I am a fair weather digger...

Just wait, your sweet spot between too cold and too hot will come.
It's a hobby...not a job, enjoy it as you wish.

It's all good Brotha, if this hobby were easy, women and children would be doing it.

I remember when I started this hobby in the 80's I used to hunt everyday after work in hundred degree weather in mosquito infested woods and didn't bother me a bit, but I didn't do the cold. Now my threshold is 34* and won't go out over 80*, and yea, age does change things a bit, but just be happy we can still get out there and hunt my friend cause one day our body is gonna say thats it... no more. HH

I don't know how old you are but for me it all hit around 54.

Before then there was no such thing as too cold or too hot. If the ground was frozen it just meant I'd hunt tot lots. If it was 100º or more it just meant I wore less cloths. Today I can do in the 50's as long as the sun is out and very little wind, and 80º is tops in the summer unless I hunt just in the shade. If not I burn and feel like !!!! for two days.

Sux getting old. Ah, but the memories!

I guess about 50degrees is my limit. If I am finding junk after junk it doesnt usually last long. In the heat i can do more but the cold forget it

It happens. I remember when I first got into fly fishing, I was on the water in any weather. I had to break the ice off of my rod fishing in the winter. Now, I'm not out there unless the temps are at least somewhat livable. Do what you do when you want. As others said it is a hobby and it is meant to be enjoyed.

BCD

Don't feel like you need to go metal detecting every day. Do it whenever you feel like it or have time, whether it be once a week or once a month.

JTW ! " If it ain't fun I'm not doing it " either , like Digger said this isn't a job.
I hunt mostly Spring and Fall , that's when it is the most fun for me . The summer , is so short around here that you have to take advantage of every good day . Winter is time for home projects . Have Fun , ,,,,,HH

Buck Up Man! Think about all the things you have done in your Life that are NO FUN or uncomfortable or painful!

Lotsa things are NO Fun, yet day after day, out we go to suffer through! Like Work! Or, well, pretty much everything else too! You should be used to being uncomfortable and having no fun by now right?

You mentioned you are old? Married perhaps? Probably found yourself in all sorts of horrible situations? You should be really good at having NO FUN and then simply apply those skills to this SPORT! Then, this Sports uncomfortableness pales in comparison!

If its mainly just Weather, it can now be dealt with somewhat, if its physical pain, well, My old football coach used to holler, "If it Hurts, its good for you"...I thought about this the night I broke my neck in a game, I didnt feel a thing, so I knew it was probably pretty bad for me! As I was healing, it got pretty painful, so I knew it was Good! See the logic?? Like Detecting! If it hurts its Good for you!

Also, I suspect you can calculate about how much TIME you figure you got left here on this miserable Planet of 'No Fun for Old Men'...Call your insurance guy for assistance if needed..they have it all right on a gleeful chart! Depending on variables, your age, you may not have to suffer much more anyway...Thats Good! Finally the Fun can start! .. 'dont buy any ripe bananas' doctrine..

So pull on your big girl pants and get out there and find some pennys! Have NO FUN like usual, or you can think of pennies as little chips of 'FUN' dust laying around all over the place!! Whoopee! I found some Fun Dust!

Besides, Fun aint the point to Life! Its results that matter! Time and Gold Waits for Nobody!

I used to go out on my free days and hunt from dawn to dusk. I have hunted when the ground was frozen and when it was raining where I had to place a plastic bag over my detector. I remember once hunting when it was 115 degrees. I'm 71 now and I don't do that anymore. I still try to get out but I usually don't hunt fro more than three or four hours. It was fairly nice the past week but it was so windy I had to turn my volume and threshold up to even hear anything through my headphones. Every time I set my detector down the wind blew it over. I finally just placed it on it's side because that's where it would end up. Yesterday was an almost perfect day. I took my 30+ year old Silver Sabre out to a park that I have been hunting for years. There isn't much left but I managed to find over two dollars in change. I guess I'll keep hunting as long as I can. Ii just don't hunt in extremes like I used to.

JTW said:

::::hangs head in shame:::::
Don't think I'm able to associate with most here anymore.
My new threshold is 50* and no precipitation.
I've turned into mush as I've aged I suppose.
But if I'm not having fun with it, I ain't doing it

Click to expand...

