GoldHog sluice matting and equipment

Does anyone here use GoldHog products? What do you think? Pros Cons.

I bought some Gold Hog matts of different styles for my 2 inch dredge several years ago but I haven't been able to get out to try it because of my knees! I like the mats appearance and Docs videos about it and reading about other people experiences with it! HOPEFULLY this Summer Ill be able to get out and use it. I think youll like that matting if you end up buying it!

NFREYTAG:

In my opinion and think once you try it you will agree the best thing currently on the market is conveyor belt matting, like what is used in the Gold Cube. Don't want to put word's in his mouth but think Randy would agree and he has replaced all his matting in his dredge with a single piece of it and has proven to be very effective in catching a very high percentage of fine/flood gold. I have added a foot to my Angus sluice and just love it. You can find it on the net.......

Ron

NFREYTAG,

I have to chime in here with the Chief......I REALLY like Vortex-type matting for fine flood gold capture.  Here in the Arkansas River and around the area much of the fine, fine gold can be 80% less than 50 mesh down to 200 micro specks.

I completely redid the sluice box on my Keene 4 inch Ultra Mini suction dredge with all Vortex-type matting with 1 foot of Gold Hog UR mat up front under the flair.  Check out my post:

https://c17a.forumotion.com/t35-randy-s-keene-ultra-mini-4-inch-dredge-sluice-box-mods

Two short YouTube videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFeeLqQrNE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d2Bwl6lhhM

I was impressed with the Gold Hog (GH for short) UR matting.  I have a box from Doc at GH that has UR and about 3 other types of matting..........like Razorback, Downdraft & Talon matting...  I plan to remove the Vortex matting this Spring and again reconfigure my sluice box with nothing BUT GH matting, in various strips of various types for suction dredging on the San Miguel River in Southwestern Kolorado for bigger gold.........pickerts & small nuggets....and yeah, some fine too.

I need to e-mail Doc at GH and ask his advice on what I should run of each, and where in my sluice box for 2016...  So, personally, I've only used the UR under my flair.  Happy with it.  Have heard good stuff from others...

Hopefully, others will chime in here, comment, give more/better first hand advice for you.    

Randy  C-17A  

I also have the Vortex matting to try in my 2 inch dredge Plus some Veranda carpet. I built this dredge just to try out as a comparison these mats! Plus I made a crashbox sluice to use these mats in also to see the effects of them in each application.i

I use GH matting in my stream sluice and highbanker. The stream sluice has Razorback and Downdraft mats. The highbanker has Talon, Riverhog, and Scrubber. The mats work great in both. I just wanted to see how many GH fans are on here and what your thoughts were. I've only used GH mats so I can't compare to other styles of matting and riffles. I personally like how easy clean ups are, the length of time you can run without having to shut down for clean up, the different capture zones for different size gold, and the amount of cons the mats catch.

I have been using GH mats for about 3 years now and am getting some very fine gold I never got with the carpet that came in my highbanker.I use different mats depending were I am working.Here in Arizona I use a modified scrubber.down draft.river hog .downdraft then UR on the end .And I will not use anything else .I just got the new clean up mats and am still playing with them .They do work .

jloyd that sounds like a winning combo! I cant wait to try mie out sometime after I get my knee replaced!

I've been using Gold Hog mating since i got back into prospecting in 2012. Back then Doc only had 2 different mats on the market, UR and Scrubber. Since then he's come out with a total of 8 sluice mats and 1 washer mat. This guy, Steve Vetter better known by all of us as " Doc" has done Very Very extensive research on every product he sells.
The mats simply work as advertised.

I live in Iowa and have to deal with the super fine gold. Iowa has mainly that small fly poop stuff, but if your lucky and know where to find it, there are small pickers to be had here too. It catches and keeps the small stuff (flour gold)whether i'm running a river sluice, high banker or dredge. Also i leave the stream with more gold and less con's I'm in it for the gold not the black sand.

Welcome to the forum weary1. Nice to see another Iowan on the forum.

I'm on the east side of the state.

Dickb

Howdy,

Just stickin' my face in to say h'lo..

Swamp

Hey Al,

WELCOME to the "new" Gold Adventures Forum!!!!

Glad you made it...

Very sad, but then the web hosting service died for the "old" Forum I lost almost 700 registered users, many thousands of old posts, Trip Reports, etc. Trying to rebuild...

