mendoAu

Best of both worlds, excavate/washplant/trommel what you can and then longarm the bottom with a dredge/combo. And if you are worried about the % of loss rework your tailings....the big cobbles are already out of the way.

A good dog is hard to beat.....and many are just waiting for someone to come and bail them out of doggie jail. Adopt one with a good bark. Downside is that bears are attracked to forty pound bags of dog food!!! Bottom line is that if you go into bear country that is exactly what you are doing...live with it or not. I doubt that there is a bear alive today that has not encountered a human and few want anything to do with our butts. But I guess there is always that one out there somewhere. I personnelly would rather have a bear stareing at me from across the creek than a spider crawling up my sleeve. Yuk!!!

I'm perhaps a bit different than most...I live 24/7 twelve months of the year here on these claims. I keep (like any well run mining site) a well dug deep excavation to deposit unwanted overburden in and if it floats I send it down river instead. I say this "tongue-in-cheek" but my point is that during my travels the thirty or so miles to town I am always watching the properties that I pass for anything out of the ordinary. I know the Sheriff and know my neighbors (good and bad). Make a point of getting to know those around you, don't be shy. And that is the best I can do. And ripping off 30 rounds every once in awhile is just down right fun on a Saturday afternoon. Game cameras (spendy when stolen) and those $14.00 battery operated road sensors from Harbor Frieght (not as spendy when stolen) that go BEEP BEEP BEEP when you pass can be a wakeup call that one is being watched!!

Search for a source for "ground water" instead of "surface water". And if in SW Oregon don't call an underground hole with a corregated pipe enclosed a "cistern".....those are illigal. Altho the very same system called an underground holding retrival plant is acceptable...go figure.