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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[triple d]

DVD Don"t know if its worth it. But thats about all I find is flour gold. But i do know the more I process it. The more flour gold i will find. I haven"t spent a lot of time on my left over black sands. But have taken about 10 table spoon full"s. And have gotten quite a few specks. Taking a rare earth magnet in a plastic bag. And running over the spread out black sands. Do a small amount at a time. And run whats left that the magnet didn"t pick up back thought the blue bowl.To get the gold out. Got this idea from T- Net. Also crushing the black sands will also help find the flour gold. Haven"t tried this yet. I don"t believe panning I would find any of the gold that I find. Its like gold coming out of beach sands.

 

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[WesternMassGold]

well i think classifying to -50 is overkill. I just started mining in 2014 in the Westfield River and i classify only to 1/4 inch.Found 3 really good spots with an abundance of black sand and alot of flood gold.
First i pan samples before i set up a sleuce .If u put about 2 pounds of dirt in your classifier of 1/4 " you will end up with about 1 pound of fine stuff.
I can pan that down to black sand in about 2 minutes.Only after i find some flakes I then set up my sleuce.
I actually used a 50 Inch Royal backpacker which i am now improving with Gold Hog Razorback matting. This was my first year mining and i found over 200 pieces in the Westfield. Pictures are posted in the forum under "panning in Mass".

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I got out this morning and found my first picker! Not the biggest piece of gold in the world but I am pretty proud of it. Todays take and a grand total career pile for me, not including todays gold.
I see a dredge in my future.....

VPR

I thought Vermont was pan only no dredge no sluice, am I wrong?

 

[WesternMassGold]

I thought Vermont was pan only no dredge no sluice, am I wrong?

Absolutely no sluicing or dredging in vermont.I actually called the Office responsible for mining rules in Vermont and the only thing allowed is a pan and a small garden trowel . If u get caught with anything else it will be taken away and u get fined .

 

[dvdtharaldson]

You can legally sluice in Vermont if you obtain a permit. It is quite pricey when compared to other states. I think its 75.00 per year for an out of state permit.. Suction dredges are not allowed in Vermont if you are a recreational prospector. If you are a huge conglomerate mining company you can literally remove mountains. If you go up to the otter creek area you can see where whole mountain ridges have been removed for limestone.

You can use classifiers in Vermont if they are wholly contained in your pan. Classifiers are a real grey area in Vermont. The way I understand it, the plastic ones that fit in your pan are alright, but the larger ones that fit on a five gallon bucket are illegal. I got my info from Barry Cahoon who is the top state person when it comes to prospecting in Vermont. He is the guy who interprets what the law says.

 

[vaquero44]

Vermont............unbelievable well this doesn't surprise me from the land of howard deen frickin enviro's I'm so sick of there kind telling us what to do and then the state next door to the west of them actually says that any precious metal found in there state private or public lands is the property of the state of NY now if that isn't a commy law I don't know what is? this is no bull look it up!

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Vermont............unbelievable well this doesn't surprise me from the land of howard deen frickin enviro's I'm so sick of there kind telling us what to do and then the state next door to the west of them actually says that any precious metal found in there state private or public lands is the property of the state of NY now if that isn't a commy law I don't know what is? this is no bull look it up!

I will have to look up the Mass law, but as I remember from when I used to metal detect, everything that is on or in the ground belongs to the state if it is on state land. I used to ask Park Rangers if they wanted all my pulltabs! I also asked once that if I dropped my keys am I allowed to pick them up or do they belong to the state. One ranger actually had to think about it. The only thing is that they don't really enforce it, but I am sure they would if you found something good.

 

[vaquero44]

yes that law is part of maine too government though only and you can thank Ralph Nader for that I do believe in 1967 its part of the national historic preservation act and I think there were 30 some odd other states that adopted this as well..............lets get some more progressive librals in office.....not!!!!!!!!!! Its time to remind people in government and Washington that they work for us and not lobbyists and special interest there for the people by people!

 

[WesternMassGold]

Ok guys here it is the real vermont gold panning and sluicing rules . seems that getting a sluice permit is a pain in the butt.

http://www.vtstateparks.com/pdfs/revised gold panning info.pdf

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I personally don't mind strict environmental protection laws. I know I am in the minority here, but I am always in the minority. Being an avid brook trout fisherman I think its important to keep ecosystems in a pristine state. What bothers me is when there are two sets of rules, one set for the recreational prospector and a different less stringent set for the mining companies.

When I go into the back country I want to see Mayflies, Caddis flies and Stone flies bounding about. I like knowing that there are trout in the stream and bears in the woods. People do not and will not police themselves. If left to their own devises most people would gladly turn rural New England into urban New England or worse-an ecological desert.

I also respect anybody's right to disagree with me and all viewpoints are welcomed on my thread.