Seems way too few out there still, interested in gold prospecting, joining... Plz share the word as you can...

Still in winter here in "High" Kolorado. Had a snow of about 1 inch of wet, heavy snow this morning. Sun's out now and 38 degrees out, so it will probably melt off this afternoon...

Might try going panning & sluicing tomorrow with 2 buddies, post a Trip Report, IF the weather holds out.

Randy C-17A

Hi SAL:

Good to see you found the new forum. I hope all is well with you and yours.
Been keeping up with you on the other forum. Hope you get lots of yella this year.

Randy, I really like your new avatar. Kinda fits you.
Stay warm and dry.

Dickb

Didkb,

Ha. Thanks...........I FINALLY took the time to go select a nice C-17A flying low-level...........make it my Avatar.

I flew the thing 16+ years............have 1,000s of hours in it...

Randy C-17A

Well I just got home from Co. and buying Leonard Leepers Keene 4 inch dredge and a Keene 2 inch dredge that looks like it was hardly ever used and a small highbanker dredge that I cant remember its manufacture and a Promack sluice But a 13 hour drive and 912 miles  and then a turn-a-round back to St.Louis Misery Sunday will do that to a F.O.G.

Russ,

Ha. Well...............I bet your butt is hurting!

Glad you got home to Misery safe...

Now, to clean, inspect & get all that "stuff" ready to get out, get wet, get some gold!!!

Randy C-17A

I second what Randy just said. go get her wet. Maybe a trip to IN is in your future.

Dickb

Well the truck is unloaded and I started to do a complete cleanup of all matts and crevices of all the equipment to get that last bit of gold out and take some pictures of it before I mail the gold back to its "old" owner Leonard. the 4 inch flair was a pain to get off and back on but its done and even with my ole eyes ,I could see small pieces of gold in the tub. each piece of equipment will be done separately and pictures will be from each, then itll all be put into a single vile and mailed back to the "Boss". Just getting this equipment has made me feel better ,BUT Ive once again run out of room for places to put it all . My trailer and shop are full and I still have the hoses to contend with. theres 3 four inch suction hoses 20 foot long and several 2 inch and 2 1/2 hoses laying out in my driveway. BUT its all good!

Russ,

Cool............. Glad you will get this equipment cleaned, looked over, fixed up (if need be) and back into production...

Do it buddy!

Life's too short not to have some more "hard fun" and get wet/cold/hot and dredge up, high bank up some color and memories...

Randy C-17A

Now Im thinking of buying more Gold Hog matting for the 4 inch Keene. Even before I take it out for my first time as the new owner! Ive used this dredge many times before with Leonard in Colorado , Wyoming , Washington , and somewhat in Georgia at our rally. Man is it heavier than my 4 inch that I built with light weight material. BUT Im tickeled to get a chance to own it!

Well I just went and done it today! I bought 1 Talon mat , 1 Bedrock mat , 1 River hog mat , and 1 Scrubber mat for my 4 inch Keene (Leonard Leepers ole dredge) It should be here in a few days like their add says. This dredge was set up in a O/U configuration and I wan to keep those parts BUT I also want to try out this GH matting. I already have it in my 2 inch Keene dredge and haven't had a chance/opertunity to try it our . .originally I started building a very light weight 2 inch dredge (Im old!!) and after getting this Keene dredge I thought to myself ,WHY NOT use its floats and others to build a 5 inch subbie . So its started. So now I have a Keene 4 inch ,a Keene 2 inch , and potentially a 5 inch subbie and Im running out of room to store or haul all this around . This Spring / Summer will tell if I can still cut it OR all will be sold.

Russ,

Good luck with the mats! When I watched a lot of Doc's advice and installation videos.........he seemed to say whatever "order" you lay in your GH mats into your dredge sluice box......

......use a lifting mat and then 1 or 2 sections of lower profile collection mat and then another lifting mat and then 1 or 2 sections of a lower profile collection mat...

I have scrubber and river hog trimmed down and with a "throw angle" as my main lifting mats....and sections of UR and razor back for my lower profile collection mats mostly...

Can't wait to see how your setup looks, works!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqTPOMbbP3M Mine seems to work pretty well. Still not 100% sure it's any better than my 5 feet of Vortex matting...

HTH,

Randy C-17A

ME ALSO!!!