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Would like to here input on dry soil verses wet soil conditions....
- Thread starter Ray-Mo.
- Start date
huskerfan72
Member
I've hunted a house that nobody lives in, a local city park, and a few spots in my side yard where the grass is crappy over the last few weeks. The ground was extremely hard at all three locations. The first place I really had trouble at was the house nobody lives at. I would get a fairly solid, repeatable tone from at least two directions ranging from 12-40 to 15-46 at each target. I'd dig a plug, pinpoint, then dig some more. In each case, I eventually came up with a nail or some other trash. The next location, a few days later, was the city park. Ground wasn't quite as hard, but it was very dry. Right off the bat I got some good, solid coin tones. Once again, I started digging and my hole just kept growing and growing. In each case I'd come up with a deep nail. Last night I decided to hit my side yard. My very first target was ringing 12-46 12-47 from two different directions. Every time I'd dig a little more from the side, the tone would scoot another few inches outside my hole. I finally pulled a very rusted nail out. I put it on the ground and went over it with the E-Trac, and it was discriminated out. I re-scanned the hole, and there were no other targets.
It really seems to me that the dryer it has gotten, the worse my E-Trac is getting about telling me what is in the ground. I've never dug as many deep nails as I have since it has been so dry, and they are ringing up as coins in almost every case. I ground balance at least every 45 minutes or hour, but I keep coming up with deep trash. Is anyone else having these type of results?
It really seems to me that the dryer it has gotten, the worse my E-Trac is getting about telling me what is in the ground. I've never dug as many deep nails as I have since it has been so dry, and they are ringing up as coins in almost every case. I ground balance at least every 45 minutes or hour, but I keep coming up with deep trash. Is anyone else having these type of results?
Dry soil versus wet soil hmmmmm.
Seems like for everything in life, there is an equal but opposite.
Dry Soil:
In dry soil the iron objects are not as magnified as in a wet environment.
But neither are the Silvers,
It seems harder to get good depth in the dry soil,due to lack of moisture.
Harder to dig,Harder to execute properly a dug hole.
Ray-Mo had stated in another post about digging a C shaped plug,with the idea being to leave one side attached
this seems to keep the grass from dying in most cases!
But it is not all bad, In dry soil you can Cherry pick as some might call it, Targets in iron or trash.
Without the overlap of targets from moisture, It is easier to pick targets from the trashy sites.
Sometimes these are only three four inches deep, but masked by trash and moisture at other times.
Ray-Mo has Liberally,(LOL) pulled hundreds of coins from trash in dry conditions.
Wet Conditions:
Most seem to like the moist conditions, There are good reasons for this too!
Moisture seems to carry the signals deeper as if being electrified by the field of the coil.
Moisture radiates from the targets as they have lain there and put out a radiant aura around them from
decay. This area gets bigger and bigger as time goes by.
This is why there is so much overlap of targets in moister soil, but catch a coin out away from most trash
and you can get them really deep in the moister conditions!
Digging is much easier, Making much nicer Un-discoverable plugs.
Much more enjoyable unless extremely wet!
There you have it, This is just my oppinion so take it as you may.
Best of luck to all and keep those diggers sharp,and coil covers clean!
LabradorBob
Seems like for everything in life, there is an equal but opposite.
Dry Soil:
In dry soil the iron objects are not as magnified as in a wet environment.
But neither are the Silvers,
It seems harder to get good depth in the dry soil,due to lack of moisture.
Harder to dig,Harder to execute properly a dug hole.
Ray-Mo had stated in another post about digging a C shaped plug,with the idea being to leave one side attached
this seems to keep the grass from dying in most cases!
But it is not all bad, In dry soil you can Cherry pick as some might call it, Targets in iron or trash.
Without the overlap of targets from moisture, It is easier to pick targets from the trashy sites.
Sometimes these are only three four inches deep, but masked by trash and moisture at other times.
Ray-Mo has Liberally,(LOL) pulled hundreds of coins from trash in dry conditions.
Wet Conditions:
Most seem to like the moist conditions, There are good reasons for this too!
Moisture seems to carry the signals deeper as if being electrified by the field of the coil.
Moisture radiates from the targets as they have lain there and put out a radiant aura around them from
decay. This area gets bigger and bigger as time goes by.
This is why there is so much overlap of targets in moister soil, but catch a coin out away from most trash
and you can get them really deep in the moister conditions!
Digging is much easier, Making much nicer Un-discoverable plugs.
Much more enjoyable unless extremely wet!
There you have it, This is just my oppinion so take it as you may.
Best of luck to all and keep those diggers sharp,and coil covers clean!
