MA/VT/NH Panning

[dvdtharaldson]

Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David

 

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[dvdtharaldson]

Over the last four years, ever since I started this thread, I have been asking people to post their successes as well as their failures. Well, I am here to tell you that posting failures isn't near as much fun as posting successes. As the story usually goes, I headed up to Couch Brook for a couple hours of panning. I returned to the spot where I found colors a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to find another hot spot like the one I found a couple of months ago. Here is where the failure part comes in, two measly pieces in about four hours time. Granted I did take quite awhile in between pans, due to stiff joints and a sore back, but two pieces has been the lowest total for me in years. What ever happened to 168 pieces in 4 hours?

Keep the faith and best colors,
dvdt

 

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[triple d]

My experience in New England.Maine and N.H. Finding A 100 pieces. Usually the total weight. If your lucky it adds up to the weight of one picker. But its finding Gold that what its all about.I guess. If your not dredging its very hard to find the bigger stuff.The best chance for bigger gold is in Maine. Vermont has too many restrictons. So I stay away. Pretty soon the only way to find gold. With all the new laws.Will be to sweep the dirt roads and bring it home and pan the dirt. And just call it cleaning up the road way. Never know may get lucky.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I was able to get out a couple of times this past week. Time has been at a premium for me because I have to help out a family member who had surgery. I figured since winter is closing in and my time is spoken for, any free time should be enjoyed. Hence two trips to the stream.

Lately it has been few colors and lots of frustration. I always have been a tenacious person and just refused to quit until I found another hot spot. I went out by myself on Friday and sluiced my way to 50 relatively small colors at the new spot, and managed 40 colors by pan on Saturday. I had revisited a spot, with WMG on Saturday, where I had some success a few weeks ago, and we both did pretty well. Not a lot of colors, but most were larger than 50 mesh with a few in the plus 30 size.

Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great to see you getting time to get out. Wish I was there!

 

[E.MassAuMan]

A Last Minute PM to DVDT about getting together over the weekend saw us getting together yesterday at, shall we say, "A Couch Brook Area" location to further see what a spot he recently scoped out would yield.

Water flows are very low exposing places that normally would not be easily
Gotten at.

David s Take




My take for the day, 43 pieces of glacial flood Gold.

Thanks David it was great seeing you again and had a great time plus my all time daily high tally.

Hope I can return the favor soon!


Doug
EMassAuMan

 

[KevinInColorado]

Go Doug!!

 

[WesternMassGold]

We had nice weather on Sunday and David and I decided to go on an Expedition and explore a new location previously not prospected.
This was our final day for this year and we found a nice ancient piece of rock slab in the middle of a brook that was exposed because of the low water levels.
I could not have asked for a better finale to this years panning season.
I ended up with 4 pickers and another 194 pieces.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Wow, great job!!

 

[brianc053]

WMG you have definitely gotten very good at finding...Western Mass Gold. Congrats!
-Brian

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I had a couple of hours to kill yesterday and I figured that a little prospecting might burn off a few calories left over from Thanksgiving. I took off for my "home-based" brook.

When I arrived at my secret spot, I found out that it wasn't so secret anymore. The last two times I went up there I found prospectors sluicing away. This time it was a couple of young people having loads of fun. They claimed that they didn't know if they found any gold, but found something that they thought was gold. I eyeballed and then confirmed their four specks as gold. They were quite excited and stated it was their first confirmed find.

All of my previous "hot - spots" have dried up so I decided to do a little prospecting. There was a steady rain falling but that didn't dampen my spirits. After 15 minutes I was soaked through but still happy to be immersed in nature. According to my thermometer it was 43 degrees. I managed to find a trap that yielded 21 pieces in about 3 hours. Most of the colors were quite chunky and around the 25 mesh size and some plus 10. It was close work and all I could use was my trowel. It took a long time to extract the gravel, but I took my time and wasn't in a hurry to return to civilization.

The highlight of the trip was finding a stream salamander, which in these parts are quite rare. It was a beautiful spotted orange and about 7 inches long. I know that pet shops will pay good money for them, but I figured he/she was as much a nature lover as I am so I left it where it belongs- in the stream. I also saw 4 deer on the way home. A very good trip indeed.

Best pans to you all,
dvdt

 

[dvdtharaldson]

WMG and I decided that since we have only taken 3 "last time" prospecting trips, it was time for number 4. We headed up to our home-based brook to try to run my zook for awhile. It had just rained a few days back but the water drains quickly there and I was a little concerned that there wouldn't be enough water to properly operate my 30 inch BGT sluice. Upon arrival my fears were quickly dispelled by the sights and sounds of a quickly running stream.

