Tough conditions and am I crazy?

Hi all,
Just had about 2 hours at another park that dates back to the late 1800s with the hope that being in a not so nice area it may have been detected much less. The first sign of the type of area was my first find which was another .40 cal. bullet.
The conditions here are tough. We've had little to no rain in some time and the parks are dryer than a bone. Detecting depth seems to have suffered greatly, and the targets VIDs are wildly off. I did manage to find 2 wheaties at about 5 inches, a 1941 and another too toasty to date. One of them came in at a sketchy 4-32. :dontknow: Just wondering if anyone here has experienced this in highly arid conditions on the CTX?

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Total of 11 bullets this year in city parks
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Yes the dry ground will mess with your numbers especially the deeper the target is. Fortunately we have had a decent amount of rain this month. Hope you get rain too!

No you are not crazy. Just be aware of your surroundings at all times. RobW and myself have hit a park in a not so good area repeatedly. We have been rewarded with over 200 silvers from this park......go early in the morning.

Extreme dry conditions will mess with your numbers.

Welcome to urban park hunting, I don't hit parks when it's dry. Even in inner city parks all it takes is someone to say something about all the dead spots left behind, and that is how parks become off limits. IMHO for this reason, parks are off limits when dry.


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Yeah, it's been a little dry here too. The consensus is that the numbers are off, but I still don't know how a silver quarter could read 80-81 whilst a modern clad could read 86-88 in the same soil. Usually I try to bring out the trowel to dig in parks or yards cuz I have a simple magnet to hold it on the belt loop when I don't need it, and it's not a shovel people question. However, I do only have the mini Sampson which is smaller than the things some of the others swing.... I needed the big shovel to dig in the dry dirt. It was just so compact.

You can dig when it's dry and not kill the grass if you dig deep plugs that don't mess with the roots and water the plugs afterwards. I normally will just carry milk jugs filled with water with me. Not sure about the full sized shovel, my lesche will dig in the dryest ground. It's not fun but it'll get the job done. On my V3I the numbers are all higher when it gets dry.

As for grass recovery in dry parks, I've found that in many areas there already isn't any grass, but rather bare dirt. No problem there. But in areas with grass I find that actually making a bigger plug cut on 3 sides leaving a hinge with roots connected doesn't seem to have any more adverse effect than the arid conditions. The grass is in hibernation as is until it gets enough rain to bring it back. At that point everything is good to grow again. Just have to make sure there are enough roots for the plug to take hold and absorb lots of water.

Makes sense, my comment was more in general on the dry ground, not aimed at you.

I have noticed as well, When the ground is dry, bigger & deeper plugs seem to hold up pretty well. Small plugs kill the grass almost immediately.
I stay away from manicured lawns in the summer months.

Nice scoffs. Imagine if you go back there under different soil conditions more will come to light. Thanks for posting!