experience, quality of equipment or patience a successful hunter

[RlakeDave]

Yesterday I joined two seasoned pros from Sebring Fl for a half day hunt at a park.

I managed 4 quarters, 4 dimes and fourteen pennies. Not fantastic but the pros managed over 40 quarters dimes not many pennies
obviously a major difference

Your thoughts on keys to a successful hunter.

Rlakedave

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[G.A.P.metal]

I don`t know the key after 49 years... some days i find some days i don`t .
Research is key !
Gary

 

[Tpmetal]

its a balance of all 3. Experience and patience being the most essential. With out putting in the time, you wont learn. If you don't learn you wont find a thing even with the best of the best equipment. At the same time an experienced person with a junkie machine would not be as effective.

 

[azdirtdigger]

Both of course. There is no substitute for experience gained through effort and time applied to any endeavor. But it is also true that the expert with the best tools will do better.

 

[FingerChili]

choosing good spots

pinpointing

digging faster

ignoring pennies

buying better gear

 

[Terry Soloman]

1) Location

2) Experience / Time on the headphnes

3) Equipment

Almost anyone, with almost any metal detector, can find the "good stuff," IF it's there.

 

[CRUSADER]

choosing good spots

pinpointing

digging faster

ignoring pennies

buying better gear

I agree with most of these other than ignoring pennies.

My secret is digging faster ie. beep dig pocket as quick as possible. This means on a good spot your covering more area & by more area I mean systematically. Leave nothing to chance, grid it carefully & grid it all. It may take days to do your first pass, then change direction & repeat.

 

[Scrappy]

Some of my best finds ever were penny signals, or bad signals. Where I detect, the best hunters dig virtually everything. They also have PDA - Positive Detecting Attitude, and understand it takes A LOT of energy to get the best finds (and that’s just a maybe).

 

[basque-man]

It's all the above plus a "little luck". I found a seated dime the first time out with a radio shack $50 dollar machine. It beeped and I dug.......6 machines later and 15 years, it has been location, equipment, research, string (grid searching), lots of moving dirt Sometimes with an elevated blood alcohol content makes it all better as well when your not finding anything

Lots of patients is required. Don't look at it as a job. We have had a lot of frustrating days but it's that "ONE" day when you make a find that makes it all better!!!!!

Good luck!!!!!!!

 

[CASPER-2]

learn your machine and put the time in - it should get better

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello and welcome to the hobby!

1. Know your machine an all of its settings and how they interact with each other.

2. Hour and hours detecting and understanding #1

3. Patients and enjoy the experience

4. Dig all repeatable signals

5. Location: Do your research on the sites and targets you wish to hunt and find.

6. Have fun...its a marathon not a sprint

7. You will dig lots of trash, there is no way around it if you want some of the more valuable targets.

8. Lots more to say, but this is enough to ponder now!

GL & HH

Doc

 

[RlakeDave]

I appreciate all the good advice and will reread, will be back out hunting soon.

Rlakedave

 

[smokeythecat]

Welcome. First, what kind of machine do you have and where do you dig? You have Florida and Michigan listed. Florida has salt water beaches among other land sites. Michigan also has beaches, minerals and coins, and very old spots. So you have a variety of places to dig. Let us know and how long you have been digging and I'll give some pointers.

 

[diggervet]

learn your machine, hunt slowly and find good spots

 

[against the wind]

Excellent post with some positive information.
Sounds like your "Seasoned Pros" did a little cherry picking.

 

[FingerChili]

Excellent post with some positive information.
Sounds like your "Seasoned Pros" did a little cherry picking.

Yup, I figured they passed on penny signals.

I'm a dig everything hunter though, since I can't rely on my machine knowing the difference between quarters and pennies. I just answered what I thought was "how do I get more quarters, and more overall"

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Find a honey hole? Do it again and again until there's nothing left. Then go back and do it a few more times. I've found a lot a great coins and relics with this approach. Patience and stubbornness are good traits in this hobby...

 

[Loco-Digger]

It all boils down to putting time in with your detector so you better understand what it is telling you which leads to confidence, less time evaluating targets and digging the good stuff.

 

[cudamark]

Yesterday I joined two seasoned pros from Sebring Fl for a half day hunt at a park.

I managed 4 quarters, 4 dimes and fourteen pennies. Not fantastic but the pros managed over 40 quarters dimes not many pennies
obviously a major difference

Your thoughts on keys to a successful hunter.

Rlakedave

Is your question.....why did they find more quarters, dimes, and higher conductive targets than you did? There could be many reasons for that, beyond shear luck. As mentioned, the might have been cherry picking, where they have their machine setup to only respond to copper, clad, and silver coins and jewelry, where you may have included low and mid tone signals that slowed you down. Maybe they work faster? How did you measure up with total targets recovered.....both good and bad? Depending on the site, cherry picking can either be a great strategy or foolish one. Sure, you'll find more high conductors, but, miss out on lots of gold jewelry, old and new nickels, and many relics. I would probably do something similar in an urban park, but, not anywhere there was some decent history to it, or at the beach.

 

[WaterScoop]

1. Become one with the machine. Learn it’s every whimper it’s every cry for joy and you will be successful .

2. RESEARCH
a) if you Hunt for old relics or gold LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
b) tides time if you water detect beaches

3. RECOVERY- pinpointer, retrieving tools

That is my take on it

Cheers