WestMTnuggetsniper Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Hey everyone my name is Chris and I live in the wonderful community of Missoula, MT. I have lived here since 2001 and moved here because of my thrist for adventure, but mostly to satisfy my flyfishing addiction. As of July of last year most of my free time has been dedicated to gold gold gold. I started prospecting a few spots that are within 50 miles of home. I found gold the second time out and have been hooked ever since. I was taught how to find gold and how to pan and sluice by an expert named Dan, who is an ex-marine and has been prospecting for something like 40 or 50 years. He teaches prospecting with his wife in Wisconsin and he comes to western MT in the summer. I met him in the woods at a dig site. He taught me alot and i have be able to find gold everytime i have gone out with sluice and pan. If anyone knows of Dan and can give me his info that would be sweet! he is not a metal detector guy, but he knows gold...ANYWAYS...I have been doing as much research on gold mining as humanly possible over this winter... as most of our gold country is buried in snow. I bought a claim within 50 miles of home, and i just bought a Fisher Gold Bug Pro so I cannot wait for some more country to open up! here's to an early springl! I have found these gold forums lately looking for masters with the machine i purchased, and it looks like finding TrinityAU was very useful. I PM'ed him and also read everyone of his post so here's to knowing my machine a little better! Thanks for all the great info!Here is a video of me talking to myself and doing what i have been doing out here in Western MT. Now that I have a metal detector I intend to mostly high grade now though. Cheers looking forward to sharing some adventures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingnutter Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Not to rain on your parade but tunneling into a bank like that is a real no-no. I know you got away with it and you thought that it was safe but it only has to be unsafe one time to kill you. My local club here in Idaho had a member lose his life in a hole not any bigger then that last year. So be very careful. Also thats not tailings you were looking at but rather cemented gravels from years of water packing it in. It was good gold though from just 3 buckets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestMTnuggetsniper Posted February 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 that was only the second time i had visited that hole and the only time i have dug there, that is all someone elses work. I agree it is not a safe hole. I am looking for good ground to put another claim on. i spend whole days removing overburden with wheelbarrels and mattocks to access a good line of dirt safely. This was the first day above 30 degrees in a month. that dirt wasnt going anywhere so i felt safe checking a few bucket to see if it was worth returning. I returned to the area with my metal detector just two days ago and it has been much warmer, trust me the only thing that went into that hole was head of my metal detector. I figured out on that trip as well that the line of dirt was definately hardpack and not tailings. i found two different old operations on the hill that appears to be hydro blasted... there is also a spot where it appear a wash plant had set. There is a ton of garbage around. There I saw so real tailing piles and was able to distinguish between the two easily. There is much less snow up there right now. As i stated i really do not intend on processing dirt at all anymore, i want to start finding nuggets with detectors and sniping. I metal detected with my Gold Bug Pro for about 4 hours but was unable to come up with any nuggets. There was not too much open ground though. There is so much snow and water here that I wonder if buying a VLF detector was a bad idea for my local gold districts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ugbomb510 Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 When I first started bout 5th trip out I was digging next to a shower sized boulder standing on one end. Gettin good gold, digging, digging, and prying. Then I hear the creepiest groan ever. Look up and see that damned rock lean over me about 10 degrees. Learned my lesson. Done and Done. Be safe boys and its good to have a spotter. Ugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ugbomb510 Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Ahhhhhhh the life and death joys of being a being a new prospector. Hahahah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted February 23, 2013 Admin Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Welcome to the forums! Hope to see you contributing more in the near future. Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Soloman Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Welcome from White Plains, New York! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmac Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Terry, I will be up in Montana in early Summer exploring 100+ acres. If you would like to meet up then let me know. Am signing an exploratory lease shortly and there is no shortage of nice ground, creeks and streams. IF the returns are there, I may in the area for several months or until the cold sets in once again. If this interests you, let me know. Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOC Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 I agree about the safety issue. But at least you were filming it, so had something catastrophic happened we would have been able to see it on "CAUGHT ON CAMERA; when mining goes bad." Seriously, just not worth it.I Scuba Dive and every year, during lobster season, the captain tells us, DON'T go into the caves, I know it's easy pickings because the lobsters love the caves, but it is just too damn dangerous.Well about once every 5 years they have to do a rescue dive to go in and retrieve the body of some diver who got lost in the cave or stirred up the silt and lost his bearings and panicked.Be Careful Out There!DocPS I did love the video though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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