Hoping to do as good or better with a BGT

[dashriprock]

Found this gold when I lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota 3 years ago with my Wolf Trap sluice in one day on the outside bend of the creek behind a rock as big as a Volkswagon beetle. It was a good day as usually I didn't find the bigger nuggets just flakes and fines but the Wolf Trap worked flawlessly everytime and like the BGT....no classifying....just shovel into it. I like that!

Now I'm living in Montana and from what I'm finding out the gold is finer here and I'm looking at getting a 30" or 36" Prospector BGT. (just because I have an itch to buy some new equipment to add to my gold getting arsenal)

Really hoping I can do as good or better with the BGT. I read alot of threads here on the forum that the BGT is very good at recovering the smaller gold. I love my Wolf Trap sluice and don't plan on retiring it anytime soon but would like to hear from any fellow Montana sluicers using the BGT and if so, are you having good success with it? Also are either sizes of the BGT's that I'm looking into the right choice for the creeks up here or should I be steering towards a smaller version?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

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[AU_Solitude]

Nice gold! I grew up in North-East Wyoming and spent a lot of time in the Black Hills.

 

[Goldwasher]

I would go 36" prospector...use wolf trap for lower flow situation

 

[dashriprock]

Thanks Woody.

 

[dashriprock]

Thanks for the suggestion GW!

 

[specksandflecks]

I have a suggestion. I have heard of those sluice, do they make a dredge riffle? Get a motor/pump/suction nozzle/hose/flair. I think russau dredges up there.

 

[dashriprock]

Appreciate the suggestion specks and flakes. Not for sure but I don't believe they make a dredge riffle. The riffle in the box actually flips over. You put it in one way for slow water conditions or flip it over for faster water. When I got mine several years ago one of the creeks I worked in was known for fine not chunky gold. When the claim I worked on that had chunky gold was dry...which started around the beginning of June, I would head to my other claim that flowed all year but using my Keene sluice it couldn't trap as much of the fine gold and I was losing alot. The gold there is around 200 mesh but it's loaded with it. After seeing Tom Massie use the then new Wolf Trap sluice, I looked them up and got one. When I used it the first time at the fine gold creek I was sold on it. If my back held up most days working 8 or so hours, my take ran anywhere from 3 to 5 pennyweight....thats alot to me. Before, using my Keene I would come home with 1 to 2 pennyweight. With the Wolf Trap I brought home way more blacksand cons and in a years running I usually would recover an extra 2 to 3 ounces of gold I couldn't see until after I smelted it. The only drawback I have with it is I have to clean up more often because it traps much more black sand that has the fine gold in it but, after shoveling almost an hour non stop my back is usually ready for a break anyway.

 

[specksandflecks]

Well 200 mesh is pretty fine. I don't know how recovery would go with suction fed system on gold that small. Small suction system would probably be slower than shoveling, your back will probably thank you though. These days I'm finding things to be more a marathon than a sprint.