What is your experience? Personally, I carry bear spray as I am not confident of my ability with a weapon. In over 25 years of working my claims, I have never had an encounter with a bear, although I have seen several around camp. I believe in being aware, making a lot of noise and keeping a clean camp.
Bear Spray vs. Bullets
Which offers better protection?
At first glance, this question may seem like a no-brainer. After all, aren’t guns made to kill, while pepperspray (so-called “bear spray,” when it comes in big cans) does not? Unlike an attack by a human assailant,who may be able to use your own weapon against you, that safety/survival argument for using pepper spraydoesn’t apply to a human-bear encounter... or does it?
When it comes to self defense against grizzly bears, the answer is not as obvious as it may seem. In fact,experienced hunters are surprised to find that despite the use of firearms against a charging bear, they wereattacked and badly hurt. Evidence of human-bear encounters even suggests that shooting a bear can escalatethe seriousness of an attack, while encounters where firearms are not used are less likely to result in injuryor death of the human or the bear. While firearms can kill a bear, can a bullet kill quickly enough -- and canthe shooter be accurate enough -- to prevent a dangerous, even fatal, attack?
The question is not one of marksmanship or clear thinking in the face of a growling bear, for even a skilledmarksman with steady nerves may have a slim chance of deterring a bear attack with a gun. Law enforcement agents for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have experience that supports this reality -- based on their investigations of human-bear encounters since 1992, persons encountering grizzlies anddefending themselves with firearms suffer injury about 50% of the time. During the same period, personsdefending themselves with pepper spray escaped injury most of the time, and those that were injuredexperienced shorter duration attacks and less severe injuries. Canadian bear biologist Dr. Stephen Herreroreached similar conclusions based on his own research -- a person’s chance of incurring serious injury froma charging grizzly doubles when bullets are fired versus when bear spray is used.
Awareness of bear behavior is the key to mitigating potential danger. Detecting signs of a bear and avoidinginteraction, or understanding defensive bear behaviors, like bluff charges, are the best ways of escapinginjury. The Service supports the pepper spray policy of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, whichstates that bear spray is not a substitute for following proper bear avoidance safety techniques, and that bear spray should be used as a deterrent only in an aggressive or attacking confrontation with a bear.
Like seatbelts, bear spray saves lives. But just as seatbelts don’t make driving off a bridge safe, bear sprayis not a shield against deliberately seeking out or attracting a grizzly bear. No deterrent is 100% effective,but compared to all others, including firearms, proper use of bear spray has proven to be the best method forfending off threatening and attacking bears, and for preventing injury to the person and animal involved.
Because the grizzly bear is federally protected in the Lower 48 States as a threatened species, it is a violation of theEndangered Species Act (ESA) to shoot one, except in self defense and defense of others during an imminentattack.
Penalties under the ESA include up to 6 months in prison and a $100,000 fine. Additional penalties mayalso apply to violations of state law. For more information about bear spray and its effectiveness, see:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/wildlife/igbc
Courtesy: US Fish and Wildli
Bear pepper spray is no substitute for appropriate conduct in bear country. It should only be relied on as a last resort and if you are typical of the vast majority of outdoor enthusiasts, you will never need to rely on it to resolve a bear-human encounter.
A couple of the available claims are ideal for the recreational prospector while others are ready for commercial development or aggressive recreational recovery. All of the claims are in a contiguous block, ideal for a commercial mining venture. Claims are for sale individually or as a package to suit your mining objectives.
Send me an e-mail with your questions to marneaffeld.com and I will respond or you may call 509-389-2606 - I love to talk mining!
Do you want a claim worth owning that you and your family will enjoy for generations to come - Make your gold prospecting dreams a reality!
Do you want to spend next summer doing something exciting? Camp on your very own mining claim and prospect for gold flake and nuggets! Two of the claims are on the site of the old gold rush mining camp; a great place to metal detect.
Read and Research
Expand your knowledge of prospecting. During the winter months, when snow lays heavy on the mountain, research the history of the area and study the local area. Learn the location of roads, trails, and open clearings.
Plan your adventure and organize supplies, a survival kit, camping supplies, and mining gear and equipment. Be sure to take extra batteries, plenty of food and water as well as bug spray and bear repellent. If you are woods-wise and trained in firearm safety, it is prudent to carry a sidearm. Weather conditions can change rapidly. Be sure to carry warm, water repellent clothing and insect repellent.
In northwest Montana, our mining season is short. Spend as much time as possible getting to know your claim. Carry survival gear, emergency food supplies, and a compass or GPS. The forest is dense and it is easy to get turned around and lost. As you explore your claim, always know the way back to your base location. Cell phones do not always work in the area of the claims.
