Hard Prospector

These days its actually easier to find a gold ring at the beach than a (missed) nugget in the gold fields. I say this because you already live in San Diego county with over 50 miles of beach. If your going to look for gold in the back country or local desert, bring a drywasher along. Most of the gold in these areas was fine and the word "nugget" implying heft was considered rare for SD county according to historical records. However, I do know of a guy who found a 1.5 gram piece digging under a boulder near Julian so you never know.

My guess would be a lot of people have more time on their hands these days that and the price of gold going up. Great time to sell used gold detectors.........and guns for that matter.

My first detector was a Tesoro........a real bummer how this company folded. They still seem to have a "cult following" though.

Been drywashing for years and this is my understanding; Of course you can't drywash with out permission from a claim owner, if area un claimed and/or open to prospecting generally no problem as drywashing is considered prospecting. Drywashing falls under "casual use" , both puffers and forced air vibrastatic units, so long as the mining taking place and the drywasher is being fed by had tools. No jack hammers, back hoes etc., this for sure would require a plan of operation. BLM and National Forests lands OK so long as area is not designated a; "Wilderness Area". Generally BLM more understanding than forest service Don't create what is considered a significant disturbance ; no cutting down trees, bushes cactus etc. (dig around them) or you'll need a POO. Keeping my excavation no bigger than 10'x10' seems to keep me out of trouble. When I run that material I reclaim by back filling then open up another 10'x10" Oh and had a LEO tell me once if I left my hole over night, I would need to cut the steep sides at a 45 degree angle or put a fence around the hole........ desert tortoises Hope this helps

Great example that appears to be true, big pieces left in the diggs are guarded by old timer trash.

Beer virus lock-down? Can't think of a better time for access to the booze! Medicinal of course!

Yes, I've had good luck dry panning with the Garret Super Sluice Pan, I think the best pan for such a method. When you get down to just a bit in the pan bottom; Run a Gold Bug 2 (max gain preferred) or Falcon MD20 over the pan contents, these detectors will sound off on the smallest specs -OR- Add just a little water from your canteen and swirl down looking for color. Done lots of sample dry panning and this works for me

Cool watching that dig play out, especially when they dumped that cup of coffee on on it! Nice pay day and good for them.

Watching the video that Steve posted was very informative. Couldn't help but think that any new buyer may be on the hook for past environmental/reclamation issues .........this would surly scare off many.

Not a bad idea, Discovery Channel could probably do something with it in some new spin-off.

Agreed, something sketchy could be going on here

No such thing as a straight answer from White's as always.

That Gold Spot scoop reminds me of a old timer prospectors horn spoon used in testing for good pay....... This modern day drywasher surely wants a couple!

When asked by anyone this is my standard answer; Looking for lost coins Anything with markings I try to return to rightful owner (be it the person or Church). Even car keys and cell phones. Fill in all holes Dispose of all garbage collected during process. ***I then show them the divers bag with the rusty metal trash inside.

Prospecting/detecting in Mexico is and will always be a "high risk-high reward" kind of venue. For sure not for everyone