There's a place I'd like to detect but gave up the idea because I can't clear the vegetation and it's extremely dense.
Waiting til winter/fall may help some but the leaves will fall from some but things like goldenrod, ragweed, wild blackberries, etc. have thick stalks and stand through the winter.
I bought a brush cutter attachment for my gas powered weed wacker. It's a steel blade much like an edger. Actually, I bought the new weedwacker so I could use the attachment. It works pretty good but not great in a dense area. You still get thick stalks that like to wrap around the head and stall it.
But, you can do small areas at a time. Don't get over-zealous and try weedwacking a large area...you'll just get frustrated and tired. Do a 4x4 or 6x6 area, then slowly detect it.
Think of it as a way of gridding the area as you detect. You won't miss much ground that way.
And a side note if you choose to use the brush cutter, use the strap!. I never used one for regular weedwacking, but brushcutting is a bit tougher.
One other easier method I used. I bought an old mower and cut out part of the front of the deck and the side chutes and it became a brush hog. The blade was expose about an inch in the front and opening up the dischage chutes kept it from clogging. Actually made a 2nd discharge chute on the opposite side of the other but both were large. It was a cheapie and light weight, easy to maneuver. I cut cat-tails down with it and it worked great getting very close to the ground and not choking up.
They may even be pleased if you make it look pretty again.
Good luck with it, sounds like a great site.
Al