Best Colors,
David

 

[vaquero44]

well there are limits on things and also people have got to read into the fine line of politics as well for instance like Vermont's laws hand and pans only? C'mon give me a break.........if you came out with mcdonalds straw from a drink cup out on the stream they would call it a suction dredge and you can't have even a stream sluice no motors or pumps and not sure if its true I don't think your suppose to any type of classifier........what the hell? here in Maine I understand don't dig under the river banks....that's fine...........no motors or pumps in certain area's I can live with that I guess but where I'm going with this is the enviro's are seizing control plus making money issuing permits to sluice a high cost the thing is what next are they going to tell us not to do ..........now on private lands If owned both sides of the stream and I want to sluice you darn right I'm going to do it nobody is going tell me different and as a tax payer who are they to tell me they need to hug some more tree's somewhere and get together more liberals and progressives if I'm not using a excavator to dig the stream or daming the stream or creating or rerouting the stream then I don't believe I'm harming.............just remember my friends every law that they impose on us is freedom lost and very rarely ever repealed!

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Vaq 44,

When people read what you write and then what I write, they might assume that we are on opposite sides of the issues. But in reality I agree with pretty much everything you said. While I strongly support ecological awareness I also despise governmental oversight on matters the government had nothing to do with- such as the distribution of colors in our streams. It does seem strange that they should charge high fees for what nature has done.

But being a realist I know that some prospectors will take it to far, such as power washing the stream banks to hasten the deposition of gold in the waterways. In my humble opinion that causes severe ecological damage. Unfortunately there will always be a few people who will put financial reward above everything else. As long as you have people who do not have any regard for the various resources we will always need some sort of oversight, which costs money. I don't believe in all the fees but I realize we have to have some. What bothers me is when they don't spend the capital they collect from prospectors on prospecting issues.

As far as sluices, classifiers, and hand dredges go, they should be legal everywhere and should be exempt from exorbitant fees. It is very frustrating that you can't use something like a gold-n-sands hand dredge in Vermont. You are also right about the straw analogy. I am not saying that there shouldn't be any guidelines governing there use, but make those laws reasonable and enacted for ecological stability and not for financial gain.

As far as power dredges go, I don't have a problem with them per se. I do believe that an area can be dredged to death ecologically speaking. Maybe a revolving lottery system. Maybe areas could be open to dredging for a limited time. Maybe no dredging in ecologically sensitive areas. Maybe power and nozzle size restrictions. Its a tough balancing act, I wish I had the answers.

Best Colors,
David

 

[vaquero44]

well then its up to us as miners to police our waters in the right direction either we speak to people directly that a lot of the times are that unaware of what they are doing " especially noobs" an politely tell them you really shouldn't do that and explain the reason or what ever the law and violation in place and kindly ask them to fix it or this not motorized zone or what ever the case, I'm not a fan of this entirely either but if we as hobby miners are to continue this we have to educate people on the waters but if run into biligerance like a lot can be some times then walk away and contact the proper people to deal with on whats going on I guess so it won't make matters worse or I hope maybe somebody might have other suggestions to the sensitivity of the matter.....educating new people is key..........but the point is to make it so there has to be no other laws put into effect so just remember one thing your always going to have the lobbying bunch using fear tactics to shut us down because of there ideologies........your also are going to have that few that will never be convinced on the actual good we do too either

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Brandon I think your right with regards to prospectors policing other prospectors. I think that could go a long way in keeping damage down in heavily prospected areas. Peer pressure is a very powerful tool in all our arsenals.

I can remember walking about two miles down a dirt road to fish a catch and release area. This road was closed to all traffic except foot traffic. When I arrived, there were about four people on ATVs who were packing up coolers full of trout. I was so incensed I was almost driven to violence. These people knew they were wrong and scattered like rats off a sinking ship.

For the rest of that whole year there wasn't a trout left in that section of the river. For the preceding 30 years I had hiked down that river and caught and released many a trout. The story only gets worse, I contacted the proper authorities who refused to do anything because they didn't catch them in the act. The story does have a silver lining though, I haven't seen them there since, presumably because of the peer-pressure I exerted "on" them.

Best Colors,
David The Conqueror

 

[Aufish]

Anyone around Littleton (or therebouts) NH planning on doing serious prospecting this summer?

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Anyone around Littleton (or therebouts) NH planning on doing serious prospecting this summer?

Pm the grizzly gremlin. He is the NH guru. He has hooked up with other people from this thread. He was thinking about moving west this year I don't know if he has.

Best Colors,
David

 

[KevinInColorado]

I'm happy to say GG has joined our CO prospecting community

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I'm happy to say GG has joined our CO prospecting community

Well we still have The Patriots

 

[vaquero44]

Hey David I was at CMP meeting over the weekend and the topic of people sort of doing and whats going on was talked right out of the gate they said there membership had doubled this year a lot of total new people getting into this I guess and also there is some new stuff coming into effect sometime in the next month or so no one knows exactly sure what though but like we talked about when you see people doing stuff talk to them polightly and see where it goes from there......also there was mention too that half of our game wardens don't know a lot of the rules and regs either so they were actually talking to members that it would be in our best interest to keep a copy of the rules and regs on us to point out to officials that are not sure of current laws its kind of a hassle to do this but I guess if were going to do this hobby were just going to hav to stay on top of it........I wish I had better answers myself

 

[Aufish]

Pm the grizzly gremlin. He is the NH guru. He has hooked up with other people from this thread. He was thinking about moving west this year I don't know if he has.

Best Colors,
David

Ok appreciate it!