Herb Jones
New member
Dirt fishing today...Had a couple of instances where I got strong signals from within an ant mound. I dug the first, passed on the second. Anyone else face this dilemma?
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Good Signal Large Ant Mound....To dig or not to dig???
- Thread starter Herb Jones
- Start date
REVIER
Well-known member
I have a few times.
Unless it is just an unusually good repeatable sound from two directions...and shallow, I just move on.
Here we have fire ants and they are sneaky sons of guns.
They will crawl onto you like ninjas without you knowing it and then when one bites they all start biting.
I am very careful in these rare instances and don't kneel down or put my tools anywhere near the mound and also keep an eye out for any that decide to crawl onto my shoes or onto my hands...and I use gloves.
I have still gotten a few bites on my ankles, they will bite right through thin socks if you let them.
I hate those guys...best to just avoid them especially the big mounds because it seems like there are millions of soldiers in those things.
Unless it is just an unusually good repeatable sound from two directions...and shallow, I just move on.
Here we have fire ants and they are sneaky sons of guns.
They will crawl onto you like ninjas without you knowing it and then when one bites they all start biting.
I am very careful in these rare instances and don't kneel down or put my tools anywhere near the mound and also keep an eye out for any that decide to crawl onto my shoes or onto my hands...and I use gloves.
I have still gotten a few bites on my ankles, they will bite right through thin socks if you let them.
I hate those guys...best to just avoid them especially the big mounds because it seems like there are millions of soldiers in those things.
still looking 52
Well-known member
Stay out would be my advise, there is easier targets just over the hill. We're out there to have fun, those ants aren't what I call fun.
Larry (IL)
Well-known member
Sure depends on the type of ant. Around here most ants are more of a nuance than a threat, you sure don't want any crawling up your legs though. I am careful but dig.
Jim in Idaho
Well-known member
I use ants in my gem prospecting. The ants collect the gems from an area of about 100 yard radius of the mound. They wil also collect small bits of metal, including gold. These are the harvester ants. What we called red ants when I was a kid. I never disturb the mounds. I learned that the indians believed you should always leave a rock for every one you took from a mound. Some mounds are as many as 50 years old.
My opinion is it's bad karma to dig into them.
Jim
My opinion is it's bad karma to dig into them.
Jim
kingingkunsan
Member
If I notice the ant hill I do not even swing my coil near it to be tempted. But if I get a signal and notice the ant hill after then I press on. It is not worth it.
Yeah, stay away from fire ant hills!
That reminds me on another kind of mound.
I was out detecting in a park one day and almost ran my coil into a large smelly fresh pile of dog crap. Must of been a great dane or something.
For kicks i swept above the pile and got a solid coin hit. AHH, maybe that there pile was a lucky omen. To dig or not?
Found a large tree branch nearby, swept the flies away and moved the pile best i could.
Then dug the plug being careful not to touch the brown stained turf on top of the plug.
For all that smelly trouble, it was a crusty zincoln at about 4".
And after all that.....now i had to replace that brown stained plug.
That reminds me on another kind of mound.
I was out detecting in a park one day and almost ran my coil into a large smelly fresh pile of dog crap. Must of been a great dane or something.
For kicks i swept above the pile and got a solid coin hit. AHH, maybe that there pile was a lucky omen. To dig or not?
Found a large tree branch nearby, swept the flies away and moved the pile best i could.
Then dug the plug being careful not to touch the brown stained turf on top of the plug.
For all that smelly trouble, it was a crusty zincoln at about 4".
And after all that.....now i had to replace that brown stained plug.
copper kidd
New member
Yes I would avoid any ant hills I see. Most of the ant hills around here are Red ants, aka fire ants and they are very quick to protect their mounds, and like Revier said they are little ninjas 
Same goes for ground Bees , if you see a little hole with bees around it .....don't dig there. I accidently dug into a nest once (it was early in the morning and still a little cool so no sign of bees) then like a shotgun blast from the ground came a swarm of ticked off bees, ....I think I did the 100yd dash in 2 seconds through the woods, stepping in holes, hitting branches and finally stopping as I ran into an old fence. Would have made Jesse Owens proud. Thinking I was safe as I stood huffing and puffing I was stung 8 times........they were chasing me, so I ran out to the open field about 200yds away, then the little squadron returned to base. I didn't return to that area for 2 weeks, and then totally avoiding the spot where the bees were.
