Gold in Trashy Parks... Worth the Effort Now

RW · Jan 29, 2026

With gold seeming to never top out, I am officially coming out of retirement! Not that I ever stopped detecting, but plenty of places I grew bored with I now see in a new light. Digging 100 beaver tails in search of gold in trashy parks that I have long since plucked the easy stuff from is sounding like a good plan. Will be leaving the trusty Tesoro Golden with CleanSweep coil in the truck for backup. Going to give the Deus 1 with HF elliptical coil a workout on 81kHz. In an effort to recover more targets I plan to keep the sensitivity on the lower side and dig mostly shallower targets in the under 4" range or so. Will keep an eye on the XY screen but plan to dig mostly by ear. Had the Deus ever since it was introduced but only used it maybe on 10% of hunts so we never really became one... If digging thousands of scraps of aluminum doesn't dial me in then I don't think anything will! Gold blipped $5,600 earlier today. Good excuse for me to play in the dirt for sure.

Maybe y'all have talked it to death already but has the price of gold given any other trashy park hunters a renewed interest? I know I must have passed over countless gold items just trying to get the silver out of the junk. I still won't pass the silver if I hear it but now the main target will be the elusive gold. I can see a lot of skunked hunts in my near future. Maybe aluminum will surge? Bring it on!

RW · Jan 30, 2026

Well I went out for maybe an hour before the 30mph gusts got too cold and sent me packing. Did hit a nickel amongst the years of canslaw and tabs. Learned that I need to make a few adjustments and do some testing at the higher frequency. Looks like weather isn't going to cooperate until sometime next week. More time for gold to rally ha.

The Beep Goes On · Jan 30, 2026

Busy parks with concerts, etc. can have gold and I've found a lot there, but a lot finds came from sports parks/fields, mainly on the sidelines. Looking at the park/sports fields finds I've made it's about four silvers to every gold item, but that's my locale and the way I hunt - your mileage may vary. Silver jewelry is indicative of the presence of gold, statistically, but it's possible that the silver has been cherry picked, as you say. Good luck RW!