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Just 4-6 wks away from warm weather to start some searches.Are you ready? equipment? and strategy?

John,correct me if I'm wrong,but don't Easter Lilies come up in February in Albuquerque.HH Ron
 
George,mutli tasking hunting and detecting sounds good.I don't know how things got done with enough time before retirement either.Good Luck Ron
 
I have my stuff in the car much of the time - an old canvas bag for extra batteries, binder of maps, notebook, gps, digging tools, gloves, apron; boots are too big for the bag so those are just in the trunk. I keep a change of clothes ready too in case I get an unplanned dunking or some-such. I bought some other coils this past year to check out, though with the shorter winter hours of light after work, I tend not to change my coil.

I've also done a fair amount of research on water locations and land owners. Family has a good chunk of land that is two hours away, sister has a place about two hours away, and a friends dad has a place about two hours away - that location is a CW battle site that I have not hunted yet - and has not been hunted by anyone, but hope to get to it the first weekend of March if possible. Recently I gained permission on some private land that is 10 minutes away, with a large amount of acreage = gas savings I hope; will have to see if that pans out with coins/relics.

I modified my GT battery pack last year, and devised a cover for that recently, so it's good to go now. Overall, I'm better prepared this year than I was last year, and actually have a plan for which locations to hit after work, and which to hit on weekends, and when to water hunt. Don't have a dry suit - yet - but maybe by fall...??? Plan on diving much more this year as well, and all that equipment is ready to go as well; went through much of that this past season making adjustments and such so as to be ready this year.

I hope to be better about taking photos this year in order to post something; that will depend on what I find though.

By the way, most of the prep I have done, is a direct result of the influence of you folks here, so a big Thank You to all of you for helping me get better at detecting.

Best of luck to you all,

HH
 
Awesome Jim!
 
Ron, good thread about prepping for the coming spring/summer hunts. Besides backup headphones, batteries for the Pro Pointer and GT and such in case the ones in them bomb, along with extra coil bolts/nuts and washers for backups, etc....Another important thing to remember is prepping your vehicles. Besides the usual jumper cables, wrenches, screwdrivers, fluids, etc...That is a good idea to carry in the vehicle for break downs, one of the most valuable things I've found over the years vehicle wise to carry is a tire air pump that will run off your cigarette lighter and a reamer/strip too patch kit in case you pick up a nail or a screw in your travels.

I can't tell you how many times carrying those has saved my bacon when I've been deer/small game hunting or fishing in one vast remote area I like to fish/game hunt that's about 100 miles south of me. The nearest town is a hefty drive and often the dirt roads I'm on don't have houses on them for miles and your lucky to see 5 cars drive by the entire day if you need help. Cell phone service is also very spotty, where I've had to walk to the top of the nearest ridge to have any hope at getting a connection, and even then it often doesn't work.

Anyway, the tire plug/air pump thing- I carry some pliers to pull out any nail/screw, along with a reamer tool to scuff up the hole for a good seal, and a bunch of those strip plugs with that applicator tool to force down into the hole. After I've plugged it, I'll cut off the excess plug length and then use a lighter to catch on fire and melt the bit still sticking out of the tire so I can mash it down and make an even better seal with less risk of it being pulled out by road conditions. Almost never have had this kind of plug fail. I've tried those tube like rubber plugs and they are junk. Use the ones that are sticky strips that look like twizler candy and already have gummy rubber cement type stuff on them to insure a good air tight seal. Then the air pump to bring the tire back up to proper pressure.

I would have been in a big bind several times if I didn't have that patch kit with me. One time out in the middle of nowhere on a deserted public hunting road with no houses, saw a guy sitting by a dirt path with "No trespassing" on it, that obviously he was leasing from a private land owner or owned. Anyway, thought it was odd he was sitting right next to this deserted dirt road for no apparent reason. Drove by him and waved and a few miles down the road I noticed my wires were going flat. I had at least one or two screws in all four tires! Patched all of them and boy did that save me about a 10 to 20 mile hike to town to get a two truck or something. Fixed right, these plugs will last the life of the tire.

After I fixed the tires, I was about "this close" to driving down that road again and getting out to give that guy a piece of my mind. It was obvious on this deserted dead end road he was trying to discourage people driving down it to hunt the public land that surrounding his private property spot. Cooler heads prevailed though by the time I got the tires plugged and settled down for a few minutes. In areas like that most people are packing a weapon, including me. Figured it just wasn't worth the confrontation. Next time I drove down that road I stopped a ways before his spot and walked the road looking for more screws and such, as I wanted to pick any of that stuff up and throw off the road so nobody would get stranded by this idiot.

PS- Besides the air pump/tire plug kit, I also carry a can of Fix A Flat. There are certain leaks a plug kit won't help with, such as a rim leak or a long sharp slit in the tire, where a good can of thick Fix A Flat type stuff (such as Tire Slime) will save you where a patch kit won't. Also, the can of Fix-A-Flat is a handy backup to my air pump. Should the pump go bad, a can of this stuff will inflate a tire enough to drive on to get into town.