Obtain a detailed topo map of the area. Have the section where you are located, enlarged, and printed. Grid off the area on the map. Number the grids. Carry a pocket notebook. As you prospect and explore, make detailed notes of your findings in each numbered grid. Sketch out a map of the localized area to provide future references points when you are ready to commence explorational testing. (It is a good idea to set up a permanent file system or journal. Transfer your field notes into a permanent mining journal, making note of the time of year, the water level in the stream, weather conditions, and personal observations. Your records will prove invaluable in evaluating the claim and developing it to its full potential.)
Make note of important topography features including areas of exposed bedrock, quartz outcroppings, waterfalls, gravel or sand bar, and dramatic changes in the streambed. Exposed bedrock with deep crevices or fractures can trap gold washed downstream by spring flooding. (Moss that in embedded in the cracks of bedrock often contains fine gold trapped within its roots. Plan to wash pieces of the moss carefully in your gold pan. Manipulate the moss until all sediment is released. Drop the moss in the stream. It will float downstream and attach to a fallen log or rock. The moss will grow again and your test has not harmed the fragile ecosystem. Pan out the material. Note if you found color and the percentage of black sand and quartz particles.)
Take note of the thickness of the alluvial cover (gravel, sand, and soil) and the types of float rock and quartz. Look for rusty, stained pieces of quartz, they may contain visible specks of gold.
Look for locations where the streambed makes a sharp turn and widens. (Gold moving downstream will slow down at that point and will be deposited on the inside curve of the stream bed. Bedrock outcrops or large boulders will also break the flow of the water, allowing gold to settle on the downstream side of the obstacle.)
Do not limit your prospecting to the current streambed. (Over the centuries the stream may have changed course many times. Fallen trees, erosion, landslides, avalanches and heavy spring flooding change the course of the stream. Examine points higher up the bank, some of your best color may be many yards from the present stream bed.)
Hold Your Horses!
Do not start your testing in the first good-looking spot you find. Locate several potential areas before deciding where to begin. If you test the first spot that looks promising and you locate some gold, what happens? You will likely remain right there and work the area. By doing so, you may find some gold flake or gold dust. With the same effort, and a little more testing you could be recovering nuggets, fifty feet away.
Gold Is Where You Find It
Old-time prospectors always said, “Gold is where you find it!” Truer words were never spoken. Gold may hide in heavy or compacted gravels or impervious layers of clay or heavy sediment. Gold and other heavy minerals eventually work their way down until settling on false bedrock (cemented or compacted layers) or bedrock. Given perfect conditions, they form the “golden yellow paystreaks” you are looking for. Increase your chances of success. Test bedrock locations first. Work out crevices in the bedrock and pan out the material. Crevices trap nuggets and flake.
Use Your Metal Detector
Use your metal detector to examine areas of exposed bedrock. Detect upslope from the bedrock as well. Test the tops of ridges or outcroppings. The soil in Mineral County is highly mineralized and has a rich history of gold production. During the Cedar Creek Gold Rush, hundreds of men worked the drainages. You may find lots of rusty nails, mining artifacts, or old coins and brass buttons. Make sure your detector is ground balanced, but do not discriminate. Dig every target. You may find a nugget or a valuable piece of mining history. Keep careful notes regarding detecting sites. Record your finds if you feel the location justifies further exploration.
Save Your Concentrates
Always keep your concentrates. Store concentrates from different areas in separate containers, clearly marked with the location. Double-check the heavy concentrates in your pan, even if gold is not visible. A small, high-quality magnifying glass is a handy tool. Pyrite cubes, garnets, and black sand are indicators of gold. Not all gold is visible and may be coated with other materials. Your gold may contain a heavy concentration of fine gold or other valuable minerals including silver and platinum. A helpful hint - purchase a box of geologist sample bags from an oilfield supply store. Geologist sample bags have a waterproof label for location and notes, are strong, and are made of a material that will allow your samples to dry but not sift through the sample bag.
During the winter months, carefully fine pan or use a micro-concentrator to evaluate your samples. You may be quite surprised by the amount of gold recovered that is not visible to the naked eye.
Many mineral dealers will purchase black sand concentrates.
Prospecting, Patience & Perseverance
Claims are from 20 to 160 acres. 160 acres equals almost 7,000,000 square feet. That is a lot of area to prospect. You will not find gold in every spot you dig, no matter how mineralized the claim. Placer gold is deposited erratically. Remember the old prospector adage "Gold is where you find it.' Don't dismiss a spot because it doesn't look like a textbook pocket. The contour of the land changes, the rocks roll, the mountain rumbles. During the spring melt, gold moves. Read the signs. A successful prospector is a patient and persistent treasure hunter. Learn how to read nature’s clues and you may be finely rewarded for your labors.
