Ron, usually I hunt just as much in the winter as I do in the summer. More in fact, because I hate the heat and will only water hunt or in the shade on super hot days, but in the winter I head for the woods while the brush and weeds and grass are died back or flattened from prior snow. Also don't have to worry about ticks in the winter so I don't mind pushing my way through brushy areas and working them as much as I can. Mostly though I hunt old tree growth areas where brush and weeds can't grow due to limited light. In the summer if it's too hot to hunt in the sun I'll head for the woods but only hit those old growth areas where the weeds/brush won't be too thick. Love spots like that.
Plus, in the winter I often find even if the mowed park grass is covered with snow or the ground frozen solid, often the ridges/ravines in spots will be bear of snow due to the wind which kept it from settling there, and also the ground won't be frozen because of decaying leafs/vegetation. The grown in mowed grass might be rock hard but the woods will have unfrozen ground sometimes. Having worked outside in my own business for years, I always said I can dress for the cold but can't do much about the heat. Dress right and the cold weather is some of the most comfortable hunting time I see year round and has it's perks too by getting access to some spots too thick in the summer.
I've got about 4 or 5 of my own new spots in the hopper right now to try this spring. A few of these are private land of old friends I've been meaning to hunt for a while. Another new guy to our circle has also secured us some major private property spots to hunt with him. I've also got a few "word of mouth" research leads to check out from talking to older friends. Got at least two great leads of potential hot spots long since abandoned in the woods that I can't wait to check out. Then there are all the old wood spots I hunted over the years but never with my GT. Me and a few friends that worked those spots I found got some great stuff out of them, but we were using non-Minelabs back then, and we all know how the Sovereign can make a "dead" spot new again due to it's legendary abilities and depth and also with some fantastic factory and aftermarket coil choices.
Also looking forward to some more water hunting this year. Did it here and there over the years with land machines wading knee deep, but only in the last year or two with the GT being chest mountable I've got more serious about it and made some good finds. With the Plano waterproof box I plan to throw my GT into on a snap on back shaft extension for water hunting this year, now I can go as deep as my Excalibur friends and don't have to stay in the shallow "kiddie pool" side of the beach so to speak.
Now that money is permitting some "frivolous" spending, besides picking up a few coils I've been wanting, today I just gave my truck a major tune up. Hadn't really done it since I bought it used a few years ago, and when I saw my gas mileage really starting to fall here I figured I can't wait to spring to do the tune up I was planning. So anyway, did various things and others like cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor. Still need to clean the carbon out of the IAC solenoid, and later today I'm changing the original plugs and wires. I pulled one plug just to check and man it was worn out with a huge gap. No wonder my gas mileage has went into the dumpster over the last few months! Even these platinum factory plugs need changed at around 100,000 miles. My truck has 110,000 miles on it so it was due.
Anyway, reason I brought the whole thing up is that I too plan to do some traveling this year. Got a few people in nearby states who want me to visit for some hunts, and also have some hot leads on some private "friends-of-friends" land about 100 miles south of me that I need to go detect too. Yes, I'm excited, so wanted to get the truck in good shape for that and also now that I've been doing a lot of driving for work. Only a few more things I have to do to this truck later today to give her a complete tune up and preventive maintenance type deal. I don't know about you guys, but I get a big kick out of doing that sort of thing, especially when I know how much money I'm saving over having a garage do it. Most of this stuff is simple if people only knew how much money they'd be saving by just taking a few hours to do a few simple things.
Either way, point is....Yea, seems I've got more potential hot spots, both private and public, to hunt this year than I've ever had. Although I love the winter hunting, can't wait for those nice warm summer lazy days with a cool breeze hunting in a T-shirt and shorts. Nothing like that this side of heaven, that's for sure....Good luck to everybody in your spring endeavors....It's a great time of year to start a-new in life....Things have really been looking up for me lately and I thank God for blessing me and hope he'll continue to do so...Doing what I love and always wanted to do and now life is good and God willing will only get better...
