Wet ground vs very wet ground?

[bluestem]

Do you think you'd get a difference in readings after a day of hard rain vs a week of hard rain? I'm thinking if something was deep and the water table rose significantly, that might change your results. What do you more experienced people think?

 

[Sandman]

It seems like a good rain makes the ground more conductive and also changes the amount of GB we need. If you are using a preset GB detector you could be finding more targets.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

I'm only guessing here but I think some other things would have to be taken into consideration .
1- How well the ground was saturated before the rain .
2- Whether the ground in question is low or high .
In low lying areas the water table could rise enough to create a swampy area .
On higher ground this wouldn't happen .
In a real dry time a weeks worth of rain would definately saturate the ground more than a days worth .
If the ground was already pretty well saturated or moist a days worth of rain would probably fairly well
saturate the soil to detector depth . Just my thoughts & I could be completely wrong .

 

[bluestem]

So a general rule of thumb is more water = deeper detection?

I have a couple of spots where I get deep signals when it rains. I've dug 2 of them down to about 2 feet. When freshly dug, I often get more signals until it dries out again. They've been as shallow as 4 inches, but most of time they're 8-10. I think the shallow signals have been when the ground is more saturated. (I should have kept a diary.) Usually they indicate iron, but when it's been real wet, my detector practically plays a little symphony. It's a BH 202. Other than these spots, it's always been accurate.

I'm trying to figure out if there is something down there, or there is a vein of iron running through my land or what.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

I often get deep signals off of iron culverts , pipes , ect . Are you using a pinpointer ? When I got my
first detector I kept getting a good signal & kept digging until I got about 2 feet deep . I had a pinpointer
on the way , so I just left the hole open until the pinpointer arrived . After the pinpointer arrived I
checked the hole & found a nail in the side of the hole about 5 or 6 inches down . Some objects seem
to move around & don't end up being exactly where you orginally pinpointed them with your detector .
In the spot you are getting these deep signals is there any sign of any pipes , old building , ect ?

 

[bluestem]

No, there's no pipes or anything man made around there. I don't have a pinpointer. I should probably get one anyway. But one of the holes is getting very wide. My sons and their friends have dug in it, too. It's definitely not a nail. It has several "hot" spots in it.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

All I can say is , if it was me & I was getting decent signals , I would dig some deeper . I have a brass
coupling in my plastic water pipe that is buried 3 feet deep & my bounty hunter time ranger sounds off on
the coupling . Keep us posted if you dig deeper and / or find anything .

 

[bluestem]

Will do. It might help someone else. My thanks to both of you!

 

[tommyd]

my ace picks up an old barbed wire fence that ran 300 ft between our neighbors property lines. i actually found the pc that is located out in the woods due to the fact they let it just lie above the ground. the other (fence with wire was demo'd) with a backhoe and buried deep into the ground. drives my little yellow fellow crazy.

 

[deepskyal]

There is an old park I like to hit that has a naturally wet area...probably a shallow spring.

Anyhow...it is always wet and water lays when it rains for a couple days after. Digging in it is a bear because it's pure muck at times and trying to clean a wad of goo from zinc suks!

Trash rings out loud enough to blow my ears off at times and it's deep! Those mysterious good signals that disappear when I dig...the dollar signal and after a foot of digging ..nothing...


But yes...I definately see a big difference in depth from wet ground to dry.
I found my oldest, deepest dime at this park. It may have been a fluke..I've never found another that deep...probably close to 10"...but I was quite happy when I pulled it out.

It's that, always moist, damp ground that keeps attracting me back to that park. Modern clad comes out with an orange patina..probably from iron content in the soil...but it still spends!

I personally think it's a whole different experience being a wet ground hunter than most common dry parks.
Things just "sound" different enough that it takes a bit of readjustment to your interpretations of your signals.

I favor the day after a good soaking rain to detect anywhere. I am a firm believer that wetness enhances depth.
Al

 

[thompy]

i like to hunt my trashy iron nail infested sites when it dry, easer to pick through, the moisture seems to give a lot stronger signals on the rusted iron

 

[deepskyal]

Ditto that on the iron signals Thompy
Al

 

[bluestem]

I keep joking that there's a mule down there, complete with shoes and harness. Maybe there really is, and it's all that iron that I'm hearing when it's wet.

 

[muleskinner]

Moist ground is definently deeper.

 

[bluestem]

Here's an update, and I still need advice.

I bought a used Tesoro Vaquero with 2 coils. With a new battery, it finds nothing in this hole. Not with either coil, whether the ground is soaked or bone dry. No matter what I do with the settings. Nothing.

The Bounty Hunter get wild in this hole when the ground is soaked. I can put the sensitivity and discrimination anywhere, and I'll get some kind of repeatable signal in spots. The more I discriminate out, the higher the signal goes. Signals vary when it's damp and I get nothing when it's bone dry.

Other than the hole, they both get signals in all the same spots on property. Today I found a spot in a big piece of solid limestone where they were both getting a signal. I'll never know what that is.

Does this sound like a preset vs manual GB issue? If so, can someone please explain it to me? Thanks.

 

[thompy]

sounds like rust, or deep iron, moisture really affects the halo on rusty iron

 

[bluestem]

I don't understand why the Vaquero doesn't pick it up.