opinions please...

bosco · Aug 10, 2012

I have been told over the years that's its best to hunt with good moist soil...but the other day I was talking to an older gentleman that said he had been detecting for over thirty years. He was telling me that this dry soil is the best to hunt in. I'm in Illinois and its dry...very..very..very dry here. I heard the other night on the weather we ar now nine inches behind on rainfall for this year.

Anyways....your opinions please. Also if you would state why you believe its better one way more than the other.

And the reason I'm asking this is because I've been doing some hunting lately at the local fair grounds which happen to date back to 1851 and even had a regiment from the civil war train on the grounds. Well....about five years ago I went through with a Garrett GTI 2500 I was using at the time and found nothing but a ton of clad. This time I'm using my Etrac and the results are much better than before.

Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

cudamark · Aug 10, 2012

You have a much better detector now for one thing. On the soil....wet or dry.....a lot will depend on the detector, settings, and the mineralization of the ground. Wet mineralized ground is hard to penetrate with some detectors but easy for others and vice versa.

ticm · Aug 10, 2012

bosco said:
I have been told over the years that's its best to hunt with good moist soil...but the other day I was talking to an older gentleman that said he had been detecting for over thirty years. He was telling me that this dry soil is the best to hunt in. I'm in Illinois and its dry...very..very..very dry here. I heard the other night on the weather we ar now nine inches behind on rainfall for this year.

Anyways....your opinions please. Also if you would state why you believe its better one way more than the other.

And the reason I'm asking this is because I've been doing some hunting lately at the local fair grounds which happen to date back to 1851 and even had a regiment from the civil war train on the grounds. Well....about five years ago I went through with a Garrett GTI 2500 I was using at the time and found nothing but a ton of clad. This time I'm using my Etrac and the results are much better than before.

Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Which type of soil do you like better, and why?

wingmaster · Aug 10, 2012

You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground, but in really dry ground where there's lots of iron there will be less halo affect from the iron so you might hit targets that was previously hidden by the iron. All in all I'd rather detect in moist ground and spring time always seems the best for me as I seem to get targets deeper that time of the year than any other. HH

ticm · Aug 10, 2012

wingmaster said:
You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground, but in really dry ground where there's lots of iron there will be less halo affect from the iron so you might hit targets that was previously hidden by the iron. All in all I'd rather detect in moist ground and spring time always seems the best for me as I seem to get targets deeper that time of the year than any other. HH

Seems to me I have heard this before. All good.

Sandman · Aug 10, 2012

It is best to hunt when ever you can get away from the ole lady. Damp ground or dry. The best way to increase your finds per hour is to overlap your sweeps by 50% and keep the coil level through out the whole sweep.

dholland02 · Aug 10, 2012

I've noticed with my ace250 after a rain and the ground is most I get some deeper hit and better reads or it might just be me .

Tom Slick · Aug 10, 2012

X2 on what wingmaster said above.

dougofpa · Aug 10, 2012

Wet soil, moist soil, dry soil, wet sand or dry sand.....really doesn't matter to me....."I put the coil to the soil, and keep swingin' to hear the dingin' "

bosco · Aug 10, 2012

The whole reason I asked this question was because I've been doing some hunting at the local fair grounds...this place dates back to 1851 and an Illinois infantry unit trained on the grounds for the civil war. Its is said that they tore the ground up so badly that the fair had to be cancelled the following year.

Anyways....this place had been pounded had over the years and I'm funding silver right out in the same location that they set the rides up for the fair every year. And it just so happens we are in the middle of the worst drought in this area since the 1800"s. The place is pretty trashy in some areas and most if what I'm finding is eight around 4-6 inches down. I even hit the place a few years back with a Garrett 2500 and didn't find any silver. Now...using my Etrac I'm finding silver.....

ticm · Aug 10, 2012

bosco said:
The whole reason I asked this question was because I've been doing some hunting at the local fair grounds...this place dates back to 1851 and an Illinois infantry unit trained on the grounds for the civil war. Its is said that they tore the ground up so badly that the fair had to be cancelled the following year.

Anyways....this place had been pounded had over the years and I'm funding silver right out in the same location that they set the rides up for the fair every year. And it just so happens we are in the middle of the worst drought in this area since the 1800"s. The place is pretty trashy in some areas and most if what I'm finding is eight around 4-6 inches down. I even hit the place a few years back with a Garrett 2500 and didn't find any silver. Now...using my Etrac I'm finding silver.....

Is this a grassy area? The reason I ask is the people who take care of the grounds may not like seeing holes in the ground. It is almost impossible to dig decent plugs on rock hard dirt.

dholland02 · Aug 10, 2012

If ur findin silver keep at it as much as u can, sounds like a honey hole !

cudamark · Aug 10, 2012

wingmaster said:
You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground
That's not always true. It will depend on the type of mineralization there is in the ground and the type of detector you have. Take a single frequency VLF detector to a salt water beach and you'll get much better depth in the dry sand than wet, especially if there is lots of iron particles.

bosco · Aug 10, 2012

Grassy area....in this heat?? What little grass that was before the fair is now stomped down brown grass and dirt. We've only had a little over an inch of rain here in the last three months or so. I don't think the grass is going to be an issue....

ticm · Aug 10, 2012

bosco said:
Grassy area....in this heat?? What little grass that was before the fair is now stomped down brown grass and dirt. We've only had a little over an inch of rain here in the last three months or so. I don't think the grass is going to be an issue....

Then dig up that silver. What you doing here. Sounds like you may need a chisel. Just curious are there water use restrictions there.

bosco · Aug 10, 2012

Surprisingly no water restrictions here. We get out water from the Mississippi river and its at its lowest levels that I've ever seen in my lifetime. Hopefully things will start to change around here...the look ahead forecast is calling for above normal precipitation here. If course....after its to late for the crops.

ticm · Aug 10, 2012

bosco said:
Surprisingly no water restrictions here. We get out water from the Mississippi river and its at its lowest levels that I've ever seen in my lifetime. Hopefully things will start to change around here...the look ahead forecast is calling for above normal precipitation here. If course....after its to late for the crops.

Hope you folks out there get some rain and soon.

wingmaster · Aug 10, 2012

cudamark said:
wingmaster said:

You will hit on deep targets better in wet ground
That's not always true. It will depend on the type of mineralization there is in the ground and the type of detector you have. Take a single frequency VLF detector to a salt water beach and you'll get much better depth in the dry sand than wet, especially if there is lots of iron particles.

Click to expand...

Being that he's in Illinois there won't be any salt beaches anywhere near where he's detecting, I've seen the VDI numbers differ when the ground is really dry as well. HH