***Important*** about DNR land prospecting -> Thanks to a person who commented (no name given) I looked into prospecting on DNR entrusted land and made some phone calls to DNR (so for an example, capitol state forest), you can’t prospect on. You used to in the past but it’s closed down. So thank you to the person that brought this up. I really appreciate it and this is how we all get to know the right information so we stay in compliance. When it updates, I’ll let you all know. From what I was told, this will be reviewed from time to time and restrictions may change. Thanks

I am just now getting into the gold prospecting hobby and kept running into your video but never took time to fully watch it. Now I am back specifically to watch this because the rule book is so confusing and I was seeking clarification and I think my boyfriend was getting tired of hearing all my rants about the stupidity of it all. Thank you so much for providing this video which answered all of my questions!! I gave up metal detecting when I first moved here from Texas because I refuse to register, and was about to give up on prospecting because of the absurdity of it all. Was hoping by joining a club and having access to claims would be the work around, but the comments tell me otherwise. If they start messing with foraging, I'm kissing my boyfriend goodbye and moving back to Texas. He's the only reason I stay in this inept(governmentally speaking) state.

You know that the us army corps of engineers just finished a survey on the columbia River for a massive dredging operation determining their was no significant impacts. The dredging is approved and ready to go. So it's ok for a huge dredge to cone in to clear out massive amounts of river bottom with no significant impacts but gold dredging is not allowed anywhere in the state were gold is present. Someone please explain to me how this makes sense. I printed out this article and will be ready to sue the state if anyone tries to take away my mining rights!

Thank you very much for the video. It’s very informative. You should post more about this all new people don’t make mistakes

Excellent information. Thank you. I didn't realize from the DNR pamphlet that the scour zone was open year round. I've done a bit of panning of black sand ribbons on the shores of a river in Western WA and found some gold flour, so I know gold is in the state and was wanting to do more recreational panning. Your information is super useful for this amateur prospector.

Thank you for this! Just getting started in the hobby and wasn’t sure how to read the regs. I thought I had to wait til July to do any prospecting. Thank for the help

I watch Dan Hurd a lot&since I live in WA state I was looking into how to get the newest gold&fish pamphlet,which brought me here! Since I'm completely ignorant you're videos are amazing & exactly what I need. My dream is to do exactly this for a living from a converted campervan full time. So thank you for the instructional videos &I look forward to other's in the future.

Awesome brother! I'm from Washington state (Spokane), and didn't know the actual rules. Awesome information.

Thanks for this! I live north of Seattle and buy the paydirt bags to pan as a hobby and was wondering about going to beach and panning. I will print up a copy and read it!

Excellent job explaining the unexplainable my friend!!! I’m super glad the simplified the rules for us… NOT!

Thank you sir, appreciate this ... good luck with that leaky boot!

Great information. Thank you.

GREAT TUTORIAL ! WA COMMIE STATE" imho. CHEERS" from Idaho!

Glad I found this. Been looking to getting into prospecting, and wasn't really sure where to begin. Live in Bremerton, can't wait to get out and play in some rivers with my kids while prospecting.

Thank you you did great. AGAIN Thank you

Thank you!

Can you please do this for PENNSYLVANIA? pretty please! Literally the first video i found about any rules out of watching dozens. Not one person ever mentions rules and regulations. This is a must know. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Thank you.

Thank you I will re watch this

Awesome video. I am in Snohomish County and am brand new to this hobby. I am still trying to find out if I need a permit to just take a shovel and a pan to an allowed creek or river. I've read the pamphlet and other things and this is not clear anywhere. It all seems to indicate that a permit is only needed if you need Hydraulic Project Approval. Will you please clarify? Thank you.

Thank you. I am from out of state, and this was very helpful. Is there an physical order address for the pamphlet? I do not use enternet to order from.

Duuude! I watched this video months ago before I met any of you lol this is how I found out about the pamphlet and told me how to prospect in wa! Wow now we friends n stuff🤣 I just seen the video again and was like wait what.. I should have subscribed and commented on this video!

