South Dakota- Black Hills

[dmurry23]

Hi everyone,

I am heading to the Black Hills the first week of June to do some sluicing and was hoping for any advice from people who know the area. In particular, I am looking for information on a good location to focus on. I am a member of the GPAA and heard the Husker claim is the most popular, but may be dried up by then. If the Husker claim still has good water flow, is this the claim to focus on or are any of the other GPAA claims worth going to instead that has good gold as well?

Is sluicing the way to go in the Black Hills or does metal detecting work just as good if not better up there?

Also, I am very new to gold prospecting, so any other tips would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks in advance for the help

 

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[B H Prospector]

Hi,
I am the GPAA Chapter president in the Black Hills South Dakota. The Husker is the most popular claim. Unfortunately it never had water flowing at all last year and it looks like for the second year in a row it will be dry again. We just didn't get that heavy wet 20 inch blizzard we usually get in March and April. It will take such a storm or two soon or a couple of 4 inch rains to get it flowing now.
Sluicing is good on the Migg claims and the Maryann claim. I was at the Migg last Sunday on a fieldtrip with a prospecting class I teach and some had some decent gold. There is camping on the claims but no fires.
Metal detecting is hit and miss with more miss. While there is a lot of gold in the Hills it is small usually in pockets with pickers being rare and nuggets even more so. Hope this helps.

Live Long and Prospect!

 

[dmurry23]

Hi BH,

Thanks a lot for the insight, it is greatly appreciated and yes it does help. I haven't done much research on the Migg and Maryann claims yet, but will for sure do so based on the info you have provided.