The last time I was up there I had found a section of the stream that held some colors. Leading up to that section I passed by a formation I nick-named the stone wall. New England is famous for its stone walls which divide the terrain into rectangular shaped parcels. The rock formation on the side of the stream reminded me of those stone walls hence the moniker.

The stone wall proved to be a pretty good producer. The sluice was definitely needed because of the amount of gravel that had to be moved in order to find the colors. The colors ranged from plus ten down to minus 100. Most were in the 50 mesh range.

Is it a picker, I don't know, you decide and then post a comment. I would be interested in hearing what people think.

Best Colors and Happy Holidays,
dvdt

 

[WesternMassGold]

It;s gonna freeze for sure next week.Definately was the last time out.(pretty sure)
Using Davids Bazooka shows that it really catches very small gold if set up correctly.
Davids pan only shows half the gold we found,here is the other half.

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

WMG and I decided that since we have only taken 3 "last time" prospecting trips, it was time for number 4. We headed up to our home-based brook to try to run my zook for awhile. It had just rained a few days back but the water drains quickly there and I was a little concerned that there wouldn't be enough water to properly operate my 30 inch BGT sluice. Upon arrival my fears were quickly dispelled by the sights and sounds of a quickly running stream.

The last time I was up there I had found a section of the stream that held some colors. Leading up to that section I passed by a formation I nick-named the stone wall. New England is famous for its stone walls which divide the terrain into rectangular shaped parcels. The rock formation on the side of the stream reminded me of those stone walls hence the moniker.

The stone wall proved to be a pretty good producer. The sluice was definitely needed because of the amount of gravel that had to be moved in order to find the colors. The colors ranged from plus ten down to minus 100. Most were in the 50 mesh range.

Is it a picker, I don't know, you decide and then post a comment. I would be interested in hearing what people think.

Best Colors and Happy Holidays,
dvdt
View attachment 1387952

Nice work, David! Hope you're doing well.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Nice updates guys...and nice picker David!

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I felt like it was time for a walk in the snowy woods, but I also couldn't escape the fever. What else could I do except put on my leaky waders, pack my gear, and head for "home-based brook"! When I arrived, there was a little more snow than I expected. I thought I might see a couple inches but saw nearly a foot instead. The brook wasn't even visible through the snow in most places.

I was quite surprised at the number of deer tracks in the freshly fallen snow. They were going in both directions, so it was quite obvious that they use the same trail to get "to and fro" that I use, for the same reason. When I got to the point where I had to enter the stream, I felt just a tinge of uncertainty about having to walk in a waterway covered with snow. I wasn't so much worried about getting wet, as I would be soaked through at the first step, but tripping on a buried rock. It was certain that I was the only prospector on the stream that day and would receive no help if I got injured. I got over it after the first step. I immensely enjoyed the trip in and along the icy stream to a productive spot.

Upon arrival at my frozen honey hole, I had to clear all the snow from the stream and bank. It was kind of neat because I didn't have any visual clues on where to dig. I had to choose my spots carefully because most of the top-side gravels were frozen. I set up the sluice and cleared a couple buckets of classified cons. I had to classify because the stream was so low. I ended up with around 20 colors and a great experience.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[Hunt4gold]

Looks like a picker to me! But then I am pretty new to the gold panning world, and actually just found my first picker last week. Its cold here in Colorado also, had to clear a half inch of ice off the spot in the creek I working - not sure how much more opportunities are available to me until spring.
Enjoy reading your posts dvdt -- keep them coming.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Thanks for posting on my thread Hunt4gold. Please continue to post successes as well as failures. You have a lot of mentor friendly individuals in your area. Be sure to take advantage of that. It is truly amazing how much time you can save by having someone show you the correct way of doing things. Or maybe even just looking at things in a different way.

I had the privilege of digging with Kevin a couple of times over the past few years and was really surprised how much I was able to learn in a short amount of time. (Thanks Kevin.) I don't know how much experience you have, but I notice that I learn something from everyone I dig with.

Happy trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[Hunt4gold]

DVD, my goal for 2017 is to set up a couple of Denver-area prospectors days on the Platte River so that the locals here can meet each other, learn a few things, and have fun. Its also a great way to meet potential prospecting buddies. Maybe you can come out for one!

 

[dvdtharaldson]

H4g,
I have wanted to take a trip out West for years. I hear the fishing is great and the nuggets are so big that you don't even need pans. You just pick them right out of the rivers! Keep me posted on your endeavors, you never know, I might just show up.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

DVD, my goal for 2017 is to set up a couple of Denver-area prospectors days on the Platte River so that the locals here can meet each other, learn a few things, and have fun. Its also a great way to meet potential prospecting buddies. Maybe you can come out for one!

 

[KevinInColorado]

If you do David, you're getting the VIP treatment from me just like how you treated me!!