Where to Begin, a Basic Guide to Rock Hounding. (Part 1)

I wanted to start this blog by thanking you for reading. Whether you simply have a passing curiosity of the hobby, or have decided it's right for you, this guide aims to start you off with an ethical understanding of the activity known as Rock Hounding. 

This guide will NOT be an in-depth article on identifying, or even locating any specific minerals or gemstones. It will however cover some of the Guidelines that should be followed to keep the hobby alive, safe and fun.  If you are interested in learning the finer details of the hobby(identification, mining, gem cutting, etc.) you should subscribe to my channel as I will be releasing future blogs on those subjects.

What does it mean to be an ethical collector?  The answer to this is very simple just follow these guidelines. 

1) Do not trespass.  

This rule should be obvious, but all too often it gets overlooked.  I understand that it may feel awkward to ask a total stranger if you may access their land, but I have done this many times and made some great friends.  A lot of the time, they do not even know what is on their land and are curious to know what the fuss is about.  but if you were to just enter the land and not ask for permission you could face jail time or worse, you could make it so that the person is completely unwilling to listen to any requests and put a bad stigma on mineral collectors.  

2) Don't go it alone. 

A while back a good friend of mine was mining in Colorado on MT. White when a 1 ton boulder rolled over him. Luckily he was with a small group so that they could Radio for help,had he been alone he would have likely died.  He instead broke his neck spine and several other bones.  Keep in mind this was at a claim he had frequently worked and was comfortable working alone. 

3) Fill in your holes, try to keep area as you found it. 

I will keep this section short, Take your trash with you and fill in your holes. you would not want to trip, or fall into a hole someone else dug, so it should stand to reason that you would not want to be the cause of another persons misfortune. 

These are the big three but more information on ethical collecting can be found at the following link :   AMFS CODE OF ETHICS

Thank you for reading, and please share and subscribe to my channel for more geology, mineral, and gem articles, how-to's, and news!