So no, its best to avoid any little critters home.
Same goes for ground Bees , if you see a little hole with bees around it .....don't dig there. I accidently dug into a nest once (it was early in the morning and still a little cool so no sign of bees) then like a shotgun blast from the ground came a swarm of ticked off bees, ....I think I did the 100yd dash in 2 seconds through the woods, stepping in holes, hitting branches and finally stopping as I ran into an old fence. Would have made Jesse Owens proud. Thinking I was safe as I stood huffing and puffing I was stung 8 times........they were chasing me, so I ran out to the open field about 200yds away, then the little squadron returned to base. I didn't return to that area for 2 weeks, and then totally avoiding the spot where the bees were.
So no, its best to avoid any little critters home.
C
calabash digger
Guest
when it really gets interesting is when the signal just so happens to fall in a yellow jackets nest. happen to us 3 times this year and multiple stings to go along with it.lol
C
calabash digger
Guest
my friend you are badly mistaken , what we call yellow jackets live in the ground here. Bald face hornets live in trees here in the grey cone shape nest and sometimes yellow jackets will build inside a old tree but the majority are in the ground.
calabash digger said:
Not mistaken, what we in the South call Yellow Jackets only build nests in trees or under the Eaves of houses. What you are talking about we call Hornets. To us Yellow Jackets are bad but those Hornets will chase you tell Hell freezes over and it only take noise to draw them to you. That goes for the variety that builds in Grey Cones as well as in the ground. Our ground Hornets are generally small but super aggressive.
Our Yellow Jackets are big and their sting really hurts but they are not all that aggressive when compared to Hornets.
We also have Bumble Bees and these are super bad. They build anywhere but mainly in the ground. If you see these coming out of the ground don't run Tip Toe backwards then run.
Digging a target out of a Ground Hornet nest and especially a Bumble Bee Nest would be considered suicide.
C
calabash digger
Guest
I gotcha there all bad in my book but here the bald face hornets are king cone nest in tress will whip you. lol
Herb Jones
New member
For the sake of harmony!
Yellow Jackets can nest in any number of areas, with varying types of nest. Many yellow jackets are ground-nesters. Their colonies can be found under porches or steps, in sidewalk cracks, around railroad ties or at the base of trees. Sometimes the queen uses a wall void of a building as a nesting place. Some yellow jackets build aerial nests in bushes or low-hanging branches or in the corners of buildings and other man made structures.
Ii know more about bugs than I should
either way it really doesn't matter what you call the critter that is attacking you.. I much prefer detecting in the winter months because of the lack of insects, snakes and clear view through the foliage.
Yellow Jackets can nest in any number of areas, with varying types of nest. Many yellow jackets are ground-nesters. Their colonies can be found under porches or steps, in sidewalk cracks, around railroad ties or at the base of trees. Sometimes the queen uses a wall void of a building as a nesting place. Some yellow jackets build aerial nests in bushes or low-hanging branches or in the corners of buildings and other man made structures.
Ii know more about bugs than I should
either way it really doesn't matter what you call the critter that is attacking you.. I much prefer detecting in the winter months because of the lack of insects, snakes and clear view through the foliage.
JJames1610
Member
If its a really good signal and its just fire ants. Get about a half gallon of gasoline and a cut off 5 gallon bucket. Pour the gasoline slowly over the mound, preferably at night. When there all in there. Then cover it with your cutoff bucket. Push it down tight so no air gets in or out. Go back the next day and dig, there all died. But please don't pull a Cheech and Chong move and be lightning up a smoke, ok.
Jerry.I got a hit over a fire ant hill once, in my early days of detecting. Swung the coil over the hill just for the heck of it , she beeped. It was on the border of a volleyball pit, so I thought it might be a good target. So I busted in there with quick stabs with the less he, finally found the target, it was a ring , junk, but a ring non the less. It was a like a double ring, it would slide over 2 fingers . Another time, i was detecting at an old fairgrounds parking lot , it was hard packed gravel mixed dirt , so I got a hit, keeping my eye on the target spot while stooping down and laying the detector to the side, I dug the target, a zincoln. Stood up, grabbed the detector, started swing, the my arm started stinging, looked down, and my arm was covered in fire ants. I had set the detector down with the arm cuff on top of the fire ant hill that I had not seen. Lesson learned.