Fertilized farm fields

[LaRelic]

Any of u guys have experience hunting plowed farm fields that have been heavily fertilized with the AT gold? The sight I'm hunting seems to have a heavy salt content do to the fertilizer, plus the area is infested with iron due to old homesites. I live in south louisiana and have had no trouble ground balancing at other locations. This is the first time I've been able to hunt plowed farm fields. Any tips would be great. I just can't seem to get the machine balanced correctly. Other homesites that are not farm land I do really well. Any help would be great. Thanks....HH

 

[MikeLab]

Yes, when it is wet there is a lot of crackling. A couple things to try, bury a coin and set your ground balance manually to get the best signal. The auto balance might not work at all, so don't depend on it. Of course try turning down the sensitivity. Also try adjusting the ground balance window. This helps when on uneven ground but be careful how much you use as it will cut into your depth. You can try all these when over a target before you dig it. I would still use All Metal mode and you will have to put up with the crackling and listen hard to targets through it. You can still get good depth. Something else to try is to hold the coil up an inch or more off the ground. If there are furrows be sure to sweep the coil parallel with them. Also try adjusting your threshold even into the negative numbers especially if you get ear fatigue. Again, you might lose some depth but not as much as everybody says. And use the 5 x 8 coil, not the big one.

 

[LaRelic]

Thanks for the tips, will try the different settings my next time out. We recently got a lot of rain making the situation in the field worse! The field is loaded with good targets just hard to keep the machine running good consistently. I usually hunt in disc 1 but will have to give the all metal a try. Thanks for the help...HH

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Do a manual ground balance and see if that helps. Try running a few #'s positive and negative as well. Depending on what minerals are in the fertilizer you may be out of luck.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I used to fly hot air ballons about 25 years ago, and one morning I picked what I thought would be a nice field to land in....man was I ever wrong. I had to take the balloon basket to the car-wash along with the chase vehicle and spray it down. The stink remained for another couple of weeks.....

 

[LaRelic]

Lol....that sounds like a rough trip. This field isn't any better its about a half mile long and your boots weigh about 20 pounds each from all the mud sticking to them! I still find good relics every time I go so for me it's still worth it.

 

[MikeLab]

If you don't have too many targets, the All Metal mode is what I would use, but use whatever works best. Of course I don't know how hot your field is and the AM picks up more noise but it does give you more room to make adjustments. I'm trying to remember how much I run the threshold into the negative, can't recall but it was several numbers and still gave good depth. The whole thing is to get a useable "threshold". That's not the proper term but what I'm trying to say is keep things smooth just enough to still be able to hear the targets through the crackling. And although I used high sensitivity, even the low numbers will still get you useable depth. The ground balance window is the most "dangerous" to use, be careful but again you probably want to use some to keep things smooth.

 

[LaRelic]

The area is loaded with iron, several old homesites were once on the property along with lots of civil war activity. All metal is rough for me just because there is so much iron. Ground balancing in clean ground goes down into the 40's. when I first started hunting the field it wasn't so bad, but since they plowed the field and we had heavy rain it's been much more difficult to keep stable. I've been running my threshold at 0 but will keep trying different things to get the best results. I'm not used to having such low ground balance numbers, most of the spots I go I ground balance into the 70's wich works excellent in other iron infested sites and usually run the threshold at+1. Again this is the first time I've had permission to hunt these types of fields and I learn a little more every time I go. Thanks again for the help!....HH

 

[fongu]

Hope you get it worked out, speedbug. HH. I've ran into some problems mostly with underground power lines sometimes.

 

[MikeLab]

Well, unless there are like ten targets every sweep, try to All Metal and tune it down and just watch the VDI numbers. Deep targets will give lower than normal. I listen for the sounds that speed up like a rubber band but short and sharp. The iron tones bleed and are bigger. Definitely want to go into the negative numbers on the threshold.

 

[Robert2300]

If there is that much chemical spray on thre farm and you end up smelling
it and having to wash the smell off, you might want to reconsider metal
detecting there. Personally, my health is far more impportant to me than
any relic or coin I might find. Just something to think about.
Robt2300

 

[LaRelic]

Yea heard that, havnt really noticed any smells. It's a soybean field so not sure what type of fertilizer they use. I am assuming fertilizer is the problem, but its possible there is emi from electric lines but havnt noticed any signs of utility's in the area. It's kind of in the middle nowhere. There are no utility's in the air so will have to check to see if maybe there are some underground lines but highly unlikely due to the area location.

 

[MikeLab]

EMI I have experienced is pretty much constant even without the coil being on the ground. Telephone boxes give a oscillating sound, loud then weak but still workable up to a few feet away. A malfunctioning street light was the worst. It was trying to light up but couldn't and it was loud from nearly a hundred feet away. I was just leaving the area and did not try to cancel it. The fact you said the soil was worse when wet is a sure indication you are picking up salts. I was working some sand one time and it started to rain. The crackling immediately increased with just a few raindrops.

You just need to try everything and see what helps you to smooth it out without losing too much depth. You just have to accept that you are going to lose some depth, but it probably won't be as bad as you imagine. When you work bad soil and you have to turn down the sensitivity, it actually helps. That's what the controls are for, like the negative threshold. It's there to help you. Do be afraid to try it.

 

[LaRelic]

Went out today and the soil had dried up a bit and the machine ran a lot better. I think your right mike. I lowered threshold to -2 and would at times lower sensitivity. It was also ground balancing much better. Overall it was a good hunt this morning,picked up many nice things. Targets were much more clearer. When I get some time I will upload some pics. Thanks.....HH