LabradorBob
Something you might try is comparing the target location in your "hunt mode" compared to the target location in the Pinpoint mode. If the target isn't laying in the same exact spot when X-ing over it in each mode, it is probably not a coin. Usually nails that sound like coins are on the "edge of the hole", as you indicated yours have been. You may have to dig a few dozen more nails before you learn to trust this technique. But once you get the hang of it, your nail collection will be greatly reduced.
Also, I don't know what it is your adjusting every 45 minutes or hour..... but it can't be your ground balance because the ETRAC accomplishes that automatically with digital filtering. JMHO HH Randy
Also, I don't know what it is your adjusting every 45 minutes or hour..... but it can't be your ground balance because the ETRAC accomplishes that automatically with digital filtering. JMHO HH Randy
wet soil iron falses a lot, lot more..........when it is real wet, I get fooled by deep bent nails more often, numbers seem to be way skewed if soil is really wet, pennies coming in at 12-47, etc.....
in dry soil, I cannot remember the last time iron or deep nails fooled me, silver seems to scream out when the ground it dry, numbers seem to be more accurate on my etrac when soil is bone dry, and I do not seem to lose any depth at all.
Digging is way easier in wet ground, but to me I will take the performance I get in dry ground anyday or wet ground
in dry soil, I cannot remember the last time iron or deep nails fooled me, silver seems to scream out when the ground it dry, numbers seem to be more accurate on my etrac when soil is bone dry, and I do not seem to lose any depth at all.
Digging is way easier in wet ground, but to me I will take the performance I get in dry ground anyday or wet ground
I prefer to hunt iron infested sites (farm sites) when the ground is dry. When it is wet, deep iron is easy to misinterpret as a coin. I prefer to hunt sites without an abundance of iron (parks, yards etc) when the soil is damp. Damp soil increases the conductivity of both the transmit and receive signals, resulting in an increased depth of detection. JMHO HH Randy
1goldsniper
Member
I am glad someone finally chimed in on this topic! I have been so frustrated this spring and summer due the wet ground I was about wrap the machine around a telephone pole and quit detecting. Yes rusty tin cans, nails, zinc jar lids, all coming thru as good sounding signals you just can't ignore. But as has been mentioned extremely dry can be tough too. I had finally figured it was the moisture. Detecting a old place last night run into the solid iron signals every where and not even able to get a good signal. Going very slow TTF fast on deep off. There has to be something around this old 1900 house besides nails I think! Thanks for all the insites to wet ground!
sandnsea49
Member
Yes, mine does the same thing. I am hunting a park where I found more silver this wet spring than in any park I ever hunted and even found a morgan silver dollar. since it's been so hot and dry i have only found 2 more silver dimes but lots of nails have been ringing up as silver. The silver has definately slowed down since it's gotten dry.
Very strange indeed that nails sound better in dry soil.I have had exactly the opposite results with every machine I have used in the last 30+ years.I have noticed a slight loss of depth with most of them in dryer soil.One thing that may effect the equation is the fact that as we get a good sight somewhat "cleaned out" we start to dig many more iffy signals out of desperation.
Another factor could be the difference in soil composition from one locality to the next.
Hoping for more input on the subject... Come on folks, jump in with your experiences
Another factor could be the difference in soil composition from one locality to the next.
Hoping for more input on the subject... Come on folks, jump in with your experiences
This is from a novice E-trac user but when I bought my E-trac back in November our ground was wet. I hunt most of the time in iron infested locations. I started in the minelab coin mode and the falsing was very confusing, so I switched to 2 tone ferrous and got along better. Now our ground is bone dry and I have started trying multi conductive again and doing much better with it in the same iron infested locations. So like others have said in my location, dry ground = less falsing. -- Randy
MHirschmann
Member
Interesting how everybody has slightly different results. Here is what happens with mine in MN. My ET and my Se Pro, both prefer moist/wet ground over dry ground. Dry ground doesn't seem to "lock" onto targets nearly as well and I have experienced the "bounce" around the hole that some others have mentioned. Here in MN, my machines definitely prefer the wet ground. Lets keep this going, its pretty interesting. HH -Marc
I was hunting an old school a couple weeks ago. In the back there was a dirt path where the utility trucks would drive. It was grey dirt, hard, and eroded down about 6" lower than the hill it was coming off of.
I decided to scan it because of how much it was cut down.
There was a lot of gravel and trash but I did get a couple good penny signals. Before I dug anything, I took my X-1 probe and rubbed the ground where I thought the signal came from. I still got the same signal, so I turned on the pinpoint and used the X1 to find the exact spot.
Then I traced a circle in the dirt around the spot and pried up about half an inch of crust and removed it. Probed again and the signal was still there so I dug a little from the side and pride up the dirt. Among the loose dirt was a 1945 Wheatie. It could not have been more than an 1" to 2" under the solil.
I did this again about 10 feet away and pulled out a 1941 Wheatie less than 2 inches under the surface.
