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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[Hunt4gold]

DVD, I'm always up for a fly fishing/prospecting trip! But you need to keep the "nuggets are so big" a secret.

 

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[gold panner]

Here is my 2016 gold total after going through my concentrates. I did not make it out much this year due to the fact that I bought a metal detector in the spring. Most of my free time was spent metal detecting but I had a blast doing that. Thank you everybody that posts I love reading them. They also help make it through the winter. Happy new year.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Hunt4gold,

Fly fishing is my most favorite past time. There isn't much else that can compare with catching native trout on light tackle and then releasing them back where they belong. I also don't have a problem eating a few. Unfortunately for me, populations of native brookies have been decimated in Massachusetts. There are still a couple streams around that hold fish, but not like it used to be. The last couple of times I was prospecting I spent almost as much time watching the brookies take, what I think were fall May flies, off the surface as I did prospecting. Since there are such limited stocks of truly wild fish here, I don't disturb them. I usually do my most serious angling in Vermont.

The grizzly gremlin sent me some pictures of some of the rare alpine beauties he catches in Colorado. Magnificent creatures!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot "mums" the word on the nuggets. Besides nobody reads my thread anyway.

Happy trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

DVD, I'm always up for a fly fishing/prospecting trip! But you need to keep the "nuggets are so big" a secret.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Gold Panner,
Impressive totals! Thanks for posting the pics!! Those are some nice, bright, shiny colors!!!

 

[gold panner]

Thanks dvd did you ever make it up to northern vt this summer

 

[Hunt4gold]

Goldpanner --- really nice collection of color for 2016! Congrats.

 

[Hunt4gold]

DVD - Will be exploring the mountain streams this coming summer. Am doing research this winter on potential areas to visit and explore. If you get out this way send me PM - we can hit some spots for trout and gold.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I had a few hours off this past Wednesday and decided to pack my gear and head for "frozen stream". I wasn't sure what I would find when I got there. I was hoping for thawed gravel, but realized that would be quite unlikely. I was hoping against hope and common sense that I would actually be able to do any prospecting. I resigned myself that in all likelihood my trip would end up with a walk in the woods followed by some meditation in a secluded spot.

The further north I drove the thicker the ice and the deeper the snow. Upon arrival the stream was flowing at a pretty good clip due to 3/4 of an inch of rain that fell the day before. To my surprise the stream was mostly ice-free. I can't say that about the ravine that the stream runs through, though. Icy, snowy, and slippery.

When I arrived at the spot I have been calling the stone wall I was astonished that everything was thawed. Even the banks underneath a foot of snow were thawed. The rain had worked it's magic. The stream was at a good level for sluicing. The zook was easily set up and the current kept most of the rocks off the grizzlies. I couldn't have asked for a better day, although the light levels were a little low for finish panning. The pic is from the last two times I was up there.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Every year at this time; at least for the last five years, I have been looking back over the season to try to put down into words what I think I have learned. This year's philosophical nugget:

Use all your intelligence, expertise and experience to try to find out where the pay streak is, and when you don't find colors there, dig somewhere else.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I think I set a personal record this past week, not for the amount found, but for how many times I went in a week's time. Truth be told the three times I got out last week were geared towards walking in the woods, rather than prospecting.

It seems as though I prefer to prospect in the winter time. I like the fact that there aren't any bugs or people around. I am always the only one in the stream. Once this winter I saw a prospector who was standing in the snow streamside, but he never ventured into the waterway. I found it ironic that I need to be immersed in the icy water, while most people wouldn't even contemplate stepping into a stream or river this time of year.

All three times I carefully made my way down the path and entered the water, then proceeded to the stone wall and set up the BGT. During one of the cleanouts I noticed a brown stonefly nymph in my cons pail. I was surprised that the creature was able to survive the shovel, then the classifier, and finally the Bazooka. I guess nature designed them to be rugged little creatures, after all a streambed during a thunderstorm can be a dangerous place. At any rate I am glad the nymph made it through the gauntlet.

I know what your thinking; why is he classifying if he has a "zook". The answer is: it makes more sense to me not to carry stones to the sluice than it does wasting time carrying "colorless" stones about. Also I can only transport about 1/3 of a bucket at a time and the stones just add to much weight and take up to much space.

