Should I "Placer and Drywash" this Gulch??

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

   Well, since I haven't been out in some time, I guess all I can do it look at old pictures and think about places I have been, or should return for short Summer hunts.  One location, mid-sized gulch in Central area that a few friends and I found yield over a pound of gold from metal detecting.  We discovered and worked this location hard when the Minelab GPX series first came out (GPX 4000 days).  We continued to re-visit over the years after larger storms or new detector releases to score more gold.  

Due to the nature of the gold, very rough and not far from the original source, I figured this location would be great for the Minelab GPZ 7000.   One of my first visits to this location yielded all the gold nuggets below in a single, long day hunt with the GPZ 7000 and stock 14x13 searchcoil.  I have been back 3-4 times with the GPZ to the point where I would have to hunt a good portion of a day to get a few gold nuggets.  

The wash really wasn't deep to bedrock, maybe in only a handful of spots.  I would guess majority of the wash was 3-6 inches deep, or exposed bedrock.  

My thought process has been to potentially go back and placer the larger rocks and overburden out, then work the paylayer (gravel right on bedrock) with a small drywasher and vac.  I would think due to the nature of this gold, there would be a lot of smaller gold (several grain size and smaller) in the cracks of the bedrock along with all the finer gold.  

Any thoughts? 

P.S.  The biggest nugget we discovered was a bit over an ounce solid.  The biggest nugget pictured below that I found with a GPZ 7000 is around 3/4's of an ounce.  It was a a fun spot to detect when we first bumped into it.  

 

[fishing8046]

Rob

I hunt the smaller VHF detectors and often times find small gold left behind by the GPX detectorist. The gold I find is generally too small for the PI GPX to hear or the target they were after were just that much bigger. Either way even though the VHF finds very small gold it leaves behind the gold that is even to small for it to heat. Beside weather has replenished your spot. 

 

[Jim P.]

Nope, no gold left there

[GDM/PV]

2 hours ago, nuggethunting said:

Hey Guys,

   Well, since I haven't been out in some time, I guess all I can do it look at old pictures and think about places I have been, or should return for short Summer hunts.  One location, mid-sized gulch in Central area that a few friends and I found yield over a pound of gold from metal detecting.  We discovered and worked this location hard when the Minelab GPX series first came out (GPX 4000 days).  We continued to re-visit over the years after larger storms or new detector releases to score more gold.  

Due to the nature of the gold, very rough and not far from the original source, I figured this location would be great for the Minelab GPZ 7000.   One of my first visits to this location yielded all the gold nuggets below in a single, long day hunt with the GPZ 7000 and stock 14x13 searchcoil.  I have been back 3-4 times with the GPZ to the point where I would have to hunt a good portion of a day to get a few gold nuggets.  

The wash really wasn't deep to bedrock, maybe in only a handful of spots.  I would guess majority of the wash was 3-6 inches deep, or exposed bedrock.  

My thought process has been to potentially go back and placer the larger rocks and overburden out, then work the paylayer (gravel right on bedrock) with a small drywasher and vac.  I would think due to the nature of this gold, there would be a lot of smaller gold (several grain size and smaller) in the cracks of the bedrock along with all the finer gold.  

Any thoughts? 

P.S.  The biggest nugget we discovered was a bit over an ounce solid.  The biggest nugget pictured below that I found with a GPZ 7000 is around 3/4's of an ounce.  It was a a fun spot to detect when we first bumped into it.  

 

YEA ROB,....WHEN DO "WE" GO??????????  Placering is right up my alley, and moving boulders with a crowbar to get to the nuggets underneath has become second nature to me.  I've never done any drywashing, but I'm like a backhoe when it comes to picking, shoveling and moving overburden to get down to bedrock.  I usually dig down to within a couple of inches of bedrock, and then detect to get the nuggets,......unless there proves to be a lot of small-fine gold,...then I use a vac to suck up everything out of the cracks and crevices.  Those nuggets look as though you where right at the source,...or darn close to it.   Gary

[adam]

Rob, 

Very pretty pieces !   With bedrock being that shallow, Id say yes, you should check it for fines. Or at least placer it out then beep it with a hot little VLF.

[FlakMagnet]

Hi Rob, in answer to your question I would indeed take as much gravel as possible out of that gulch and check the cracks out.

I am basing this opinion on many years of river and creek dredging from the late 70's and early 80's. A gold bearing area usually begs for the bottom to be checked out. This is easily evidenced if you look back at what the original prospectors in the Sierra Nevada's did; they literally flumed rivers or changed their course, removed all the rocks and boulders - you can still see them stacked several stories high along some of the motherlode rivers - and then took out all the gravel and cracked open the crevices on the bottom. In my experience on several motherlode rivers when I dredged to the bottom, it was not uncommon to see that the cracks has indeed already been "worked" many years before...and in some cases they still held gold that had accumulated in the intervening time period.

Good luck.

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

   Thanks for all the comments.  I think I will attempt at some point to work this creek and see what turns up.  I know due to the nature of  the gold, there should be little pieces in the cracks and crevices.   

[andyy]

Yep.  I would put on your gold digging cape and placer that area like Adam said.  At least you don't have much overburden to move.  To be honest, anytime I get more than a couple pieces in a short stretch, I pull away some overburden and usually get a lot more.  (we don't talk about the other times when I don't find anything)

[nuggethunting]

Hey Andy,

   I agree, I need to find the time while it's dry to get out and at least sample a few of the spots were we picked up a bunch of nuggets.  There were a few bedrock stretches and inside bends that had a good amount of small gold nuggets and larger pieces.  This might be the first couple of places to try and see what turns up.

I agree, you always here all the success stories about finding gold, but very seldom does anyone post their "Skunk" stories.  We all get the skunk from time to time, more so when you venture off and prospect new areas.  I have a tendency to always find a nugget or two if I hunt old patches, crawling around and gridding, but that also gets old after awhile.