Don.  Start with a good map showing township range section from both USFS and BLM, and go to LR2000 in the areas you are interested in.   Compare the two and plot out listed claims from LR2000, and any other site that would show claims.  Then go to the county recorder and see if any of those are currently filed, as well as any new filings that may not have made LR2000 yet. This will be the busy season as claims have to be refiled by the end of August. Anything not showing up in either BLM or the county recorder is generally available.  Bear in mind they have to be on file with the recorder as well as BLM to be a vallid claim.  The final chect is with either BLM or USFS (depending on who controls the ground) to see if it has been "withdrawn from mineral entry or location"  If withdrawn, that means you can't file a claim on it.

 

Fast overview of finding out what is out there, and worthwhile to talk to the mineral person in the office of the agency that has the ground, as well as the mineral/claims person in the state BLM office since they do the mining claims for both agencies.

I have noticed that we all keep telling each other to use the L:R2000. I received a really good article in a copy of the Pick and Shovel when I joined the GPAA and am good with computers and math and science. And I have all sorts of issues trying to use the LR2000. Maybe we can talk one of our Camera friendly buddies at GPAA into making a video on how to use it, or a series of videos. I am more of a see it and then do it guy myself. Reading instructions does not always make the connection.

Thanks Arthur. I was looking at some claims for sale but by friend said to chat with him first. He has been a LDMA member for quite a while and has a couple of claims. I plan on joining the LDMA before the end of next year (a retirement dream). We are going out to Arizona in October celebrating our 49th anniversary and spending a day with Calvin Bunker metal detecting on his two claims. I am hoping to be able to get more information at that time on what, when and where. You are most helpful.

Congrats on the upcoming anniversary......I don't know how they do it, putting up with us for that long.........We were going on 27 when she passed, but we found each other when she was 50...............

Yep, that LR2000 is something.  It would be nice if the BLM would have maps displaying all the claim boundaries.  Looking for a piece of land with no claims on it can be quite a daunting task.  I did manage to get a report ran that showed lots of closed claims.  Will work at it some more.  I did see on their map that you could see the Township info though which is a required field in the report search.  Those guys in the video had to know the area they were in in Nevada was not claimed already.  They didn't show the part how they deduced no claim was filed on that plot.

Here is a screenshot of a report that I ran in the LR2000 of open claims in AZ, Yavapai county.  Surely there are more claims in that county than this.

 

Found out what I was doing wrong.  Once I exported to Excel there were tons more claims and info for Yavapai County.  These are Active.  If someone wants to see this output I can email the Excel file to them.  I don't see anywhere to attach a file in here.  Thanks

On the LR2000, there are "how to" videos on Youtube. I tried going into that thing blind... That was a waste of time.

Arthur more or less nailed it up there... The BLM doesn't have maps and will only get you to the quarter section... Then its
down to the county clerks office. There is no cheating here (unless there is a 160 acre claim on a quarter section, then you know
its all claimed up)... The LR2000 usually, though not always will give you the book and the page# to look at when you head down
to the clerks office...

I made my first trip down to the clerks office earlier this year.. I didn't even know how to look stuff up, I barely knew
what I was looking for... The ladies down there were fantastic, I got a nice little tutorial on how to look stuff up, and
they answered all my questions on how to look stuff up.. Keep in mind, they don't have a clue about mining claims, they don't
have maps showing the claims, they don't know the difference between a mining claim and a restraining order... Their job
is to record documents, and to help you look them up. The information contained in those documents does not concern
them in the slightest. You could send 50 people in there in a row filing on the exact same plot of land, and they would
take the $10 and record every single one of them, as will the BLM... I could file an affidavit that says I had a ham
sandwich for lunch.. They will take my $10 and record it.

And land status... Land Matters or the Geocommunicator, land matters is actually better at this... You may think its all BLM out
there in the boonies.. There are bit and pieces here and there of private land (patented claims and homesteads), state land and
all kinds of other stuff... Then just because its a private home stead, doesn't mean they own the mineral rights... I've also ran
across a section that has federal mining claims on it but is actually state land... So it can get confusing...

The hard part to this whole thing is figuring out WHAT to research, then HOW to research it... The actual research is fairly easy, once you know
what to do and how to do it...

I suggest that you pick a section, and practice doing the research... Its honestly the research you should be doing everytime you
go out to stick a shovel in the ground... And once the research is done, all you have left is to bang a few stakes in the ground and
file a few pieces of paper.