This booklet is always intimidating until u have read it 100 times then after many years you just look at the updates lol thanks for making this vid I wish more people knew about this . I Cary copies with me so I can hand them out to people that just do not know . I feel like if people followed the rules and the rules were unforced properly we would still be allowed to dredge in wa. I just bought another dredge just before it was banned

Cool info fam. Just get in a gold club claim fam. Avoid the BS out here lol. Keep on having fun getting that au and living the dream fam. Gold Squad Out!!!

let's go let's go treasure and adventure ✌👵

You cover some great information here. I had a run-in pre pandemic with a wildlife officer that had never seen a gold and fish book he stated that I was unlawfully prospecting in the river until I was able to enlighten him and show him the error of his ways. I ended up sending him home to study with the extra pamphlet I had printed for backup Incase I happen to fall in and ruin it. I suggest having one in your vehicle and one on your sight. Could be the difference between a fun day out prospecting or a ruined expensive trip.

In British Columbia you can not put the sluice water back in the river and Creeks even the small ones , You have to let the water go into the dry ground so not to create silt in the water ways

Amazing video! Any updates for 2024?

Thank you for the info. Where do the rules stand on recirculating operations? With bilge pump?

Yeah the Washington gold rules are hard to understand. It seems to contradict itself every other page. I thought I could only mine during the timing limits, it took me a few years to realize that wasn't really true.

What’s up with the ghost shrimp nest thing for ocean/beach?

Rule number 1 always honor and respect the land,that's what I go by

Just curious if anyone has been approached or given a hard time by the game warden while prospecting? If so what were they giving you a hard time on?

Can you run an electric recirculating system on the high benches away from the river/creek?

Everytime I go to a sporting good section in Walmart,fredmyer etc they never have any pamphlets, I got it downloaded on my phone tho. I know they want people to have a hard copy but how can we if these places don't have them and of you have no printer

What if you use a recirculating pump and a bin to keep your water in? I'm hung up on that

Is the eletric water pump recycling water in my settling pond through my high banker make the high banker motorized equipment I just dont see them meaning i have to pour buckets of water through my high banker now thats a pita

What about the bull trout? Where do you live?

I just go where nobody goes. That's where the good gold is anyways.

Just want to say thanks for the video it was a good enlightening video on how stupid and ignorant Washington state is they don't seem to realize that there is a lot of things that happen in nature that will pollute and kill the fish have also I am more of an environmentalist then you realize and that may sound funny because I also am a minor I love to get gold everything that I do is to protect the stream I use a power drench to get my gold but I put everything back and if these idiots would look at what goes on when we are dredging they would stop telling us all these stupid rules because the fish go nuts when I stir up the water it releases a lot of food for them to eat I stay away from fish nests and frog nest and if I see it I go into another spot but I'm not going to harm them at all all this video does for me it shows me how stupid the environmentalist and the government are thanks for posting the video it really did open my eyes to how stupid people can be

I don't understand why you can't recirculate water from an already collected water container so if you bring a tub with you and filled it with water why can't you recirculate that water down your sluice to process it's not hurting the Stream

I am an environmental scientist and I have watched a lot of videos on this subject. I find that those with negative views don't actually use real and verified steps to actually give scientific results to those doing the testing on the water. Makes me wonder if they actually know what they are doing. Anyway I also pan for gold and dig for gold. And let's be honest most of us panning for gold are fishing for fish in the rivers during fish runs. I get the rules but not those that oppose them, maybe they can't get any colors to show in their pans and are jealous?

The mining laws of 1886 trump all these rules in the state. Sad that no one stood up for them.

Is dredging completely banned here in Washington?

Fish will line up behind your sluice looking for periwinkles. If you are fishing, fish just down stream of someone sluicing.

I can not believe thar miners in Washington have no idea what there mining rights are. This is what happens when authorities are not kept in check. This guy only person in Washington state that gas figured out what all the laws are.

Personally, I am just waiting for the Cascadia Subduction Zone to activate.

what about Beach mining ????

But they do.

