My first winter is killing me!

[TreasureGuy25]

Went out on Saturday morning... Got to the site and had a few nice signals... but was unable to dig 9 out of 10 times. Tried the sloping areas in the woods where I thought the ground would not have been saturated/frozen, but no dice. After almost breaking my shovel and out of breath I called it a day. So my question (considering this is my first winter) is when does the ground usually thaw? What does it take? A few days in the 40's with a shower or two?

Thanks!

Ted

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[watercolor]

I understand what you're going through. . . and when will it thaw :P

Was out yesterday myself for a few hours. . . only places to dig are in mature,
heavily wooded areas that have a couple of inches of leaves insulating the ground.
Only about an inch of ground frost. . . if that. . . under the leaves.

 

[Lowbatts]

Usually the parks thaw out about a week or two into spring. Late March to early April if we don't have a warmer than usual March. Sometimes I've seen the ground froze until almost May when April stays cold.

Out in woods it varies because some areas have tall grasses that at this time of year insulate the cold in the ground, bare ground with low moisture thaws faster. Best part is it always gets muddy that time of year and makes our last trip out with Mayo look like a date with a wash tub, Mark! For Mayo, that is.

Hey Mayo, still waiting for my shiovel to thaw so I can clean it!

 

[ronbo22]

By thy rivers icy flowing, Illinois, Illinois,
O'er thy prairies snows are blowing, Illinois, Illinois,
Comes the sleet on the breeze.
Sticking to the frozen trees, and its mellow tone the sneeze, Illinois, Illinois,
And its mellow tone the sneeze, Illinois.

To the tune of the state song Illinois

 

[davebien]

With 8-14 inches of snow coming starting tonight I'm betting on 2 weeks of summer. Maybe in August. I need to go visit the kid in SoFL..... soon !!!!

 

[twistidd]

The woods are always more accessible during the winter than the open turf. Like Tim said, the ground can thaw completely at any time but usually it doesn't thaw for good until late March or early April.

This is the time of year where we all lie to each other. We tell each other, "I'm going to work on other stuff to keep my mind off of detecting." What we are really doing is wondering how we could increase the sharpness of our diggers and the insulating properties of our coats! lol

Joe

 

[Mayo South Elgin]

I'm working on an invention that combines a huge magnifying glass and a detector coil.
Kind of a solar powered ground penetrating heat source/metal detector.
This will thaw and detect at the same time.
It may take 2 to 4 people to swing it because good optics are heavy but I'm confident I can find not only the lens but also the geeks to move it along, all at American Science and Surplus.
If you're out in the frozen woods and see huge clouds of steam and smell burning leaves, you'll know I've perfected it.

As for the mud problem, well if you guys didn't notice on that last Muddy Mudskipper adventure, I was not only the one covered in the most mud, but I was also the only one NOT shivering from the cold.
Yeah I planned it that way all along see... mud - the cheap and effective insulator. Hey I should package it as the new GREEN alternative to fiberglass. The ideas just keep flooding in...

I see you're in Park Ridge Ted - there's lots of woods east and west of there but being as I haven't been there in a while, can't say if the ground is brick solid or diggable. Like mentioned above, look for woods with heavy leaf cover. I would forget about grassy areas and parks until a good thaw.

 

[kimsdad]

Last winter was my first real winter of withdrawals. For this winter, I decided to find other stuff to do when I can't get out, and tried to mentally prepare for it. It helped. Reading Today's Finds and seeing all the other hunters' stuff can really stoke the fires and make me want to get out, though. Like a bad crash, you wantto look, but part of you knows you shouldn't.

Great poem Ronbo22!

Not being out hunting, I wrote another verse:

To thy gov'nors cash is flowing, Illinois, Illinois
O'er thy prairies bull$hit's blowing, Illinois, Illinois,
Wearing suits comes the sleaze
Stick it to the workers please, make them pay for your disease, Illinois Illinois
And its politician sleaze, Illinois

Sorry, I guess it's a C. Cty thing.

See Ted? Poetry - one more thing I can do when I can't get out...

 

[p2c]

At least someone is smiling about this: