kikinit247
Jr. Member
After driving an hour to get to the trailhead, that leads to the bushwhack, that will eventually lead to my favorite gravel bar, I came to the sudden realization that I forgot all of my buckets at home. Doh! I quickly took stock of my available supplies to see if I could still salvage the day and get some color with my new Bazooka Prospector. I managed to find some heavy duty plastic ziplock style bags jammed in my pack and took off down the trail. As I walked I decided that the strategy of the day would be to find color near the only place I knew that would run the Prospector adequately and shovel directly into it. Originally I was going to go to the same place and use BUCKETS to haul material 40 yds from a spot I already know has gold, but instead I spent some time sampling near the sluice site. All the results came back the same. Zero gold. Ok. Time to move on. I embarked downriver to find another site to run the bazooka. Two riffles later I think I have found some moving water with enough drop. As a bonus my sampling turned up a nice +20 flake too. Fast forward 90 minutes. Bazooka is still not running properly. Not enough flow. Not enough drop. Starting to get frustrated as my limited time is being wasted. So I walked back up river and set up the bazooka in the only place it will work. I go to the spot I originally wanted to dig and start shoveling into my 14” pan. Once full I make the 80yrd round trip to the sluice and back. I did this 15-20 times. As the day was coming to a close I visually saw a flake of gold in the hole. I pulled it out and inspected it before adding it to the pan. On the next shovel full I saw another flake sitting in the hole. Now I am digging overtime trying to haul as many pans to the bazooka as possible, but after two I decided it was time to clean out and get out. I emptied the Prospector into my pan. Then I poured the concentrates into a plastic bag to process at home. After I was done with that I went and panned one pan from the hole before filling it in to see what I was leaving behind. Three +20 flakes and some smaller stuff. For a day that I thought was going to be a bust I am pleasantly surprised. I should note that its been rather chilly in these parts and the river was very low. This would be the reason I was so limited in suitable locations for the Prospector. I have a keen a51, but I really wanted to use my new toy.
The results of my sampling from the snuffer bottle.
Plastic bag of concentrates
Total for the day
I went back to this site a week later(Friday). I even remembered to bring buckets! The weather had warmed up and it had been raining raising the river. My hole had been sanded in, but was above water so I dug it out. I managed to get about 3 hrs of digging/sluicing in before calling it quits.
Here is my take for day 2.
The results of my sampling from the snuffer bottle.
Plastic bag of concentrates
Total for the day
I went back to this site a week later(Friday). I even remembered to bring buckets! The weather had warmed up and it had been raining raising the river. My hole had been sanded in, but was above water so I dug it out. I managed to get about 3 hrs of digging/sluicing in before calling it quits.
Here is my take for day 2.
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