Collecting

The day itself, and the discipline that separates a collection from a pile.

Take less than you can carry

The universal beginner error is volume. Everything looks good in the field, in bright light, wet, with adrenaline.

At home a third of it is ordinary and you have no room. The material you should have taken more of is the piece you left because it needed work.

Take fewer, better pieces, and leave the rest for the next person.

The limits are real numbers

On BLM land the reasonable personal-use amount is 25 pounds per day plus one piece, and not more than 250 pounds in a year.

That is per person, for noncommercial purposes, and it is a quantity limit rather than a guideline. More than that needs a permit.

And "noncommercial" means what it says: selling material collected under that allowance requires a permit or a mining claim. This is the part collectors most often get wrong, because the collecting felt legal and the selling is a separate question.

Where to look

Dumps and tailings, which is where most specimen collecting actually happens and where the least damage is done.

Exposures, washes and float, which lead uphill to a source.

After rain, which cleans surfaces and is a good condition for spotting material.

And not in workings, not in shafts, and not under anything overhanging. Old mines kill collectors every year.

Getting material out intact

Wrap at the face, not at the car. The damage happens in the bucket on the walk down.

Newspaper is fine for the day. It is transit packing, not storage, and it comes off at home.

Wrap each piece separately, fragile parts padded specifically.

And write the locality on the wrapping as you wrap it, which is the step that makes the label possible later.

References