Permits & rules
Paid dig vs public land
Some of the best material in the West sits on a private mine, ranch, or fee site. That is not the 25-pound BLM rule. You pay, you sign their waiver, you take what their ticket allows.
Public BLM
- No fee to the landowner (you still need a license for hunting, etc.)
- Casual cap, hand tools, personal use
- Overlays can still close it
Paid dig
- Fee, hours, tool list, and take-home limit are theirs
- Often the only legal way to collect that deposit
- Leaving the property and filling a bucket on the adjacent BLM strip is a new legal question — check that strip separately
This site will not rank fee sites by “secret yield.” If we list one later, it will be because the land status is clear and the operator is public about rules.