Well I ended up with about 20 pieces per trip, about half of which were in the + 50 size. A few were in the 20 mesh size.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[KevinInColorado]

I'm with you David!!

 

[Goldfleks]

I know what your thinking; why is he classifying if he has a "zook". The answer is: it makes more sense to me not to carry stones to the sluice than it does wasting time carrying "colorless" stones about. Also I can only transport about 1/3 of a bucket at a time and the stones just add to much weight and take up to much space.

You should try not classifying next time within reason. Don't lug huge rocks to the bazooka, but anything softball size or smaller should be brought to the sluice IMHO. Especially in the winter if you're bucketing material to your sluice. My reason is that in the winter when everything is wet, the tiny +50 gold likes to stick to the bigger rocks. If you're not washing all your rocks you're losing gold. That's one of the advantages of the Bazooka is that you can wash EVERYTHING. Without having to use a bucket classifier with water in it to get the sticky gold off the cobbles. If you're not washing all the cobbles above 1/2" (basic Garrett bucket classifier I see most people using) you're losing gold in the winter. In the summer it's easier to bang the dirt off the rocks when it's really dry and not miss as much fine gold. If you ARE going to classify make sure you're doing wet classification. But at that point, it's faster to just dump on the bazooka and let it wet classify for you, especially if the flow is good and ripping the gravel off the grizzly.

I notice a distinct difference in the amount of +50 - +100 mesh gold I get in the winter compared to people I dig next to who are using A52 with VMat or Drop Riffle sluices and are not wet classifying. All those colorless rocks are often sticky with fine gold. We run the same material, but I can double or triple the buckets I run compared to them, and I get to wash everything. Sure they are running 3/4 a bucket of 1/2" classified material, compared to my 3/4" un classified. But I can dump 5-6 (or more if I have help) buckets of unclassified and wash everything while they are fighting to get damp dirt to classify through the 1/2" screen.

If the weight of the material is the primary issue, try making a gold sled from a 35-50 gallon drum so you can sled your material instead of carrying it.

Think less shovel more.

#teamBazooka

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Goldfleks,

Thanks for posting your opinion on this thread, I really place a high value on everybody's input. I find it very interesting how many different techniques prospectors use to accomplish the same task. It amazes me how much I have learned from all the people who took the time to post their experiences here.

It seems that half of the time I directly shoveled into the "zook" and the other half I classified. When I did classify, I used the Garrett 1/2 inch classifier with a 5 gallon bucket filled with water. I started classifying due to a severe drought, here in rich gold fields of Massachusetts. Sometimes there just wasn't enough water to wash the cobbles through the sluice. If I classified, 3/4 of an inch of water on the top plate, was enough to wash all the cons into the trap.

I noticed that when I classified I had smaller pieces in the trap, and wondered if the smaller cons did a better job at grabbing and holding onto -100 mesh gold.

After thinking about it and checking my totals, it turned out to be the other way around. Just as you stated above, I got more colors when I didn't classify. Was it due to better ground or a more thorough washing by the sluice, or both, I don't know. I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[KevinInColorado]

David really is as nice of a guy as you can imagine...just like this post suggests

 

[Mass Hole No.59]

I had a few hours off yesterday and was in dire need of a natural experience. I decided that yesterday was going to be the day and snowy stream was going to be the place. As usual, I made my way through the snow and ice to arrive at the stone wall. The water was a little lower than usual, but there was enough flow to set up the zook.

I ended up buying a very small shovel with a long handle a few weeks ago. I would guess that it is about one third the size of a standard shovel. It worked beautifully. A lot of times a larger shovel can't fit into all the spots that are crying out to be dug. Also it is easier on all the worn-out and inflamed joints.

It was around 60 degrees here in Massachusetts yesterday, but streamside was in the 40s and water temperature was probably about the same. Every once in a while a very warm breeze would blow down the ravine; kind of a harbinger of spring, but it didn't last long.

I ended up sluicing out around 90 pieces, most of which were in the 50 to 70 mesh size.

Happy trails and best colors,
MH#59

 

[Mass Hole No.59]

Me and my alter ego decided I/We would go prospecting. Even though we look exactly alike we are easy to tell apart. I would be the one slowly walking through the woods taking in all there is to see, while my alter would be the one trying to run through the woods all the while tripping on roots and slipping on stones.