Regarding the non motorized issue. Please read. It's worth it, I promise. I've been replying to a few posts but decided to make a big long one. You guys need to slow down and understand the elements before commenting. First of all. A pump is not a motor and a motor is not a pump. A pump can be driven by a motor if the power source is a motor but there are other ways to power a pump besides a motor. There are pumps you can connect direct to the posts on a car battery. Or plug into a non motorized generator such as a solar generator. What they don't want is a generator in the river bed with fuel in it. Use a car battery or solar generator which would keep your fuel costs low and noise for any neighbours low anyways. Keep the noise low to stay off local residence radar as most of them think everything is illegal anyways, they are as ignorant as any general public person is. Keep an extra guide on you to show them the rules to avoid run ins with wdfw and wasting our tax payer resources for idiot neighbours. Moving on, One of the many reasons they don't like dredges is due to the gas generator needed to power the dredge, so as a aside the non motorized rule is saying you cannot water feed a highbanker with a motorized item such as chaining(ganging) together a dredge which would feed a highbanker directly with water and aggregate. Commonly referred to as highbanker to dredging conversion or stationary dredge highbanker. So to recap, buy a car battery and find a pump that connects to the terminals and bring a container that protects in the event of a acid leak from the battery. Or go to Harbor Frieght and check out the Jackery solar generators(best and safest option) and figure out what your pump would need to operate for the time you can feed a highbanker for, thier website has many examples of how to figure out Watt hours vs wattage needs per battery run times. And lastly, slow down. Read and read read your rules. If your approached by wdfw, residents or local police have the pamphlet ready to explain how you are within your rights. Very few wdfw are blatantly aggressive and educating one might be educating them all. Like all law enforcement they don't memorize all the laws and probably only know the most popular so let's do ourselves all a favor and not piss them all off flying off the handle. Be technically correct and that's good enough. Message me if you have other questions, I don't know all the answers but I'm damn good at disecting till I do.

Washington State sure declare war on the recreational gold prospecting crowd, with rules like these did they take any consideration when making these rules about individuals who may have handicap issues? taking away access of motorized helping equipment sure seems like they don't care about people who are elderly or handicap? this also inhibits clubs or groups, if you have to maintain 50ft separation on a sluice, that's a huge disadvantage for a group dig trying to work together.

Dredging for gold does nit harm fish. It takes gravel from the river wahes it threw a sluice box and it goes back into the river. Dredging cleans the river of toxic fishing weights, mercury, metal and any other heavy toxic items. This mat seem crazy to everyone but fisherman kill fish not gold dredgers

Do you live in Washington state? I have just found you and looking for someone in WA

Do these rules apply to the Washington state's ocean Beaches?

Just need to figure out how far a state FW employee will walk to follow a hand tool miner and catch him be naughty, then walk 1/2 mile farther. If you only prospect next to your car or ATV you will have to be good.