First Aid- When on these trips, I also carry the usual "possibles" bag of first aid stuff. Extra lighters for a fire, aspirin and Tylenol, benadryle for allergies or for any possible bug bite reaction (or to help me sleep when I'm camping and too excited to sleep), bandaids, sterile clothes for big wounds, peroxide and rubbing alcohol for sterilizing, cough drops for a sore throat, etc. All these things too have come in real handy and saved our hunting/camping trips from an early end. Few times stomping around wet in the cold game hunting we'd end up with soar throats when trying to sleep, and without those cough drops it would have been a long restless night. Carrying in that first aid bag some topical ointment to kill the itch of poisen ivy or such has also come in handy on 2/3 day camping excursions.

So don't forget to prep your cars/trucks, and also carry first aid type stuff for your body and for your car, besides just the usual "possibilities" extras for your detectors. The car fixing stuff I always carry in my truck every day. For one thing, amazing how many people you run into who need a jump when you carry jumper cables. People these days seem to rely on road service for stuff like this. That kind of thing won't do you a darn bit of good when you are out in the middle of nowhere. Besides, really brightens my day and consider it good karma points when I can give somebody a jump...
 
Ron from Michigan said:
John,correct me if I'm wrong,but don't Easter Lilies come up in February in Albuquerque.HH Ron

Yep. Been warm all winter save for a couple of weeks. Warmest winter I have ever experienced. Also, hardly any snow in NM. Gonna be a long dry summer, (think forest fires).
 
I say if this is global warming then I want more of it, because the last two winters went by fast due to it not getting real bad until almost the holidays. Which reminds me, had to chuckle the other day when I saw a lady giving a speech at a global warming ralley and she was bundled up with a hat and scarf and heavy coat because it was so bitter cold out. Just made me smile in a kind'a ironic sort of way...:biggrin: Wrong forum for this kind of topic so keeping it at that...
 
It gets real harsh here. Dug a colonial Copper the other day at the beach after the blizzard.It was seven degrees

and we just got two feet of snow. Soon Ron we all will have good inland detecting.

HH
Jason
 
4 Gold rings last year, confirmed, one iffy [5 possible].

New gear: Gloves. Amazon thank you, they fit awesome. Booties, on way, cannot wait until they arrive. I also got a WOT on way for GT and will be waterproofing that baby asap, with a little help.

Read 4 books over winter. Gary Draton an CJCs stuff. Will probably re-read all of it.

I made my own sifter, well its almost ready. Needs another lining of mesh, a strap for carrying, and a tether for use [freshwater only, in muck areas]. 99% done.

Goal for this summer. Two actually. First an foremost, gotta find first actual salt water environment gold. Second, 10 gold rings total. Would love to do much better then that.

Some styles of hunting I want to get into are night hunting. Or early early AM. Also want to practice cherry picking [more on salt water beaches to save time]. hh an gl -Joe








Ron from Michigan said:
I have a small tool bag for my gear,which now is a good time to go through and access my gear.This bag has my headphones digging tools,extra battery packs and trash aprons.Also my site maps for my searches should have a priority list.Maybe this year I'll travel out of my comfort zone and check out some new sites.LOL hopefully these resolutions will be kept.I'm going to be positive and look forward to a great season.HH Ron
 
Going to be competition this year from many new hunters, but looks like everyone has a plan and very well equipped. Good Luck to everyone and be safe......joe
 
Ron, planning on heading out this morning for a short hunt with the new 8" Tornado at a heavy iron trash site to see what it does. I always take new machines or coils to this small corner lot where old houses used to stand and also saw use in the 1800's from people picnicking. I ended up yoking three large cents one right after the other about 3 feet apart at this place one time. All about 7" or so deep and all with square nails laying in the hole with them. Also got barber dimes and indians out of there, 1 standing liberty quarter, a silver ring (on end), and the usual mercs or rosies too.

This site has it all, iron patches but in good neutral black soil, and then areas of harsh black sand-like mini hot rocks that can play havoc with making coins sound really bad on some machines (IE: non-Minelabs usually). So I like to run coils or machines through it to see what's up. It's just small enough so as to be sure I'm working the same areas with each machine/coil to compare/contrast them over the years as they come and go into my possession. Figured it'd be a good work out to judge both the depth (in the good soil), it's unmasking abilities (around iron and other trash), as well as it's abilities to penetrate mineralized ground (those tiny hot rock or black sand type areas).
 
Speaking of gloves, both summer and winter I wear those cloth ones for like $4 at home improvement stores that the front side of the hand and fingers have been dipped in latex, yet the backs are still open cloth. They work great for keeping your hands dry and warm or from getting them dirty due to the latex on the front, and yet in the hot summer the back sides of the hand and fingers not being covered with latex means they breath well so my hands don't get sweaty. Come to think of it, not sure if the back of the fingers are bare of latex, but at least I know the back of the hand is, so it works well either way for all the above things. They have good dexterity too so I can adjust knobs or pluck stuff out of holes well, since they hug your fingers unlike some gloves that make things clumsy. One thing I love about them is pulling them off to eat lunch or drive home or something and finding my hands are clean, or especially when digging in muddy areas not getting wet hands in the cold weather.

