Winter Hunting Question?

Harold in Fla. · Jan 20, 2013

How Many of you hunters think this is your worst year of winter hunting?

bigscoop · Jan 20, 2013

So far so good. Can't complain.

lorraine · Jan 20, 2013

Winter hunting has been good on silver finds, but gold continues to be elusive for me.

The winter winds have "shaved" much sand off the beaches....I like that about winter hunting.

But some days at the beach just produce fresh air and exercise - like today :$0.36 plus what you see in the pic below is all I found . :icon_pale:

MBbeachrat · Jan 20, 2013

Lots of sand on the beach. Looks like it could get better soon.

seeker41 · Jan 20, 2013

i'm not getting out much at all so i cant really say! got one small gold ring in the past month(about 4 hunts total)!! haven't been talking to other hunters either except for one from this forum by pm and he is doing pretty good. i'm here on the spacecoast and hes a little north of me. harold, where are you located? spring break and new drops are very close!!!!

chuck.

ron lord · Jan 20, 2013

This has been the worst year I have ever seen in Fl. in the past 35 years. The RED tide down here has been very bad and know one is going in the water. I went to the beach today and after 30 mins. my eye where burning nose was running and there is dead fish every where.

JmCraz8 · Jan 20, 2013

Thousands of dead fish on Sanibel Island there slowly picking them all up.

general · Jan 20, 2013

The beaches around Anna maria island are being hunted by too many. Last time I was there, the red tide was in and doing its worst on tourists and the fish. Hope things improve very shortly. I miss the occasional piece of jewelry.

bottolfsonr · Jan 20, 2013

im new to metal detecting but how do you get out when you got snow and the gorund is frozen? <- wisconsin

millerb91 · Jan 20, 2013

bottolfsonr said:
im new to metal detecting but how do you get out when you got snow and the gorund is frozen? <- wisconsin

Best bet is a good shovel and find a location with less snow

Hag730 · Jan 21, 2013

bottolfsonr said:
im new to metal detecting but how do you get out when you got snow and the gorund is frozen? <- wisconsin

Move

Hag730 · Jan 21, 2013

I was in Jacksonville yesterday....beach is flat....lots of sand. I dug a few greenies, but slim pickins.

cdv1 · Jan 21, 2013

Well Harold for me this is my third winter hunting and since I just moved down here it isn't a good comparison but so far, Lake Erie last winter I had two gold rings already.... its been 6 weeks since my last gold down here in Fl. I've put in 3 times as much time hunting since being retired and haven't spent much time at any one beach in the attempt to learn more places down here but those I have met are struggling to come up with any good finds. Your favorite beach is hit hard by many and most tourist aren't spending much time in the water, along with that, any beach structure that had been there has been filled in more since the latest storm moved through the other day. That storm moved lots of lighter targets from the dry down into the wet sand. The other night I thought I was using a PI I was digging so much and most of the targets were half beaver tails (sounded really good), pull tabs and can slaw.

Cliff

bigscoop · Jan 21, 2013

The two biggest challenges right now are; A) - the absence of people on the beach providing new drops and, B) - the lack of significant sand movement.

Can't do anything about about the first issue, however, the beach is still loaded with targets if you can figure out how to access them. New sand typically arrives in a series of thin layers, slowly building and crawling its way up the slope of the beach. The closer you get to the waterline the more new sand you will encounter. With no new drops being provided in this zone and the absence of significant sand movement to expose existing targets this lower beach can quickly become a dead zone. On the other hand, the steeper the slope of the beach the better the odds of success on the upper portion of the beach because sand will build up more slowly here. On really flat slopes you're just screwed until those fresh drops start showing up again or these is enough sand movement to expose those deeper targets. On the lower beach you need this same significant sand movement in order to expose the deeper existing targets that exist there as well.

The only other way to battle this new sand buildup is by knowing what portions of the beach have the shallowest shell packs as targets here will stratify much sooner and they will likewise be easier be access then those in the soft deep sand. These are areas you can look for simply by taking a stroll on the beach and probing the beach, and/or by digging a few scoops every now and then to see how deep the fresh sand is. "Accessible Hardpack"....that's what you're looking for, areas of firmer strata on the beach that you can actually access. Every beach will have sections of this firmer, shallower strata. Swinging a coil over targets you can't access isn't very productive.

Harold in Fla. · Jan 21, 2013

I'm located in lakeland, and mostly hunt the west coast, been a lot of sand just waiting for it to clear some.

Harold in Fla. · Jan 21, 2013

Hi Cliff, i'll tell ya i've been doing it for many years and this is the worst i've seen it, either so much sand and nobody in the water, some days it's like walking with your machine shut off and i have run my coil by my scoop and make sure it's working, hope it picks up, with this price of gold their are so many detectors out here and the pickings are getting slimmer, we'll have to meet up again and do some hunting, harold

Atlas · Jan 21, 2013

You guys are killing me with the poor reports. I've got a FLA trip planned for later this week and am planning on hitting the beaches along the treasure cost. I've been on these beaches before many times and we kind of joke around about "Breaking a Buck" and many times its a good day if we do.

Are the red tides on the East Coast?

JmCraz8 · Jan 21, 2013

Atlas said:
You guys are killing me with the poor reports. I've got a FLA trip planned for later this week and am planning on hitting the beaches along the treasure cost. I've been on these beaches before many times and we kind of joke around about "Breaking a Buck" and many times its a good day if we do.Are the red tides on the East Coast?

Red Tide is effecting the west coast of Florida.

OBN · Jan 21, 2013

im new to metal detecting but how do you get out when you got snow and the gorund is frozen? <- wisconsin

If things are frozen over, it is the best time for research places and upgrades to your gear. Harold, Further north, the Mid-Atlantic region things are surfacing that Sandy washed ashore several months ago.

And thank you for all the input on the Headphones.....

dewcon4414 · Jan 21, 2013

The red tide started early last year and hasnt let up. So not as many people got in the water during the summer with those signs. Then came the week or two of that storm that kicked everything up .... and buried it. Then we had mounds of sand and still do. About time it starts looking good the Red tide rolls in or the tide push the and pull the sand. Not many targets out there where im hunting and ive been using a PI.

Dew