1872 mining law specifically states a miner has what is called a miners right to be able to enjoy all of the erea inside his or her claim. These new rules ultimate, dredging and high banking all together. This violates federal mining law 1872 right to enjoy all erea in one's mining claim. This also seems like a violation to my pursuit of happiness. I think we should qll get together and sue the state of Washington for violating our rights. I do not believe any situations buy any agency would hold up in supreme court with the 1872 law still in place. In Washington state know one owns any river from one bank side to the other. It is collectively owned by every Washington resident. In that case any resident can get a permit to use there rivers water. If you can legally pump water from a river or creek up above high water mark. Then pumping water on federal not state land to a high banker above high water mark that discharges to land that does not enter below the high water mark has nothing to do with the state or anything to do with fish. So how can this be illegal. It's ridiculous and a attack on our freedoms. Even dredging not allowed at any time is a violation of our rights. Dredging as long as having a season opened to where no spawning is taken place cleans rivers. In other states like Idaho rivers allow dredging with in season timing according to spawning with each river. Other states w out gold quctually dredge rivers to make them healthier for fish. I have done every form of mining and I am very cautious of living every erea I'm in better than when I came. I love rivers more than anything and I can honestly say the only thing that should not be allowed is high banking on the bank discharging bank ran material into the river or creek. Running material from inside the rivers water discharging back into the river with season timing for spawning and running material out of the river discharging above the high water mark has very very if qny negative affects on fish. Most Miners like myself also keep there claims free of garbage. I caught some guy dumping out his ash tray and throwing his beer cans out from his truck on my claim and made him pick it all up then took it from him to make sure it did not get dumped out somewhere else. People camping cause for more damage than miners do but you don't see them out laying camping yet anyways. These laws should make every prospector or miner outraged. Every time they make a none voted rule qnd put it into place we lose that right not gift and we never ever get it back. It ends up becoming what it is now only a couple of people at the most even know what all the rules are and that's if they have spent days studying it all. The average person will never know the rules and will never give it a try or will just quit going and give up and that is illegal in its own rights to over regulate something to the point of eliminating it. We need less rules less state power more freedom. Washington state has the worst ming laws of any state by far even California. A few years ago you could run a 5 inch dredge w no permit in Washington state. 5 years from now we won't even be allowed to pay for gold. This is our future qnd it's disgusting. We all should form a agency then make a bunch of rules and laws with no votes or say so for DEQ and fish and wildlife. Control everything they do we do pay the taxes that fund these unelected state agencies that are given the power to make any law they want to. First law for them no more use of qny combustible or electric engines of pavement. they have to only use man powered tools. only walking is allowed unless they use horses and pick up qll of there poop. 2nd rule they need to buy a permit to come onto qny mining claim or carry a our pamphlet in a binder with them and read qnd understand qll of our rules we made for there agency. 3rd rule only one of them can work together whenever on a mining claim and only can come onto a mining claim from sunset to sunrise. they can look during the day but can not interfere with any miner during the miners working time period. will make around a 100 rules for them then have the rules vary depending on the time of year and where the claims are at. This way it will be so confusing, none productive qnd frustrating that they all will spend most of there time trying to figure out our rules before they just give up qnd if they complain about anything we will be very slow to get back w them then give them the run around before saying nothing we can do right now but thanks for voicing your opinion. This is my rant thank-you for qnyone that read all of this don't tread on mining

This is all subjective and you may disagree with the officer of the RULES (not law).

A miner has a right to mine his claim.

nat atbot GPT-3 [:|]... "thank you. may the pickers be your first classification" [BEEP]

one rule bothers me; apparently you can't move rocks to level or support a sluice...to me, that means you have to find a spot that is already perfect for sluicing. that seems almost impossible.

Rules were made to break them lets go

The government is not allowed to hog all the gold in the treasury. And take peopes lands with gold.

😂, wow now I know why ppl pan outside this state

7:32 the reason you're here.

Washington is out of course. So I own a claim in liberty Washington and according to Washington law its illegal to ever use any mining equipment with a motor. I'm sorry but a gold pan or a stream sluice is not mining its prospecting. I am a miner not a prospector. So Washington state has over regulated and over permitted to the point that they have unlimited placer mining all together in the state. That's illegal!

Not everything is about Washington

Rediculous rules based on faulty science. I wont be going to Washington anytime soon,such a shame to because Washington is a great state to prospect.

TOO many rules!

Why don't we not live. They'd have us follow stupid rules 'I'll stand where I want.

I don’t follow tyrant laws. I live by the golden rules and will do no such obeying to orders

They try and keep usfrom finding gold. We ain't babies. Who made these rules'

why bother the greenies closed all fun everywhere

More rules to keep the poor poor.

Screw the fish.

A federal mining claim owner has the mining rights to enjoy all of everything with in his mining claim. So tgese laws in Washington are illegal. State cab not Trump federal law.

no freedom in Washington

So ultimately use common sense and try to do the least amount of damage to the environment as possible

Stupid rules how gay,screw that ,there ain't no gold in Washington rivers anyhow

GET TO THE POINT,, no ramble,, stop,,

I think the law violates American disability act. I am so crippled that for me to have access to such activity is the use of motorized equipment. Just like you can hunt with a cross bow if your wheelchair bound

just pick the biggest rocks out and poof classified lol