Just curious, I know a dredge can move a lot of material, but I wonder if there are really enough spots to use them in colorado (being a member here and gpaa) to really warrant one. It seems most of the gold I have found is not in the river, but rather in bench matieral often a good way from the river. But maybe if I had one, I would find stuff in the rivers?

Just trying to justify what is a big price tag to me.

with the way it is in California, dredges are relatively cheap. i had a great time dredge in Colorado this year and wouldnt trade it for anything! justifing the cost of equipment is something only you can do!it just depends on how often you can get out to use it/ the distance you have to drive to get to a location/and your knowledge of useing a dredge. it just isnt start it up and start sucking material. theres a learning curve that youll need to understand before you waste some time and money! with the price of gold at its all time high, theres a lot of people out there that are very impatient and want to go get rich finding gold! it aint that EZ ! gold in Colorado is small ! GPAA and other clubs got the cabush put on thier claims because of over use (so they say!)

In the "pursuit" for gold there are many different approaches; "Sampling, Panning, Sluicing, Sniping, Dry Washing, Detecting, Dredging, Mining (to include placer, alluvial, and Load/Hard rock)" just to name a few. What works in some places is useless or impractical in others. Each approach normally requires a different skill-set. I would first suggest that you let the area you are working in dictate to you what approach needs to be used. Having said that however, I would also suggest that you get out and experience every type of prospecting you can.

I absolutely love the thought of heading up some unknown draw armed with nothing more than a #2 shovel and a pan but that is more about just getting out than finding gold. In all my experiences I have never felt more like a true gold-getter than when I was dredging. And I don't mean just long arming it, I mean getting down with air and becoming one with the fishies. Being able to do this puts you in a different category than most prospectors. It is probably one of the most difficult approaches to get in to. Like Russau said, there is a learning curve. You need a whole different set of equipment and accessories so it is also expensive, somewhere around 2,000 on the low end just to get started. There is quite a lot of equipment needed and you might have to think about storage space.

If you can afford the start up costs, and you will actually use the dredge, I would suggest you get one. The amount of material you can move is awesome and that is the reason dredging normally gets you more gold than the other methods do. Good luck, Woody.