they fit in a 5 gallon buckets and are plastic so water doesn't affect them. Makes quick work of dry or wet.

I also have some like yours Gramps made with hardware cloth to get rid of the heavy stuff. I picked up a concrete mixing tub at Home Despot that works good as a catchbasin. Very durable, light and not to spendy.

Biggest problem is I haven't gone out but one quick trip this year  been way to busy and late spring messed me up. This was gonna be a good year too I thought with all the extra runoff not to mention the price hike.

Greasemonkey I have one of those small plastic sluices and many times it outperforms my 4'x8" Keene aluminum. Plus it's just right to stick in a backpack. Just keep the feed even and don't go overfast and it will do you good for a starting rig. When you look at the river or stream try to think how the heavy runoff came through. Look for catchpockets and gravel bars where the gold would settle just like it does in sluice riffles.



Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,27033.msg191537.html#msg191537

Good luck Paul, think I'm gonna head up the mountain tomorrow myself. Hopefully we both come home with something shiney! 

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,27033.msg191628.html#msg191628

Yikes that's a whole lotta water all right. Probably lose anything smaller than a half inch, just keep rolling 

I agree dig all you can while on site, classify at home. I have a piece of expanded metal that fits over my sluice to get the big stuff out of the way.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,27033.msg191664.html#msg191664

So I got up yesterday morning and decided to venture up to the hills. Found my pack and gathered some gear. Lucky I had some spare because my son has all the good stuff and he took off to Utah for the weekend... I took 2 gold pans, 2 buckets, 3 shovels of various sizes, 2 classifiers, 2 rock hammers, a military backpack, a loupe, a scale, bandanas, 2 power bars and 2 bottles of water.

Was a good day, played in the water and worked a couple crevices that have shown color before. Don't think I found anything too amazing but I still have a few buckets to run. I've done really well at this spot in years past but last year and today were disappointing really. Still a day in the woods beats a day anywhere else. 

I picked up a stream machine squirt gun at a yard sale for a buck. It looks like a big syringe. That thing is an awsome water crevice tool. I drilled out the squirt hole to accept some clear plastic hose and it worked great. The end cap also screws off so it's easy to clean. It's not comparable to a motorized tool but it's light and portable.

Hit one of my favorite corrugated culverts on the way out since the campers there had packed and gone. Also found a wolf jaw about a month old. My son said he saw tracks last time he was up there and I didn't believe him but I guess he was right after all. 

If anything shows up in the seperater I'll post a pic 
 

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,27033.msg191854.html#msg191854

Thanks for the suggestion Idaho I'll keep that on tip of my mind.  I didn't get out this weekend as planned, the bursitus in my right shoulder started acting up and that's my pumping arm for the sucker.  I just got off the phone with VA to send a message to my primary care Doc to see if he wants to see me or refer me another clinic, we'll see.  I did how ever see an area on the Wilson Rvr. that looks like a huge slab of rock (the river is way down) that looks like a primo sniping spot, have to get up there this week.

Roger that on the classifing and panning at home, a lot safer and comfortable.

Gramps

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,27033.msg192017.html#msg192017