Even when it's no fun..........it's still kinda fun

I'm not that extreme, I only hunt the water when the ice is easy to stomp through...

But...

I'm still waiting for that "getting old" stuff to catch up with me..

Hopeful it's not too soon...

Although fun is fun, whether it's 10 minutes or 10 hours...

<°)))>{

Well kudos to those who still have that drive but for me this last weekend was a perfect example of why I'm a fair weather hunter now. And I agree 100% with the thought that I detect to have fun. If I'm not having fun I not detecting.

Last week a buddy and I were hunting a nice flat parking space where when the water park was built a lot of dirt was spread over the area. We've pulled Indians and V-Nickels and wheats so far. Well we were out there swinging and I was bent down to recover a target. It was 50º 40+ MPH wind, my knees were full of stickers as they were growing all over the area, both goat heads and those little needle ones, my hands were full of stickers that had lodged in to stay, and the ground was like digging concrete and the dozers had packed down rock in with the fill.

I got up and said to heck with this I'm not enjoying myself at all and left.

Detector said:

I got up and said to heck with this I'm not enjoying myself at all and left.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure everyone has those types of days...

This was mine...

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=214405

<°)))>{

I'm not a cold weather guy either. Nothing about being a "mush".
its about NOT BEING COLD!
have fun when you dig, that's the ticket

That is a secret between me and my lazyboy.

I do my best hunts in the worst weather. But I too am setting right now when I could be hunting. Old Army and will always be old Army. My only concern is my equipment, can it take the heat lol.

Nothing to feel bad about, as you get older it is better to use wisdom for the sake of your health rather than trying to tough it out beyond what you can now handle.

Take extreme heat for example, as you get older it can get easier to get heat stroke if you're not careful, that is not being a wimp, it's being smart !

Like most of you other poor btards, ..I have an assistant arrange all of my hunts..She reserves the entire park for a "Private Party".. A rental company comes in ahead of time and sets up a big tent over the entire place...its all climate controlled of course.

Theres an open bar set up, a violin group of fiddlers from the Symphony playing softly in the background...a nice comfy "Nap area" with Sealy Posturepedics even....some real high end portacrappers downwind, the big ones! Not the little County Fair cheapos! Theres a catered buffet table, with fine cuts of cheeses, fruits, shrimp, etc...sometimes I have it stocked with KFC, or BuffaloWildWings...depending on my mood...pretty much standard for the average detectorist..

Then, I simply hunt the place! Under the tent! I dress in a tuxedo!...I hit a target, and one of my nubile female attendants, dressed as a French maid does the digging! "OhhLaLa Mr MudPuppy! Its anozer penny!" "Well Blankety friggin Blank!" I holler, and we all laugh!!

I have a butler to light my smokes, and I give him all sorts of hell just for giggles...for instance, I balance a can of beer on top of his head when I'm pinpointing! Hilarious! I'm always bussing his balz about something or another! He is supposed to be wiping off my coil with a wet wipe after every few swings for instance...Or, I send him out to chase away any flies that might be hovering around the crapper...

The rest of the time, he follows along meekly behind, shaking a plastic coffee can full of dirty clad and gravel like its a martini! ....All the digging girls think I'm a riot! Its hard to tell what he thinks...just a deadpan glare like normal...Especially when I say, "I dont hear that damned clad shaker running? WTH are you even here for?" Every weekend, same deal! Different park, different food, but over and over, I force myself to get out and hunt in these deplorable conditions!

Then, back at the mansion, another assistant writes my posts for me even...So I hear you about NO Fun....Some Forum Members here are rich enough to travel with the seasons and not have to put up with these kinds of problems like the rest of us...Damn butlers nowadays! Cant hardly balance a can of beer on their head, shake load of clad or chase off flies even! I dont know what I'm paying this guy for! He cant wipe dog poop off a coil without rolling his eyes and making a big production out of it either! I'm like Hell, go have some shrimp and get yourself a drink...run that clad load over to the Coinstar or something? Take the Bentley! Bring me and the digging maids back a pitchure of margaritas balanced on top of your head, and some BK broilers, Then you can take a nap!!

I'm a "fair weather" hunter and damn proud to be one..