Detecting a Popular Sledding Hill!

[broadestpower]

Well this isn't exactly a post of finds. I was curious how most of
you feel about the winter hunt? The hill I am referring to is visited by many
sledders. I drove by it the other day and there had to be about a hundred
people there. You know there has to be clad and jewelry in an area like this.
Every time the glove comes off to do something that can't be done with it on
there is a possibility for lost jewelry. We have had two storms since Christmas
in this area. Each storm consisting of around 6 to 8 inches of snow so I'm
guessing there is around 6 inches of hard pack snow from sledding and melt.
You guys bounce around the forums quite a bit how do you rate the winter hunt?
Do you do it ? Or hit it in the Spring!

George

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Check out John-Edmomton he's the guru of toboggan hill detecting.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah, John Edmonton got us going on those sledding hills. Its a fun and different way to hunt, It gets a guy through the winter anyway, and also it sort of trains your mind to even in the summer be aware of any good slope that MIGHT have been used for sledding at one time, the detector tells you pretty fast if it was from the amount of coins at the bottom. I'll go tomorrow am early, its raining outside right now, so it will be a sheet of ice!
Mud

 

[andrew9091]

Sounds like a great idea ! Good. Luck

 

[MrGee]

I usually check the sledding hill a couple of times during the winter and then hit it hard after the spring melt. I find a lot of loose change and have found a wristwatch with a broken band (trashed from being in the ground for a couple of years) and a junk ring that was big enough to almost fit my wrist. Must have belonged to a giant. Not much more in the way of jewelry though. Pocket spills are pretty common . The problem with the local hill is that is man made and is full of junk..lots of cans, scraps of pipe, ets. But since my interest is mostly surface stuff, it's not a huge problem. Go check it out and good luck.

MrGee

 

[fongu]

We seldom get any snow and it usually melts, but any shallow water holes or springs I find will be metal detected while everyone else is waiting for spring and warmer weather. I haven't been able to go lately due to illness in the family and my elderly Mom has three doctors appointments next week. But, I have a couple days to get out and hope to find something worthwhile. Hunting in the snow is pretty hardcore, but I wish all you snow birds good luck and happy hunting.

 

[Dancer]

Don't forget the parking areas for your hunts.

 

[Orion42]

The parking areas are my favorite. People taking gloves off and pulling keys out of pockets.

John

 

[broadestpower]

On Sunday I visited one of the sledding hills it was so compact that it was literally 3.5 inches of solid ice.
I am looking forward to hitting that in the spring. It is very steep probably a 45 degree angle. The
hill I wanted to get to, I made it to first thing around 8:00 a.m. about an hour before the first sledders
arrived. I concentrated on the upper area where the parents stand as the children head down hill.
On Saturday I visited a large field at the bottom of the steep sledding area, so I had some idea of
the ground condition under the snow. I dug about a dozen targets and found three coins. The soil was
semi frozen best way to describe it is it was like a frozen fudgical. You could pound the digger into the
soil with your hand. I don't feel like I'm doing the ground any justice cutting frozen plugs from it and trying
to tamp them back down when I'm done. It just doesn't feel right, I guess this type of hunt just isn't for me.
So any way back to the sledding hill, I was gauging the depth of the snow when I finally pinpointed the target.
I had about five inches of snow so I was looking for targets in that area so as to find recent drops that would
be sitting on the ground beneath the snow. Every target I pinpointed was just below the frozen ground, and this
ground was solid frozen. I believe I dug about a dozen or so targets but failed to recover any items. If I had the
gear I would try a river hunt but that frozen ground is just nasty.
George

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah, I did the same as you Geo...very bad weather, not enough snow, and ground too frozen to make for much of a hunt.
Mud

 

[fongu]

Those coins and rings will be there when the ice and snow melt. HH

 

[broadestpower]

Yeah it's a little deflating but, it was still nice to get out it was in the upper thirties this weekend.
They are talking fifties by this weekendf and that is a far cry fom the teens that we've had for a couple weeks
now. Beorge

 

[fongu]

We're in a heat wave down in Georgia, but I can't seem to get in one day of dirt fishing. It's supposed to be 84 degrees Saturday and I had planned to go to the river, but my Mom asked me to cook some fish for my brother and his wife and my other brother. We have had some type of doctors appointment 3 days this week and the other days I have other commitments and really wanted to hit the river Saturday. My brother's wife has cancer and I told Mama that I would cook them a nice meal, because I can go metal detecting some other time. I just wanted to get out this weekend for at least one day, but family comes first. It's not supposed to get back to regular temperatures until January-18th, but I'm praying for rain. I don't mind metal detecting in the rain as long as there isn't any lightning or thunder or high winds. It's hard to believe it's so hot in my state and so cold in the North.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah...its gonna warm up into the 50's for the next two days, raining now. Then plunge right back into the 20's on Sunday, so us northern hunters will have a 48hr window before the ground freezes really solid. Seems Feb has been our coldest month for the last few years, it got up into the 80's last year for a week straight in March, then dropped below freezing in April.
Mud.