Panning in South Dakota

[Peyton Manning]

I'm just going to pan and use my detector ( which I understand is legal on federal land as well)
also I read that it is ok to collect petrified wood?

[Maitland]

The Forest Service states that metal detecting in the Black Hills Nat'l Forest is legal as long as you don't dig holes. It's quite a paradox. I'm not sure about the petrified wood. There is a federal law that prohibits the collecting of fossils on public lands, but I'm not sure if they consider petrified wood a fossil or not (my guess would be that they do). There aren't a lot of places where you'll find petrified wood, but I do seem to recall that there's a spot around Piedmont that is well-known for it.

[Peyton Manning]

I'm not really interested in the wood, but was surprised they let you take so much!

[HOOAHEXTREME]

I just visited the Ranger station in Rapid City today to get some concrete law answers and of course they could not give me exact legal proof. They gave me a name and number of the man to talk to in Hill City, so I will get with him soon. They did however give me some info sheets that they are told to hand out with layman terms and guidelines to follow. " Metal detecting-- Legal. Does not require permit. Digging with a pocket knife is the only tool that can be used without permit. This requirement is to protect natural resources and features. Do not collect prehistoric or historic heritage (man-made) artifacts or paleontological specimens. These must be left in place and reported to the Forest Service. " This brings up questions that I will call this other guy about -- define pocket knife, why not screw driver, or skinny piece of plastic, etc, how big of hole. For panning and sluicing I can dig a big hole with a shovel. Our Government works in mysterious ways. Happy treasure hunting.

[Maitland]

Keep us updated, HOOAH. It is always interesting hearing the latest from the government's rumor mill.

[Peyton Manning]

I found some sort of nonmagnetic yellow metal in a creek with my md
trying to get close up pics

[Miner 49er]

I have a 67 acre claim on Rapid Creek in Rochford and it is well marked and closed to all that do not have written permission runs on both sides of the road from just passed the Moonshine Gulch Saloon all the way to100 yards passed the bridge to the west do yourself a favor and stay out because I will press charges and Federal law says 10 years for claim jumpers. Don't mean to sound rude but tired of people stealing from my family if it were your claim you would feel the same way

[PreciousMetalsSD]

I have a 67 acre claim on Rapid Creek in Rochford and it is well marked and closed to all that do not have written permission runs on both sides of the road from just passed the Moonshine Gulch Saloon all the way to100 yards passed the bridge to the west do yourself a favor and stay out because I will press charges and Federal law says 10 years for claim jumpers. Don't mean to sound rude but tired of people stealing from my family if it were your claim you would feel the same way

Charles and Chae Naturale, your claim is actually only 37 acres... Advertising where your claim is at and saying that you got a "10 oz nugget" there recently, isn't a great idea, if you are trying to keep people out... Your claim is a square and only a small portion of that creek runs through it... And if it were my claim, I would not feel the same way, I would be truthful about its size... PS Did you ever figure out how to post a picture of that $13,000 chunk of gold you found there?