Anyone in the cold states hunt during the winter?

Jesse James

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Mar 14, 2012
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Lancaster County, PA
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I'm in Pennsylvania. It seems like every year I need to take 5 months off from detecting. That's too long. I'm 40 and lived here my whole life, but I still despise the cold with a passion. I'd like to change that this winter. With months of temperatures being in the 20's, 30's, 40's, I hate it. I'm curious about who hunts during these temps.
 

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Ogre1190

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Mar 31, 2015
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Northern Illinois
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I'm in North Central Illinois. My cutoff temp is 35°/real feel. Heat is not my friend...gotta be under 80 for me to hunt. 😞
 

CASPER-2

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Jan 3, 2012
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I'm from Ma. and hunt year round if possible - I'm mostly a water hunter though and I'm equipped to hunt in cold waters
but ive hunted farm fields in the winter too and sometimes in the woods where the ground only freezes a few inches
I use a small pick axe to cut thru the ground - just have to make a larger hole around your target so you don't hack it
when I was a kid I had been killing old silver at a spot - others found out about it but luckily ground froze before they
could get in - knowing as soon as thaw arrived they would be in there - I went in with all sorts of tools sledge and chisels
etc...I ended up folding a barber quarter I hit - luckily it was pretty worn - would have sucked if XF shape or a rare date
I also found a drained swimming pond and went in and attacked the same way - remember when it thawed - tons of guys went in and got almost
nothing cause I had hammered it thru Jan.-Feb. = I got a ton of rings as well as coins
so its all in how bad you want it
 

Debatedc

Greenie
Nov 6, 2017
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West Central MO
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I hunt until the ground is too frozen to cut and pry out a plug, and get back at it once I can cut and pop a plug again. Normally that's above mid 20s or so with sunshine. I was unable to detect for about a month last winter.
 

OBN

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Dec 30, 2008
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Maryland Waters
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Water hunt, temp is not a issue. It did take me a few years of trial and error testing different wear but now I can hunt about 4 hours in the water and be totally warm from head to toe. Dress as needed, my airtemps can run in the Teens or lower with wind chill, and for the water mostly around 32 to 35F in Feb.... Only issue I do have is it takes me about 30 minutes to get dresses. I live right below you in Maryland.

20180106_133941_1515264712006.jpg
 

eman1000

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Feb 24, 2016
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I'm in Central Indiana area and I have tried to hunt below 30 degrees and it's just not fun and nearly impossible to dig unless the ground is really wet. Yeah it sucks waiting for the warm weather and then trying to beat the crops.
I've tried to hunt at night as well and just didn't feel comfortable.
 

Eleven Cents

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Nov 30, 2016
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Tucson, AZ
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We need a hot state/cold state exchange program. :laughing7: This time of year I try to get out for an hour or two at a time when the temperature goes DOWN to the high 90s.
 

Bum Luck

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May 24, 2008
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Wisconsin
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With the changing climate/weather, Wisconsin doesn't typically freeze until December.

Sometimes it thaws in March, sometimes April. That gives us another month or so.

If there's lots of snow, the ground won't freeze, but the snow makes it all but impossible to detect anyway. Of course, you could shovel the snow to detect but I don't know anyone that likes to shovel snow that much.

I'd rather swap places with someone from Wabasso in the winter. Another reason they'd like that is the skiing, and just maybe they might not mind shoveling snow as much as I do. Any takers down there on the Treasure Coast?
 

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