Questions on hunting times/conditions

[Hightone]

I have almost always hunted my parks around 10 AM, before it gets too hot, or on colder days when things warm up and the day is usually clear of rain.

Today the ground is quite wet from constant downpours last night.

Is there any advantage of detecting when the ground is soaked? I guess it would be easier to dig, but do signals sound off different? I try to hunt when there aren't as many people around. Before school gets out. During the weekdays when the park isn't used as much.

Do most hunt this way or do you find different times and soil wetness advantageous from what I listed above?

 

[NiagracountyNY]

This topic has been debated between myself and friends several times,as well as on the forums.I personally find I get much better signals on wet ground.I would think the water helps conduct the signal we are sending into the ground.Maybe I just like wet ground because its alot easier digging.Lets see what other folks think?

 

[Mega]

You will always get a deeper,better signal when the ground is either wet or damp,that does not necessary mean when its flooded,but yes always best after its rained.The ground conditions that alot of detectors dont like is just after a field has been ploughed and rolled as that can have alot of air in the soil or as alot of folks call it 'fluffy' soil,its best to let the soil settle down for a few days or it usually goes back to normal conditions after its rained.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yes, wet ground and as early in the am as possible.....I think as the day progresses, theres a lot more ambient noise from the World, let alone the sun...early morning seems to be the best for me, but then again, it could be just a preference thing...I suppose somebody has tracked this with an oscilloscope or something...electronic signals just seem to get noisier as the day progresses...I'd like to know for sure too! Great subject Hightone!
Mud

 

[ken ward]

I also like the mornings. Damp soil is a plus.
As an old ham radio nut, the sun fas a big effect on your signal. Such as. 26MHz during the day, our signal can travelaround the world. At night the same signal will only go a couple miles.
So maybe the sun will help our signals go deeper.... KEN

 

[MarkCZ]

Not soaked, but lightly damp and a little cool seems the best for me.

Mark

 

[ChicagoJohn]

Anytime for me but I don't like go hunt after cut grass and wet! Coil is messy with piece of grass!

 

[MarkCZ]

I also like the mornings. Damp soil is a plus.
As an old ham radio nut, the sun fas a big effect on your signal. Such as. 26MHz during the day, our signal can travelaround the world. At night the same signal will only go a couple miles.
So maybe the sun will help our signals go deeper.... KEN

"Ken" I've concluded that the sun (solar energy) greatly affects metal detector performance, the longer, the hotter the day gives the sun more time to charge the minerals in the ground, starting at the surface and going down. This increases ground interference and reduces operating depth and adds to the chatter-ness of the detector which creates overwhelming background noise that mask the deeper fait target responses. I've been out on more than one occasion in somewhat of a remote places, starting in the early morning with near max sensitivity settings, and around 11:00am due to noise I've had to start backing off the sensitivity level and on those VERY hot LONG mid summer days have to just stop hunting because of the uncontrollable noise level of the detector. Early morning, cooler cloudy days, later into the fall, early morning, slightly damper soil, anytime after dark are the times I've found the best hunting condition.

Mark

 

[GeorgeinSC]

The time that I go hunting depends on a number of factors. Weather is always one of those factors. During the summer I like to hunt parks and playgrounds early in the morning while it is still "Cool". During the winter I wait till it has warmed up a little so that I am just a little more comfortable.

When I hunt the salt water beaches i like to hunt the outgoing tide. That way if perchance the surf is calm enough I can do some water hunting. If not I can still hunt the wash zone when the tide gets close to low.

 

[Goldstrike]

I have also found that damp/wet soil equates to better and more crisp signals. It wouldn't be hard to set up a test 'garden' and water part of it and do some testing between wet and dry ground with the same kind of targets buried at the same and different depths.
Chicago John..........you might want to try covering just your coil with a heavy duty plastic bag and secure it by zip tying it around the top of the coil!
Ken's comments about signal's (26 MHz) going around the world made me wonder about the chances of getting cancer from these signals?? Maybe we ought to be wearing some shielding of some kind!...realising that the atmosphere is saturated with cell phones/radio/tv signals etc; but I'm getting off track here!!!

 

[Hightone]

I can't help but get an idea of some guy with a 30 pound power supply strapped to his back and making his coil go dangerously into the microwave curve and while seeking into the ground everything metal just pops out of the ground like popcorn from the heat. Screaming at his kids "don't touch it till it cools down".

I don't think our 9V batteries and AAs are any danger.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

I agree with you as far as times to hunt parks--the fewer people the better... as far as moisture and soil i can tell you the best day i ever had was while hunting a farm field that was saturated from days of steady rain..i had hunted this place dozens of times before but managed several great coins i had walked ovef many times before... BUT if hunting a park in saturated conditions i believe it would be very difficult leaving the grass as you found it due to mud..if you have ever dug in those conditions you know what i mean.... its my opinion that ground that is wet say only 2 inches down or so but is dry below that gives poor depth....