Anyhow; after a delicate balance was agreed upon I/We arrived at the stone wall. The ground was still somewhat covered in snow and ice and the water was very high. It was very hard to tell where I was digging last time because everything had washed out and/or been filled in. I ended up sluicing out around 20 pieces. The decline in production was indirectly due to the high water. I was having a much harder time trying to get down to the clay layer, and when I did, I didn't spend as much time trying to break it up. I basically just ran it through the sluice in chunk form, but mostly I was just running gravel.

All wasn't lost though because I was trying to figure out if the colors were mostly on top of the clay layer or evenly dispersed through the gravels. I guess I got my answer. Either that or I just got it all the last time.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
Mass Hole #59

 

[Mass Hole No.59]

I woke up yesterday and knew I had to go prospecting. I called up WMG, at first he told me he has a large "honey-do" list, but seconds later his resolve weakened and he needed to go prospecting as well. It is amazing how the fever can spread.

We went up to "backyard brook" and walked to the stone wall.

I had been going up there all winter long and enjoyed some modest success. I had wanted to remove some over-burden and expose an under-lying layer of clay. That proved very difficult to accomplish with all the ice and snow that had blanketed the region all winter.

Well we set up the "zook" and scraped off 2 feet of over-burden and processed the layer right above the clay. Banner day for both of us. I haven't counted the pieces but assume that we probably found over 350 pieces in about five hours.

It was WMG turn to get the biggest piece, which turned out to be a near-picker or a picker depending on your personal definition of a picker. He was able to pick it out of the pan on the first try with little effort. Actually he was able to pick a few pieces out of the pan. He took a picture of our take and said he will post it.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
MH59

 

[Mass Hole No.59]

EMassAuMan gave me a call the other day, it seems that he caught the fever as well. Tuesday was a day that we both could take off, so we headed up to "backyard brook" and hiked up the path to the stone wall.

Upon arrival, it was easy to see that the water had definitely dropped from the last trip up there a couple of days ago. I struggled for awhile to get the necessary flow thru the zook. I even had to switch sluicing locals to find enough flow.

Not only did the water drop but so did the gold production. This time I was picking up a few "leftovers" that I missed from the time before. I searched all around the pay streak with a little success here and there. The only untouched ground was right under my tapered rock dam. I moved the whole shooting match over a couple of feet and proceeded to dig. I had some spotty success but it was clear that the pay streak had run out. Most of the colors were +50 range with a few in the +20 range. Gone were the pickers and near pickers. All in all, a good day though. Much better than average.

EMassAuMan found colors by panning and using his AM sluice. It was evident that one really needed to have a large sluice in order to move the large quantity of gravel to find the widely dispersed colors. I don't know how many colors my mining partner found but I ended up with just over 100.

Happy Trails and Best Colors,
MH59

 

[E.MassAuMan]

Yes I was Able to take a rare 4 day weekend and Mr MH#59, a New Old Friend, was kind enough to meet up with me at Backyard Brook, a Recent Discovery of his that sounded quite Promising.
It was my first real time out this year, it was a late cold and wet winter here in New England particularly Massachusetts.

I had the Fever.

We schlepped in to the "Stone Wall", and set up, MH59 with his Bazooka, which worked quite well this particular Day, and me with my small MacKirk Adventurer Sluice.

The mantra of moving material was quite evident this day, at this particular part of the stream it was heavy soil, a lot of clay. I had to classify twice to prevent the sluice from clogging up.

Mr. MH 59 probably moved 10x the amount of material that I did this day, So, I got 10 pieces and he got 100.

Some of MH59' gold




A Picture of the Man in Action:




A Good First day in 2017 with a good friend, hopefully the finds will continue.

I must say that I am impressed with the Fine Gold Recovery capability of the MacKirk sluice.


Hopefully I will be able to return the favor to Mr. MH59 on some new spots I have been checking out up in the "Couch Brook Area", including
a promising stream in a area I have Dubbed "Area 51" near Satan' Kingdom ( Google Earth will reveal the telltale feature of what we mean).

To all my TNet friends, have a great season.

Doug
E.MassAuMan

 

[WesternMassGold]

Ok,so i finally got time to post the pics from our last outing at the "stone wall".
This was the first time i found more gold than i spent on gas.spent $6 on gas found $8 worth of gold.
Also this was my first time out this year and got a picker to start the season.
this was our total together.

this was my share 0.2 grams.