I guess sometimes they're not as deep as you think. I usually stay away from hard dry dirt, but this experience now has me looking for the bare spots that have been washed away, packed down, or scraped off for one reason or another.
I decided to scan it because of how much it was cut down.
There was a lot of gravel and trash but I did get a couple good penny signals. Before I dug anything, I took my X-1 probe and rubbed the ground where I thought the signal came from. I still got the same signal, so I turned on the pinpoint and used the X1 to find the exact spot.
Then I traced a circle in the dirt around the spot and pried up about half an inch of crust and removed it. Probed again and the signal was still there so I dug a little from the side and pride up the dirt. Among the loose dirt was a 1945 Wheatie. It could not have been more than an 1" to 2" under the solil.
I did this again about 10 feet away and pulled out a 1941 Wheatie less than 2 inches under the surface.
I guess sometimes they're not as deep as you think. I usually stay away from hard dry dirt, but this experience now has me looking for the bare spots that have been washed away, packed down, or scraped off for one reason or another.
Chris(SoCenWI)
Well-known member
I've heard from others that I respect that they feel silver screams and nails don't in drier conditions. Definitely not my experience. My perfect hunting is early spring/ late fall after grass has died and allows one to get the coil close to the ground. And pretty darn wet. I generally won't detect yards or parks or anywhere public in dry conditions because it is almost impossible to not leave a dead spot. Even if you slit or fold the turf can crumble.
So.. Generally stick to construction sites during the dry summer times.
I also feel there is a huge depth loss in drier conditions, especially if you can't get the coil close to the ground, and that this effect if more pronounced with smaller coils. Suspect the air space and lack of moisture hurts the auto ground balancing. Anybody else see this?
Chris
So.. Generally stick to construction sites during the dry summer times.
I also feel there is a huge depth loss in drier conditions, especially if you can't get the coil close to the ground, and that this effect if more pronounced with smaller coils. Suspect the air space and lack of moisture hurts the auto ground balancing. Anybody else see this?
Chris
huskerfan72
Member
I wanted to post a follow up message regarding my recent experiences with our extremely dry ground. As I posted before, I've been getting a lot of signals that I would guarantee are coins, just to have them turn out to be rusted nails. And I'm talking about targets that I get solid signals from two or three directions. Two different targets I dug last night turned out to be rusted nails. Out of curiosity, I tossed the junk on the ground and scanned it. Oddly enough, the E-Trac did not pick it up at all (I'm using a slightly modified coin program with auto sensitivity +3.) I re-scanned the holes to see if there were multiple targets, and I got no tone at all. I've tried switching between multi conductive tones and TTF, but it hasn't made much difference. I am a relatively new E-Trac user, and I was chalking this up to my inexperience, but I don't think it is me. I really think that our dry ground is giving me really false readings. Almost all of the recent nail targets I've dug have been in the 12 to 15 range and 36 to 48. I'm praying for rain because this run i'm on is killing me!
I just don't get it, because the wetter the ground the more of a halo is given off on iron. You should NOT be digging iron in dry ground at all. And I cannot imagine much loss of depth at all, maybe 1/2 inch to an inch MAYBE......I can still pick up coin in my test garden at 7" with sensitivity at 16 in bone dry ground
huskerfan72
Member
I guess I would say yes. Over the last couple of weeks, it seems like I follow the same procedure and get the same results. I get what comes through as a pretty solid coin tone, ranging from 12/15 and 35/44 (with all sorts of combinations). After the first couple of nails, I started checking all of my solid signals from at least two directions, if not three. In most cases, I get another solid tone, although it is usually different numbers. I assumed this would be expected because the coin would be oriented differently. I start digging the center of my pinpoint, and I've really been chasing a lot of targets. The target will read dead center in the hole, but deeper, so I dig more dirt out. Then I scan again, and no signal in the hole or the dirt pile. I scan the edges of the hole, and the signal has moved to the edge. I dig that side out, and repeat the process. More often than not it ends up being in the side of the hole. I will also say that a lot of these nails have been 6" deep or more. And I've been running in auto +3. I tried running manual at 25, but I was digging BBs, and that isn't fun. I'd like to shoot a video so you guys could see what I am talking about, and maybe give me some advice, but I ran over my video camera with my wheelchair at the very beginning of summer. We did get a nice shower today, so I'm going to hit some of the same areas early tomorrow and see what signals I get. If anyone can think of what I'm doing wrong, let me know. I'm tired of digging junk! What I usually run is a modified coin program with the upper right-hand corner open, auto +3, deep on fast off, and I've switched back and for between multi conductive and TTF. Most of the areas I hunt are moderately trashy, like your typical city park. One other quick question, too. When I swing, my coil is usually skimming the grass. Do I need to try and hold it higher off the ground. I've found quite a few coins, but I've bee wondering recently if this is causing so of my needless digging lately.