On the subject of gearing up, this pic below is how I carry my Pro Pointer, digger, probe, and ID chart. I've since cut the bottoms of the pockets for the probe (screwdriver) and Pro Pointer to poke through so they sit down further and more snug so they aren't top heavy and fall out on me, and also since removed the dog chain latch and the pocket flap that would fold down over the Pro Pointer. No need for those. The Pro Pointer pocket is elastic so it really snugs it up without worries of falling through or falling out. The digger has it's own big pocket and there is a big pocket behind that were I keep my ID chart. The little pocket in the front between the Pro Pointer's and where my screwdriver probe goes is where I keep an extra nylon bolt, nut, and washers for my coil should I need spares by losing something when swapping coils or something...
[attachment 257838 CARRY.jpg]

Wearing it on my left hip, it makes for easy access during a hunt and makes it more effortless, no longer carrying the digger in my cheap Home Depot cloth apron that would poke me in the stomach or fall out all the time. If you haven't got a tool harness like this get one, their cheap and make hunts so much more hassle free. A good cheap cloth apron from a home improvement store with two pockets is a must have too. One pocket for trash and the other for keepers.

Home Depot has this tool harness for $9. I just picked another up as a birthday gift for a friend so I know they still carry them. Also picked him up the quick release belt we use for it for like $4, and the Home Depot two pocket apron is $1. Can't beat that. I prefer these aprons over canvas ones. Very comfortable, easy to just throw in the washer to wash here and there, and at $1 you can have a pile of backups in your car for newbies and such to hand out to.

Also picked up my friend another item that I found I can't live without these days- A pair of knee pads. I never used any before but last year a friend gave me one to try out and said I could keep it if I liked it. Wow! I only kneel on my left knee when digging as I find that the most comfortable for me, and man that helps in hard ground or say to keep my knee from getting wet. I got my friend a pair because I noticed he likes to get down on both knees when digging. Ended up picking those up at Harbor Tool as they had better prices on those. Got him the same type I have- Padded insides but the outside has a plastic shell so it won't suck up water when kneeling and keeps you dry.

PS- That tool harness thing- When I first picked it up for myself a friend saw how fast I could gear up when we arrived at a site and decided he had to have one for that and the convience while hunting factors as well. While he was stuffing this here and that there in his pockets or such, I'd just snap on that belt and am ready for action. Plus, even though I'm right handed, I often will pull out, use, and put back the Pro Pointer all with my left hand while holding the digger in my right hand when I don't feel like putting it down. Such less hassle with this simple too harness in both gearing up and fast use of things in the field. Can't tell you how many times I've lost my digger when I used to stuff it in my apron and would have to back track in the woods for a long time to find the thing. Can't believe how many years I hunted without a harness like this.

Oh, hey....Also...Most hassle free way I've found to super tune the Pro Pointer all one handed. Much better than using a coin, a washer on a string, or so on. Also don't know why I hadn't thought of doing this eons ago with the thing, to precision tune it fast with my thumb all one handed, and it can also be used to de-tune it as well. This video pictorial shows how it works and is easy to "make", and also shows the depth increase you get with super tuning via a ruler in the background for precise measurements to judge, with a bit of discussion on other Pro Pointer tips as well (like how to fix falsing in bad ground that happens on rare occasion...)

http://youtu.be/3ozNtD-dKh8

Way I see it, guys will buy the most expensive machines, have tons of coils, research sites heavily, and yet many of them seem to overlook the convienence and "fast" factors of little things that can make a hunt so much more enjoyable and hassle free. That tool harness and the super tuning deal with the Pro Pointer have done wonders for my peace of mind when hunting, as that's the very purpose of why I hunt more than anything else- Just to get away from it all and shut the world's problems out of my head for a few hours.

A spare 9V for the Pro Pointer and a backup lipo for my GT are also kept in my truck, along with some plastic bags I can cover the meter and box with in a slight drizzle when I don't want to quit. I've found the best way to cover the control box on the shaft is just to take a plastic shopping bag and flip it upside down and slide the back of the shaft/box/arm cup down inside it. Then I just poke a hole through the bag to fit my arm into the arm cup and away I go. Works great, though I don't even think I'll risk that with the GT anymore.

Just too worried about it going south on me and having a hard or expensive time picking up another control box. She's going to see dry days as much as possible these days, as even with the half boot military switch covers I don't feel safe with her in the rain anymore. I really should cover that speaker hole as well with some tape or something to keep dirt or moisture out of that too, since I never use the built in speaker except for maybe filming some stuff.
 
Ron mostly for me its gonna be new spots and at the top of that list is long forgotten beaches. Ive found a few already and plan on hitting them before the lily pads and reeds start growing in.

Gonna wade with my Sov and AT gold, should be a great combo. Im gonna pick up a small innertube also, something to float the sov box on, old school water hunting:detecting:
 
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