Dry soil

[bbqman]

I would like to get some feedback from some of the explorer guys about detecting in dry soil. We haven`t had appreciable rain here in several weeks and the ground is getting very very dry. Should I expect to see more difficult target detecting until the ground gets moist again? Just an idea I have in my head.Ive only been running the SE Pro for a few weeks and my experience seems to tell me that the goodies aren`t singing out as well.

 

[Ed (Upstate NY)]

The only plus I can say about digging in dry soil here in Upstate NY is that the iron seems to quiet down a little bit. I never noticed much difference as far as depth of targets being detected.

 

[bbqman]

The only plus I can say about digging in dry soil here in Upstate NY is that the iron seems to quiet down a little bit. I never noticed much difference as far as depth of targets being detected.

Thanks, Ed.

 

[dewcon4414]

What ive noticed in dry soil is you may experience more EMI in areas you normally dont. Some of the EMI you will get will not be noticeable because of your disc.... but its there and will reduce depth. Targets just arent electrified enough and some of those items like HALO wont happen. The good part like was mentioned i have found more coins near iron objects easier. The ground also becomes a lot more compact meaning your detector has to read much more dirt under the coil and averaging becomes more difficult.

Dew

 

[bbqman]

Thank you, dewcon. I have always felt this way about the dry, compacted , darker soil. I just should have found a bunch more older coins at this old house site I was today. Several shallower clads, one 24 wheat, one standing lady, 1917, nothing deeper than 5 inches. Running Bryce`s settings. The older coins I have been finding in the general area of this house have all been 6 inches plus.

 

[dewcon4414]

In some of the old home sites ive found opening up my IM to say 28 and going manual at say 24 might gain you some depth. But... if there you get hearing a lot of iron switching to Ferr helps. It will also key on some of those old copper coins better. You will get a few more zings from rust in the ground but you learn that sound quickly. If there is too much iron... you may just have to use a smaller coil and work it slower. Once your coil hits those target it goes into coil shut down briefly. You disc may not let you hear everything you are passing over thats why i said open it up a little. Dig some of those targets that hit low and to the middle of the screen like foil. Thats where a good many of those old buttons hit.

Dew

 

[stasys]

Thank you, dewcon. I have always felt this way about the dry, compacted , darker soil. I just should have found a bunch more older coins at this old house site I was today. Several shallower clads, one 24 wheat, one standing lady, 1917, nothing deeper than 5 inches. Running Bryce`s settings. The older coins I have been finding in the general area of this house have all been 6 inches plus.

Bbgman if you dont find deep coins in your place- possibly they are not where or you use auto sensitivity, if you doubt that your detector cant pick deeper in dry soil, put coin in the hole side to have not disturbed earth, and check, I am sure you have to get similar depth like on wet soil, use manual sensitivity. good luck

 

[bbqman]

Thanks, guys, for the suggestions. I`m in about the 40 hour range with the Explorer and will go to manual sensitivity a bit down the road. I`ve been using Bryce`s settings the last two weekends with some success, but have really noticed a drop in performance the drier it has become. I mean plug fall into clods dry ! This old house i hit today and yeaterday is a 20`s built house and has produced a fairly shallow(4in.) SLQ and today smal pocket spill at about 4 inches of `53 Rosie and a `45 Merc. There ought to be wheats galore ! Only one 50`s wheat so far. Lots of clad too. I don`t think it has ever been detected either because i don`t see another detector missing these shallower silvers. HH

 

[amc rulz]

I've been swinging an Exp2 for over 2 years now. I noticed last year here in Michigan, with bone dry soil, the silver targets really seemed to jump out and depth was great! Silver was popping out from underneath the iron.....I use the SEF coil, and run a gain of 9, sens manual at 28 avg. Now that it's spring, the ground is saturated and I get a lot of falsing and interference and have to back down on the settings.
I dug this Walker in dry soil last year, covered by iron in a heavily-hunted fairground site. I did find silver dimes at 8-9" there, also dry, mineralized dirt.

 

[bbqman]

I've been swinging an Exp2 for over 2 years now. I noticed last year here in Michigan, with bone dry soil, the silver targets really seemed to jump out and depth was great! Silver was popping out from underneath the iron.....I use the SEF coil, and run a gain of 9, sens manual at 28 avg. Now that it's spring, the ground is saturated and I get a lot of falsing and interference and have to back down on the settings.
I dug this Walker in dry soil last year, covered by iron in a heavily-hunted fairground site. I did find silver dimes at 8-9" there, also dry, mineralized dirt.

Well, that`s encouraging. Maybe it`s just all about where you pass the coil over. But still hard for me to believe that a 1921 house has 3 silver coins (including a 1917 SLQ)and only one wheat. It`s not that i wasn`t getting some deeper signals , just all turned out to be rotten sweet sounding nails.

 

[amc rulz]

I've been swinging an Exp2 for over 2 years now. I noticed last year here in Michigan, with bone dry soil, the silver targets really seemed to jump out and depth was great! Silver was popping out from underneath the iron.....I use the SEF coil, and run a gain of 9, sens manual at 28 avg. Now that it's spring, the ground is saturated and I get a lot of falsing and interference and have to back down on the settings.
I dug this Walker in dry soil last year, covered by iron in a heavily-hunted fairground site. I did find silver dimes at 8-9" there, also dry, mineralized dirt.

Well, that`s encouraging. Maybe it`s just all about where you pass the coil over. But still hard for me to believe that a 1921 house has 3 silver coins (including a 1917 SLQ)and only one wheat. It`s not that i wasn`t getting some deeper signals , just all turned out to be rotten sweet sounding nails.

Keep in mind that an older place may have been hunted in the past, regardless of what the owner might know. Fill dirt may have been brought in at one time. I've hunted about 50 or more private homes in the last couple years. Two or 3 silver coins is above average. I've hunted 1860's yards that gave up only a lincoln memorial or two. I've been skunked on more great looking yards than not. City homes seem to have more coin targets than country homes, at least in my experience. That reminds me, I gotta start knocking on some doors!

 

[bbqman]

I've been swinging an Exp2 for over 2 years now. I noticed last year here in Michigan, with bone dry soil, the silver targets really seemed to jump out and depth was great! Silver was popping out from underneath the iron.....I use the SEF coil, and run a gain of 9, sens manual at 28 avg. Now that it's spring, the ground is saturated and I get a lot of falsing and interference and have to back down on the settings.
I dug this Walker in dry soil last year, covered by iron in a heavily-hunted fairground site. I did find silver dimes at 8-9" there, also dry, mineralized dirt.

Well, that`s encouraging. Maybe it`s just all about where you pass the coil over. But still hard for me to believe that a 1921 house has 3 silver coins (including a 1917 SLQ)and only one wheat. It`s not that i wasn`t getting some deeper signals , just all turned out to be rotten sweet sounding nails.

Keep in mind that an older place may have been hunted in the past, regardless of what the owner might know. Fill dirt may have been brought in at one time. I've hunted about 50 or more private homes in the last couple years. Two or 3 silver coins is above average. I've hunted 1860's yards that gave up only a lincoln memorial or two. I've been skunked on more great looking yards than not. City homes seem to have more coin targets than country homes, at least in my experience. That reminds me, I gotta start knocking on some doors!

Yes, I realize that too,amc, I`m just trying to rid myself of a dry soil prejudice. I`m gonna try again tommorow at another site, same town. We will see what the explorer can find in the clods.